Photographer ~ Author ~ Traveler
Hi my friends!
For those who live in the area – an invitation! Join us if you can! If you’ve seen me present on Roadtrip with a Raindrop before, this is changed up a bit with more emphasis on the natural world that the Mississippi River nurtures and sustains. It will include the video and a book signing. It’s FREE but you do need to call to register. Hope to see some of you there!
Love, Gayle
If you're a member of AAA and you live anywhere in the Midwest, the March/April issue of Midwest Traveler Magazine has likely just landed in your mailbox! The cover shot from the Charleston, Missouri, Dogwood Azalea Festival and the cover story that begins on page 21 is a recent assignment I completed for the publication about spring Flower Festivals around the Midwest. If you don't get the magazine, just click here and you can read it! Lots of FUN road trips for your Spring! PS - If you follow on Facebook, you know that I've just returned from a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, where I was LUCKY enough to be able to witness and photograph the current and rare formation of lava flow called a "fire hose." Stay tuned for a blog post here and I'll share some of that adventure with you! Have a great Monday!! Love, Gayle
Hello my friends!
I am thrilled to share this with you!
I AM HONORED TO BE WORKING FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC!
I have been hired to provide content and photographs for an amazing new travel-planning website about the Mississippi River. Here’s a sample – an essay and photos called “Local Voices.”
http://mississippiriver.natgeotourism.com/local-voices
The website is a massive project that has required 18 months of work and the efforts of hundreds of people and I am excited to be a part of it! Let me know what you think!
Gayle Harper
Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or for yourself (because you deserve it)… NOW, for a limited time, when you order your signed/personalized copy of the award-winning book Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River, you will also receive this set of four elegant 4×6 notecards (a $12 value) for FREE!
Not sure? Watch the Book Trailer here www.gayleharper.com
Then click on “Order Signed Copies.” During checkout, you can put in a name if you’d like the book inscription personalized, and your FREE set of notecards will be included. But don’t wait…this is for a LIMITED TIME only! www.gayleharper.com
Among the exciting things happening in 2016, there is this…I will do three 8-day cruises as Guest Artist/Presenter on the American Queen Steamboat on three different sections of the river.
She is the world’s largest steamboat, with a capacity for 436 overnight guests and is pure elegance from bow to stern. The food is spectacular, the people you meet are the absolute BEST and there is no more relaxing or intimate way to experience America’s greatest river. I really hope some of you will be there with us!
Here’s my dates… 
August 8th – 15th – cruising from Alton, IL to Red Wing, MN
September 5th – 12th – from New Orleans to Memphis
October 17th – 24th – from Alton, IL to Clarksville, TN
If you’d like to check it out, here’s their site http://www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com/
To help prepare for another amazing year, I had a bit of R&R with my husband, Mike. We visited a dear friend in San Antonio and went to a Mariachi Mass at the Mission San Jose, where folks have been worshipping since 1768. AND…we spent one glorious morning roaming back roads in the Texas Hill Country, where the wildflowers were like nothing I’ve ever seen before! So…I brought this back for you!
Happy Spring, my friends!
Xoxoxo, Gayle
Stay connected here…
Facebook www.facebook.com/GayleHarper.MississippiRiver
Twitter @riverroadwoman
Happy Holidays, my dear friends!
I remember well the moment I took this photo. I was bundled in boots, hat, gloves and multiple layers of jackets and I was FREEZING! I watched this great blue heron walking on the snow on those spindly little legs, wading in the frigid water and fishing, seemingly not the least bit uncomfortable. What a miracle, I thought! How does he do that?
Take some time this holiday season to appreciate the little miracles that are around you at all times. Whether your holidays are filled with fun and loved ones, or whether it might be a difficult time in some way, there are miracles waiting to be noticed. When we put our attention on them, a door opens to reveal the quiet Joy that never changes, but is always there in the midst of every experience, whether happy or sad. It is a silent, unchanging, causeless Joy that is present always, just below the surface of whatever is happening, waiting for us to notice.
My holiday wish for you is that countless tiny miracles touch your heart and make it sing!
Love, Gayle
Teeheehee! I asked my ever-amazing creative consultant, Linda Palmisano, to dress up our little raindrop for Christmas! Here she is to help with your shopping and tell you about the limited-time offer of FREE SHIPPING anywhere in the U.S. Copies of Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River will be signed by me and can include YOUR personal message. Just click here – gayleharper.com
I’ll be back soon to share some great NEWS!
Have a serendipitous day!
Gayle
I am THRILLED to announce that “Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River” by Gayle Harper is the winner of the GOLD MEDAL in the Travel Category of READERS’ FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD CONTEST!
This news caught me completely by surprise! As I’ve come to understand what this honor entails, it is even more of a thrill.
Soon, “Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River” will be sporting an embossed sticker like this one!
There will be an Awards Ceremony in Miami, in conjunction with the Miami Book Fair International, which is in its 32nd year and brings hundreds of thousands of readers, authors, publishers, and booksellers. Amazingly, I do have the dates open and I’m hoping to attend! (and it sounds like there will be a fleet of photographers there and photos will be made available to us – so I can share them with you!)
