What do Mother Theresa, Nelson
Mandella, and ThreeOlBags have in common?
They each received a visit from Steve Zikman, co-author of
Chicken Soup for the Traveler’s Soul.
Zikman is a world traveler who has been to more than fifty
countries on six continents. The
Washington Post defines him as “the man who wrote the book on
wanderlust”.
Garden City residents Sandra
Campbell, Sharon Hegwood, and Linda Sparkman are three friends who
collaborate on writing travel articles under the pen name ThreeOlBags.
That’s because four times a year they pack their ol’ bags and
hit the road to visit, photograph, and write travel articles about
places of interest in our Great Lake State and beyond!
Recently Campbell received an
email from Zikman regarding his plan to tour America this summer for the
Chicken Soup series. He was
looking for local invitations, to get a candid glimpse of life in
America coast to coast.
Campbell
introduced Zikman to ThreeOlBags in an e-mail response and promised him
her Italian lasagna, Hegwood’s secret family recipe Swedish Rye bread
and Sparkman’s home-made apple strudel, if he chose to visit Garden
City. How could he resist?
ThreeOlBags were pleasantly surprised when Zikman wrote back to
say the tour would be in the Detroit area on Memorial Day, and he wanted
to meet them
Zikman
left New York City on May 4th for the cross-country tour.
His plan is to visit 23 states, finishing up in Santa Monica,
California this August.
The
Chicken Soup tour is an effort to celebrate the joys of travel and
encourage Americans to explore our great land.
In addition, Zikman is promoting CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE
TRAVELER’S SOUL with book signings and press releases across the
country.
Zikman
is traveling with Tony and Cathy Cirocco, full-time RV’ers who are
part of the promotional tour. The
couple transports a supply of CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE TRAVELER’S SOUL
books, organizes book signing displays, maintains a web page dedicated
to the tour and provides Zikman with support and camaraderie.
Tony
drives the 37 foot Coachman RV with a big yellow chicken painted on the
side. You may have spotted
it in the area. Because the
RV can be difficult to maneuver on side streets, they parked it at the
Meijer’s parking lot in Westland and drove a yellow, chicken decorated
Ford Escape, nicknamed the “little chicken”, to their visit with
ThreeOlBags.
Zikman
and the Cirocco’s arrived in Garden City on Memorial Day for the first
hospitality stop of their tour. ThreeOlBags
and their families provided an old-fashioned bar-b-que featuring all
their promised dishes, and a good sized helping of Midwest hospitality
They
swapped travel stories and plans for the future.
Zikman is looking forward to some “down time” while he tours
Asia after the Chicken Soup assignment.
ThreeOlBags are working on a children’s book, ThreeOlBags on the Road. Zikman
also gave ThreeOlBags a little homework.
He asked them to read The Artist’s Way and to individually submit stories to Chicken
Soup for possible inclusion in a future edition
ThreeOlBags have found literary
success by combining their strengths to produce travel articles.
Campbell is the research person and rough draft writer for
ThreeOlBags. She does
behind the scenes work and finds opportunities online for the trio. Hegwood is the photographer/PR person for the Bags.
Her artistic eye brings creativity to the group.
Sparkman is editor for ThreeOlBags. Her sense of leadership keeps
them on track. The real
motive behind the group’s success is their quest for fun.
This chance to meet with a Chicken Soup editor added one more
delightful page to their scrapbook
.
Chicken
Soup publishers are already collecting stories for TRAVELER’S SOUL II.
So, if you have a story that might fit the bill, visit www.chickensoup.com
and submit your own article. Maybe
you will be the next published author from our area.
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