Last weekend, I was excited to be able to go to New England, where I feel more home than I do anywhere else, even though I’ve lived in Pennsylvania longer than I did in Massachusetts.
Because I love New England so much, I often set books or scenes there. Some of Under the Moon and Heavy Metal both take place in Boston and Misquamicut, Rhode Island.
My trip took me through the area where Riley is engaged in a car chase, so I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of that area.
The chase starts, kind of, on I-95 near Mystic, where Riley spots a car that’s been following her and gets suspicious about the guy who’s supposed to be here to protect her. She dumps him out on the road and takes off.
Then she gets pulled over by the cops, which doesn’t deter her pursuers, as she wishes it would. She takes a short break in the Dew Drop Inn (which was never on this road, but that’s artistic license to make tribute to a piece of my childhood).
The bad guys show up again once she’s back on the road. They follow her off quite Route 234 onto Route 1, but things are getting a little crazy. This is way too populated and dangerous, even if the vintage Charger she’s driving has all the power she needs.
Then Riley misses her turn. The GPS tells her to turn right, but that’s even more populated and crowded with traffic, so she turns right onto Route 2. And here’s where my heart swells, because Route 78 was always my road to paradise. (Not that I thought about it in those terms back then! LOL)
For Riley, 78 means both hope and terror. She’s close to help and safety and Sam, but she can’t lead these guys to people who are vulnerable. She can’t interrupt the important work they’re doing at Chloe’s cottage.
So she has to make a decision.
This is where Riley makes her last stand. She spins the car to block the road and uses her newly honed powers to stop them, then to get away when they turn the tables on her.
Unfortunately, it was raining when I traveled this route, and it was sunny and a bit hazy when Riley did. You’ll just have to imagine the headache-inducing sunlight reflecting off chrome in these shots.
And I’ll leave you with one more:
