Trail to Telluride — Thomas William Simpson

Natalie works the midnight to noon shift as an emergency room nurse at Wellspan Hospital in Gettysburg, PA. She has a husband, a teenage son, a teenage daughter, a dog, and a cat. She leads a busy middle-class life—working, taking care of her family, serving on the school board, volunteering at the food pantry, trying to find time to exercise. Natalie is about as grounded in reality as any 40-year-old American woman could possibly be. Lately, however, a whole host of crazy, vivid dreams have invaded her sleep. Most of these dreams involve a gentleman getting shot. In the chest. Inside a bank. Sometimes Natalie's there to save the wounded man's life; sometimes not. Sometimes the bank is the PNC branch out on York Road where she and Zachary have their joint checking account. Other times it's an old fashion bank and the people in the bank wear western garb like you might see in an old John Wayne movie. The dreams have been unsettling, but more recently Natalie has also started to hear voices. Typically, she hears two distinct voices. They tend to argue. One voice keeps telling Natalie she needs to go; the other tells her to stay put. Go where? Natalie asks. New Mexico. Why New Mexico? The reasons why will divulge themselves once you have shown the courage to go. That evening Natalie and Zachary have an epic domestic quarrel. Natalie is so irritated she takes Zachary's old Corvette out for a spin. Natalie never takes the Vette out for a spin. Sure enough, she cracks it up. Smashes the fender and headlight and scratches the entire passenger side of the 50-year-old showroom clean sports car. Out of her mind now with the dreams, voices, and ruined Vette, Natalie flees for New Mexico to fulfill her destiny. She makes the trip in another of her hubby's vintage classics, a '63 Chevy C-10 pickup with a top speed of 50 mph. Away Natalie goes! Trail to Telluride is a love story. Trail to Telluride is a romance. Trail to Telluride is a western. It is a time machine gone haywire. It is ultimately the story of what one woman will do to ensure the safety and continuity of her family. Come along for the ride. Let your imagination roll. Meet Ray who runs the motel and bar out in the middle of Nowhere, New Mexico. Ray is a wildflower in a bed of highly cultured roses. She will change Natalie's life forever. Meet the Apache warrior Geronimo. Hear the story of his murdered family that changed the course of his life. Meet the Earp brothers, Wyatt and Virgil. And meet the infamous bank robber, Butch Cassidy, who will have a fling with the youthful Natalie out along the trail to Telluride. Trail to Telluride is exactly what fiction should be—imaginative, mind-expanding, challenging, insightful, surprising, and just plain entertaining. Natalie is a heroine for our times—smart, educated, grounded, hard-working, entirely devoted to her family, but also liberally-minded, ready and willing to take on fresh challenges and outlandish adventures. Natalie drifts into the past, but she represents our future.