Quinn’s Extraordinary travel ramblings:

After we had left Guthrie we spent a few days driving to the Turkey Track Bluegrass Festival in Waldron, Arkansas. When we did arrive in Waldron our navigator was off so we had to ask for directions on how to get to the campground. We couldn’t find anyone so we asked a police officer while we were stopped at a light. He gave us some directions and they turned out being correct. Richard the M.C. from Duncan was there at the office when we arrived so he showed us where we were supposed to stay the night. Richard helped us to get parked and level our bus. Once we had leveled the bus we met Mr. Lovett who is the owner of the festival. After we had talked with Mr. Lovett for a while we went back into the bus, messed it up and went to bed. We found out before we went to bed that there was Banjo Bingo going on and they were actually missing a group of senior citizens that were supposed to have come. When they had seen our bus with senior citizens written upon the front they thought that we were the group an hour late.
The next day (Tuesday) we did our school work, practiced, watched the golf cart parade and jammed with Mike Powell who was going to be the M.C. that weekend. The golf cart parade was amazing! Rather then a bunch of people walking along and driving in vehicles there were a bunch of enthusiastic senior bluegrass officiandos navigating their festively decorated golf carts along the muddy RV park roads. Later in the festival they were given a friendly reminder that the speed limit in the park was five miles per hour and they needed to keep a lid on it. They even threw candy to us and some was chocolate!

Finally the festival started on Wednesday with the annual hog roast pot luck dinner. I ate so much that it was a good thing that we weren’t up first. If we had been I am quite sure that it might not have gone over well. When we did play (which was second) the set went very well. After our set was over we went to our CD table to visit with anyone that came by to talk with us. Most of the rest of the night was spent there talking to people and selling CD’s.
On Thursday we played twice. On our afternoon set we had two guest artists come up and do the Huki Lau with us. We had Mike Powell and Richard both come up. The audience loved it and they especially loved it when Mike’s skirt fell off. While we were back stage getting ready there were a few people from other bands watching us. I could tell exactly what they were thinking and it wasn’t, “Boy are they pretty.” Our second set that day wasn’t quite as eventful but it still went well. That evening Mike announced that they would be selling fried pies the next morning at eight o’clock. When I heard that I was somewhat excited. They also said that at the summer festival they had all gone in about five minutes. So when I did finally get to bed that night I set my clock for 6:45.
On Friday my alarm did go off. I got up, somewhat. By the time I got over to where they were selling the pies it was 7:15. Now you might find it somewhat strange waking up at 6:45 a.m. to eat pie. In fact so did all of my family. They didn’t find it strange when I ate the pie though.
That day it was somewhat wet and cold. We, being from Alaska, didn’t pack any rain gear or sweaters. After sitting at our table for about ten minutes I went back to our bus and got drastic. I took a box of garbage bags, a roll of duct tape and some scissors and pulled a tourist. (In case you are wondering what I mean by that I will explain.) Every summer a bunch of tourists come to Juneau, Alaska; usually it is raining. The poor tourists don’t expect the rain so they go into a tourist shop and find what they are looking for. About five minutes later they come out wearing a garbage bag coat that costs ten dollars. So I made a coat and pants. I got so many weird looks that day and so many comments it was amazing. I also found out that The Rage liked it also. I don’t know about Rhonda though. Finally the weather got nice again and I took it off. We spent that day at the table talking to people selling CD’s and listening to music.
On the last day of the festival, Saturday, we were going to practice so we all congregated at the bus. But it ended up that there was something going on at the stage that was pretty exciting so my dad, Paul, went to look and see what it was. “I will be back in ten minutes,” he said. HE WASN’T BACK FOR A WHOLE HOUR!!!. When he did come back the first thing that he said was, “If one more person comes up to talk to me I am going to scream!” It appeared to us that he didn’t get all that much listening done.
After a long weekend filled with exciting new people, music and clothing the festival ended. I acquired four ball caps and one light up hat. We enjoyed that festival a lot and we are hoping to go back next year.

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