Meeting new friends

Santee Lakes, Santee, California

We're meeting some interesting people on our RV trip. In San Diego, we were both sitting outdoors reading books, and a gentleman stopped by to comment about what we were doing. It's great to see people who are  fellow readers, he said. Okay, so besides being sociable, he may have had another motive--his t-shirt read, "Ask me about my book," and of course there was a picture of his book. That led to a couple of lengthy and enjoyable conversations with Ralph Cates, author of Black October and member of a local writers' group. We swapped books and email addresses and agreed to stay in touch. He's done a good job of hand-selling copies of his books at various RV sites, though that's not something I've ever felt comfortable doing.

Last night, as we were strolling through the RV park in Utah, a couple spoke to us and we wound up chatting for a good twenty minutes. They had an impressive-looking telescope and were waiting for the sun to go down. Nothing remarkable about our chat, and the subject of books never came up. But in an RV park you can usually strike up enjoyable conversations with total strangers. Once in a while there's a click and you both agree to stay in touch, and other times you just spend a pleasant few minutes and that's all there is.