Book Excerpt

Tar Heel Traveler:

Journeys Across North Carolina

I have traveled many miles as the Tar Heel Traveler, seen places I never knew existed, met people I’ll always remember, and learned things I’ll carry in my head for good. I couldn’t ask for a better state to explore.

 

I’ve written hundreds of Tar Heel Traveler stories now, which to me sounds like an awful lot. But then I look at my computer bag, the one I don’t use for my computer but for my story-idea files.

 

There are so many sheets of paper crammed in there I’m afraid the bag is going to split, and it makes me think I’ve just scratched the surface of the state.

 

There are so many stories I haven’t been able to get to yet. They’re out there, scattered across one-hundred counties. I used to have to dig for them, but now they find me.

 

People write and send me their ideas, and almost all their ideas are good ones; in other words, they get stuffed in my computer bag. I look inside and shake my head. Jeez, not enough hours in the day. I don’t need a computer bag; what I need is a suitcase!

 

Yep, a suitcase sounds about right. Time to pack up again and hit the road, shoot some stories, replenish the stockpile.

 

There’s always something to do: another story to shoot, write, and edit. I wonder what the next story will be, what adventure we’ll find up the road.