The Hike Like A Woman Podcast

Friendship On The Appalachian Trail

• Rebecca Walsh

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Today on the pod I'm stoked to have the ah-mazing Sally Chaffin Brooks.

She shares her wild journey from sorority girl to AT thru-hiker to law school, author, podcaster and her love of comedy.

But it's all not fun and games on the pod today - we also talk about taking risks and the importance of embracing uncertainty and stepping out of our comfort zones.

I hope you love the show.

To learn more about Sally visit her website at : https://www.sallychaffinbrooks.com/

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Speaker 1:

Hey, it's Rebecca. Welcome to the pod today. I'm excited to have Sally Chaffin Brooks on the pod today. She is a comedian and she's hilarious. She is an author, she is a reformed lawyer and she's just awesome, and so I'm going to go ahead and let you enjoy my conversation with Sally. Also, I have a favor to ask before we dive into the show. If you like the show, can you do me a favor? Can you share it with a friend, because this is an episode that you are going to want to share with a friend. It is so good. Listen, connect with Sally on social media, buy her book and then share this episode with a friend. I was binging your podcast yesterday when I was learning about you and you said that you one of the most shameful things you ever ate was a goldfish.

Speaker 2:

I think we have to start with this story. Okay, this is like I feel like this is going to give everybody the exact wrong impression of me. But I am, I did do this and I am. I will live up to my shame.

Speaker 2:

Okay, when I was in college, I was in a sorority and I don't know why, but I was. I was in a sorority and I was at a fraternity party and I don't know, I think this must've come from like animal house or one of those like very old school, you know, frat party kind of movies, frat party kind of movies. But they had a big thing of like a. It was like a, a tiered fountain full of goldfish and the whole point was that you ate a live goldfish. And I was like one of those girls who was like, yeah, I'm totally like a dude. You know, crush a beer and then and I ate a live goldfish, like just swallow straight down and immediately it was like one of those things where it's like you're immediately sobered up and I was like what did I? What did I do? What did I do? Um, and yeah, so definitely the most shameful thing I've ever eaten, and so I appreciate that's the way we're introducing myself to everybody.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I did I did eat a live goldfish. We all made decisions that we regret in college. Yeah, and of all the poor decisions one can make in college, I think that eating a live goldfish is not that regrettable.

Speaker 2:

You're right. I certainly made worse decisions on a scale, but as far as like the most nonsensical, it just is. Yeah, I don't. I don't know what I wasn't thinking. That's, that's what I was thinking. You bite it, or did you swallow it whole?

Speaker 1:

No, no, no, Don't you think biting it's worse, like that's, that's what I was thinking.

Speaker 2:

You bite it or did you swallow it whole? No, no, no, don't you think biting it's worse, like that's so?

Speaker 1:

much worse.

Speaker 2:

No, no, I just like downed it like a, like a pill, like your little buddy, right in the hatch down, and then I think it. I mean it must've lived for a bit right Like I was, like Moby Dick, and it was you know, and and it was, you know till it and interacted with your stomach acid.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, then my stomach acid, and then it was bones. But if they have bones, I don't know they must. Nothing I never saw like a, you know. I imagine like a cartoon of just like a fish bone, fish scales. Yeah, I never saw anything. On the other end, do you have?

Speaker 1:

do you have pets like, have you ever had a pet fish?

Speaker 2:

or is that kind of too traumatizing or no, I did have a pet goldfish also in college, which maybe this was like to make up for it. Um, his name was Freddy. Who's a fish named Freddy? I don't know if you've ever had a goldfish, but they are disgust like fish, are gross. Taking care of fish is smelly and dirty because you're like you think about it, they're in their own water.

