Carlos asked Catherine Ryan Hyde:

Ms. Hyde, I have really enjoyed reading your books. Thank you for writing them. Recently I finished Take Me With You, and I found it quite moving and extremely well written. Did you travel through/around all the places that August and the kids went to in order to write such vivid descriptions? And just in general, how do you draw your inspiration for books like this one? What sparked the idea in this case?

Catherine Ryan Hyde Hi Carlos, I'm so glad you're enjoying the books. I have had a small motor home (the one I have now is more like a camper van) since 2006. I had already been to most of those places. Oddly, I had not yet been to Yellowstone when I wrote the bulk of the text. The plan had been to take my mother there for her 90th birthday, but she passed away about five weeks before that. I wrote the book, gave it to my agent and editor, took a trip to Yellowstone on my own while they read it, and told them I would come back and fill in lots more Yellowstone details during the developmental editing, which I did. I think the places themselves inspired the book. I was in search of characters who could travel to these places so I could share my feelings for them. As for August and the boys, I don't really know where their story came from. I never really do. These characters just seem to present themselves to me. Imagination is a curious thing.

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