Travel Time, Old Friends and A House On A Lake

Ken and I are traveling. We started our trip last Friday by spending a day at our daughter's near Kansas City taking care of our grandchildren who had no school that day. It's a treat to have the 6 and 9 year old kids all to ourselves. We shopped and went out for lunch and had a grand time. On Friday night, it snowed--huge snowflakes that came down fast and furiously. It didn't last long, so there wasn't a lot of snow. 

We woke the next morning to fog! Not the best way to begin a trip. I stood at the kitchen window and watched three little birds at a feeder. They perched on the deck railing--a male and female cardinal and a red-headed woodpecker. They were so content to sit on the snow-covered railing, while I was worried about traveling in fog and on slick highways. We had gone only about 5 miles when the sun broke through the clouds and chased the fog away. The main roads were good, only a few slick spot in the passing lane. I relaxed and decided to enjoy the scenery. We were in 5 states that day--Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi. We spent the night in Olive Branch, MS, which is just south of Memphis.

Sunday we had only a 6 hour drive to Smith's Station, Alabama. We were looking forward to visiting old friends who have retired here. They built a lovely home on the shore of a lake. We had to take 3 county roads and a narrow dirt road to reach their place. They are surrounded by a forest of trees on three sides and a lake on the fourth side. The view from the back of the house is so peaceful. The guest room we slept in last night has two large windows on the lakeside. When I woke up this morning, the mist was rising from the water and the sun coming up. And yes, it made me want to write a poem! 

We spent last evening catching up with one another's lives, our children and grandchildren, the mutual friends we have and more. You know you are with good friends when the conversation keeps going as if we had seen each other only days ago, not several years. Chicken Soup has a book in the works on New Friends. They think that the subject is important enough to devote an entire book to it. Once upon a time, these old friends of ours were new friends. I sent a story about another new friend who quickly became a good friend, and finally an old friend. Still waiting to hear if the story made it or not. 

We'll spend today seeing some of the area here, not far from Auburn University and Georgia only a few miles farther east. Tomorrow, we are moving on to Venice, Florida to meet other old friends for a few days.

Traveling offers so many opportunities for new stories to write, poems to be pieced together, too. It's good to keep a notebook of some kind with you to jot notes for stories that you will have more time to write later.