Speaker 2:

Right, they're swimming in their poop all day long they're swimming in their poop, so you have to clean it. One time with one time with Freddie, I was like taking him out of the bowl to clean him and I dropped him and, and then I quickly scooped him back up and put him in like a, you know a, and then he swam sideways for like a day, oh, and he lived for like another six months. So what's? Yeah, I know, yeah, I'm not. I'm not a great. We don't have any pets. Now I have a son who would love, love us to have a pet, but I'm just not a great pet owner.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, yeah, I totally get it. Now, in addition to eating a goldfish, you also call yourself a reformed lawyer. Oh, yeah. What's a? What's a? What's a reform? Like I'm married to a lawyer, he actually just walked in to probably deliver some paperwork to me. What is a?

Speaker 2:

it's like I have some paperwork for you. Um, I asked her husband like I, every, almost every lawyer I know is like oh, I wish I was doing something else. So I like to feel, I feel like I'm like, like I'm like the beacon, I'm like I am the one who got away. Um, I.

Speaker 2:

Like I'm like the beacon, I'm like I am the one who got away. I, yeah, you're welcome. Not, you're welcome, thank you, yeah. So I, you know, I went to law school and I actually really loved law school. I was, you know, I, I was really. It was really interesting. And then I got my first job as a lawyer, which was like a super cushy job. It was really great.

Speaker 2:

I was a law clerk for a federal judge, which is like a prestigious, you know, like for a law students, like a big deal, and I hated every second of it. I like could not, I just I was miserable. And it's actually why I started doing standup comedy. It's I was like looking for something just like a hobby, because I was like I hate this job and I'm just like going to work every day and then coming home, going to sleep, waking up and going to my job and I was like there has to be more than this. And so I took a stand up comedy class because I had like dabbled a little bit before and had, like you know, was had been in a performing arts school when I was younger, and so I was like always wanted to perform, um, but not because I thought I would quit my job as a lawyer and become a standup comedian, but that is what happened. That is what happened, surprise, surprise to my husband. Yeah, I was like, yeah, I'm marrying a lawyer. And then, no, no, you got a comedian.

Speaker 1:

Sorry, no, I.

Speaker 2:

I think that's super healthy and I'm glad I found your escape before it was too late, you know, yeah, I mean I was, I was pretty three years in, I I called it quits and uh, you know, every once in a while there'll be like something going on in my life where I'm like, should I take the bar again? And then no, just never, I really just don't want to. So I do think that a lot of lawyers can relate because, like I mean, so many people I went to law school with are like, wow, I wish I could not be a lawyer. You can, you can.

Speaker 1:

You too, yeah, yeah, no, my, my husband kind of had a similar experience. He clerked for a federal judge.

Speaker 2:

He actually loved it, but then he worked for a law firm and he was working stupid hours like Saturdays.

Speaker 1:

He was like this is not what I signed up for. Now he does his own thing. He has his own little niche, works out of our little guest house in the back here and it's great.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think that's the way to go. I mean, not to say I mean there are plenty of lawyers who love what they do. It just was not for me. I'm sure I could have eventually found something that I was somewhat, that I was interested in, something that I was somewhat in, that I was interested in and in fact I actually my day job is I do work for a legal aid, so I'm still in the in the realm, but I don't I do like grant writing and and that kind of stuff, so not not lawyering at all.

Speaker 1:

How does your AT hike fit into? Like, was it before you ate the goldfish or after you ate the goldfish, before law school or after law school? Like, let's, let's move into your timeline of of of the AT.

Speaker 2:

You're like what? How did this happen? Um so we were goldfish first.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I went to um.

Speaker 2:

I graduated from college and moved to Chicago and was worked there for a couple years and was kind of at the point where I was, you know, wondering you know, what am I? What am I going to do next? You know, like I was working for this nonprofit yeah, that I loved, but I just it wasn't going anywhere. There wasn't going to ever be a way to move up within this very small nonprofit. So I had started kind of thinking about law school, just as like, working on kind of disability policy stuff, um.

