As research for this book, three inexperienced friends and I spent some time on a houseboat not too long ago. It wasn’t pretty. I was the genius who suggested renting the biggest houseboat on the lake. After all, bigger is better, isn’t it? I had visions of Cleopatra’s barge—the reality was closer to the Titanic. The four of us survived the trip, but as for the boat, let’s just say it was fortunate we decided to take out propeller insurance.
—Vicki Lewis Thompson