50

50
This Number Has Great Significance For Me

Let me tell you why.

I’ve just celebrated 50 years of marriage with Liz. The best years of my life. And that’s the truth.

My first two books Pepperman’s Promise and Perplexity were launched in 2017,
50 years after my college graduation. Put down your calculator! My age ain’t that important.

Panic Point, my third book released in 2019, the 50th anniversary of man’s first step on the moon.

https://www.defense.gov/observe/photo-gallery/igphoto/2001094237/

Read Panic Point and you’ll get a “hint” about our wedding night 50 years ago. It had something to do with the XIT Rodeo in Dalhart, Texas and an old hotel forty-five miles down the road that cost us a staggering sum of $5.00 for the night. It was our only option. (Are you sort of getting the picture of our first night of marriage?)

The name of the hotel was the Eklund. That dilapidated piece of junk has now been refurbished and is a fabulous place to stay. We spent our 45th anniversary there. (And NO, the price of the room was not $5.00.)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_Eklund_Clayton_New_Mexico.jpg

In Panic Point, Earl and Morgan had a similar first night together. Their hotel was the Eckland. And neither Earl nor I would change one thing about the first night with our brides 50 years apart.