Speaker 2:

But around that time my best friend who I ended up hiking the AT with um, she was kind of in between college and applying for med school and she was like listen, I'm going to hike the AT, Um, if you want to come with me. I don't even actually, I don't even think she invited me to come, I think I just invited myself. And that was like at that point I was like, okay, this is the thing I will, that's what I'll do, I will hike the AT, I'll apply for law school, kind of as like like a reason to be like I can quit my job and hike the AT because I'm going to law school. So I it's okay if I take five months off. Um and so that is so. I did the AT and then immediately went to law school. We I mean we both started within like maybe not even a month of finishing the trail. Both started grad school, which was like a very hard re-entry for both of us.

Speaker 1:

Yeah yeah, I haven't ever done a through hike, but I just got back from Kilimanjaro and so like just that two weeks that I was in Africa. Now I'm like what is this like? So I can't even imagine what it's like. I mean, it's a rough re-entry.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's a rough re-entry.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you're like in the backyard to pee right. I show today how long has it been since I showered.

Speaker 2:

I know and it's like meeting all these new and like law school I'm sure your husband can attest it's a lot of gunners Like. It's a lot of people who are like, hey, I'm like ready to and I'm the best in my class and I was just like, oh, I'm just not used to being out of the woods here. Yeah, it was a rough reentry.

Speaker 1:

When you so you're hiking AT with your best friend Aaron. Are you still friends? Because I think an adventure like that can make or break a friendship.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, we are still like absolutely best friends and we had been. We met when we were like the before we started seventh grade, so we had. We met when we were like the before we started seventh grade, so we had. You know, we've been like we are lifelong best friends and we had been best friends up to that point.

Speaker 2:

And you know, I think I am, I am like incredibly lucky and that I have this like just foundational female friendship. I think it is like something that you know, probably every woman knows, you know the value of that female friendship, but I don't think it's like celebrated enough because I'm like it is as important as my marriage, right, like this relationship is as important to me as, like, my family, as my relationship, as my marriage and and so, yes, we're still best friends. We are, um, I, she's like she lives in Durango and she's, you know, she's going to fly in for the, for my book launch and, um, you know, we see each other like at least three or four times a year. So, um, yes, still best friends. I think you're right, I think this could make or break a friendship, but luckily ours was already solid and and luckily, I mean, I also I met my husband on that, on that trail.

Speaker 2:

So was he making the AT as well? Yeah, I met, we met. So I don't know like, so, on the AT, like during in the spring, there's always a big hiker festival called Trail Days and everybody who's like on the trail, usually who's hiking that season, will like make their way back for that big hiker celebration. And then a lot of people who you know it's just a big hiker party so and I think it has just grown over the years. I mean, I haven't been back to it but, um, but lots of people who have like through hiked in the past will go every year and it's, you know, very fun. Um, but that is where I met.

Speaker 2:

Uh, my husband was at this, um was at trail days and then, and then we like continue you know from, like, it took a while for him to catch up, but like, after that we hiked the rest of the trail together and then that was history, and now we just celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary, which is amazing, which is very long yeah.

Speaker 1:

Okay, we have to rewind to this love story here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Hiking with your best friend, yeah. And then your husband comes into the picture. How does that affect the dynamic between you and Aaron once he entered?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you know, I like I, you know, I do think it is. It was very lucky that we had been friends for so long. So it wasn't, you know, and I think it was good, we were hiking with a group, so it wasn't like Aaron and I and Ben, my husband, so it wasn't just the three of us, which would have been an awkward dynamic, but we were hiking with like a group of six of us and so, you know, I think she was very gracious and understanding and she loved Ben. So she was, you know, she was on board. But yeah, we, you know, I think I it was more my, I was worried how she was going to feel, rather than like her ever feeling, you know, cast aside, because I definitely was spending more time with him as we kind of hiked along.

Speaker 1:

That's like every through hikers dream, every single through hiker. They're always like maybe I'll find my true love on the trail.

