Reminder - West Virginia jam

Man, I miss that big Hillbilly.

DE

Wish I were there.  Camping sounds fun right about now.  I love the directions too.  Those are MY kind of directions!

Well I'm back.  We had four guitar pickers there.  Two of them blew me away with their picking.  Dirty Ed was there and the only reason he didn't blow me away with his picking is that I was too busy being impressed with his song-writing. 

The river was high, so I didn't paddle it.  Dirty Ed did.  I did fish from the campground and caught a few fish, which was nice.  I also took an amazing hike as a "photo safari", but my camera had a severe user-induced malfunction (meaning I forgot that A meant Aperture priority instead of Automatic).  So, the pictures kind of stink. 

On the way home, my light technician buddy Roger and I stopped at the Jackson River, which was not blown out like the New River was.  We put in our kayaks and had a great time paddling and catching fish for a couple hours.  Next time I'm down in WV and the New is misbehaving, I'm going to come back to VA and try the Jackson River, or maybe the Cowpasture.  Each time I drive down, I look at those rivers from the highway and think that they're beautiful.  So yesterday, we took the time to get on one of them, and it was worth it!

Alvin, the guy we were honoring this weekend, started this annual shindig about twelve or so years ago.  Back then I'd go down and see some guys with their boats laid out, their fishing poles rigged up and ready, and them sitting around the campfire all day drinking coffee, tea, or water and staring at the river.  I always thought to myself "look at those jokers - they come all this way for these fantastic rivers and then just sit on their cans all day doing nothing."  Well, this year I became one of those jokers and I totally get it now.  It was a great way to spend my Saturday.  Geoff, one of the other fellows along on the trip, set the dizzying pace of getting up to get a beer three or four times during the day. It was exhausting just to watch him.  Heck, one time he moved his chair to keep the smoke out of his eyes.  It was brutal having to see him exert himself like that.

LOLOLOL Such use of the apostrophe!   LOLOLOL   Gald you all got to enjoy some relaxation.

This was your kind of event buddy.  You'd have really enjoyed yourself. 

I think Guitarpix and his beautiful bride would have enjoyed themselves as well.  I know Mekidsmom and Meselfshusband would have had a ball. 

Diane, the campground owner and host is such a darling.  She made us all breakfast on Saturday morning.  Fresh coffee, egg casserole, cheesy grits, and lots of sourdough toast with butter and jam.  Yum yum yum.  She's a woman who really understands what the hospitality industry is all about. 

With the area having had a lot of rain, and her knowing we like to have our campfire music late into the night, she told us that we could use the campground pavilion in case it rained (no extra charge or registration or anything - just come up and use it).  Well it rained on Saturday night and I have to tell you that when we did move into the pavilion the music sounded great!  With the open air, high roof, and wood floor, the acoustics in there were warm and inviting.  I really liked it.  There were a few comfy Adirondack style chairs and rockers in the pavilion and two people fell asleep in them while Dirty Ed and I swapped songs. 

I never cease to be amazed at the number of songs Dirty Ed can pull out of his back pocket.  (At least I hope it's his back pocket.  He kept reaching behind himself and wiggling around...)  I played the same songs on Friday and Saturday night for the most part.  Dirty Ed had a few repeats, but he had a lot of new material too.  Thursday night 'someone' was a little over-served and had difficulty finding the right frets so he let two amazing guitarists who are paid to play together jam and entertain us all for free.  The rest of the weekend whenever anyone screwed up a note or passage, he yelled "Where are my dots!"  I think it's a sentiment that Mekidsmom's fingers can understand. 

- Zurf