Traveling Companions

About the Book

David Wells, 55, a lonely recent Lotto winner and widower on his way to Colorado, picks up hitchhiker Cheri North, 35, on a San Fernando Valley freeway on ramp. She's going to Denver to see an old friend, Jan. David is struck by her total resemblance to Marla (not his wife). Cheri always wanted to be a scenic photographer and asks to see some scenery along the way. He offers to show her Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and many other scenic places along the way at his expense. She enthusiastically accepts.

At Zion, he presents her with a new camera, instructs her on its use, and helps her take pictures. They stop for the night at Bryce Canyon Lodge, where she tries to seduce him. He puts her off, admitting that he feels he's falling in love with her, but he wishes to develop a relationship before getting to sex.

While enthralling Cheri with the beauty of Bryce Canyon, David continues to recall his times with Marla. He and Cheri become more intimate. Later that night, shivering from cold, she crawls into bed with him.

Leaving Bryce, David takes Cheri on a trip through the wild lands of Utah, picking up pieces of petrified wood and having a picnic in remote Calf Creek Campground. Eerily, she picks out the same vantage points to take her pictures as did Marla years before. On a rock in a stream, David is unable to control himself and kisses Cheri with feeling.

In Torrey, Utah, Cheri insists on sleeping in the same bed with David. She asks what the kiss in the stream means, David admits she reminds him of two other women, and he is uncertain if the love he feels is for Cheri or the other women. Her confusion and frustration increase.

They go Country and Western dancing in Grand Junction. Another man dances with her while David rests. When the man tries to take her away from the dance hall, David intercedes. A knife fight follows with the man and two of his friends.

Cheri becomes more insistant to know about the other women. In Estes Park she tells David of her love relationship with Jan. David takes her to her friend in Denver. Returning to Estes Park, David tries to sort out his feelings for Cheri.

Later, returning to LA they stop for the night in Glenwood Springs. They are attacked by a vicious motorcycle gang of rapists and murderers.

How do they defend themselves? Who are the two women in David's life? Can Cheri and David put their relationship together?

About the Author

J. Howard Speer Jr., a retired mechanical and electronic engineer, worked 40 years in the Los Angeles aerospace industry. Howard’s outside interests and activities provide him a rich background of experiences to use as settings and actions within his fiction. He has traveled to all but two of the States, plus Canada, Ireland, and Kwajalein in the Pacific. Vacations in Utah, and Colorado plus his experience in scenic photography provide the setting for this novel. Speer holds a BSME from Northwestern and an MSE from UCLA. He is married and lives with his wife in Estes Park, Colorado.