Speaker 2:

It's amazing I did. It's amazing how many people, how many stories like that you hear of people meeting their, meeting their partners on the trail, and I think I think it's because, you know, I will say like, even not just romantic relationships, but the other, the group we hiked with, we are still all there. You know, 20 years later, years later, we're still very tight. And I think it's one of the things where you have this experience and you are being 100% yourself, right, like you've done very, you know, strenuous trips, where you're like it. It breaks you down to where you're like I can't like I can't not be myself, like there, it's 100% me. I am too tired, I am too like I can't not be myself, like there, it's a hundred percent me. I am too tired, I am too like raw, emotionally, physically, to like be any anybody but myself, um and so, and you're seeing somebody at like both their best and their worst and kind of like all emotions, and so, yeah, I just think that really bonds people in a way that is really hard to do in that kind of time.

Speaker 2:

Otherwise, um, and I think, you know, really luckily, like my husband and I have like continued to grow together because it's been. You know, we, we very quickly moved in together. He moved in immediately after the trail. We'd known each other for three weeks and he moved across the country to live with me and, I think, proposed a year later. I mean, we were already, we were living together and and yeah, and we've, you know, we've been married, we've moved all around the world and have a kid and have luckily like grown together. But I think that, like starting with no games, like no pretense, you knew my bathroom schedule from the first day you met me, right. I think that bonds people.

Speaker 1:

Sure, Like you saw me at my funkiest, yes, funniest my happiest. So you rode the roller coaster.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Like I probably seem so much very calm now compared.

Speaker 1:

Amazing. So when you were hiking, did you think about that? This was this hike was going to turn into a book someday. Was that on your mind?

Speaker 2:

No, no, not at all. I mean, you know, of course, I had read, um, like, I think at the time, like walk in the woods was the big, biggest ATE book out, and I actually think that, like my book is very similar in tone and that it's like it's comedic, it's very. You know, we really were pretty bumbly along, um, uh, it's, yeah, it's, it's, uh, I think it is. I loved that book and it was. You know, obviously, I think everybody, most people do, most people love that book. Um, but no, I didn't, I mean, I didn't think of myself as a writer at the time. I, when I got back, maybe a year or two later, I kind of started writing little. I started writing actually the book as a blog. I don't know, I think you're probably a little younger than me or much younger than me, but, like you know, there was a time and almost 45. Okay, okay, then you yeah, you were right there. You remember the time when everyone had a blog.

Speaker 1:

Sure Blogs were, so I had like three of them.

Speaker 2:

Right, and it was. You know it was, it was the social media of the time and, you know, before it was how you know and and I started writing on my blog like just little weekly trail snippets, so I would do like every Tuesday I do. I called it trail Tuesdays and people really liked it and started reading it and requesting more. And then, when I stopped doing my blog, I started like I kept it up and, you know, maybe got, I would say, like a 10th of the way through the book. So it wasn't even that, you know, it wasn't even that much. And then I put it aside for a long time while I was pursuing standup comedy. But you know a couple, well, right before my son was born he was born in 2016.

Speaker 2:

I really was, like you know, actually I think I would really like to finish this. I felt more comfortable. You know, I had been freelance writing for a long time, doing like magazine articles and you know, so I felt more comfortable with my writing skills and I just was like maybe, maybe this could be a thing, and I just started kind of writing it in chunks and I would like go away for two or three days, write it. You know, write a chunk of, write a a chunk of it, and then um, finally during the pandemic, I finished it. Um finished a draft and then um sent it out to some friends and revised it, and then um and then finally sent it out to like agents and publishers.

