Tessa's Travels: April 2016

Sunday, April 17, 2016

My Two Princesses

Dear Dad and Friends,

I know I've been flying under the radar lately. There have been a lot of changes in our lives. Kicky and I are now Aunt and Uncle to these two wonderful little Princesses. These are Kit Kraft and Lonesome. There is a long story as to why this girl on the right is named Lonesome, but that's not for the telling here and now. Just let it be known that these two girls are now the very best of friends and maybe, if things keep going as they are, they may one day be sisters. Kicky, Ondag and I took the winter off from work so that we could help home school Lonesome. She's a little bit behind due to the fact that she had been kidnapped under the strangest of circumstances.

I know I'm being enigmatic here, but these things are really so strange that I can't even go into them in a public Blog. Kicky was also abducted by the same group that abducted Lonesome. He was able to escape early on, but knew that he couldn't go without Lonesome. her education has been severely lacking because she lived with this group for so long, five years in fact. She is now 7 years old and has a lot of learning to catch up on. Rick and Kit Kraft became involved early on as did Kicky's cousin Luca, a Sheriff from the Red Lake Reservation of the Ojibwa. Together we got Lonesome back to her mother and safety.

Now that Summer is again nearing we have plans to go out toward South Dakota to revisit the ground of my abduction two years ago. That's not why though. It's something that Ondag has been on us about. I think he is interested in a lady on the Pine Ridge Reservation. I tease him and he acts like he doesn't know what I'm talking about. But I want my brother to be happy. So off we go. Maybe this year no one will be abducted! Fingers crossed!

We plan to meet up with Luca and his new wife, Kate, when we get to Pine Ridge. I plan to cover the big Pow Wow there. Something interesting may happen, well to Ondag if no other. I fully hope that there will be four of us plus Woofy traveling together in the near future!

Until then, Dad's digits are still on the right. And I'll post as to what articles and reviews I have as I go along, so stay in touch!

Tessa Gates, on the road again!

About Me

Hi, My name is Contessa Gates, but you can call me Tess. I am a graduate of the Chicago Institute of the Fine Arts. I have an MFA in Journalism. Upon graduating two years ago I tried to find a job in my field and could not, so I took matters into my own hands. With mounting debts I decided to take to the road to find unusual restaurants that were serving unique cuisine, write about them and sell the reviews to newspapers. My father in Chicago runs the internet end of my business. He is in charge of sending out the copy to my reviews. Any newspapers interested in purchasing my reviews can contact me through him.

At first I was traveling with a friend who was taking a year off between high school and college. Harold Carmen Whitney, better known to his friends as Harry Carry, took me in his beat up 50-year-old Volvo, which was an adventure by itself, and which got me in shape for the backpacking adventure I'm on now. More than once we became stranded because of that machine and had to hike, sometimes up to ten miles, to get to a phone or service station. One of the things my father insisted on when I lost my ride to a college in Arizona, was the purchase of a cell phone. I had enough papers interested in my reviews by this time to be able to afford a fancy 4G phone that would give me internet access on my laptop as well, so I can literally update my Blog in the woods at my campsite if I need to. Dad likes the feeling that he can contact me any time of the day or night and vice versa.

So I'm mostly on foot now. I sometimes can get rides with people that are trusted by the proprietors of restaurants I review or by employees of said establishments, but on average I walk at least ten miles a day, sometimes as much as 30. I'm in the best shape of my life. If I didn't have to carry a 50 pound pack with me everywhere I could run a marathan!

I always pay for my food, which I believe gives me the right to be fair in critiquing it. So food, my monthly phone/internet bill, and my not inconsiderable student loan are my only fiscal concerns, along with a motel room about twice a week so I can shower and get some proper rest. Sleeping on the ground is not always as comfortable as it sounds, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for my art!

See the box above for places where I plan to be in the near future. My Father contacts local newspapers in my vicinity to let them know that I will have reviews for their area. Contact him to purchase a given review for a restaurant and to get on my mailing list to get future updates.

Also contact him if there is a restaurant that you feel your readers should know about. If the cuisine is unique or unusual I will seek it out no matter how far off the beaten path it is.

See you soon, at a restaurant near you!

Tessa Gates

Northwoods, Serial Fiction on Amazon

Tessa Gates is the main character in my Kindle series, Northwoods. The novel is based on the Blog that Tess writes as she travels. Some of her exploits will appear here from time to time.

The cities that Tess visits are real, but hardly any of the restaurants really exist, nor does the food she is reviewing. Of course I have been known to plug places I've enjoyed in the past.

It's a horror novel. I began writing it in November of 2010 as part of Nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month.

Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading more, check out my authors page at Amazon.com.

Thanks for your interest!

Cindy Koch-Krol