Pick'n and Grin'n

(Cherry Point MCAS, Havelock, NC)  Hi 70 Lo 49 -- We've been visiting with family since we got here so we haven't had any "touristy" things to tell you about. But today we did something special. Jim and I both like bluegrass music. We got hooked on it when we saw a bluegrass group perform in a very small nightclub out in the country in South Carolina our first year on the road. Last week we saw a commercial on local TV for the White Oak Shores Bluegrass Festival scheduled for this weekend not far from us. So we picked up Jim's mom Alberta and went to Stella, NC to the White Oak Shores Camping and RV Resort. They have a large open grassy area surrounded by pine forest, where they had a stage set up for the two-day festival. Everyone brought their own chairs, and there were concession stands selling all kinds of food. This is the ninth annual festival, and they draw three to five thousand people during the two days and nights. Nine different groups perform each afternoon and evening. We saw four of the groups during our afternoon session. We got there plenty early to get a good location in front of the stage. (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Jim and his mom Alberta

The stage

Some of the food stands.

The first band was Boys From Carolina.

They were really good, especially their mandolin player.

The second group was Ted Jones and Tarhill Boys.

Their lead singer (Ted Jones) looked like a young Hank Williams, and he had a high and LOUD tenor voice. They were good, but by the end of their 45-minute set our ears needed a rest from his piercing voice.

Damascus Ridge was the third band.

Their music leaned toward gospel bluegrass, and they were much more mellow than the other bands. They harmonized very well, and put on a low-key show like you'd see in a coffee shop or small club. Beautiful to listen to.

The fourth and last band was Spare Parts. (They don't have a website.)











This was their last performance as Spare Parts. After this weekend they're changing their name to Three Rivers Band. Their music was ok, but they seemed to spend a lot of time between songs goofing off among themselves and tuning their instruments.

All the bands are local groups from around central and eastern North Carolina. It wasn't very crowded today, with it being a work day, but the workers told us it will be much more crowded at tonight's and tomorrow's sessions.

 

We had a great time and heard some wonderful music. The weather was perfect, about 70 degrees and sunny.

The azaleas are in bloom all over the south, and they're especially pretty around here. Spring is a beautiful time to be in North Carolina.

Our neighbor Vi back at Adelaide Shores RV Resort in Avon Park, FL sent us some photos of our new concrete pad that was poured today. It's going to be so great to have a full pad to park on this fall!

The dirt area on the right is where the widened driveway was originally planned to be. But we decided to move it to the left side of the current driveway. That will be properly aligned if and when we decide to install a park model on the lot. The dirt area will be re-seeded and should be grown in by the time we get there in November.













That's all for now.