Speaker 2:

So it was a. It was a long time and it definitely did not go into it thinking it would be a book, but luckily I took. I had really good journals Because this was back in the day, before social media, so our cell phones, like we didn't have anything else to do at night, so we just wrote in our journals, right? Yeah, it's like I wish I was that diligent now because it really is helpful to remember where you were. It really takes you back to like that point in time when you're reading your own writing on something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I can't wait to read the book. So I I have a problem with memoirs and that sometimes I think they're so like self-righteous and so braggy, and so look at how amazing I am. But the title of your book is called Going to Maine All the Ways to Fall on the Appalachian Trail, and just the title alone gives me hope and makes me feel like this is not going to be some amazing, arrogant memoir. So talk to me about how you came up with the title and then how you used humor in the book to maybe not make yourself like this amazing heroine. I don't want to discount that, but I want it to be pretty and real to me, which I think is what is intriguing about it thinking about it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I think you know I, I'm with you, like I. I think it's much more. The things that are more interesting to me to read are, um are where people are talking. You can identify with their flaws and where they have stumbled. And, uh, you know, I am proud of hiking the Appalachian trail. I think it is, like you know, for me it was a transformative, amazing experience. But it's not something. It's not something that, like you know I mean, but it's, it's something that a lot of people can do and a lot of people have done. So it's not like I. You know, I cured cancer.

Speaker 2:

So I think for me, in writing about it like one, I really wanted to. It was just I was with such an amazing group of people and my best friend, aaron, is just one of those people who is like you would just fall in love with her. She's so funny, she's so quirky and I really wanted to capture like our dynamic and I wanted to capture like just this like incredible group of people that we were hiking with and kind of just how like, at most times, inept we were and yet we kept going forward. Um, and that I mean that to me, is like the interesting part is just like here, here is, here's the fun of it and like um, and here's where here are the million times that we like totally messed up and you know took wrong turns or you know, know, aaron is diabetic, and so there's.

Speaker 2:

There were a lot of times where like, yeah, you know, I mean, and this was 20 years ago, right, so she, the equipment, it was even more um, was even harder to manage.

Speaker 2:

So you know, there were some really like actually pretty harrowing times, um, and so just kind of describing that, and I just think the you know, the adventure of it is is just fun. So that was how I went into. It is like I want something that feels like you can see somebody grow because I think I really did grow and you can see like these, like I love stories about real and honest relationships and and then, yeah, just the adventure of it, like the, the journey of it, which you know, whether or not you like hiking, I think people can relate to and people crave. You know, I'm sure you find that and like, obviously you, I saw that you like lead trips all over and I'm sure that you meet so many people are just like this is what they just need, that in their lives, and so, whether that's through a book or an actual experience, like you know, I need it.

Speaker 1:

I want it. Yeah, and as you were talking, I was thinking like I. So I had. I had breast cancer two years ago, went through radiation, all all of the shitty things, right. That took like a year and a half out of my life like treatment and then recovering from treatment, and during that time I was so drawn to other people's adventure stories because I couldn't physically like peel myself off the bathroom floor to go on an adventure. I was too sick.

Speaker 1:

And so I think that by giving this book to the world, you're also giving people the opportunity to join you and your quirky friends along the Appalachian Trail, and I think that's a beautiful way to like share that experience with others. And I don't know that like that probably didn't even you probably weren't. Like I'm going to, I'm going to do that, but I think that's really. I think that's really powerful. And I don't know that like that probably didn't even you probably weren't like I'm going to, I'm going to do that, but I think that's really. I think that's really powerful and I wish more people had the courage to share those experiences because I think really help people who can't have them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean I think you know, like I said, I mean I did say like I'm like I realize that now I am like taking back something I just said. But you know, not everybody can take five months out of their lives or six months out of their lives like the AT, but there are a lot of people who, like that is a dream and so they love to read about it. And you know, just like I am probably never there are a lot of things that I'm probably never going to do but it is like having that experience. I mean that's why we love reading right, it's because you can like have an adventure without leaving your house and you can be a different person. And and you know, I just the AT gave me so much and like this is kind of like my love letter and and I hope that other people see that and feel that as they're reading it. That's my hope.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think they will. What? What would? I'm thinking back to 20, 20 year old Rebecca. She had a lot of fears, right. Yeah, she might not have had the courage to to just say hey, mom and dad, I'm just going to head to the East coast and hike for six months and I'll be fine. I don't have a cell phone because they're not invented and like, like you can't just like push the SOS button on your inReach, like it was a whole different thing back then. But what advice would you give to someone who's kind of maybe going through that transition, like you did, between, like eating a goldfish and going to law school, like they're kind of searching for their own path but they don't know what to do or where to go and they're feeling really scared. What? What would you tell that person?

