Campfire Trilogy

As Ranger Rusty raised the flag at the crack of dawn, he thought it was “just another day. Little did he know his day would turn into a 3-book odyssey, plus an abridged version on the way. Buy Books

Intro - Birth of a trilogy

It was only supposed to be a 30-minute campfire talk

By Robert V. Sobczak

The origin of the trilogy ...

Is as improbable as it is absurd.

Trilogy Trailer

In December 2014 Rudi was trying to get back in the groove of civilian life after returning from a nine month tour overseas in Kuwait while Bob was on the mend from a procedure to get his heart to beat right. But for one night everything was right, perfect in fact. Big Cypress National Preserve was celebrating its fortieth birthday at the Collier County Museum. As the festivities wound down, Bob found himself entering the ember glow and crackle of the campfire to take a brief respite when a lumbering Rudi stepped forth from the shadows.

“Can you help a fellow American down on his luck?” Rudi asked with a slightly brooding look on his face. The flicker, aroma and sound of the campfire also made him simultaneously relax as he approached.

Bob told Rudi to ditch the powerpoint

South Florida’s winter tourist season was just about to begin. Three weeks and it would be in full swing. The kickoff for Rudi was January 9th. That’s when he was scheduled to give an evening talk around a campfire at a remote campground ― halfway the distance between Miami and Naples ― in the epicenter of the swamp preserve.

“I love the idea behind the campfire program,” Rudi lamented as he settled in around the orb of light and reached for a slider sandwich that Bob offered from his paper plate. “The problem is, nowadays, the actual campfire … munch munch … is almost an afterthought. It’s the giant outdoor screen that gets all the audience’s attention. I just sit in back … munch munch … and let the Power Point do all the work … munch munch.”

“A POWER POINT at a campfire? Apocryphal!” Bob stammered in disbelief. He flicked a pebble toward the pulsing embers. “—That doesn’t seem right.”

Bob and Rudi's original campfire talk

Fast forward a week later to the edge of town where Bob greeted Rudi with a proposition he couldn’t turn down. “What do you say you forget about the Power Point?” Bob suggested. “We’ll partner up to do a campfire talk ‘on the campfire,’ just you, me … and my guitar. We'll make it a theatrical production -- part off-Broadway, part Vaudeville and part Shakespearian.”

Rudi nodded his head as the concept slowly soaked in before calling it a "capital idea."

The rest is, shall we say, campfire history.

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The Centennial Campfire Trilogy is co-authored by Robert V Sobczak and Rudi Heinrich. Books include: The Legend of Campfire Charlie (Book 1), Last Stand at Boulder Ridge (Book 2) and Final Campfire (Book 3).

Buy the books at our store with next-day delivery.

Recent Blog Posts

Last Stand at Boulder Ridge
A campfire book review

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In this campfire talk …

The Cowboy at the Campfire provides a thought-provoking review of Book 2 of the Centennial Campfire Trilogy.

Buy the full trilogy of books, in kindle or paperback

Among his observations:

  • You’ll need a good book mark,
  • The book is part sequel and part prequel to the first book,
  • It’s a story of growth and idealism giving way to reality.

And spoiler report:

  • It sets the stage for the stunning cascade of conclusions Book 3.

The Centennial Campfire Trilogy by Robert V. Sobczak and Rudi Heinrich consists of three books: (1) The Legend of Campfire Charlie, (2) Last Stand at Boulder Ridge and (3) Final Campfire.

Why do I like most about the book?

To me, it’s a “rereadable” through a through. It’s the type of book you can pick up off your bookshelf and read front to back, or one chapter at a time, or even a few sentences. It is also what I call an immersive read. It takes you across the globe and deep back into time, to the point you can really get lost (in a good way).

As for my favorite scene?

It’s probably the campfire banter between Rusty and Kenny while in the desert overseas. Or maybe it’s Rusty’s airboat ride with his father? Or maybe his boyhood encounter with Edward Abbey? Or maybe it’s the journals of Col. Stanley Powell. Or maybe it’s the Bone Wars era archaeological dinosaur dig. Or maybe it’s even the prologue to the book.

What I can say for sure is this:

My mom loved it so it must be a great book!

Trilogy Trailer

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As he raised the American flag …

At the crack of dawn:

Ranger Rusty thought it was just another day of being on duty at the visitor center in the liquid heart of an ancient cypress forest. And later that night, by truck, heading to a nearby campground to give a half-hour campfire talk. Or so he thought. Or was Ranger Rusty in for the journey of his life.

So begins the “movie style” trailer for the Centennial Campfire Trilogy of three books co-written by Robert V Sobczak and Rudi Heinrich. The books include: The Legend of Campfire Charlie (Book 1), Last Stand at Boulder Ridge (Book 2) and Final Campfire (Book 3).

Buy the books at our store or find out more about the trilogy and how the story came to life.

Trilogy Sneak Peak
How one simple campfire spawned 3 books

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Hey there,

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I wanted to write a short piece on the three books that I co-authored. If the books were ever featured as a movie, the Hollywood-style trailer would probably go something along the lines as written below (and shown in the video.)

So without further ado …

As Ranger Rusty raised the flag at the crack of dawn, he thought it was “just another day. Little did he know his day would turn into a 3-book odyssey. Or am I talking about myself?

Little did I know (or imagine at the time) that the endeavor of writing those three books would take six years of my life. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, and not that I did it all the time, all day long. It was usually in the evening and early morning hours – before embarking into work at the nearby National Park/Preserve – that I did most of my writing. The caveat is that I did it every day. Rarely did I let a day go by without working on some aspect of the sprawling work. The other caveat is that I had a co-author, as elaborated in the video above. But even he would say when it came to the grindstone of writing it the book was primarily me. The other caveat, and there are lots – is that the three books chime in at just under 500,000 words. That’s quite a bit by any metric. A short book, like the Great Gatsby, is around 60,000 words. Could we have used an editor to help us shorten it up? Maybe so, but I stand by every word.

The three books

My Point:

The trilogy didn’t start as a trilogy. It started as a single book. And that single book didn’t start as a book. It started as a 30-minute campfire talk. The rest, shall we say, is campfire history. At the start of a journey usually you have no idea where it will lead. You can check out the books here: Visit the Trilogy’s website

Or, breaking news, check out the abridged version of all three here:

Buy the book: Kindle and paperback formats

Trilogy videos

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