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This is another image that may be useful to people who live near Rocky Flats or in the Denver metro area.

Readers have asked me to post the chart showing the plume from the devastating 1957 fire at Rocky Flats. Two years after this fire, the surrounding area showed an increase in childhood leukemia and other cancers and health effects. Contamination from the 1969 Mother’s Day fire followed a similar path.

Audience response to the section of Full Body Burden about the 1969 Mother’s Day fire.

The May 11, 1969 “Mother’s Day” fire at Rocky Flats brought the Denver metro area to the brink of a catastrophic nuclear accident, and sent a radioactive cloud over the entire area. Residents were not warned or evacuated, and even after the fire, few people were aware of how devastating the fire was, and its long-term consequences for the Denver area. Later, tests by the DOE and independent scientists confirmed plutonium contamination as far away as 30 miles from the plant.

At Powell’s bookstore. A great crowd, with good questions. The story of Rocky Flats is not just about Colorado. It’s a story that’s happening all over the country at places like Hanford, the Savannah River site, and many more. People who live near former nuclear weapons sites, current radioactive/toxic storage sites, and nuclear power plants have the same concerns: how is the environment being affected? What does this mean for my health, and the health of my family? Can I trust the government and the private corporations who manage these sites to tell me the truth?

At Collected Works bookstore

It was such a treat to read at Collected Works in Santa Fe, a long-time favorite bookstore, and afterwards go out for blue corn enchiladas and margaritas.

At Collected Works in Santa Fe

Great crowd, with great questions.

With Daniel Ellsberg at Book Passage

One of the big highlights of my book tour–and certainly one of the highlights of my life–was to be introduced by Daniel Ellsberg at my reading at Book Passage in Corte Madera (San Francisco area). Afterwards we had lunch and a lengthy talk. It was a great honor and pleasure to spend time with such an extraordinary person. Rocky Flats was a big part of Ellsberg’s life and work.

I also had the great pleasure to spend a little time with my dear friend Molly Giles, a wonderful novelist and director of the MFA program at the University of Arkansas. (She believed in my book from the very first paragraph; she is a great inspiration to me!) Andy Ross joined us, too. I first met Andy at the San Miguel de Allende writers conference, where we shared a little tequila and talked about writers and writing. Andy was owner and manager of Cody’s Books in Berkeley for almost thirty years, and now has his own literary agency.

The best thing about a book tour is connecting with readers, writers, and friends!