Speaker 2:

I mean I, you know it is so hard because you can't tell those people anything right, I'm not to some 40 year old woman.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I.

Speaker 2:

I know, when I um, somebody asked me that I had like posted a picture of uh, aaron and I on the trail and she was like you know, what would you now tell those two? And I was like you couldn't tell them anything, like they were not listening to anybody. And luckily, you know, we had our own motivations and each other to spray to the long. But, but I mean what I, what I, if somebody, if somebody was willing to listen, my, my biggest advice is to you know you're young, take the chance, have the adventure. Your life is long, hopefully, and there are so many phases of who you're going to be right it you, especially when you're in college, you're kind of taught like or or. I mean everything is like driving you to this first job and you feel like this is your end point. And when I think about what I thought I would be doing from college, like there, I didn't do any of, I didn't do any of that. I thought I was going to be at uh, an engineer, like I did. I never went, I never did that. I ended up taking a job at a nonprofit and moving to Chicago. And then, you know, I never thought I would hike the Appalachian trail. That was like not even on my radar. It just you have so many lives and you should really like try to like not narrowly focus yourself and let yourself zig and zag, because that is where, like, the most beautiful things you're going to find will take you, you know.

Speaker 2:

So that you know, I actually a couple last year was invited back to my college to be. It was called an executive in residence program and and I don't know why they invited me back Cause I was like I kept being like I'm not an executive, like I don't, what am I doing here? Cause it's all it's. It's Purdue university, which is like an engineering school and uh, and they're like, no, no, people will love it. I'm like, okay, um, but you know, these kids like even more than when we were in college, they're so hyper focused and they're so under so much pressure and I just kept saying it's like your life is long, like you're not. Your life is long, like, please don't. You know. I know this sounds really easy coming from this perspective, but yeah, just, um, you know, I my hope would be to like take the chance, go on the trip, trip, even if you don't have the money or the whatever, just like yeah, take the adventure yeah, what do you have to lose, right, what do?

Speaker 2:

you have to lose. You could? I mean, I'm like you can always take that boring job tomorrow, you know, next week, if you fail and come home right like something will be there for you can always work it's.

Speaker 1:

It's always gonna be there. It's always like we live, work it's always going to be there.

Speaker 2:

It's always like we live in a capitalist society. We're always going to put you to work.

Speaker 1:

Unfortunately. So take this month and hike the damn trail, is what you're saying?

Speaker 2:

Yes, take, the time, hike the trail. Yeah, you never know.

Speaker 1:

You never know, maybe you'll fall in love maybe, or get the material to write a book. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2:

I mean, and I I think, if of anything kind of all of the things you know I am, I am always somebody who's like a go for the adventure kind of person, and not, I don't even mean just like hiking the trail, but, you know, diving into standup comedy, or you know, we move, like we've moved all over the country, just kind of like, hey, let's give New York city a try, let's you know, now we live in Atlanta, like, yeah, I'll go on that. You know, big, long hike, or that trip, yes, I want to do that, I want to do all the things. And now I've lost my train of thought, apologies.

Speaker 1:

No, I'm right there with you with wanting to do all the things, because you say life is long, but when does it end? We don't know Right Exactly, and so and so, because of that uncertainty that is the future, yeah, why? Why do we wait until we either do these big adventures in our early twenties, before we're bogged down with like careers and kids and mortgages and all the things, or we wait until we're retired and our kids are out of the house and we have all this extra money to do the thing? But then there's like this, there's like this gap, this 40 year gap in between, or 30 year gap. What? Why, why, why? Why are we content living in this gap of mediocrity when we could like infuse that adventure into our lives and not wait until we're old and hope that we have the money and hope that we have the house to do it? That's bullshit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I agree, agree 100%. That's what I was going to say.

