After several wet, gloomy, cold and windy days of April showers, today the sun is finally shining. It’s glorious out there! So I steered the F-150 out of the driveway, armed with a couple of cameras, one fitted with my 100mm macro lens and the other a 17-55 wide angle. True, I was getting a late start as the morning sun was more than halfway on track toward high noon. No matter. I was determined to make the best of it and indulge in a little ‘gravel travel’.

This isn’t my best work and there isn’t anything truly inspired here but what made this morning special was a chance encounter after I’d turned around on a dead end road. I’d passed an older couple in a red SUV as I headed up the hill. We waved our hello’s and continued on. After I’d circled back and was heading the way I’d come, I sighted this same vehicle coming toward me and I could see the driver putting his hand up for me to stop.

Dutifully, I did so and he (and his wife) asked if I was the plumber who was apparently due to show up at some point that day (but hadn’t yet called) and, with a grin on his face, was that me? Chuckling, ‘no’ I assured them it was not. He asked if I was lost and needed directions then. I explained that I had a couple of cameras in the truck and that I was just out taking photographs. I told them I enjoyed traveling gravel roads because ‘you just never know what you’ll find’. They seemed delighted with this response and we chatted for several minutes about the beauty in these wooded parts and about retirement and travel and life in general as well. It was so nice visiting with them and as I drove away I chided myself for not asking if I could take their picture.

These are the kinds of things that truly make my day!