Week 13
We went to Gary’s 50th class reunion and saw some friends he hadn’t seen for 50 years; some other people we had seen during previous reunions. Everybody was surprised to see how little he had changed. We had a good time, had a buffet dinner, listened to 50s music, heard an Elvis impersonator, saw Jerry Springer (one of Gary’s classmates, not the one you see on t.v.) who said he often has a hard time making reservations when he says who he is. Danced on Rock Around the Clock and Francoise didn’t break her foot this time (she had broken her foot dancing to that song in the 80s and Gary had vowed she would never dance to that again as he didn’t want her to break her foot again). Got reconnected with some of his old classmates and promised to keep in touch this time which is a lot easier with cell phones and internet. Next destination was Nashville, TN where we saw our friends Rick and Gloria who showed us around town. It was fun to see the Country Music Hall of Fame, saw Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge where wannabees get discovered, the Ryman Auditorium which started out as a church but now is the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland Hotel and the Parthenon which was an exact replica of the one in Greece. We didn’t get to see everything we wanted so we need to return there some day. On the way to Nashville we stopped at a campsite in Southern Illinois. This is where we saw trees with ugly, green apple like fruits. Some of them were laying on the ground. When I picked one up I found out how sticky they were. Some of them had been crushed by cars and the insides looked not very appealing. We asked some people who live in the area what they were called and if you could eat them. They are called hedgeapples and you can’t eat them. The only thing they are good for is for building fences with the wood of the actual tree as the wood is really hard and therefore good for fences. If they have any other purpose and you know about it let me know. Tomorrow (the 11th) we start home for the final leg of our journey.
