Happy Birthday America!

Well, America has lived to see yet another birthday.. isn't it wonderful! I know of no other place on earth that people enjoy the freedom that we do. I know that times are getting tough right now on a lot of people. It is us too. But we are a tough nation and we will survive.

Several members of the Holler Crawlers got together at one of the many pads and had a really good cookout and then a lot of really good fireworks after. It rained a little bit on us, fog set in and for a while you couldn't see much. But it cleared off and really was a nice evening to spend with a bunch of friends.

Sprinkles served as our cook for the evening and as usual he did a really good job. He needs to have his own restaurant. SouthKyGal was the lady that came up with the idea, her and her husband furnished the fireworks. GREAT JOB!

I am so glad that back in January I decided to take a chance and come down and ride with BCO. I've gained a lot of new friends that will forever have a place in my heart.

July 3, 2008

If we had waited another 4 days it would have been a full month since we last rode. That is the longest I've ever gone without riding! I know that next weekend is out due to the fact that my husband is having surgery on his knee on July 11... so it will be a couple weeks before I can go even after that. So I had to ride while I could.

Six went down to WTOP to put in at the Colmar parking area and six came home hours later. No accidents, no breakdowns. Not a lot of mud (another dry summer) and LOTS of dust...... no shortage there!

It's raining now (July 4th - 9:17 A.M.) and I'd give anything to go back down as soon as it stops! Anything! We are supposed to go down for the fireworks that a Holler Crawler member and her husband have bought up. If it stops early enough I may go ahead and go down early and ride for a bit before we are supposed to eat tonight. It would be wonderful to ride with NO dust what so ever. BUT.... I know I'd be a muddy mess after so what to do. Hummm

More GREAT Bluegrass Music!

I'm in HOG heaven! I sure am!!! Two weekends this month I've gotten lucky enough to be able to attend two different Bluegrass Festivals. The last being "Goin' Back To Harlan" Festival in Harlan Kentucky. WOW!

Now mind you I've seen every performer that was there at other places, but still it amazes me at their talent and the warmth that they show the fans. Yesterdays line up included - Pine Mountain Grass, Shadow Ridge, Alecia Nugent & Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper. Kentucky Rain was supposed to be there but their bass player didn't show!

I won't talk bad about those that I wasn't crazy about, that is rude. BUT I can yell, shout, scream how much I really enjoyed the ones that I personally liked the best!

Shadow Ridge - All local boys that should be on the biggest stages there are in the US! Scott, C.F, Daniel, Barry..... AMAZING! Always top notch.

Alecia Nugent - How can someone so tiny have such a BIG voice yet on some songs sing so gentle she makes it seem so effortless. Wonderful! Thank you for coming to my back yard to perform.

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper - WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!! WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so in awe of your talent. I know that most of the world would look upon you and see nothing but a person with "disabilities". Nothing could be further from the truth! Your talent for playing not just one instrument but several is something that most "so called normal" people could only dream of doing. Your musicianship is amazing. And to top it off.. your just a wonderful human being. For you to take the time to sit and listen to an overweight, middle aged lady from the hills of Virginia really means a lot to me. I can't wait till your newest CD comes out. You can bet that I'll have my copy in record time. When you played "Jerusalem Ridge" from the upcoming release.... well I can safely say that it will be my new favorite! Fantastic!

I'm including a video of the last song of the last show of the last day...... ENJOY!

Michael....... YOU ROCK!

No riding for the last 2 weekends.....

In case your wondering what is going on, the answer to that would be absolutely nothing. Husband is down with his knee so he can't ride and he can't walk without using crutches so I have to stick close to home to help him when he needs it.

The only thing exciting that I've gotten to do is on Friday, June 13 we went over to Duffield at the Natural Tunnel State Park to see Rhonda Vincent & The Rage in concert. That is always a treat! Didn't get to go see them any during the 2007 year. Between surgery on hubbys other knee and deaths in the family things didn't go so good the entire year. But we are making up for it this year!

I'm so proud to say that I know Rhonda and the entire Rage group of people. Hunter made my day the instant that he saw me. He is such a great guy. Kenny as always takes the time to talk to you. Hubby got to take his photo with Rhonda again.... that he just loves to show off! (funny how he never smiles like that in a picture with me! LOL) But then I got some special attention from Hunter so I guess we are even! LOL

Thanks guys for being the wonderful people that you are. Your music is the best but the people you are is something that can never be beat! Hope to see you again in September at Dumplin Valley Bluegrass Festival.

And I can't leave without saying a very special thank you to Rhonda, Kenny & Hunter for helping me with the little video message for BCO! It is priceless!

I know of no other group of performers that would do this for someone like me. I'm nothing special, just an overweight, middle aged lady in the heart of no where yet still they take the time to do something so special. Thanks!

Juvenile Diabetes Poker Run Ride

If I had to describe the days ride I could do it in two... no make that three words. FUN... Dust... Mud!

