A lot of places had stagecoach inns at a time when the mail was delivered via a stagecoach, and it took priority over passengers. Often, their feet would rest on top of the overflow of packages and letters bound for other destinations. Certain seats had the best ride, and others could jar the rider to pieces. Stagecoach robbers were prevalent, and that’s why they had a man riding shotgun atop the wagon. Most times, robbers only wanted the passengers’ valuables, and didn’t want to kill anyone.
One of our friends had an ancestor who had robbed a stagecoach back in the day, and had been caught and hanged, though normally, it wasn’t done. Why the hanging then? One of the passengers had died from a heart attack during the stagecoach robbery. And since the robbers had given him the fatal heart attack, they were tried for murder.
This is actually a covered wagon, with the Stagecoach Inn sign. This hotel was originally called The Shady Villa Inn. Not only did those in the United States travel in covered wagons from the east coast to the west, they did the same in Canada. I was reading about some of my ancestors in Canada traveling from Ontario and further west in covered wagons. I find all of that stuff fascinating!
This is the covered wagon–playground style. I actually used this in A Ghost of a Chance at Love, the story set in Salado, Texas. She sees it in the present day Salado, but when she wakes up in the past? It’s gone! Just think of all the things you’d miss in the past???
And here is a miniature covered wagon in front of the Stagecoach Inn. I love going to Salado. Some places make me feel I’m at home. Others, don’t. But when I go to Salado, I enjoy being there. So I wondered what it would be like to travel back in time, not a planned trip at all. A woman spends overnight at the Stagecoach Inn and finds her world turned upside down–murder, ghostly aberrations, (which several buildings there claim to have), a man in her bed who doesn’t belong, and who claims this is HIS room. All the modern day changes would be undone, and somehow she has to find her way home again. Not just home to Waco, Texas, but to the same time before she traveled to the past.
I write romances, so I can have the action, adventure, paranormal, ghostly stuff, but it’s still got to have romance. Soooo, every woman who ends up back in some distance time-travel past needs a guardian angel, right?
The ghost, and murder, and mysteries continue to haunt her. And there’s only one way to right the wrong. If she doesn’t get herself killed in the process.
Time Travel Ghostly Romance
The past clashes with the present, and one woman finds herself fighting for her own identity in the past so that she can have a future with the man she loves–but with her ancestor’s hold over her–Lisa Welsh and Jack Stanton only have a ghost of a chance at love.
Lisa Welsh only wishes to leave a messy divorce behind for a couple of days stay in Salado, Texas, but wakes to nightmares and a cowboy in her bed, and she has no earthly idea how he got there. But the situation gets worse when she wakes in the morning and learns she’s living in 19th Century Salado. Even more worrisome is the tall dark stranger and everyone else in town believes she’s some woman named Josephine Rogers. Only she’s supposed to be dead.
Jack Stanton can’t believe the clerk gave him an occupied room at the Shady Villa Inn, but worse, he was ready to ravage the woman in that bed—until he realized his mistake. Now the woman he thinks is Josephine, claims to be some other woman—and though he could never abide by Josephine’s fickle ways, this Lisa Welsh intrigues him like no other. Still, everybody in town believes her to be Josephine, and he steps in to help her find her way back home.
Murder, mystery, ties to family roots in the past, embezzlement and murder in the present, and a man she can’t get off her mind no matter what century it is, Lisa has no choice. She must solve the mysteries and face the troubles in her world and Jack’s or they will never be free to share the love that binds them across the ages.
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality.”
www.terryspear.com
I couldn’t resist this story setting so close to home, so I have it stashed away but moved up to the next in line. Maybe I can catch up on my reading when the cold days get here. I have never been to the Stagecoach Inn, but have driven by many times. Thanks, Terry
Ahh, Tom, you should go there. I used to with my mother all the time before she passed away. My kids never really cared for it. So after years of not going, I went with a friend last Christmas and she and I walked all over the place while I took pictures. I had never done that before, and it really is a step back in time. The old buildings made into shops, the old homes turned into bed and breakfasts, and the old car, buckboard, the old saws made into a wreath on red barn, art work in the knothole of a tree, bicycles welded to the top of a fence and so much more–just too much fun. 🙂 I’ll be blogging about more of it all week long. 🙂