Heidi Across America, part 3(ish) - slow travel book tour

slow travel
Written By Heidi Beierle
 
Heidi Beierle smiling at the end of the Amtrak platform in Galesburg, IL. Yellow weeks stand by the end of the platform under the station sign, some train cars are stopped on the tracks behind the sign. The sky is pale blue.

Slow travel spontaneity delivered a highlight in small town Galesburg, Illinois. I was largely traveling by train and walking with my books and bike helmet on my back. Overnight train kit and overflow items were in the red bag on front.

 

Dear Friend,

When I began the Heidi Across America slow travel, bike-book tour in May, I had no idea what the next six-plus months had in store. It’s been a year of epic transformation, of stepping into the author world and discovering what's there.

Themes from Heidi Across America carried through the year – the kindness of strangers, love for America, relating with generosity to my tender inner self, and connecting with people heart to heart. The year’s adventure was built around collaboration. I grew through these engagements and receiving what others so generously offered, and for all these gestures, gifts, celebrations, and aid, I am profoundly grateful.

The end of year holidays (Happy New Year!) have offered a welcome time to be at home and rest. I realize through many attempts to write this email, that I don’t have an easy summation of the transformation I experienced this year. I’m still in it.

Since August, I enjoyed in-person events at:

Success and visibility/localism tension

 
Yellow banner of People's Book. WABA board member Peter Gray speaks to the gathered group. Author Heidi Beierle sits in a yellow chair next to a table with her book.

Peter Gray sharing a few words about WABA. He and Christopher Marston, who championed my idea to pedal to the Preserving the Historic Road conference in Washington, DC, were instrumental in the success of my event at People's Book Takoma Park. Photo courtesy of Thom Wolf.

 

Everyone has a different measure of success. I’m in a place lately where it’s easy to enjoy success. It’s like finding beauty in the world. The more I practice seeing it, the more is there.

As a debut author, I also have a lot to learn. I’ve experienced beautiful successes, like the fabulous turnout at People’s Book Takoma Park organized by WABA, and I’ve also struggled in other areas. The struggles are nothing to get in a funk over, it’s the learning process. As another debut author friend reminds me, successes stand on a heap of rejections.

 
Heidi Across America cover with CICA Journey Overcoming Adversity Non-Fiction FINALIST with a yellow spotlight and gold confetti

Chanticleer International Book Awards announce winners at their Author's Conference in early April. Heidi Across America is in the final list of competitors. FINALIST feels like my golden buzzer!

 

​​Slow travel is the travel version of localism. I value the experiences I have in the communities I visit, and if you’ve read my book, you know that I make a point of buying things when I’m there. I don’t need all the books I bought this year, but it means a lot to me to support the bookstores, authors and communities where I bought them.

I was delighted with my experience in Galesburg, Illinois, where I stopped because there was an Airbnb a short walk from the downtown train station AND a local bookstore, Wordsmith Bookshoppe, that was willing to have me drop in for a pop-up author event! As you might guess, I didn’t draw a crowd, but that didn’t matter because a crowd isn’t how I measure success (although a crowd is a success!). I loved the connection with the bookstore, my Airbnb host, and the curious teen who wants to be a writer and understood the opportunity of speaking with a published author. The experience was personal, intimate, and magical. A few weeks later, I received an email from the Henderson County Library in Biggsville, Illinois, inviting me to come to their community for National Library Week in April. Of course, I said yes!

Now that I’m home and all the activity from the year has subsided, I worry that my book isn’t selling because it’s not particularly visible on Amazon. I understand now why my publisher said something like, “Authors ignore Amazon to their detriment.” Happily, there are a few things you can do to help me with this if you feel so moved.

Please help me gain visibility on Amazon

  • Search for Heidi Across America on Amazon from time to time.

If you've read or listened to my book and haven't already done the following, please:

  • Write a review. This doesn't have to be long. And if you're not able to post on Amazon, Goodreads works.

  • Rate my book (especially if a review isn't for you).

Support your local bookseller!