Everyone met at the old St. Charles school in St. Charles Virginia on Saturday morning June 7. I knew we were in trouble early on... it was HOT. With no sign of any real relief from the heat. But still there were 41 people that signed up to take the ride. There was a $20 entry fee..... of which 100% was given to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation!!! I know that it doesn't sound like a lot of money, but every penny helps.

Met up with a lot of people that I've not seen in a long time... and even kids (now grown up and parents themselves!) of people that I grew up with and went to school with up at St. Charles.

Left out of the school parking lot a little later than the original starting time... but that was OK. There were still people coming in and wanting to ride. Finally got going and it was a fun ride. Wasn't that much of a challenge to the ride it's self.... but it still is a good place to go. There are some mud holes up there that are just made for getting people stuck. And they did! Here is the video that I shot of where we went that day.

Well, I think that with this post on my blog that I've gotten everything up to date. I hope I do! Maybe from here on out things will not be so crazy. It's gotten very hot.... and I do mean hot. And with the price of gas being right at $4.00 a gallon unless I just can't stand it I may not be riding so much. Or at least trailering down to WTOP. I may go ahead and ride on Stone Mountain. It only takes me 10 minutes to get from the house to the trail head. So that is more in my price range.

So, till I post again, stay safe... ride long and ride HARD!

More catching up, Ride For Sean

I'm still playing catch up so bare with me.

On Saturday, May 31, 2008, there were about 200 riders that came out early on that morning to support the children of the fallen Bell County Deputy Sean Pursiful.

All in all it was a good ride... a really good ride. Some of my bunch that didn't fall out and join in with another group rode a total of 58.4 miles that day. We had a good time.

Half way through the ride everyone stopped at the Colmar parking area for some FREE FOOD! And not just any free food either. Faith Temple Church had spoke up and said that they wanted to help. They bought, had butchered and then cooked on the grill 2 whole pigs! Everyone that day had some great pulled pork. And let me tell you it was good!

A lot of businesses in the county gave food and goods to be used that day too. We had FREE hot dogs and chips and drinks too. If you left Colmar hungry it was your own fault. It wasn't because we didn't' have plenty of food to go around. I take that back..... I heard.... I said "I HEARD" that they also had some really great RIBS...... but I didn't get not one single piece. NOT ONE! Oh well... maybe next time.

The total raised to go in the education fund for the kids was just under $2000. By the time they are old enough to start drawing on that it should turn into a good amount to help pay the bills for college.

This was the first event that the Holler Crawlers were host to. We did some things wrong, didn't get some things in the right order, but all in all it turned out good. Nobody was hurt other than some major dust in the eyes. Nobody was left behind, everyone made it back to their trucks. So in that respect it was a really good day.

Stay tuned for the next update! I'm still playing catch up on our adventures!

Busy, Busy, BUSY!

Where do I start? It has been weeks since I've posted anything. And it is not for the lack of riding, that's for sure. Could it be to much riding? No..... NEVER!

The weekend of May 23-24-25 was a very busy one indeed. We spent the 23 & 24 in Pineville working the booth/tent for the Holler Crawlers at the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival. Sold a lot of shirts/hats/stickers but more important we signed up a LOT of new members to the Holler Crawlers! On Saturday we signed up 22 new members!!

Sunday, May 25, was my birthday. I never got out of the yard! Why? I was just to tired from the two days before. I needed to rest up from two days of being out till after midnight and then another two hours before laying down then getting up before daylight to hit the road again! It wasn't that long ago that doing that wouldn't have bothered me. Now...... well I hate to admit it but time is catching up with me. I can't go and go and go like I did when I was younger.

Monday, 27th, was spent down at WTOP clearing trails and getting ready for the "Ride For Sean" that was coming up FAST. Tuesday, 28th didn't go down but went over to my sisters to borrow a "mini bush-hog" to get some mowing done. Wednesday.... mowed 2-3 acres off in the Colmar parking area to have a good spot to put the food tents. Thursday my baby boy Dan went down to ride WTOP for the first time. I do think that the boy liked it! He was covered in mud. Had a blast!

Met up with Jon on the trails and we finished out riding the route that we were going to lead on for the "RFS" on Saturday. Friday, didn't go down to WTOP till late in the day to take tables and chairs to have to use. Then finally at last it was Saturday, May 31.

WOW! We had people from several states come to ride and give their support. I'd say right at 200 rides were there. Just in my group that I was leading I had almost 50 rides! Not riders.... I had more than that but rides alone! Poor people.... I hate to say it but it was so dry... and dusty that if you weren't in front you ate/breathed a LOT OF DUST. Never lost anyone.... no major break downs..... nobody really got hurt, other than dust in their eyes, so that was a GREAT ride! I did have one little "incident" but I can't/won't go into it here. But after talking to someone this past Saturday I found out that he (the person that I'm NOT talking about) does this everywhere he goes..... wants to stir up something out of nothing. Then talk about it all over the place. Oh well.. you run into all kinds out there.

I've got to run for now.... but there is still a lot of updating that needs to be done. I promise that I'll finish up this evening. I promise!