Brian went with me to First Landing State Park, where I discovered to my surprise that I picked up the old dome tent. I bought this one in, like, 1991 or so. I replaced it with our current dome tent around 2001. It has a cracked pole and a busted zipper. These are not insurmountable problems, especially since I'm easy on gear, but it's certainly been a while since it's been taken out. But that's what you get when you pack and take off on a long trip in 45 minutes or less.
I only discovered that I had left a whole day early when I was already in Virginia. I made my camping reservations back in May and promptly put the confirmation documents aside when they arrived. In the meantime, I had mentally expanded my trip to include another day. That meant that I was almost to the Blue Ridge when I looked at the documents that said I didn't have a place to sleep last night. I considered camping outside Richmond, but in the end I just bulled on ahead and got a room at the hotel we stayed at in June. It had rained all day, and I wasn't in the mood to wrestle with tents and soaked campgrounds in the dark. Oh yeah, I also forgot a flashlight and my raincoat. But we shall persevere. After, being prepared means you know how to handle things even if you forgot something important.
Tomorrow, we're taking Daniel in for a regular checkup. After that, since Anna and Brian both have the day pretty free, we'll probably take in a museum or something fun. Saturday, I'll put up the shelves we bought today for the garage. And Sunday will be Daniel's baptism. Anna and Brian have a new pastor, just arrived following their Annual Conference a few weeks ago. He dropped by this afternoon to finalize arrangements. It was an easy call (Anna and Brian both know the drill -- Anna the preacher's kid, especially); not much hassle explaining Methodist doctrine and practice to these parishioners.
Pastor David is struggling with laryngitis, so prayers on that count would be appreciated. G'night!