For now, a Book Review has been posted by Reader’s Favorite Reviewer, Jack Magnus, who gave it 5 Stars and had some wonderful comments. Here’s his ending sentences –
“Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River is an exceptionally good travel book that reads as smoothly as fiction and is filled with history, nature and the warmth and kindness of strangers soon to become friends. It’s a splendid read, and it’s most highly recommended.”
You can read the rest here if you like https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/roadtrip-with-a-raindrop And YOU can review and rate the book at the bottom in the “Comments” section if you like! (and I’m told that’s a great help for book buyers)
If you’re just joining this amazing journey of a raindrop, or if you’d like to see it again…GO HERE TO WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER https://gayleharper.com/
AND, if you aren’t already following on Facebook, please come on over – I’m posting photos, news and upcoming events! www.facebook.com/GayleHarper.MississippiRiver
THANK YOU, my friends, for all your enthusiasm and your LOVE – you are the soul of this adventure!
Love, Gayle
Hi friends!
If you live anywhere near Springfield, MO, this is especially for you.
Next Thursday, June 25th at 6:30 p.m. at the Library Center, will be the only hometown event scheduled for this year. (I’ll be on Book Tour on the road most of the rest of the year!) I would love to see YOU there! I’ll share the backstory of how “Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River” came to be, share the Multimedia Presentation that takes you on the journey – and I’ll be signing books. And, YES, if you have a book you would like signed, you are very welcome to bring it! A flyer with all the details is printed below!
If you can help to spread the word by sharing this post, printing the flyer or linking to the Facebook page www.facebook.com/GayleHarper.MississippiRiver that would be fabulous!
Want to see the Book Trailer that gives you a sample? Go here www.gayleharper.com
P.S. – As you may have heard, “Roadtrip…” is a FINALIST for “Book of the Year” in Foreword Review’s annual competition! The winners will be announced in just a few weeks now at the American Library Association’s annual conference in San Francisco. https://indiefab.forewordreviews.com/books/roadtrip-with-a-raindrop/ Cross your fingers!
Hope to see you soon!
Love, Gayle
Hello, my Friends!
I’ve got some VERY exciting news to share!
I have signed a contract to cruise on the Mississippi River aboard the American Queen Steamboat!
If you aren’t familiar, it is a stunningly gorgeous ship – the largest steamboat in the world, with a capacity for 436 overnight passengers! I’ll be an onboard presenter – sharing the adventures of our little raindrop with river-loving guests from all over the world.
I’ll be traveling with her from July 23 – 29 on the gorgeous piece of river between Dubuque, Iowa and St. Paul, Minnesota, and again on the return trip, presenting the Multimedia Slide Show and signing copies of “Roadtrip with a Raindrop: 90 Days Along the Mississippi River.”
Wanna come?? There will be incredible food, great shore excursions (they have buses and bikes at every port) a boatload of new friends and an opportunity to experience America’s greatest river in a very unique and special way! I just announced this on www.facebook.com/GayleHarper.MississippiRiver as well and it’s generating lots of excitement, comments and thoughts about coming along!
Check it out! It would be SO wonderful to have YOU there!
www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com
Xoxoxo, Gayle
The winners of this prestigious award will be announced in June at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference to be held in San Francisco. Keep your fingers crossed, my friends…but, whatever happens, I am humbled and honored to have it included as a Finalist!
ON THE ROAD
Second, I’ve just completed the first leg of the 2015 Book Tour and it is SO much fun! (Even though we got caught up in that last-gasp-of-winter snowstorm that surprised everyone.) We had to cancel a few things, but we will reschedule. This trip was to Southeast Missouri and included Multimedia Presentations and Book Signings in Charleston, Sikeston, Cape Girardeau and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Everywhere we were welcomed by warm, happy, open-hearted people. Sharing these stories is PURE JOY! There are lots of photos on the Author Facebook Page.
photo by Sikeston Standard Democrat
I’m filling in the schedule now for the rest of 2015, so if we haven’t been in touch yet and you would like to arrange something in your community, please message me through the “Contact” box at gayleharper.com. I’ll be posting the Schedule of Events on Facebook, so please do stay connected – I’d love to see you somewhere this year!
NEW BOOK TRAILER
Haven’t seen it yet? It’s on the website and on YouTube. It’s quick, fun and lively – check it out and please DO share it with anyone you like!
DO YOU HAVE YOUR COPY YET?
If not, you can order signed and/or personalized copies directly from me here. They are also available at Barnes & Noble stores along the Mississippi River and online and on Amazon.
And, if you could take just a moment to write a “Customer Review” on Amazon and/or B&N it would be SO appreciated! Readers DO value your opinion – and it makes no difference where you bought your copy!
EVENTS IN THE OZARKS
FINALLY, if you happen to be in the Ozarks region, here’s two events coming up very soon…
This Saturday, 3/21 Book Signing at Barnes & Noble in Springfield, MO – 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. Details here https://www.facebook.com/events/608883579242810/
Thursday, 3/26 Noon – 2:00 p.m. A very special event at Chateau on the Lake in Branson! Join us for an Author Luncheon and presentation of the new Multimedia Show taking you on the roadtrip of a lifetime! Details here https://www.facebook.com/events/1048675155148123/
Chateau on the Lake at Sunrise photo (c) Gayle Harper
Stay tuned, my friends! It’s going to be a very fun year!
Love, Gayle