I have always loved camping and did it quite a bit as child with my family but as I grew up the hecticness (is that a word?!) of life just got in the way. Like many, my first experience with hammocks was seeing my friends string up an ENO. I instantly went and bought a junglenest hammock (mosquitoes are especially partial to my blood). I am in a band and that hammock became my constant companion on out next tour. I loved the thing so much and looked for every possibility to set it up and slept in it whenever we got a campsite (great way to save money as a band).
Lately I have been so busy and stressed with the job, band, and family balance I knew I needed some sort of respite and sanctuary from the constant pressures. I thought back to the times when I was living on a ranch and outside all the time and I missed that feeling of life all around you; the fresh clean smell of real air. I spoke with my wife about all of this of course and found out she had never really been camping ( she though renting a cabin in NC was camping lol). She was a little unsure at first but I convinced her to go out with my for an overnight at Juniper springs. She fell in love with it as I rekindled my own passion and now the outdoors are our adventure and escape together. It has done wonders for our relationship and sanity, giving us the headspace we so desperately needed. I have since invested in more gear for myself and working on getting her kit together as well. I did my first real 4 day backpacking trip with my brother in CO a month ago and have caught the bug fully. My wife has some heart problems we are still figuring out but she will be joining me out there soon enough.
I very excited to continue to learn and explore and look forward to the journey ahead. I wanted to go to the no UQ hang but will have to miss it due to being on my bands first month long full US tour. It will be quite the adventure in itself and yes all my camping gear will come along! I will definitely make it to the next group hang in FL though.
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