Click here for photos. I'll probably write more about Shakori Hills later. (It was awesome!) It has been a long 3 days and nights since the festival ended, and I am tired.
It all started with 100% pure biodiesel for sale at the festival...
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance - Saturday
It was awesome! See pics here. I'll write more later. (I have a 2 1/2 hour drive back to Wilkesboro.)
Friday, April 23, 2010
Getting Back Up to Speed
I guess I didn't fully realize how good it was for me to keep busy at the campground until I left. This week I've started working on a web site that's been rolling around in my mind for about a year. Other than that, I haven't done much. I've been in a bit of a funk, and actually considered skipping MerleFest and pulling the house up to Indiana. (Yeah...it really is that bad.)Over the winter I had been planning to attend the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance this spring. But, I tabled that idea when I committed myself to helping out at Honey Bear Campground. (Dadgummit!) Yesterday I realized that the spring festival at Shakori Hills had already started, and there I was holed up in my RV. I could still make it for Saturday and/or Sunday...and I am thinking about it.
Every Friday morning from 7 - 9, WKBC-AM broadcasts the Hometown Opry from Main Street Pawn in North Wilkesboro. I've been there before, and it's always a real hoot. So, this morning I went again, and had a great time. (It was the first time that I've stepped out of the RV since arriving at Bandits Roost Monday afternoon.)
On the way to the Opry I saw a sign advertising North Wilkesboro's 'Shine to Wine (Wine & Art) Festival. I didn't realize that it was coming up tomorrow! I've been to it (and enjoyed it) the past two years, so if I don't go to Shakori Hills tomorrow, I know where I'll be.
At the Hometown Opry I found out that there will be a free concert of some sort Sunday evening at one of the MerleFest stages or tents at Wilkes Community College. I'll be checking that out if I'm not at Shakori Hills.
The three evenings before MerleFest (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) there are always jam sessions at the venue (also free). The Kruger Brothers are generally there. This Monday's session will also be the monthly meeting of the Wilkes Acoustic Folk Society.
So...from now until the end of MerleFest there's music somewhere every day...and I plan to take in as much of it as I can.
After MerleFest, I'm thinking about wandering north. My brother, Tom, has performed at the Eagle Creek Folk Festival in Indianapolis for the past few years, but I've never been there. This year it's being held June 12 & 13.
After that, the next music festivals that I'd like to attend are in the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina (where summer weather is very pleasant): Floyd Fandango Beer & Wine Festival (July 3 & 4), MusicFest 'n Sugar Grove (July 9 & 10), FloydFest (July 22 - 25), and FiddleFest (July 30 & 31). Big bonus: Two of those events are right on the Blue Ridge Parkway!
That's a lot of planning for a guy who prefers to fly by the seat of his pants. But, I'm pretty flexible. We'll see what happens.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Moving Day
Twenty-four years ago I found my niche in life. It wasn't until much later that I realized that I had found it. I was telling a friend about all the different types of jobs I had done. (Broadcast radio, sales, heavy equipment operator, paper hanging, computer programming, and so on...) He asked me, "Out of all the different jobs you had, what was your favorite?"
I had never thought about that before. But, as I reviewed what I had done to determine what I had enjoyed the most, only one job really stood out.
In the '80s I had been programming computers for a diversified company. Among other things, they owned construction firms, a lake/pond management business, and Redbrush Park (swimming, rides, camping, rooms and cabins). In early 1986 the general manager of the park asked me if I would be interested in managing the camp desk and housekeeping for the season, which began in the spring. The position didn't pay much...way less than what I billed for programming. (The park was mainly staffed by high school and college students during their summer vacation.) But, I had visited the park, and I loved it. So, I took the job just because I wanted to.
As I was self-employed and was already running two businesses of my own, I told the general manager that I could only commit to 3 1/2 days per week. But, I loved the work so much that I'd generally get to the park around 7:00 am (long before anyone else), and often wouldn't leave until after midnight...sometimes taking only one break for a meal. Each week my "3 1/2 days" amounted to well over 40 hours. When I programmed the computer at the park, I didn't bill for my time; I just did it as an employee (at the "summer job" rate).
I discovered that what I enjoy more than anything else is making people happy. If a guest was unhappy -- regardless of whether or not the park was in any way at fault -- I made it my mission to fix it...whatever "it" happened to be. I used a segment of a PBS video (that was based on Tom Peters' book In Search of Excellence) to show my camp desk and housekeeping people how "cast members" are trained at Walt Disney World. As a group, we had a lot of enthusiasm, and the video gave us a solid goal.
