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Enjoying Some Much Needed R&R

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The past couple of weeks have been busy ones for Kim and I on the Get Out More Tour.

After our stop in Fayetteville, Arkansas, we headed north for our next stop in Indianapolis. We stayed in Bloomington, IN with a friend and explored the beautiful surroundings of Hoosier National Forest and Brown County State Park. We also attended a Get Out More Tour event in Indianapolis, which was at the Eddie Bauer store in the Castleton Square Mall. Kim and I want to thank the Eddie Bauer store staff for the great support they provided for the event – and for the free Starbucks coffee!

After Indy, it was off to Cincinnati – which is where both of our families call home. Kim and I both want to extend a special thanks to Benchmark Outfitters for the fantastic efforts they put out to make our Cincinnati event the biggest so far, with over 125 people in attendance!

But, the reason we were in Cincy was for Kim’s little sisters’ college graduation. Kim’s sister graduatedcum laude with a degree in biomedical engineering. During the ceremony, Kim’s eyes welled up with pride as her sister bid farewell to her college years and set out on a new chapter. We were very happy to be able to be in attendance on that special day.

After our visit with family, we pointed Amy (our Subaru) south again for our next events in Lexington, KY and Nashville, TN. But, after our Nashville event, we realized that we hadn’t stopped moving in over two weeks. We were tired!

So we decided we needed some serious R & R in the forest, and Cherokee National Forest fit the bill. As I write this, I am sitting at a picnic table on a beautiful and sunny morning in a nearly deserted campground listening to the sounds of the forest around me. This is my favorite part of the day – taking the time to enjoy the simple things like the smell of pine in the air and listening to nature’s chorus of bird songs and leaves rustling in the wind.

It’s nice to have some downtime to catch up on a good book, get some hiking in, and just recharge our batteries before we head out to Chattanooga and Atlanta this week. We also pick up our Sylvan Sport Go trailer this week – something that we are really looking forward to.

Now I’m off to my hammock to enjoy the rest of this beautiful morning with my cup of coffee and my book.

Happy hiking!

-Kim and Brian

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