Minutes to Giant City - SIU - Shawnee Winetrail - Shawnee Forest - Wi-Fi

I grew up in Southern Illinois, and could not wait to 'Get Out,' 'Escape,' and go to the big city. I went to school in Chicago at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and left Southern Illinois far behind. I thought this was great.

I had a very successful career in the online advertising, marketing, and market research world catering to big pharma. In a normal year I would fly 125,000 miles and see many places, countries and sites.

As I grew older and my 'success' continued I felt more and more that something was missing. I began to yearn for the hills of Southern Illinois, the slower pace of life, and the people I left behind more and more.

In 2013, I came home for a few weeks to help my mother move my father into a nursing home. After this was completed I flew to Milan for business, and on my way back I received a call that my mother had had a stroke. This was a life changing event for me, and I never really back to my house in Asheville, NC.

My father spent the year getting worse, and my Mother spent the year getting better. When my father died in December of 2013, I decided to 'officially' move to Southern Illinois in order to spend more time with my mother and be closer with family. I also made the decision to leave the company I worked for and do something simpler, and local to Southern Illinois.

June 1st, 2014 I started my company with the goal to create vacation rental homes in Southern Illinois and help the area grow tourism. Southern Illinois is a beautiful and special place, and I would like to share it with as many people as possible.