Catching Up With Friends

Yesterday was a very relaxing day at home.  Gene took care of a few chores regarding the outside of the Everest which got him primed for an afternoon nap.  He continues to study the maps, internet, and travel magazine articles as we develop plans for our trip to Florida.  I spent most of the day working on my photos.  No matter how much time I spend each day after downloading photos to the computer, I can still find pictures that are not completely labeled, are not stored in the correct folder, or are otherwise needing attention.

Like most of the nation, we are getting plenty of rain.  Yesterday was cloudy with a few sprinkles during the day--a good day to stay inside.  The rain started in earnest late yesterday afternoon, continued most of the night, and off and on during the day.  The rain, however, did not stop us from our appointed rounds.

Camping World has been high on our agenda for a long time.  I can’t believe we’ve been less than 15 miles from Camping World since we arrived in Nashville and haven’t been there yet.  Today was the day.  I only had a few things on my list, but it was fun to look around for things I didn’t know I needed.  Luckily, I didn’t find anything.  In fact, I was a little disappointed in the lack of merchandise they had and the seemingly jumbled up mess it was in.

After wandering the aisles at Camping World for an hour or so, we drove over to Opry Mills Mall, located where the old Opryland Theme Park used to be, to meet good friends, Jim and Jenice, for lunch.  We met this wonderful couple several years ago through our hiking club and have been on numerous hiking trips, club activities, and social events over the years.  We have even been seen together on a miniature golf course and at a bowling alley.  They also enjoy RVing and wander around in their Airstream from time to time.  They brought along Jenice’s brother, visiting from Oklahoma.  It was nice to meet Kenny.  We had a wonderful lunch together catching up on what has been happening with each of us over the past year.  We look forward to seeing Jim and Jenice several times over the next couple months at the various TTA functions we’ll be attending.

After lunch, we took the opportunity to look around in a few of the shops at Opry Mills with my mind on holiday gift giving.  We also spent a couple hours sipping coffee and leafing through books and magazines at Barnes and Nobles Bookstore.  Oh, that was nice.  It is one of our favorite things to do and it has been so long.  I think it may have been Portland, Oregon at Powell Books the last time we were in a bookstore.

It is leftovers for dinner, so no cooking tonight.  If the rain will let up, it will be out to another nearby state park tomorrow for a hike.