Hat's Off - Book Signing Tour Event - 07/19/2013

Begin your Hat's Off Weekend in Spa City

Begin your Hat's Off Weekend in Spa City, on Friday, July 19, 2013 from 1pm to 7pm, at the Saratoga Artisans and Crafters' Market in High Rock Park, downtown Saratoga Springs. There will be a special book signing with a Winner of the 2013 New York Book Festival: Had To Take a Break, bicycling misadventures, which received the 2013 New York Book Festival Honorable Mention Award for general non-fiction (only 5% of entrants received an award. 

Had To Take a Break is the first of two books written by Clayton Coburn and illustrated by Sharon Gill. The sequel Had to Take Another Break, more bicycling misadventures, was released in May of 2013. Spanning two decades and covering over 3000 miles, these delightful laugh-out-loud books, are about the misadventures of two sisters while bicycling throughout upstate New York with jaunts into Pennsylvania, Vermont and Canada. There is no better endorsement to visit upstate New York then these two books.

 Beginning in their forties, Clayton and Sharon took three to eight days each year to get on their bicycles and ride off. They have ridden from Chautauqua to Letchworth State Park, through the Allegheny National Forest to the Grand Canyon of PA, touring the Finger Lakes, the Thousand Island Region, Lake Champlain and the Hudson Valley. They have ridden along the Erie Canal, attended the races at Saratoga Springs, relaxed on the veranda of the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown and ridden the carriage trails in the Shawangunk Mountains. The books not only tell of their misadventures and the wonderful people they met, but includes history and trivia from these areas. They learned where to find the grape pie capitol of the world, where the Adirondack chair was invented, the location of the New York State Museum of Cheese, and so much more. Although the trips began as an attempt to find the exuberance and vitality of youth, in the end it was overcoming adversities and challenges that gave them the real joy and reward. "For every uphill they faced they found the downhill and sometimes on the top of the toughest mountains, there were brownies and peanut butter cookies."

 During the month of July, 2013, Clayton and Sharon will be retracing the 3000 mile bicycling journey throughout upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. For further information or to schedule an interview or speaking engagement contact: Clayton Coburn at coburn.clayton@gmail.com, or Sharon Gill: 210-501-5286.