Please send all media inquiries to [email protected]
For further information about Going Gypsy, click here
See David & Veronica’s media appearances here
For Immediate Release:
GOING GYPSY
One Couple’s Adventure from Empty Nest to No Nest at All
By David and Veronica James
GOING GYPSY: One Couple’s Adventure from Empty Nest to No Nest at All by David and Veronica James (Skyhorse/February 3, 2015/$16.95) turns the tables on the midlife crisis. Faced with the inevitable “now what?” moment as their last kid left home, David and Veronica came up with a radical choice: why be the ones left behind? Why choose to be afflicted with empty nest syndrome when they could sell that nest? Let someone else convert the extra bedroom into a craft room—David and Veronica were going to go out and discover themselves decades after their vows. Funny and irreverent, their chronicle of their first year of leaving home for good is told in alternating chapters, each in either David’s or Veronica’s distinctive voice.
In what David admits freely was a bit of a bait and switch, he sells Veronica, the ultimate homebody, on the idea of hitting the road with the notion of swapping the family home now too far from all three kids for real estate opportunities closer to the youngest one’s college. Once they were on the road, he thought the sense of adventure around the corner, down the back roads to the next town, would be too hard to resist; this kind of attitude was, after all, what had been part of their earliest years together, before kids. But could a homebody helicopter mom learn to let go of her heartstrings and house keys all at once?
They start purging a lifetime of possessions down to what would be essential to keep or carry. They find a used RV on eBay, and they hit the road. From face-to-face encounters with wild bison while on bicycles, to lessons learned in a Walmart parking lot, to a hilariously mistake-riddled side trip to Italy, they encounter all the sights David wanted to see and Veronica wished they could have lingered over while conquering fears, renewing bonds, and transforming relationships with children from parent-child to adult-to-adult. Both authors are gifted observers—of situations, landscapes, and those they encounter along the way—and the ten thousand miles they log in on the back roads fly by.
As the trip meant to last a few months stretched out longer and longer and the bargain-priced used RV showed no signs of breaking down, the Jameses realized they had found more than just a bridgeway adventure; they had created a new life. Creating a website initially to find out who else was on the road with them, they found a growing and receptive tribe of kindred spirits also looking to outlive the notion of empty nest syndrome. Now confirmed travelers, they write about their travels on their website, GypsyNester.com, which has received over 30 million hits, and have become signature contributors on the Huffington Post’s Post50 and Travel verticals.
Filled with insights and photos from along the way (“The World’s Largest Rocking Chair” and more) and enlivened by banter between two people who have figured out how to make their differences work, GOING GYPSY is a joyous celebration of family, letting go, and finding yourself anew.
About the Authors
David James was born in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up on the prairie and in the mountains of Colorado. He made his way in the music business as a performer, recording artist, songwriter, and radio personality in Nashville, Tennessee, and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. After parenting and sending three kids out into the big wide world, he currently lives with his bride of thirty years, Veronica, in a state of perpetual motion. The couple writes about their travels since becoming empty nesters on their popular website, GypsyNester.com.
Veronica James was born and raised in Southern California and was like, totally, a Valley Girl. Against any sane person’s better judgment, she ran off with a musician at age eighteen. After procreating, she became Earth Mama, then Helicopter Mom, hovering over every detail of her children’s lives. Veronica has held approximately thirty-three different jobs including writer. She is never bored.
GOING GYPSY
One Couple’s Adventure from Empty Nest to No Nest at All
By David and Veronica James
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Publication date: February 3, 2015
Price: $16.95, paperback, with 100 color photos
ISBN: 978-1-62914-735-2
Also available as an ebook and an audiobook
Please send all media inquiries to [email protected]
For further information about Going Gypsy, click here
