Aborted Trip To The Mall

Elkmont, Alabama

Weather: low 38 degrees, high 46 degrees, cloudy, rain on and off all day

Did you note the weather for the day? Cold, windy, wet, threats of sleet and the isolated snow flake. Even though it's still officially the fall season, it feels like winter to this thin blooded southern boy!

I had a couple of errands to do away from the RV this morning, but I waited until 0900 hours to get started. It's a little difficult for me to get out bright and early when it's as wet and cold as it felt now that I'm not working. In case anyone was wondering where Carolyn was during my chores, she played smart and stayed at home, cozy and warm.

I needed to buy diesel while I was gone, and it just happened that the rain was falling about as hard as it did all day. The pump was under a shelter, but with the wind blowing, I might as well have been out in the open. By getting behind the pump, I managed to stay partly dry.

I got home about 1100 hours, just in time for Carolyn to say that she was ready to go do something. Well, okay. What did she want to do? She said she didn't care, she would leave it up to me. I had the bright idea of going over to the mall (the real mall, not the WalMart Mall) in Huntsville. She had mentioned earlier in the week that she would like to go.

We took off on the back roads over to Madison because I felt the traffic would be less. I was right about lighter traffic on the back roads. It's just too bad that I couldn't get to the mall using all back roads. When we got to US 72, the traffic increased dramatically. A mile later, we were at a dead stop on the highway, only moving about ten feet every minute. We think a traffic light was malfunctioning between us and the mall, which was still about five miles away. After about 30 minutes, both of us said the heck with this. At the first chance, we turned around and headed back toward Athens. Suddenly, traffic was lighter.

Let's face it, folks. I'm retired and I don't have to sit in traffic jams if I don't want to. And I don't want to. Neither does Carolyn.

As we were driving into Athens, we realized that we were getting hungry. Lunchtime had arrived. As we drove along, we kept our eyes open for a place to stop. We wanted something a little different, and both of us noticed a new deli that just opened in the Publix shopping center. We went into Sweet Peppers Deli, and were we wowed! Great service, very good food, good environment. Carolyn had the Cuban Panini, while I had the Reuben sandwich. I like sauerkraut! Both of us had a side order of potato salad. The sandwiches were large enough that we were able to only eat half of them for lunch, so I guess you know what we had for supper.

After leaving the deli with appetites satisfied, Carolyn wanted to take a ride west on US 72 to Rogersville, a little town of about 1,200 people. It had been about 15 years since we had been there, and we were surprised at the amount of growth that has taken place. I guess we should have been aware that the growth was going on since this north Alabama area is about the only place we have seen in our travels over the last couple of years where business still seems to be doing well. It's almost like they don't know a recession has hit the country.

By the time we had looked around Rogersville, Carolyn was ready to go home. She was not having problems with her vertigo, and didn't want to tempt the vertigo gods. By the time we got home, it was time to do some heavy duty meditation for me, while Carolyn took a nap.

It was a good day, even with the weather like it was.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Rogersville, Alabama: Shop…. Fish…. Eat…. Live!

Not all who wander are lost.