CREATING COMMUNITY

What does your community look like? Parents. Friends. Neighbors. Spouses. For each of us, community means something different. For us, it's connecting with people everywhere we go.

Aug 03, 2023

Hello Friends, Old and New!

We packed a lot into a month. We were in Salt Lake City and had events at REI and Barnes & Noble Sugarhouse. We hiked, rode bikes and stayed with old friends. We took a side trip to LaGrande to see our friends, Nate and Mandee, get hitched. We stayed with our friend Kayla, and had time to go for runs and relax. Back in Salt Lake City, I signed a stack of books at The King’s English Bookstore (thank you to all the people that came by to chat with us at the store).

Next we drove east to Edwards and stayed with our friend, Sara, who we had met while bike packing in New Zealand. We packed in multiple hikes, listened to a local band play in Beaver Creek, signed the single copy of ‘Joy Ride’ left at The Bookworm Bookstore and were interviewed on Vail Valley Live. We spent a night in Denver with an old friend we met in Guatemala (2010) after a packed event at the REI Flagship in Denver. Leaving the mountains, we continued east to Kanas City and stayed almost a week with Josh and Sheryl. They took us to a Royals baseball game, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, multiple breweries and even baked pizza, bagels and sourdough bread. We give the Stein AirB&B five stars on Trip Advisor! We will see you Sept. 10th at Sunflower Outdoor & Bike in Lawrence, Kansas.

After an event at REI and Barnes & Noble in Kansas City, we drove to Iowa City where we were reunited with our friend, Alex, from Portland. As 60,000 people cycled across Iowa for RAGBRAI, we signed books at Fin&Feather Outdoor Store ahead of an event at Prairie Lights Bookstore, where over thirty people attended. We made a stop in Minneapolis for an event at the Flagship REI in Bloomington, visited Mall of America (this place is over the top) and drove to Milwaukee for an event at Boswell Books. And Milwaukee really showed up!

‘Joy Ride’ was #1 in paperback non-fiction at Boswell Books for two weeks after my book was featured in the Boswell Books Newsletter. The morning of my event, we were interviewed on The Morning Blend and walked into Boswell Books to a crowd of nearly 100 people! It was incredible. Thank you Milwaukee and Boswell Books. Next stop? Magers & Quinn Bookstore in Minneapolis August 10th at 7pm. Please come support us, we would love to see you!

Gratitude

We wanted to send you a ‘Thank You’, from the bottom of our hearts, for following our journey and your continued support. As adventurers, connecting with people along our journeys (whether cycling, hiking, sailing or on this book tour) is what we live for and we are grateful for all of you who have come out to support us at events, housed us, bought a copy of Joy Ride, or kept in touch with us along the way.

Finding each other has been our greatest discovery, and getting to do these adventures together brings us so much joy. When so much kindness and generosity has been shown to us along the way, we believe for it to continue, it must be shared. That is why we are committed to sharing our story in schools, community centers, businesses, bookstores and so on. It is why we are on this book tour. To give back. It was also the sole reason I wrote ‘Joy Ride’. To inspire others. So, thank you, everyone, for all your generosity and kindness. We are inspired by all of you and will do our best to continue to share the message of kindness.

How You Can Help

This ‘Book Tour’ and adventure is 100% self-supported. We need your help to share the message of kindness. Hearing what you think of the book means a lot to us, and does a lot to support us and the book. If you’ve read ‘Joy Ride’ and have a moment to share your thoughts, you can leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. If you enjoy the book, please tell others about it. Are you in a book club? Consider picking it as your month’s ‘pick’. Download a Reader’s Guide for book club discussions HERE. Do you write for a magazine, know someone who works in media, or host a podcast? Reach out to us! Please share the book on socials and tell others what you think. Small acts of kindness become big acts of greatness and we thank you for your help!