In my various travels, these are stores where my book is or has been on the shelf:

2024 slow travel book tour highlights

If you missed the first part of the tour or would like a refresh, here’s the first recap, and here’s the second recap, which includes a map graphic that shows how I reached Kansas City, MO, which is where the map below picks up.

Tour map that begins in Missouri then: Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington. Sand Creek Massacre Natl Historic Site, Baca Natl Wildlife Refuge, Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Great Basin NP, Pony Express Natl Hist Trail...

From late July to mid-August, Barney and I slow traveled from Kansas City, MO to Bellingham, WA. Then, I traveled solo by train to book events at a) Seattle REI and b) Arriving by Bike, Eugene.

Hello daisies in the foreground, green hills with evergreens in the middle ground with the arc of a trail, and blue mountains under a cloudless blue sky day

Colorful Colorado

Heidi Beierle with a hat and purple hood up. Her hair is flying everywhere. Blue sky in the background. Red play button.

Skydiving at Great Sand Dunes National Park - hah!

 
Blue sky, blue mountains, a line of white in the distance, and the foreground and middle ground is all brown sagebrush.

Salt flats in the distance - Great Basin, Nevada

 

Route 50 through Nevada is called the Loneliest Road in America. There are few towns and hardly anyone out on the roads. What I didn't realize until we stopped at Middlegate was that the stone ruins I'd seen on the roadside are what remains of the Pony Express and stage coach route stops. National Historic Landmark Patee House, which was originally a grand hotel, served as Pony Express headquarters and is located in St. Joseph, MO - the red dot on the above map north of Kansas City.

A glowingly blue image with some small evergreens. Crater Lake looks round with a rim of mountains.

Crater Lake National Park

Heidi Beierle giving a book talk in a forested area to a group of women in camp chairs.

Cycle Oregon's Joyride camp. Varied ride lengths matched our pleasures with all-road and road/gravel routes. Photo by Katie Sox.

​Cycle Oregon Joyride is summer camp for women and non-binary folks. It was loads of fun with clinics, bike rides, sparkle dance party, and a podcast discussion with Marley Blonskey of All Bodies on Bikes, Kelsey Long of We Run Long, and Lisa Congdon, artist and cyclocross racer.

Map of the US with a flight from Seattle to Columbus and train travel between Austin, TX and Washington, DC.

The 2024 Heidi Across America slow travel book tour from mid-September through October.

a bricked walkway with flags hanging and some green planters. Tables with books on them line the walkway.

Book Loft German Village

Photo of The slow traveller. Features an image of a woman standing in front of still water.

The slow traveller by Jo Tinsley​

I was so excited to find Tinsley's book in Columbus, OH (comp title for my next book!). In it, I learned there's such a thing as cross-country swimming. Have you heard of this?

 
A bearded man wearing a yellow OBF cycling jersey at a table and booth display. Heidi Across America books are on the table.

The state with the most miles of connected trails in the U.S. is OHIO.

 

Chuck Smith, Chair of the Ohio Bicycle Federation (OBF), invited me to join the OBF booth at Cycle-Con, a recumbent trike expo, held in the Dayton area. I loved the opportunity to interact with people drawn to recumbent trikes. Dayton is also home to the Wright brothers, who built bicycles before they became famous for flying.

 

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail connects the train station, which is no longer served by trains, to other areas of the city via walking and biking paths.

Slow travel encourages detours, side trips, and following recommendations from locals. An Indianapolis local told me about this little park, The Idle - A Point of View. His description tickled me, and I explored it on my way to the train station the next morning. It embodies the local driving culture and is comically apt for slow travel, too.

 
Heidi Beierle with a hat on and a purple hood up talking. Red play button.

Let's discover Idle Point

 

Riding the train is a beautiful way to slow travel. Train travel is accessible, humane, and produces far less pollution per traveler than flying or driving. If you're not already a train traveler, I encourage you to try it. Check out my blog post for 10 tips to slow travel the U.S. by train and a peek into my Amtrak experiences this summer.

Author Heidi Beierle standing next to an Amtrak staff person holding Heidi Across America

The cafe car attendant on the overnight trail from Chicago to Washington, DC, hadn't slept much in four days, but he treated me as royalty.

