Cumberland Gap Dulcimer Gathering

WOW!!! OH WOW!!! Wonderful!!! Fantastic!!!

Now I would guess that your wondering what I'm talking about being so great that I'd start off this chapter with words like that. Well..... you'd first off love to listen to the sounds of the Dulcimer. Mix that in with every other string instrument that can be carried to a campground and what do you get? WOW!!!
A few years ago our area had been chosen to two people to make this their new home. Terry & Pam Lewis had moved here from Georgia to be near their daughter and grandson. I had heard the dulcimer being played but never like the way I had heard Terry play it. I never knew that a small 3 stringed instrument could have that much heart and soul. My friendship with them started after seeing an article in the local paper about a "Dulcimer Concert" that was going to take place in the little town of Rose Hill. I convinced my husband to go with me and well...... the rest is history! That night forever changed my life and love of music.
Fast forward to May 2007. Terry had been working with the Cumberland Gap National Park and came up with the idea of having the "Cumberland Gap Dulcimer Gathering" in the campground area of the park. That was the first year and it was GREAT! This past Saturday was the last day of the second annual "CGDG".
It didn't help things that my right hand was so swollen that I couldn't hold the pick in my hand and that the shoulder was having so much pain that I couldn't play. BUT I was not going to let it stop me from enjoying some of the most fantastic music by some of the nations top Dulcimer players! I only missed one night of the music and that was because of a downpour of rain, and the fact that I was covered in mud from riding on WTOP that day.
Every night there were people up at Terry's campsite but nothing could ever compare to what went on Friday night. AWESOME! FANTASTIC! SPECTACULAR! (Do I need to go on?) Here sat several of the top Dulcimer players in the nation..... jamming and laughing and just flat out having a blast! All I can say is that if your a fan of Dulcimer's and didn't get to attend, then YOU MISSED IT!
I have met Mr. Don Pedi before and I can honestly say that I'm in awe of his talent. Not only is this man the most fantastic Dulcimer player around but his knowledge about the Dulcimer and the history of music is well..... amazing! And to top it off he is just a flat out fantastic guy to boot! He has to be something special.... he likes my cornbread!
I met for the first time Ms. Lois Hornbostel... WOW! I really like her. She's a hoot to be around and well..... what can I say about her playing other than FANTASTIC! Also there this year were - Bing Futch, Alan Darveaux, Deby Libby & Richard Woods. All were absolutely fantastic! Each brought a little something different to the dulcimer that only made it even more special.
I could go on and say something about each person that was there this year but then this blog would be never ending and I would do a lot of repeating myself. But just know that if I didn't mention you in person or sing your praises that it in no means implies that I didn't enjoy your contribution to the week... it mainly means that I'm at a loss for words! And believe me, that doesn't' happen very often.
I've uploaded several clips of video to YouTube.... but I'm no where near done. Here are just a few links to what I've got posted so far..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_P5XKe6rRA

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2f4AnJNclo

You can click on my name and check out the rest of what I've got posted so far.
Hopefully next year instead of having to drive back home every night we will either have a camper or find one to rent to use that week. I really don't want to miss one second of next years event.
I've got a lot more that I could say about this week but no time to do it in. More on this at a later date! I promise!!

I'm so far behind that I'll never catch up!

Ok, so I've not been here to work on my blog in a couple weeks. There is a good reason for it. I've been super busy either riding or attending the "Cumberland Gap Dulcimer Gathering". I've not told you that the Dulcimer is my other passion have I? Well it is. BUT first I guess I need to back up and catch up on things.

The last time I was here I was talking about my two nieces that I took to the mud bowl. That was on 4/27. I went back down to WTOP again on the following Thursday 5/1 and again the next day Friday 5/2! I took the next day, Saturday off. I was just flat out worn out. I think sometimes I try to convince myself that I'm still young and it just isn't working. OH well.....

I was back at it on Sunday 5/4. Met up with Dellis, Crash & Dale to ride at the Rose Hill parking lot. Crash and Dale brought along their boys. I hadn't seen them all winter and they had grown a lot! Except for "Possom", he's still a tiny little thing but tough as a pine knot!

We went straight across Stone into Kentucky. Did take one side trail that Dellis wanted to show me what they had found a couple weeks before. Someone had built a beautiful shelter that had a sleeping loft above with a really nice picnic table and benches below. But the best thing that they had built was an old fashioned "OUT HOUSE"! Talk about finding heaven in the woods! One thing for sure it gave me lots of ideas to do something for mom up on their river bottom. The only bad thing about that would be every time we would want to go down to use it someone else would be there thinking it was there! That would make me very angry. Anyway it is a good idea. Now back to riding.....

On the next day, Monday 5/5 my hubby had a doctors appointment. After he got out he came to the car and said "Lets go riding!" Now normally I would be very happy.... but I was beginning to get a little sore from all the other days riding but I agreed to go without saying a word.

