Faith on the 40

Today, I'm going to do a book signing at the Author's for Literacy event in Moriarty, New Mexico. It's just a forty minute trip our on I-40. I can't help but think of one of my first trips on the 40, and an issue of faith that took place an hour or so east in Tucumcari.

So for the handful of you who've read my non-fiction book, Amarillo in August, this is a rehash of the Monster in Tucumcari, and yet it is an event worth re-telling. I was doing a book signing in Lubbock, and I stopped for gas in Tucumcari. My credit card was denied, and I only had enough cash to pay for a one way trip. I could either go forward to Tucumcari for the signing, or head back home to Albuquerque. If I went forward, I had to have faith that I would sell enough books at a Hastings store that would pay me in cash, so I would have a place to stay and then have ...

If I didn't sell enough books in Lubbock, I would have to sleep in my car, and then have to ask a friend or relative to wire me some money. I could only imagine the humiliation I would face. Hell, suppose no one wanted to wire me anything. I could be trapped in Lubbock forever.

I stared at the gas pump for a few minutes and then went out to the intersection to get back on the 40. I headed east to Amarillo rather than west to Albuquerque. I had faith. Needless to say, despite a rocky start, I sold out all four nights of the trip and even had enough left over to treat myself to a steak at the Big Texan, the place where if you eat a 72 ounce steak, you get one free.

 I didn't eat take the steak challenge. I have more faith in my writing than I do in my eating