Author Heidi Beierle in a cap standing in front of a mural with cattle in downtown Ft. Worth Texas with marigolds and pumpkins in the background

I rode the train to Ft. Worth, TX. I used bike share for the first time and discovered a unique smell that surfaced memories from 25 years ago.

I had the good fortune of being featured on varied platforms (visit my media page for additional features) and by people doing amazing work in the world related to women and slow travel.

I loved the opportunity presented by Shepherd to recommend five titles similar to Heidi Across America. It took me a while to settle on "Slow travel adventure stories by women who aren't New York Times bestsellers," but in the process, I made beautiful discoveries browings in bookstores across the U.S. and read some excellent books. One of the books, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, expanded the way I thought about slow travel to include people whose mobility limitations prevent them from going outdoors.

For the Oregon Outdoor Recreation Summit, I reached out to Oregon authors and publishers whose titles emphasize relationships and/or interactions with place and the outdoors. A collaboration joy!

 
A table with books and other materials displayed: Heidi Across America by Heidi Beierle; Ground Truth and Wilderness and the American Spirit by Ruby McConnell; Palm Trees, Volcanoes and Privilege by Liz Prato; Trust Me by Scott Nadelson

At the Oregon Outdoor Recreation Summit, I collaborated with Overcup Press, Forest Avenue Press, and Microcosm Publishing.

 

Bring Heidi to your community

I encourage you to request Heidi Across America from your local library. If you participate in a book club, writing group, cycling/walking club, women’s group, or community group and would like to discuss Heidi Across America, slow travel, or writing and publication, please be in touch. I’d love to do an in-person or virtual event.

Thank you to my sponsors Terry Bicycles, CLEAN.FIT box, Adventure Cycling Association, my publisher HCI Books, my publicist PR by the Book, and the many people and organizations who have been part of my tour in small and big ways!

Writing and slow travel experiences

  • ​(Re)writing Masculinity - An online memoir workshop taught by Brian Benson and geared toward male-identified writers interested in telling better, deeper, more curious stories about your life and experience of masculinity. Applications due January 5.

  • ​Generating the Personal Essay - Overcome decision fatigue and get words on the page with Brian Benson. January 6-February 10. Weekly, online.

  • ​The Narrative Project - Set yourself free to write the book you know you need to write. The Psychology of Writing, January 14-16; Phoenix Lessons (6 months) set up meeting January 27.

  • ​Attic Institute - many classes and workshops online and in-person in Portland, Oregon. Some with registration and application deadlines as early as January 4.

  • ​Todos Santos Writers Workshop - Write and treat yourself to Mexico in February or Paris in May. Todos Santos, Baja Sur, Mexico, February 1-8. Paris, France, May, 19-24.

  • ​Come to Your Senses - Awaken yourself and your writing for a week in the south of France with Karen Karbo. Reserve your spot now for 2025. June 8-13; August 31-September 5. Visiting writers include: Ann Hood, Chelsea Cain, Natalie Serber, Jeanne McCulloch.

  • ​Sara Connell - Build your audience, book speaking gigs, monetize your mission, get your book out (there). Various online and in-person events throughout the year.

  • ​Corporeal Writing - writing workshops and other creative labs. In-person, online, short, long, sliding scale. There's something for everyone.

  • ​Forward Motion Consulting - Carolyne Whelan works 1-on-1 with cyclists, hikers, and travelers to turn their journal notes and newsletters into works of art their readers can’t put down.

  • ​Karen Richter of Cohesive Outcomes/Confident by Nature offers regular zoom-based Forest Bathing experiences and a Costa Rica Awakening Aliveness retreat November 9-16.

OMG, that was an eyeful! Thank you for finding your way to the end of this message. I am grateful for you.

Much gratitude and love,
Heidi

Heidi Beierle

Writer, artist, adventurer and creepy crawly lover based in Bellingham, Washington.

Author of Heidi Across America - One Woman’s Journey on a Bicycle Through the Heartland.

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