We headed down to Arizona after our stay in San Diego to collect the Grolar Bear where we had left it in the capable hands of Big Chicken Hot Rod to due our frame repair work. We got there early in the day, but some repairs still needed to get done. It was blazing hot in Phoenix at this point so the Wonder Beast and I hid in the air conditioned lobby area while the boys did the final tweaks on the frame. By the time it was all done it was early evening so we crashed for the evening at a hotel with not much to recommend it other than the air conditioning.
The next day we jetted off the Colorado to get get some more repairs done to the Grolar Bear at Phoenix Pop Up. These repairs took a couple days, but we were finally able to get truly underway on Tuesday evening and headed to my brother’s cabin outside of Westfliffe, Colorado. The land out there is beautiful with a stunning view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We had visited last year too before the Grolar Bear was complete. We spent the day Wednesday mostly relaxing before we heading down into town the next day for the High Mountain Hay Fever Music Festival. This is a great bluegrass music festival that you can camp at in a small town. We set up camp behind the bowling alley which was the designated area for people with fur beasts. The deer like to frequent this spot as well. A smaller doe didn’t even bother stop munching the grass as we approached to set up camp.
Of course, as soon as we got into camp, the wind picked up and so setting up our awning became an exciting challenge, esp so because we were set up on quite a steep angle that raised the back of the camper much higher than normal. Zack Attack as mastered the art of driving up on a big rock in order to level us. The rocks we used at this spot were just short of boulders. The step up into the camper, even with the step stool, was almost worthy of a crossfit workout if done in reps.
The festival is spearheaded by Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad. This is a man steeped and bluegrass lore who knows how to tell a tale and takes his time with it. He makes himself laugh when he’s up on stage regaling the audience and you can’t help but laugh along with him. Half the time you forget where his story was headed, but he is such a natural raconteur that you never doubt you are in good hands, and sure enough, the story always come back around. They are in the process of filming a documentary about him called Bluegrass Court Jester. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for it.
The music goes all day long and people line up early in the morning vying for spots – you can bring a fold up chair in or claim some of the folding chairs that a set up. The folding chair folks are the die hards. For the big day, Saturday, I thought I did pretty good, getting out to the line at 5:15 or so in the am. I was probably 7th in line. People were sleeping on fold out cots at the front on the line. I take by hat off to them.
The music was awesome and had some folks that had been doing the circuit forever and some younger groups, so it was a good mix. One of the performers, Bill Evans, gave a humorous history of the banjo, playing many different styles of banjo, and amusing the audience with historical anecdotes. Another group, the Ebony Hillbillies, would dance out into the crowd and dance with suprised and delighted audience members, including my sister-in-law’s papa, affectionately known as Poppy Seed. It was a lot of music, with some long days, but needless to say I discovered some new bands. I also felt I got an education about some of the history of bluegrass music. So many of the performers were such great story tellers and would reference older artists. I even got a lesson in square dancing while listening to the Six Dollar String Band, a great little band out of Durango who played some awesome, old timey gems.
