Author Irene Rawlings of Denver, Colo., first met the Sisters on the Fly a decade ago when she was writing a book called Portable Houses (2004).
“I was driving along a back country road one day and passed this line of brightly decorated vintage trailers,” said Rawlings. “I immediately made a U-turn.” After meeting, and subsequently interviewing, Maurrie Sussman (Sister #1) for the Portable Houses book, Rawlings approached her publisher with the idea of a separate book about these unique women.
Over the next few years Rawlings, herself an avid fly fisher, went on trips, sipped wine around evening campfires, and talked with dozens of women while researching Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campfires, and Tales from the Road, 2010 (Andrews McMeel).
“There is special camaraderie among these women,” said Rawlings (Sister #1322). “That is the magic.”
“Women are caregivers and usually do not spend a lot of time on themselves,” she observed. “This is a place where for a few glorious, warm and sun-filled days, incredible women can just be girls again in a unique and supportive environment with people that are not going to judge them.”
“It’s about women’s friendship,” said Sussman. “We are all just average women having extraordinary adventures and having more fun than anyone.”
Rawlings wrote a second book starring this road-warrior band of Sisters: Cast-Iron Cooking with Sisters on the Fly ($14.55). For more information on Rawlings’ two books featuring the Sisters on the Fly, click here.
If you missed part 1 of this four-part series, ‘Having more fun than anyone’ (Click here).
For part 2, ‘No Men, No Pets, No Kids and Be Nice’ (Click here).
And for part 3 — “Gone fishing, kayaking, cowgirling” (Click here).
Bookcovers courtesy of Andrews McMeel Publishing.