When we got home I told him to go change into his riding clothes and that I'd load up the "Cats" to get ready to go. Grabbed the keys and load up his first...... then went to "Miss Kitty" and the old gal didn't want to start! The battery is going bad but I do have a pull start as a back up. Good to have in case your out and things goes bad, but very hard on the arm/shoulder if it kicks back on you! It has been over a week now and my arm/elbow/wrist still has a lot of pain. I know it won't kill me... but it sure hurts.

That evening after we rode we stopped by the Cumberland Gap National Park campgrounds to see some friends of ours. We had been riding with them a few weeks back and she somehow managed to loose a pair of glasses. Now remember WTOP is 9,000 acres and yep.. you guessed it... Hubby found them! You should have seen her face when we handed them to her. Bad part was she had just gone to have new lenses put in another pair of frames to replace the ones that she had lost. Well, at least now she has a spare pair.

Didn't get to go riding again till Thursday 5/8. A friend of ours called the week before to see if we would be guides for him and his brothers and a brother in law at WTOP. We had been really watching the weather reports/forecast. They were giving some pretty heavy rain to move in on that day. But they said that the forecast said that it would be later on in the day before it made it so they wanted to go ride for as long as they could. Now what is funny, normally I'm either in the "Older" group of riders or I'm the OLDEST! This time I was the YOUNGEST! But also the dumbest. I was down in the "Mud Bowl" showing them what a good play area it is and well..... I turned left when I should have stayed straight! I sunk "Miss Kitty" up to the frame in mud! Hubby had to bring his down with the winch on it to pull me out! That was embarrassing to say the least. But to top it off when I was off trying to hook up the cable I slipped and down I went in the mud! But it is only mud and washes off thank goodness.

Well that is my riding caught up to date. I've not been able to go since then. I was supposed to have went yesterday but backed out. My youngest son was wanting to go down but the weather was nasty and my hand/arm was hurting a lot so I called it off till a later date. Today and tomorrow would have been perfect weather to go but he is working so it will just have to wait.

MUD! RAIN!!

Should have known not to even try it but we ignored that BLACK CAT and went any way. What am I talking about? After going over to my sisters house to pick up Mudd Puppy on our way back to here there was this big ole black cat that ran across the road in front of us. I did the big ole X on the windshield but it didn't work. We had 3 trucks going down pulling 3 trailers with 2 on each! WE did look pretty cool going down the road. I hauled my hubby's ride (took it because of having the winch on it) and MuddPuppys ride... Bob had his and Shannon's and David stopped to pick up Ivy's to finish out the bunch.

When we unloaded at the Colmar parking lot first thing that the girls did was to stir up the dust big time doing donuts in the gravel. Ivy is fantastic at doing donuts! But then it started..... first Shannon ran through a water hole and her Polaris decided it didn't like water! I thought they would never get it started again. But they did........ then Bob's started running really rough... and I do mean rough. I know that where we stopped to get gas we've stopped a million times before and had never gotten bad gas. But then it started running a lot smoother and so off we went.

Hadn't been there to long when "Sprinkles" & "Lady Redneck" caught up with us.

Started up trail 66B toward the Mud Bowl...... took a side trail that loops around and comes out right at the edge and.... well nobody was staying together. We had rides scattered all over the place! Finally found everyone and I made them follow me. That was the last thing that I needed.. to have someone break down or get hurt and not know anything about it. Not good... not good at all. BUT nobody broke so we were Mud Bowl Bound!

Shannon decided that seeing as her ride didn't like water she just stayed up on the rim to watch. Bob never even ventured down into the bowl..... but of course MP, Ivy & David hit it wide open! I'll admit.... I have as much fun if not more just staying on top and watching people get dirty...... then to see the smiles on their faces when they come out.

Then the rain started. Sprinkles took off toward their truck and never came back to join in with us. And believe me I don't blame them one bit! It was a cold rain... and windy on top of that. Nasty outside for sure.

We (the rest of us) drove down to the "Powder House" for shelter for a while... but of course by the time we got there we all were soaking wet. Stayed for a while.... had lunch then when it slacked off to nearly nothing we took off toward the Water tower. While on the trail I picked up on the radio "Rancher" hollering at us. We waited on him at the tower... but told him as soon as he got there that we had to leave. I didn't want to, but people were getting to the point of shaking they were so wet and cold.

I know that Shannon & Bob have heard me talk so much about WTOP and what great trails we have there and what beautiful views... well needless to say they didn't get the best tour. Maybe they can come back and really see what we have to offer.

If you've ever wondered what to do with two VERY MUDDY TEENAGE GIRLS on the ride home, put them in the back of the truck! I stopped in town as soon as we got there and bought them both new CLEAN clothes to put on! You can see what they looked like at the end of the video. NOW you know why they didn't get in the cab of my truck till they had clean clothes!!

