bandWe do something here in East Tennessee we call "loafering". It means getting out driving around with no particular place to go. Maybe visit some friends if you drive past their house and they're home. Possibly finding a nice place to stop and eat. We did just that this past weekend along with some family and friends. We filled the cooler with drinks and food, threw it in the van, and headed out. We first stopped by the home of an old friend named Larry Stills. It had been quite a while since I had seen him so when we drove past his house and saw him in the yard I said, "Hey, let's stop and see Larry". You can do that when you are out "loafering", so we stopped and talked about old times for about an hour. After that we headed for the mountains.
There is a local swimming hole nearby where I swam quite a bit in my younger years but a few years ago, after a flood, the road had to be closed for repairs. The road was recently reopened, so we decided to drive down it and stop at the old swimming hole.
Here is the rock that I used to climb and jump off of in my younger, dumber years.
We just skipped a few rocks this time, then drove on through the mountains into North Carolina.
The creek emptied into a river and we drove beside it on our way to a place called "Hot Springs".
Most people don't know this but we have hot springs here, near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, like the ones in Yosemite National park. You can even get in these if you want, and have a nice hot mineral bath. We had planned on stopping here for a picnic, but it occurred to me that an old friend of mine was playing in a band at a restaurant nearby, so we decided to go there. Here is the band in action.
We had a great steak dinner, then danced the night away.
The young and the old got in on the dancing.
Finally, the young got too tired to tango.
Here is the "East West Band". They are a great band. The third guy from the the left is my old buddy, Clinton (Red) Norton. Many years ago, we played in bands together, all over East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
I am really glad to see good people like this playing their music and having a great time. I'm not ready to do it yet, but I hope someday, to give up trucking for awhile and play music full time again myself.
