Strong 'Adventures'

Bremerton author signs books in Moses Lake Saturday

MOSES LAKE - When Veda Taylor Strong set out to write the stories of her grandparents, one thing she had to do was find a covered wagon.

"I said, 'You know, I've got to see a covered wagon, I've got to know how that thing's built,' because I've had to take it across these rivers," Strong said.

The Bremerton-based author signs copies of her books, "Grandpa's Adventures," published in 2005, and "Grandma's Snowy Mountain Adventures," published in April, at Hastings in Moses Lake, located at 601 S. Pioneer Way, Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

So a cousin of Strong's took her to see one of his neighbors, who had a covered wagon in his back yard in Montana.

"He went in the house and he brought out some pencils and paper, and said 'We're going to learn how to build this thing,'" Strong recalled.

She didn't actually take the wagon across a body of water, but she wanted to know how they worked for her writing.

"I haven't been disputed yet," she laughed, "So I'm safe."

Strong's Moses Lake visit is part of a weeklong tour which began in Ellensburg and the southern part of Washington, went to Lewiston and Moscow, Idaho and concludes this weekend. She visited about 15 locations, she estimated during a brief stop in Moses Lake Tuesday. She was on her way back home to Bremerton

Strong originally hails from Montana, so she's made many trips through the Moses Lake area.

"We're not really familiar with the city itself, but we have stopped to eat and stopped and walked around a little bit," she said. "But we've never really stopped long enough to really see what's going on."

Strong first started out by researching the genealogy of her grandparents, John and Elizabeth Taylor, and said she spent 20 years conducting research for "Grandpa's Adventures." The second book, "Grandma's Snowy Mountain Adventures," didn't take so long because she had most of the information.

"But I have turned them into novels, so that doesn't mean everything is facts," she said with a hearty laugh.

John Taylor served in the Civil War and met Elizabeth upon returning to Iowa. While operating a tailor shop in Kansas City, he got involved in a posse chasing after legendary outlaw Billy the Kid.

"They never caught him, but still they went after him," Strong said. "Probably a good thing they didn't catch him."

From there, the Taylors followed the railroads to Topeka, Kan., and ended up opening a shop until a friend told them he was taking a wagon train to Oregon. John convinced a reluctant Elizabeth to make the move, so they sold their property and took the wagon from Topeka to Tacoma, as the lumber barons were beginning to build up the area and economy.

Shortly after arriving in Washington, Strong said, John died of consumption, leaving Elizabeth with their eight small children. Before he died, John convinced Elizabeth to move to Montana to live with his brother, so they could help each other out.

"What the book is about is their adventures along the way," Strong previewed. "They got involved with Indians, and a couple of boys got lost in the Blue Mountains. There's just really a lot of history to it."

In the second book, Strong's family gets involved with revenuers, stills and a murder in typical mountain life, she said.

Also a notary public, Strong began writing the books because she works in hospitals and rest homes.

"I work a lot with the elderly, and when I was thinking about publishing this, I'd heard so many times from these people, 'Gee, we don't read because we can't read these books any more, they're too close together, the print's too small,'" Strong explained. "So I wrote them especially for the elderly."

But Strong has also heard from many younger readers who have purchased the books for or shared them with a parent or grandparent, or their teachers have been reading them in classes.

"That really did make me feel good, because there's no smut in it - it's a good clean book," Strong said with a laugh. "Everybody told me, 'You have to put some smut in it or it's not going to sell.' I told them, 'Well, it'll sell.'"

Strong is currently working on a humorous book entitled "Apartment Dwelling," because she also manages an apartment complex for residents aged 55 and over.

She hopes readers come away from the "Adventures" books feeling like they were there.

"I hope they get that feeling like they really learned something, something they pulled out of it for themselves," she said.