Author Carol Alford is a retired teacher who continues to substitute teach in the Fort Collins, Colorado area. She grew up on the family land where four generations of Michie’s farmed. She and her late husband traveled with their motor home to every state on the mainland of the U.S., plus Canada and Mexico. Spending twenty-one winters in Mexico, endeared her to the country and its people and inspired her to write the fictional work, La Espina, The Thorn. Carol continues to write other stories, poems, and the history of the country school district which she attended. She is writing her memoir entitled Country Roads. Carol also juggles her time entertaining great-grandchildren, singing in choirs and volunteering with her church and her university alma mater. She holds both a B.S. and an M.S. from Colorado State University.