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!

No riding this weekend, but there was GREAT Music!

I had every intention of getting Miss Kitty out and getting her dirty this weekend but it didn't happen. Already had plans on heading down to Sevierville TN to attend their "Bloomin' BBQ & Bluegrass" with some friends on Saturday. The weather could not have been more perfect! As for the music, all free I might add, it was FANTASTIC! Other than the last act on stage. I'll admit that I was looking forward to seeing Marty Stuart, never seen him in person before, but after about 1/4 of his set I was ready to go home. Why? Well if your going to bill something as "Bluegrass" it had better be BLUEGRASS! What he did was anything BUT Bluegrass! Shame on you Marty! Shame on YOU!

Here are the links to what videos that I have up on YouTube... (Much easier than waiting for them to upload here)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyM-OyVKVs0

And

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NZfqdkFwnk

What we did enjoy was watching and listening to Trey Hensley & Drivin' Force, Cumberland Gap Connection (Two sets each), Dave Peterson & 1946, Jimbo Whaley & Greenbrier, Bradley Walker (current IBMA male vocalist of the year). All of those groups/people were FANTASTIC! Just wasn't that impressed with Marty Stuart. Sorry to all those MS fans out there but I wanted to hear Bluegrass, not.... well I'm not sure what to call the type/form of music he was doing. It really wasn't country..... wasn't rock.. wasn't pop.. and sure as heck wasn't Bluegrass! Oh well..... Oh and somebody needs to feed that poor man. Skinny as a rail! I prefer some meat on my men... he looks so.... under-fed!

Now as for Sunday, well of course it had to rain. I know, I know..... we need the rain here really bad. We still haven't recovered from the drought that we have been in. But why on my ATV days?

Today is Monday of course, and I'm meeting my girlfriend Tammy for lunch. She called a few days ago and wanted to take me out for my "Birthday lunch". Now granted that I really need to back away from the table.... but free Pizza Plus Lunch sure will be good! And for the record it isn't my birthday yet. It isn't till next Sunday. That is IF I decide I'm actually having a birthday this year. I don't like getting older. Especially now since I'm really beginning to show my age. I still say that growing OLD is God's cruel joke on a person. Your mind still thinks YOUNG.... still wants to do all these things that you did when you were in your 20's, 30's even in your early 40's.... but now it is like you still want to do them but your body says "YOU WANT TO DO THAT? Forget it! You do and I'll make you pay for it dearly!"

But all you have to do to know that I'm over the hill now is to look into my face and eyes. They are not the same that looked back at me in the mirror even just a few short years back. I still say that I'll fight getting older, kicking and scratching every darn inch of the way!

Well....... that's it for this past weekend. This coming week is filled with things to do and stuff like that. Most of it is things to get done around the house that we have been putting off for months. Then we have to get things ready to take up to Pineville for the "Mountain Laurel Festival" this coming weekend. Then the next weekend will be the Benefit ride for Sean that the Holler Crawlers is hosting. So it is going to be a VERY busy time. Hope to make it back here soon with updates on how things are going.

Till then..... ride long.... ride hard...... and always ride SAFE! Hope that some of you can make it to the Benefit Ride for Sean!

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

&

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!!