Jeremy and Stephanie Puglisi know more than a thing or two about camping, road-tripping and the reality of spending stretches of time traveling the country in an RV with their three kids. They’ve spent more than a thousand nights at hundreds of campgrounds around the country.
The co-creators of the RV Atlas, their RV Atlas Podcast episodes have earned more than 4 million downloads and regularly appear in the What’s Hot section of iTunes. From authentic campground reviews, camp cooking tips, gear reviews and more, each episode is unique. The RV Atlas blog is filled with helpful tips for campers with posts like, “Weekend Warrior French Toast (+Bonus Dessert “Recipe”), Kids and Campground Safety: Tips for Having Fun and Keeping Safe and 12 Quick Tips for Gaining Confidence as a New RV Owner.
With the success of their first book, “Where Should We Camp Next?” — an essential planning guidebook for family-friendly RV or camping trips featuring more than 300 of the best camping and glamping spots in the USA — Jeremy and Stephanie continued this theme for their newest book, “Where Should We Camp Next? National Parks“
“We are lucky to have a great publisher, a great editor, and a great agent,” said Jeremy.
“The first Where Should We Camp Next? book has sold well and we enjoyed writing it, so writing a follow-up was a no-brainer. We have spent a ton of time in our National Parks in the last decade, so writing a book about camping in and around our national parks was really in our wheelhouse. ‘Where Should We Camp Next? National Parks’ also fills a hole in the marketplace. There isn’t another book like this one.”
Sharing moments of wonder
For the Puglisi family, the moments that stick out the most while traveling and exploring are when they share moments of wonder and awe with their children Max, Theo, and Wes.
“Getting stuck in several Bison Jams in Lamar Valley in Yellowstone was absolutely astonishing,” said Jeremy. “Even though we stayed safely in our car, for a brief moment it felt like we left our world and entered theirs.”
Another memorable experience the Puglisi family had was experiencing a 10-mile hike out to Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park.
“Our youngest son Wes was only five at the time — and he did the entire hike on his own two feet —which made us quite proud,” said Jeremy.
“But beyond that, the beauty of this hike was just ravishing — Glacier truly is the ‘Crown of the Continent.’ We are eternally grateful that we were able to experience this park with our children while they were young.”
Other top moments of boots-on-the-ground research required much less exertion. The Puglisi family spent a magical day tidepooling and relaxing at Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park.
“We are beach people that love national parks,” added Jeremy. “So, putting those two things together in places like Acadia and Olympic is our family’s love language.”
Time management for Jeremy and Stephanie was the biggest challenge while doing research in and off the field and writing “Where Should We Camp Next? National Parks”
“The last two months leading up to a book deadline are always stressful and frantic. We have not overcome this challenge yet so I’ll get back to you on that one.”
Advise for other writers
Jeremy offered up some advice for someone with a book idea to encourage them to move forward.
“Get writing! No excuses. You will improve your craft and become a better writer whether you sell your project to a publisher or not. There are great options for self-publishing right now as well.”
Also, Jeremy said to think of the book content you are creating as being usable across many platforms.
“As you write the book can you also do a podcast with the material? Start a YouTube channel? Sell some of the chapters as magazine pieces? Great content should be usable, and monetizable, across a variety of platforms — if it is not, then maybe it’s not great content,” he said.