As an early birthday present, I took my nearly 17 year old son Joe to meet one of his heros on Thursday - Dog the Bounty Hunter (Duane Chapman) has written a book,
You Can Run But You Can't Hide, about his life. He was at Bookends in Ridgewood NJ last week signing the book, so we went. What an adventure.
We bought the book, and got in line about 2:30. (yes, brought the beach chair and snacks). We were in front of the store next to Bookends at that point. Between 3 and 4, the line got much longer, going around the block. By 5:30 it was snaking around, several blocks long. And by 7 - well, I don't know, I am wondering how they could sign all those books in such a short time.
Here is a picture of Joe with his hero:
Dog and Beth did not have time for chit chat because the crowd was huge. I think Ridgewood expected a crowd, but this was so huge it exceeded their expectations. The police were great, and the store people were really wonderful. It really was ALMOST better than a day at the beach (for me, anyway, the kid was thrilled)
The Chapmans first met with a group of people who were in wheelchairs, as they could not go down the stairs to the booksigning room. They spent time chatting with them. Then the store let about 20 people at a time in. I was concerned about being pushed, as I was using a cane to balance myself after recent surgery. Several people also had canes and walkers. But everything was incredibly safe and orderly when we were there.
We met some lovely people in line - some had come from as far away as Pennsylvania, driving 5 or 6 hours to get there and then waiting in line. It was a real mix of ages, men, women, etc. A real mix of types of people too. I felt sorry for some of the little ones who came late - they went in with their parents, bought the book and then went to the end of the line and kept going going going. You really have to plan something like this. It was nice for my son, because he got to meet some people who were retired law enforcement - and that is the career he is interested in, only military.
Ridgewood NJ is kind of an upscale American Dream sort of place, and attracts the type of shopper who is affluent, knows what she wants, expects the service you don't get in a mall, and is very well coiffed and dressed. It was funny to have some of these ladies stopping, staring at the line, asking "what is this for?" and then shaking their heads and going about their business, many of them never having heard of the Dog. But there were lots of teens from the area who really knew their stuff!
Beth is way prettier in person than on the show. I always thought that on the show she looked like Mae West on steroids, but in person she is really very pretty. He looks the same as on TV, only he is really tall. I think they are both really larger than life kind of people, a very interesting experience, and my son was thrilled.
Now my son wants to go shopping for a vault to secure his autographed treasure.
God help me if John Walsh of AMW does a booksigning here. I will have to do this all over again.
Dog the Bounty Hunter booksigning - WE HAD FUN!
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