We got to (relatively speaking) sleep in this morning, our flight to Nashville didn’t leave until 10:20. We left the house at 7:30, made a stop at Ruth Nichol’s to drop of some braille for Maggie, and got to the airport by around 9:00. We had breakfast at the food court, and then caught our plane ( a rather small jet with only 2 seats on each side of the aisle).
It was great to be met at the Nashville airport by PDG Gene Staats and PCC Shirley! Debra and Gene were in the same class at DGE School at the Denver Convention, so we got to renew old friendships. Gene and Shirley are wonderfully dedicated Lions, who obviously have provided great service to their district over the years.
The convention was at the Double Tree Hotel in Murfreesborough, about a half hour from the airport in Nashville. It was a very nice hotel, we had a beautiful suite on the 4th floor. We met DG Billy (BJ) Blankenship and his wife Carolyn, along with some other visiting DGs and dignitaries (including Past International President Austin Jennings) at the hospitality room, where we snacked and chatted until it was time for dinner.
There were about 30 of us for dinner at the “Ryan’s” restaurant across the highway from the hotel. They had the biggest and best buffet dinner we had ever seen. We had steak and salad from the buffet, but they had all kinds of entrees available as well as a huge variety of vegetables, salads, desserts, etc on the buffet. The steaks were very tasty and tender.
After dinner, Debra went to the Council of Governor’s meeting with PCC Shirley, while PDG Gene and I stayed up at the hospitality room. Many stories were told! When Debra and the DGs came back, we stayed up for a while sharing the hospitality, but were still able to get to bed at a reasonable hour after a very full day.