Ohio & the First Event

Oh- Hi- Oh! There was the visitor center. However, there was no welcome sign. So our photo was taken outside of the Visitor Center. Kind of a boring photo, but it will have to do. FOR NOW. This would be my first state I had never been to out the 32/48 I had never visited.

This is what no shower & sleep look like.

Arriving at our hotel midafternoon, we knew we would have a busy schedule ahead of us. Our bosses fly into town to be there for our first event. Here is where we spent our first night in a hotel.  After arriving in town we enjoyed lunch with Sheri and Randy discussing how things will go and making sure we had everything we needed. Once lunch was over Sheri took us to Target to grab a few last minute things before our show the next day. We spent the first night in the hotel preparing for the following day. Then we spent our entire morning and afternoon rehearsing our lines, transitions, figuring out what gear we would need and how we would present it. Making sure our power point was ready to go.

Refreshing ourselves with some Nuun Hydration Tablets
(Nuun was one of our sponsors)

It was time. Our first set up, so we arrived almost 2 hours prior to the start. We walked into the retailer and let them know we were the Women’s Get Out More Team, introduced ourselves and asked where we could set up. The helped us bring our stuff in and we started. Our first event was much different than how any other even would have gone, than the rest.

This retail decided to do stations. We would spend 15 minutes or so at each station discussing certain topics, like water filtration, backpacks, tents, boots, and first aid kits. There was even a cake, snacks, beverages, and coupons to give out to the ladies or gentleman that would be joining us that evening.

SHOW TIME: Nervous as heck. I tried very hard to put my game face on. Becca, a pro at given talks in front of people for a living, me, not so much. This was a total learning experience for me. We did as best as we could filling in each other’s blanks and pauses, making jokes when there wasn’t anything left to say, and taking turns answering questions.

Talking Hi-Tec on shoes-
(Hi-Tec was our footwear sponsor)

Once the longest hour and half of my life ended, I felt the biggest relief of my life. I am not even entirely sure I was in the moment and hearing anything that Becca was saying while standing there when I wasn’t talking. I was literally just trying to hold my own shit together!

Now it was time to socialize, and shop. We enjoyed a piece of cake and all of the fun give-aways. The best part was meeting so many wonderful women who were just as excited to talk about the outdoors, adventures, and gear knowledge as we were. Some who were beginners, others who were avid outdoor enthusiasts.

This is Ladies Night. . & the Feelings Right. . .

 

Myself, Sheri, & Becca

After the fun was had and all the free give-aways were handed out it was time to pack everything up and somehow play Tetris to get it all back into the vehicle the same way it came out. As we were just about ready to hop into our vehicle and head back to our hotel to unwind from the evenings events, we said our good-byes to our boss’ and they gave us a few gifts for the journey ahead. They packed goodie bags for us each to have that included, a 6 pack of beer, small bottles of wine, raisinettes, Swedish fish, and a few other great snacks! We thanked them and were excited to hit our next destination which we knew we would be able to enjoy those beverages!

On the road again... (a song that became too familiar)

One down, only 52 more events to go!