Green Goddess Glamping: A Big Step for My Little Camping Book

I realized this winter that I had written quite a few articles about the adventurous life and camping times of Rustic Trail Teardrop Camper (RTTC) owners. Since my first travel trailer was a Polar Bear model from the RTTC brand, my first steps into the tiny trailer world was by interacting with owners of other RTTC trailers, mostly on the Facebook group Rustic Trail Teardrops and Friends.

In the three years that my wife and I camped with our Polar Bear, the "Green Goddess," quite a few changes occurred.

I started this camping blog, Green Goddess Glamping.
The founding owner of RTTC sold the business to another family, of which one married couple of the larger family owned an RTTC Kodiak.
The Polar Bear model has been discontinued while the company considers a re-design.
I wrote quite a few owner profiles and travelogues about RTTC trailers.

Winter here in Iowa is downtime for camping--if not because of the sub-zero temperatures then certainly because of the ice. I decided to use that quiet time and to compile RTTC blog articles into a book, titled RTTC Bears in the Wild. Selecting the articles most appropriate for a book, articles that provided the most variety and snap (and which also had access to photographs), I rewrote articles, adding new material when possible--and the result is a great little book with twelve chapters, color photos, and a bunch of happy tiny trailer campers who share what they've learned and experienced. One of the insights I had while compiling the book is that there are many tiny camper brands, and even though this book is about just one brand, the experiences of the owners when they traveled and camped illustrated the joys and challenges that most of us have when we camp, no matter what camper brand or model we own.

This week marks an achievement point because I was able to upload the book, get it approved by Kindle Direct Publishing, and I have ordered one copy for my author's proof so that, book in hand, I can really look over the product that readers will be purchasing. If the actual paper book has the quality that the virtual book proof indicates, then I'll share the link to the purchase site with those folks who read my blog so they can purchase a copy if they want to.

I'm also working on the ebook version of RTTC Bears in the Wild. Mostly that means that I want to ensure that the table of contents is linked for easy access to the chapters. The paper book contains color photographs, which raises the printing costs significantly, but having only black and white photos just took a lot of joy out of the book. After all, those Green Goddess photos would be gray with a black-and-white printing, and the "Gray Goddess" wasn't very motivating for me.

I'll keep you tuned in on the progress of the book toward online purchase, but for right now, here is a list of the book's chapter titles.

Why Such a Tiny Trailer?
Pacific Coast Tiny Trailer Meander
Rustic Ozark Trails
Old Is Gold: Iowa’s 2nd Oldest State Park
The Traveling Teardrop Sisters
The Koala Bear Fills a Niche
A Walk on the Quiet Side
Tiny Teardrop Art
Off to the Maritimes
Kicks on Route 66
Walking the Tiny Trailer Talk
To the Carolinas and Back

I want to continue writing books about camping, about experiencing the rewards of being in nature, and about wonderful people who camp and their experiences. This book is a great beginning and a testament to all the adventures I experienced these last three camping seasons. More news later!