We were lucky to catch up with Michael Travis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

 The idea to write a book started stirring in my heart & soul back when I was 10 years old in 1972. My parents took my siblings and I on a cross country summer trip in our VW van for 45 days. My mom asked each of us to write daily in our journal about the trip. I fell in love with road trips and writing about people and places during that endless summer.

   Jump close to half a century later in life during the pandemic, a job loss, and the search for a new chapter. I leaned on my years of corporate retail merchandising experience initially, knowing full well that I wanted to write a book about the communities of people created across my state of Kansas by breweries. My insights illustrated a need to bring a book about every brewery in our state, the communities, people, and stories to readers through the discovery that no one had traveled that road before.

   I was excited about the prospect of my book project after reading through other beer books written for brewery meccas such as Colorado and Washington as well as beer books written about my state, leaning into the history of brewing and limited coverage of breweries.

   Excitement at this newfound “white space” jumpstarted the planning process as I mapped out a summer (of 2021) of schedule, dedicating several days a week to the travel and conversations waiting to happen.

   Honestly, I was scared as well. Why? I had a history from my high school days to this point of jumping into projects with the Travis enthusiasm that waned eventually, resulting in a life full of discarded dreams and commitments. I felt deeply that there was a space for this book idea, but did I have faith I could do it?

   My wife had faith in me from the day we first discussed this project. I am blessed to have had such an incredible life partner since our college days, who worked through my shortcomings and leaned into celebrating the idea and promise ahead of me with this project.

Michael, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

  I first fell in love with beer while attending the University of New Hampshire in the early 1980s. My dad bet a case of beer on the UNH versus Lehigh annual football game with a dear friend and work associate. Frank Travis, a UNH alum, put a case of Budweiser (brewed in Merrimack, New Hampshire) on the line, while his friend Mike, a Lehigh graduate, ponied up a case of Rolling Rock. I returned a hero, carrying free cases of the iconic green bottles back to my dorm two of my four years at UNH, I graduated with a BA in economics, studying important supply and demand theories, learning to take advantage of heavily inventoried, inexpensive beer brands perfect to quench a college kid’s thirst.

  Professionally, I worked in corporate retail for years, starting with Target in Minneapolis, birthplace of both our daughters. I learned to appreciate the art and effort put into gourmet food, exquisite wine, and great craft beer during my travels around the world, primarily while with Payless Shoesource in Topeka, Kansas. I am blessed to have a wonderful wife, Ivy, who has graced him with her wisdom and love since we first fell in love at UNH at the tender ages of nineteen. We live close to our beautiful daughters, Katie, and Meaghan, who are creating their own wonderful lives.

  I lost a director-level position three months into the pandemic, which opened the opportunity to redefine my direction professionally and personally. I established a retail consulting company catering to small businesses. This new venture gave me the freedom to chase a dream, becoming another Travis sibling in pursuit of telling stories. I have followed in the footsteps of my mother, Marty, and my two brothers, Mark, and Phil, who have shared their writing, whether it be a Civil War history, meditations about life and its struggles or heartfelt and experimental poetry.

  I felt that it was my time to start telling stories. I am so thankful that I can celebrate my first writing, capturing a 1972 family summer road trip to the West Coast and back, by seeing Celebrating Kansas Breweries: People, Places and Stories be published fifty years later.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

 People and their stories are the focus of my storytelling. The same holds true as I venture out for book talks and signings. After sharing the story behind my book, I typically am captivated by the readers and their enthusiasm as they share the connection between my book and family or friends. I find this ability to connect on such a genuine level to be full of positive energy that lights my fire, recharges my soul, and inspires me to take the next writing journey.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

   My book project was several months underway, when the publisher I was hopeful to land with gave me feedback that literally brought me to a stop. My intuition about what this book could represent was so right as the miles and conversations continued to build. That is why it was so alarming when this publisher gave me guidance to alter the books’ focus, making it more of a travel guide. Here I was, spending money we didn’t have traveling and building content for the book, suddenly confronted with the sobering realization that not only did I still not have a publisher, but also had to consider starting over to be considered. I literally went through close to a month of grieving.

   I know that sounds over-blown, but trust me, the grieving brought me to a halt due to my belief that I had the story to tell. I truly believe that someone was looking over me as I re-started the travel and gathering of content to work with. A publisher I thought was out of reach for my project sent me an email, expressing not only interest in the project but also a belief that the story was compelling. The rest is history. In this case, sticking to my belief that I had the right story in my sights and re-engaging with the work, had an element of faith and hope.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanbrewaz/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.travis.90857/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeltravis1/

Image Credits
Author image – Jason Daily Photography Image of me in front of freezer door – Steve Nicholson