Well, that's it for my riding adventures this weekend. Till next week (or next ride)..... ride long.. ride hard... but above all ride safe!

Good Day to be a Holler Crawler

The little town of Pineville, Kentucky had their "Spring Fling" on Saturday April 26. The Holler Crawlers were invited to come sit up a tent to present the club to the people that came for the event. Part of our job was to have an "ATV Show". Well it really wasn't a show like you see at Car or Motorcycle shows.... just cleaned up our rides to show them off and such.

My husband and I arrived in Pineville shortly after 9 this morning to help set up things at our tent. Mostly took over and parked our Arctic Cats.... and sat the helmet out to show it off to try to sell tickets on as part of a fund raiser for the club.

We had a lot of people to come by our tent to ask questions about the club and what we are doing up on "WTOP". Had several people join the club on the spot and a lot to take the applications home with them. At last count we are getting very close to having 100 members!!!! That is pretty good for a club that has been a club no longer than we have! Or at least I think so.

I cleaned for 3 days on both of the AC's... they sure did look pretty! OK, so maybe pretty isn't the right word for them but they sure did look shiny and clean. One thing for sure..... after tomorrow (Sunday) at least one of them should be covered in mud...... again!

Heading out in the morning to take Shannon, Bob, David, Morgan & Ivy down to WTOP to ride for the day. Sure hope that we don't have rain. If it was a warm rain I wouldn't mind it... but the weather isn't that warm yet! At least I always carry a poncho with me... which reminds me.... IF I ride Jim's tomorrow I had better get it out of my bag and put it in or I could get VERY WET! OH well..... I'll look at it this way. I've not missed very many weekends of riding in the past year and so far I've not gotten wet from being caught in a rain yet. Now I won't say that I've NOT gotten wet.... OH I have..... but it was from running through water/mud holes! That is a blast! Just think... here I am a woman that is actually a "Grandma" and I still like to play in the mud!

Well....... it's late.... after midnight and I've got to get an early start in the morning. See ya'll tomorrow evening with some pictures of the days ride.

3 out of 4 days! Now that was FUN!

Finally a GREAT week of riding-working. Spent Thursday & Friday of last week putting up trail markers at WTOP, took Saturday off to rest, then hit it again on Sunday to play! I've found something that is soooooo much fun! Mattress Surfing! I took my niece with me on Sunday along with a twin size mattress. Cut holes in it to where I could run a chain through to have a way to pull it. Then used a tow rope between the mattress and the ATV to keep it away from any dirt it may kick up. We had a blast! But the bad news is some big dummy ran off and forgot both cameras on Sunday! Now that was stupid of me. We did manage to get little snips of video using her cell phone camera.... but I've not gotten the pieces yet to put them together to make a video. It was fun for sure! And that kid is like a little leach! She stuck right there every inch of the way every time she rode.

I do have some photos of what we did on Thursday and Friday. Saw some more beautiful views and rode some really great trails.

Spent yesterday, Tuesday, cleaning up a lot of ATVs! We are taking the two Arctic Cats to Pineville for an ATV show. So I've still got a lot of work to do on them to get them spit shined up to look GREAT! It will take me the rest of the week to get that done for sure. I sure do like our Arctic Cats.... they are great machines. Cleaned up my daughters rides too. Her and her hubby are coming down this coming Sunday to ride at WTOP for the first time. Can't wait to show them what we have to offer. One of these days I'll add all the miles of trails that we have to see just how much we do have. One thing about it. You can ride as hard as you'd like and NOT see all the trails in one day.

Till next week... stay safe and ride long!

Ramp Festival - Black Mt. Off Road Park - Evarts

I wish that I could say that I had a wonderful time at Evarts this past weekend,but sadly to say I didn't get to go this year. It would have been my first time riding at one of their "events". But the good news is that the Holler Crawlers did have several members that did get to go.
Here is a link to photos and a video that was shot Saturday. Enjoy!

Photos: http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j127/bellman30/bellman%202/?albumview=grid

Video: http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j127/bellman30/?action=view&current=RampFest08.flv

Thanks to Bellman of the Harlan County Ridge Runners for posting the links to those!

Show Me The Mud!

Well this week started off semi good... and went down hill from there. I was at my parents trying to get some more work done on their new storage shed and my shoulder was hurting so bad that I had to quit. Not a good thing to have happen on a Monday. Tuesday I gave in and went to the doctor. He gave me a shot to take care of the Bursitis.... that was Tuesday and it is still bothering me. AND I've been a good girl and have followed his instructions. I've not lifted anything heavy this week but still it hurts.
So to keep myself from going crazy I did another video this week. Song choice was "Mud On The Tires" and title of the video is "Show Me The Mud". Do you get the idea of what the theme of the video is? lol Hope you enjoy it!