The Road Never Runs Out

by Mimsy Hale

At the age of seventeen, I visited the USA for the first time—I stayed with a friend I’d met through Supernatural fandom, at her home in Indianapolis.  I’d long since gotten used to feeling half a step out of sync with the rest of the world, but as soon as I stepped off the plane for my layover in Chicago, it was as if I’d finally caught up.

I loved Indiana.  Warm even in October, big open spaces (I’m a born and raised English country gal, so I felt right at home), and the beginning of my enduring love affair with Taco Bell.  It was the place that started my fascination with the USA, and led me to visiting as many times as I could.

I’ve now been to California, Massachusetts, Florida, and New York—and through a whole bunch of states on a two-day road trip between those last two!  So far, my favourite place is New York.  I’ve been lucky enough to see both sides of it: the city itself, and some of the smaller towns and villages across the Hudson.  No matter where I’ve been in the state, though, it seems like everywhere has this unifying undercurrent of excitement.  Even when you’re outside the city, you still know that it’s there, pulsing with life and ready to welcome you back, day or night.

Another favourite memory of mine came from my time down in Florida.  I can’t say that I was a fan of Florida’s weather—I stepped out of Jacksonville airport and exclaimed, “Oh my God, what is this?!”  I’d never experienced such crazy humidity before!  But one evening, I went to the beach on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine.  I took a notepad and pen, a towel, music, and some water with me, and I sat by the shore working on the scenes that take place in Iowa.  As I finished the last line, I put down my pen and looked up at the sunset sky and felt utterly complete, even though I still had almost half a book left to write.

As for the states I haven’t made it to (yet), and even the ones I have, the amount of research I had to do was gargantuan.  I’m a habitual perfectionist, so I wanted to get as much of it as accurate as possible—even down to things like what the weather was doing that day.  I’m really not kidding.  This led me to some of the most weirdly specific Google searches I’ve ever performed—a few memorable ones included ‘differences between the Maine accent and the Boston accent,’ ‘things to do in Ohio on a Monday that don’t involve sports’ (that one didn’t work out so well, given that Jake and Aiden end up at a basketball game), and ‘would an outdoor wedding in Iowa in November be completely crazy’ (spoiler alert: Jake and Aiden do not get married in Iowa).

More than the day-to-day minutiae of their trip, though, I also wanted to try and capture the spirit of the country.  It changes from state to state—I’ve seen that myself, just from the handful of states that I’ve been to.  Jake and Aiden take the road trip of a lifetime, and I wanted the reader to feel like they were inside the RV with them, because there were times when I certainly did!  This was why I read countless travel blogs and articles about road tripping around the States, and talked to many people who have been on road trips.  The biggest thing I came to learn, and the message that I hope the book conveys, is that it’s never too late to change something you think is beyond changing…  because the road never runs out.

About 100 Days

Jake and Aiden have been best friends—and nothing more—since the age of six.  Now 22-year-old college graduates, they take a road trip around the USA, visiting every state in 100 days.

As they start their cross-country odyssey, Jake and Aiden think they have their journey and their futures mapped out. But the road has a funny way of changing course.

Fifty states. Two boys. One love story.

Available at: Amazon

About Mimsy Hale

Mimsy Hale has been a contributing ghostwriter to several bestselling nonfiction books. She is also an established writer in online fan communities, where her stories have hundreds of thousands of reads. 100 Days is her first novel.  She lives in Suffolk, England, with her roommate and four cats.

Find out more about Mimsy on her Website, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

As part of this blog tour, Mimsy is giving away a $25 Interlude Press gift card; Five multi-format eBook editions of 100 Days!! To enter, just click the link below!

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