One Book, One County!

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and Great Lakes speaker. She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has written three books about the Great Lakes [A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach *a Heartland Indie Bestseller*, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk *winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award*, and A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure]. To learn more about her work, or to book her as a speaker, go to http://LakeTrek.com

Van Buren County chose my first book

A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach

for their "One County, One Book" read this fall!

What an honor!

Hillary Berry, Librarian at the Paw Paw Library, greets the audience

I love talking about our Great Lakes

A nice audience gathered for this event

Thanks to Kazoo Books for selling my books at the event

Here I am flanked by the librarians in Van Buren County

Tales from the Book Tour: Clarkston School

A teacher contacted me from Clarkston, Michigan. She said that she had used my first book, A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach, as the basis for her ecology course at the Renaissance High School where she teaches.

"Can you come and speak to the students?" she asked.

Kathy Yeloushan, ecology teacher, introduces me to the group 

"Of course!" I replied. And that's how I met the  principal, teachers and students at Renaissance High School in Clarkston. The students were engaged during my presentation and they asked important questions about our Great Lakes.

Students check out the exhibits -- and my KEEN boots! -- from my adventures

 It is vital that the next generation care about our Great Lakes, so I was delighted with the interest these young people showed in my adventures and in our Great Lakes.

Kathy Yeloushan (left) with the curriculum she developed using my book 

These boots are made for HIKING!

While on my book tour, these boots travel with me. It's only fitting since they were with me for 700 miles of my last 1,000-mile adventure.

My 700-mile boots!

People come up to the boots at events, pick one up and turn them around to check the wear on the soles. 

"These look like they have a few miles left in them," they say.

"I still wear them. They're incredibly comfortable," I tell them.

It's only when you see them side-by-side with a new pair of the same model that you see how far they've travelled, how rocks and rain and mud and miles have transformed them.

New and old

Sole check

I only hike in Keen boots. 

And in these photos, I'm sure you can tell why.

They conform to my stride

Promotional consideration given

Interview on WXYZ-TV today!

A big thanks to Anu Prakash at WXYZ for the lovely interview this morning!

Tales from the BOOK TOUR...part 4

This has been a great month on my book tour.

Thank you to the Friends of Allen Park Library who hosted me last night at the Leo Paluch Retirement Center.



In this first photo, I'm with my Aunt Nancy's friend, Rita.



The second photo is with Malcolm Alestra and Marge.








The last photo is (left to right), my mom (Theresa Rugel) me, my Great Uncle Teddy, and Great Aunt Nancy.

As I expand my events to the east side of Michigan, I am meeting up with many people I know. You see, I spent the majority of my life living on the east side of the state in the greater metro Detroit area including a few years living in downtown Detroit while my husband studied at medical school and I got my Masters degree from Wayne State Univeristy.

The event in Allen Park was organized by my Great Aunt Nancy who volunteers for the Friends of Allen Park Libraries and I was honored to be introduced by her at the event.

I will do a book signing at a fundraiser for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on April 28th in Kalamazoo.

I have a packed schedule of events through the summer. Please check the sidebar here or Author Appearances page on my website: LakeTrek.com

I am thrilled to talk about Lake Michigan
with others who care about this Greatest of Lakes.

Lake Trek as Quest...

I'd like to thank Kathy Drue for her blog review of my book.

She illuminates the quest aspect of my adventure:

"Her heart called her on
a Big Quest,
and she didn’t refuse
its calling."

She had some lovely thoughts on answering the call of the quest for all of us.

You can read the entire review here: http://upwoods.wordpress.com/