We got up yesterday and hit the road from Poplar Bluff; arriving some 250 miles later here in Nashville TN where we pulled into site P-10 here at the Nashville KOA campground. We ran into a bit of rush hour traffic the last 30 miles or so as it was almost 1600 when we arrived at the campground. After getting setup we went back down the road a mile or so and ran into the Santa Fe Cattle Company for dinner. There was a line of 20 or 25 people in the lobby waiting for restaurant seats…but we scored two empty bar stools at the bar so we had a beer each and ordered some steaks. Neil had a NY Strip and ate all of it along with his Santa Fe rice side dish…keeping his baked sweet ‘tater to have tonight with our scheduled pork dinner. Connie had a sirloin with Tennessee Whiskey glaze and potatoes and gravy. She saved a bit of her steak which we mixed into our scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning. Both steaks were great, the beer was cold and frosty, and we had some good conversations with our bar mates while eating. We  came home and watched TV until bedtime. Here’s a shot of our site P-10; pretty nice campground. We’re right on the end of the row and have a decent sized site with a nice concrete patio and picnic table.

This morning we had some scrambled eggs with leftover steak and cheese in them and then sat around vegetating until lunchtime since it was raining. About 1130 we had some left over pizza from our travel day on Thursday for lunch then since it was done raining we headed off for a 3 mile hike at the Bells Bend Outdoor Center about 15 miles from here. This is a nice state park and we wandered through the meadows, some woodlands, and along the river. Along the way we spotted some goldenrod

and some little purple flower things

and this Wooly Bear caterpillar.

Not too much flora or fauna today…we heard a few birds and spotted a Red Headed Woodpecker but he was just a dot up in the tree (and a silhouetted dot at that) so Neil didn’t bother with a photo.

We headed home and will watch the Alabama game here in a bit along with having dinner. Tomorrow morning it’s Mass in the morning then we’re stopping by Walmart for some groceries. Neil’s sister Mary Jane who lives over in Knoxville is driving over with her daughter Lauren and we’ll grill some burgers for lunch since it’s supposed to be a nice day. We haven’t seen Mary Jane since about a year ago…it will be good to visit with family.

Neil reconfirmed our stop starting on Friday in Cedar Key FL at the Low Key Hideaway…we’re really looking forward to a very slow week there…we’ll go on some hikes and drink beer at the Tiki Bar…and then well continue on down to Fort Myers for the winter. We’re also looking forward to some more warm weather…it’s been pretty cool the past 3 weeks or so as well as seeing some herons and gators.

Cyas.…