Quinn’s Extraordinary Travel Ramblings:

Thursday when we left we drove down to Duncan, Oklahoma where we were going to have our newly improved generator put back into our not so newly improved bus. Once it was done we drove back up north to Washington, Oklahoma where we were to play at a senior center that evening. The gig went well that evening. Our friends the Young family came to listen to us. After our concert was over Laura, Abby and I danced with Clint, Hailey, Faith and Nathan outside in the parking lot.
On Friday we were scheduled to play at a bluegrass festival outside of Perrin, Texas at the Mitchell RV park. Since we were supposed to be playing my dad arose before the rest of us and started driving to Perrin. We arrived at Perrin at about 11:00 in the morning. The year before they had closed the pools before we arrived so we weren’t able to go swimming but this year they kept them open for Abby at her persistent requests. The owner told Abby that she had to stay in the pool until she turned blue. After we were parked Laura, Abby and I went off in search of a jam session. We did find one and we were henceforth mobbed by about a million senior citizens. Once they were done mobbing us someone handed me a bass and Laura and Abby went back to the bus to get their instruments. I played along for a while not knowing any of the songs and then Laura came back. Once she was in the group they had her play one so I henceforth knew what it was that I was playing.
After a while dad came and got us because we had been invited to someone’s house for a late lunch. They had been up to Juneau on a cruise ship that summer and we had taken them out to the Mendenhall Glacier. Then we had eaten dinner together at the Twisted Fish in downtown Juneau. After we had been treated like royalty at these good friends home near Perrin, Texas we returned to the RV park to prepare for our evening performance. This year there were two bands we had met at this festival the previous year: Star Canyon and the Alaska String Band. There were two other family bands there this year as well: Digger Davis & Tombstone and The Triple L Band. As you might know we had already met The Triple L Band in Duncan, Oklahoma but we hadn’t met Digger Davis and Tombstone yet. In addition to the family bands, Lonesome Prairie and Honey Creek Highway also performed. Mike Powell was the M.C. again and Frank Cleveland was doing sound like the year before.
Our set went well that evening except for one simple fact. That fact was that it was stinking cold out. The Triple L Band used hand warmers which I thought was a very smart idea. In Alaska we usually perform indoors in the winter so it’s not a consideration. After we were done that evening we were invited into our friends DL and Clara’s camper for banana pudding. The Triple L Band went back to their camper but extended an invitation to us to stop in to visit also. Then another couple, Billy and Rhonda, invited us to come by their camp fire for a visit too.
We packed up our CD table and then we went back to our bus. Once at our bus we had a rather quick mini conference and then we decided upon what we were going to do. We went to the Triple L Band’s bus which was right next to ours to visit. After we were done their we went to DL and Clara’s bus. We didn’t stay for very long because it was late and we were rather tired. When we left Laura, Abby and I headed back to our bus and my mom and dad stopped over at Billy and Rhonda’s camp fire before calling it a night.
Saturday was spent cleaning the bus, practicing, manning the table and then finally performing. We performed twice on Saturday once in the afternoon when it was still rather warm. And then again that evening while it was cold. We watched Digger Davis and Tombstone when they performed and it was amazing. The dad did one of the most impressive Elvis impersonations I have ever seen. It involved two elderly ladies rushing to the stage trying to get a shirt that he had wiped his sweat upon. After they were done that evening we visited with them for a while and got to know about them. After all of the music was done that evening I helped Frank Cleveland pack up all of his sound equipment. Once that was done we went to bed as early as possible.
Sunday the festival was over so we headed out somewhat early. We were scheduled to play at a church in Lillian, Texas that day. We arrived at the church on time (which was slightly surprising, seeing as Dad got lost on the way there) and set up. After the service was over we ate chili with the congregation. It was their annual chili cook-off so there happened to be a lot of chili. My personal favorite was the habanera chili.
When we left we drove to our friends the William’s house. We stayed there that evening and all day Monday.

Advertisement