Where Trains Collide-REVIEW and Giveaway

I really enjoyed Where Trains Collide. It was a story of self-discovery, lost love, and the hand of God working in the lives of two people who are meant to be together.

Trisha and Paul were both likable characters. I have to say Paul was the more mature of the two. Having broken up 3 years before it seems that Trisha is still that lost young woman that caused Paul to break up with her before.

I loved the settings of the story. The train ride was fun and interesting since I have never taken a train ride before(it is on my bucket list though). I absolutely love lighthouses and so when Paul and Trisha stay at a B&B near a lighthouse I was thrilled! The author has a way of describing a scene that makes the reader feel as if they are there enjoying the scenery just as much as the characters.

Where Trains Collide was a sweet novella that kept me interested throughout and hoping that maybe there might be more to be heard from Trisha and Paul.

Author Amber Stokes thought it would be fun if some bloggers shared their own travel story and so I thought I would share my honeymoon story:

The more I sit here and think about my story, the more I realize that I am a bit like Trisha in Where Trains Collide! Where Trisha and Paul were only about 3 years apart, my husband and I met when I was 18 and he was 25. So we are almost 8 years apart. Even though I thought I was mature, compared to a 25 year old former Marine I was definitely on the young side. One of the first issues we had was my inability to make a firm decision...just like Trisha! I also was unable to express my own opinion, mainly because I was influenced by the opinions of others! I had my own opinion, I just deferred to others because I was quiet and shy. One thing I did know for sure though was that I was going to marry this man! My parents requested that we wait a year after we got engaged. In that year(well, 11 months) we planned our wedding and our honeymoon trip. My husband-to-be thought it would be fun to take me to meet family and friends. So our plan was to drive east to visit all of these people I had never met before. My husband-to-be thought it would be fun to camp while we traveled. He was all about saving money! And I was all about pleasing him. Now two things you need to know, I was not a big fan of camping. As a kid we had always camped in trailers and had easy access to a bathroom and shower. And I was not a fan of meeting new people(shy and quiet!). Why in the world I agreed to this arrangement is beyond me, but with love-struck eyes I agreed to travel all over with this man for a honeymoon trip! To this day neither one of us know how we stayed married. The first day of travel I was ready to turn around and go back home to my parents! First off I had no idea it would be so hard to leave home. I had never been gone for more than a week or so and our planned trip was for 3 weeks. Secondly, I had no idea how stubborn this man could be! When he said camping, he meant camping whether it took us all night to find a campground or not! So as we passed miles and miles of motels we drove on and on. At one point I was so tired and a bit scared(lightning people! I had never seen anything like it! The lightning was touching the ground, it was zig zagging out of the sky TOUCHING THE GROUND!!!), I finally started crying. My new husband tried to comfort me, but I was huddled up against the door crying my eyes out! We finally stopped around 11 at night in a campground. It was so dark that we didn't even set up the tent, we just climbed in to the covered back of the truck we were driving. My husband learned that night that there would be no camping on this honeymoon trip. If he wanted his wife to be comfortable and if he wanted any intimacy then he would get a hotel from then on! He was a quick learner! Honestly after that as we drove Hwy 80 all I could think about was how far each mile was taking me from my family. Our first stop at friends' was in Wisconsin. We stayed with them for a week. Honeymooning and visiting friends is honestly not very comfortable. And I'll leave it at that! Our next stop was in Ohio to visit more friends. My husband was born and raised there so he wanted to show me his old stomping grounds. We then moved on to Kansas to stay on "the farm" that my husband's aunt, uncle, cousins and grandmother lived on. Now this farm was out in the middle of nowhere! About 15-20 miles from the nearest town. My husband plopped me in the trailer that his grandmother lived in(she was back in CA visiting my husbands parents after the wedding), and then he spent the week we were there out haying with his cousins and uncle. His aunt worked all day. So I was stuck in the middle of nowhere all by myself. The first morning we were there I went to make the bed and a mouse went running across my feet! I was ready to pack it up and leave! There were HUGE horseflies that decided that I was a prime candidate to dive bomb every time I stepped a foot outside, and did I mention I was all alone?! For hours and hours! And the icing on the cake was the night my husband came back and stuck his head in the door and wanted me to come over to the house his uncle and aunt lived in and make them all dinner! Yep, the man almost had mutiny on his hands! I was so happy when we started heading back home to CA and my family! That truck couldn't move fast enough for me! Looking back we both laugh at our honeymoon mis-adventures. From the time we started dating my husband encouraged me to voice my own opinion. It took awhile, but eventually I learned that he really did want to hear what I thought, or what I wanted to do. We did take our daughters camping when they were young and we enjoyed it tremendously! We have traveled countless times across country, in fact as this post goes up we are either on our way home from CA or have just arrived home from there after a month long visit with family. After almost 33 years of marriage and much maturing on my part,and patience on my husbands, we have learned that life is the greatest adventure and doing it together is the most fun!

Do you have a fun or adventurous travel story? Share in the comments, I would love to read them!

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