THE SLEEPING CLUB- #1

John Cornish (photo above), founder and President of Cornish Foods, began what is popularly known as "The Sleeping Club" in October, 2001. Cornish, who suffered for years from chronic insomnia, stated in a July, 2003 interview with the Southwest Journal of Health that the concept for the sleeping club first occurred to him one night when his Grandson woke up from a nightmare and couldn’t go back to sleep. “I sat down on the edge of his bed in the dark,” said Cornish, “and, for some reason, the idea came to me to pretend with him that we were settling down to sleep somewhere else- somewhere interesting and strange. I remember pretending that we were sleeping next to a stream in the woods, on a train crossing India, on top of a high rise, or in a snow cave. The next thing either of us knew it was morning and the sun was shining in through the window. I knew right then and there that I had found the cure for my insomnia.” According to Cornish, he hasn’t slept in his bedroom since the day of his epiphany. “On most nights, I sleep in the back of an open pickup truck, which is driven by a man I hired. For safety reasons he mostly keeps to side streets and back roads. I like the feel of the cool night air rushing over me, the starting and stopping, the jostling of the truck, and the whirring of the tires. I love waking up refreshed under the lights of a gas station.” On other nights, Cornish coordinates with other members of his sleeping club, fellow insomniacs whom he calls “Adventure Sleepers,” to pass the night in strange or exotic locales. “It’s the only way we can sleep,” says Cornish, “Plus, it’s fun.”