Speaker 1:

I wish you lived closer to me, because I think we could hang out and have a lot of fun together. I think we could hang out and have a lot of fun together. I I think we could too.

Speaker 2:

Comedy shows out West you know as far like I've gotten as far as um Colorado, and then you know just West coast. West coast so like California um Seattle, but yeah, not a ton. I mean it's you know. You know one, there's not a lot of comedy shows there and it's just very expensive to get to.

Speaker 1:

So it's not like wyoming has a booming stand-up comedy scene, but if you're we're close um sally. Where can we find you online? Where can we learn more about your book? Where can we pre-order your book? Where can we stock you? Where can we find you online? Where can we learn more about your book? Where can we pre-order your book? Where can we stalk you?

Speaker 2:

Where can we listen to you, all the things, please. First of all, please stalk me. I, I, I live for it. I'm an. I'm a needy comedian, um, so you can find everything on my website, which is sallychaffinbrookscom C-H-A-F-f-f-i-n? Um. My instagram and, like all of my, I'm mostly active on instagram and tiktok. Those are all at the sally brooks um, and so that's where you can stalk me.

Speaker 2:

My ridic, my ridiculous, my podcast is called the ridiculous, um, and I host it with a another stand-up comedian and we find silly lists from the internet and riff on it, um, and they're so, so good. I have to. It's fun. Thank you so much. Yeah, we're on a break right now. We're on a break, um, we're on a summer break right now, but we will be back in the middle of july, so, but there's like a bunch of episodes. We had an old podcast called dumb love, um, that was true crime light, um, and then we just couldn't stomach it anymore any of it. So, um, but if you like, or if you're into that, there's 190 episodes of that podcast, um, and you can find the book it just anywhere that you look for books. So it's on, you know, amazon, target, barnes and Noble If you want to shop independent bookstore, which I highly recommend. You can find the like it only the paperback there. So I don't think you can get it on an e-reader there, but at bookshoporg and you can support your local bookstore, which I think is, I think is great. And then it'll be out in audio book too when the book comes out, and that's in September, september 10th. So yeah, find me, follow me, stalk me, send me a message. I love it.

Speaker 2:

Pre-order the book. That is actually. That would be that, if you're going to do one thing, that would be my big ask. You know the pre-orders for publishing. I'm learning so much it's pre-orders for publishing. I'm learning so much it's. It matters a lot of kind of where you know if people stock the book in their bookstores, they'll do it because there are a lot of pre-orders and it kind of signals to both the publisher and the distributor that like, oh, people actually want to read this, so we'll see. So go get the book, dang it. What are you waiting for?

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for having the courage to give this book to the world and share your comedy, your life, your awesomeness with everyone. I can't wait to read the book.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. I was talking with my co-host, jen, the other day and we were realized that, like I think maybe you find this from doing a podcast, but from doing a podcast and having done standup that I really have so little, you know, I I'm like I will share everything. I'm very open, very open book and so it feels I don't feel as like you know, I am, of course, nervous to put the book out in the world and see how it will be received, but I am also like I think I'm more excited just to like have it out and and see what people think. I hope, I hope people enjoy it. I think it's a, I think it's a fun, fun, lighthearted read and and and I hope people like it.

Speaker 1:

So Thanks so much for joining me for the pod today. Once again, if you liked it, be sure to share it with a friend. And, as always, if you want to learn more about hike like a woman, you can find us over on our website, hike like a womancom. We lead adventure trips all over the world, from Kilimanjaro to Costa Rica, and I would love to have you join me on an upcoming adventure, so head over to our website hike like a