The only negative part about the job was that the park lost oodles of money every single year, which meant that around midsummer -- when it always became clear that this year would not be "the year" that the park would get "turned around" -- the general manager would become extremely irritable, and vent his frustration all over whoever happened to be around (although never at me). More than once I walked into his office to confront him after he had vented on one of my employees. Each time I would explain to him that, if he had a problem with the way one of my people was doing her job, he needed to come directly to me, since -- in every single case -- the employee was following my orders to the letter! The manager would apologize to me and promise that it wouldn't happen again.
Until the last time it happened.
The manager left a retirement-aged employee standing in the middle of the gift shop crying her heart out. I consoled her the best that I could, then went directly to his office. His response: "This time I'm not going to apologize." I quit on the spot. (On my way out the manager asked, "Can we still call you to work on the computers?" My answer: "Of course!" I would be more than happy to get paid far more without any of the drama!)
Fast forward twenty-some years...
After about a year of fulltime RVing, I found a campground that really needed help: Honey Bear Campground. The owner -- who has never camped a single time in her life -- had bought the campground 6 months earlier, and was in way over her head. I just started looking for things to do and ways to help out, and stayed about a month. Among other things, I created a system for reporting and tracking problems...repairs, errors and things like that. Had it not been for the owner, I'd have stayed there all season. But, she was bleeding money and was even more difficult to get along with than the manager of Redbrush Park had been. (During my first week at Honey Bear Campground I broke up a fight between the owner and a guest!) Finally, one morning -- after I had watched her walk all over a couple of her work campers for the umpteenth time -- I hitched up my house, told the owner goodbye, and left.
A month later she called me and invited me to come stay at the campground over 4th of July weekend. I knew she was just looking for some more free help (on a particularly busy weekend), but I didn't mind. I really enjoyed working hard for the campground guests. I showed up July 1, and endured a few more weeks of random neural firings.
Things came to a head the day that I busted my tail finding accomodations for a family with 4 RVs who had -- months earlier -- reserved 4 campsites together. For some odd reason (probably having to do with the alignment of the moon and stars) the owner had moved two of the reservations to two different areas of the campground, and had canceled another one of them entirely! After finally finding 4 sites together that the family was content (barely) with, one of them discovered that the sewer hookup at his campsite was clogged. I realized that the last thing this group needed was one more delay. I reached into the sewer pipe and cleaned it out by hand.
As I washed up at the office I remembered something: Hadn't I written a "trouble ticket" on that clogged sewer line two months earlier? Sure enough, I had! Why was I the only person who cared about satisfying our guests??? I wrote a strongly-worded note on the trouble ticket and taped it to the owner's computer screen. The next morning she fired me (I guess you can fire an unpaid volunteer!), using language that I had never even heard my father (a merchant marine) use.
A few weeks ago the owner of the campground called me to ask if I'd help open the campground for the season. She assured me that some major "stressors" in her life were now settled, and that she would be much easier to work for. I doubted that she would be that much different (she wasn't), but I showed up (as an unpaid volunteer, as before) and brought in a work camper who hustled from dawn to well past dusk for very little pay. I was hoping that the owner would see the value of keeping a couple of people (one free, the other dirt-cheap) who were willing to do whatever it took to open her campground. (My bad. She didn't.)
She must have had a really bad night last night, because this morning she came into the office looking for a fight to pick...even more than usual. She lashed out at me more than once, and I let her know that her verbal abuse wasn't appreciated. She responded, "Well then, let's just end it right now." I suppose she thought I'd beg her to let me stay on as her unpaid doormat.
I didn't.
So...now I'm at Bandits Roost campground near Wilkesboro. Next Monday I start my volunteer work for MerleFest. The festival ends Sunday, May 2. After that, who knows? I'd love to find a campground that would really appreciate someone who takes guest relations seriously.
I had never thought about that before. But, as I reviewed what I had done to determine what I had enjoyed the most, only one job really stood out.
In the '80s I had been programming computers for a diversified company. Among other things, they owned construction firms, a lake/pond management business, and Redbrush Park (swimming, rides, camping, rooms and cabins). In early 1986 the general manager of the park asked me if I would be interested in managing the camp desk and housekeeping for the season, which began in the spring. The position didn't pay much...way less than what I billed for programming. (The park was mainly staffed by high school and college students during their summer vacation.) But, I had visited the park, and I loved it. So, I took the job just because I wanted to.
As I was self-employed and was already running two businesses of my own, I told the general manager that I could only commit to 3 1/2 days per week. But, I loved the work so much that I'd generally get to the park around 7:00 am (long before anyone else), and often wouldn't leave until after midnight...sometimes taking only one break for a meal. Each week my "3 1/2 days" amounted to well over 40 hours. When I programmed the computer at the park, I didn't bill for my time; I just did it as an employee (at the "summer job" rate).
I discovered that what I enjoy more than anything else is making people happy. If a guest was unhappy -- regardless of whether or not the park was in any way at fault -- I made it my mission to fix it...whatever "it" happened to be. I used a segment of a PBS video (that was based on Tom Peters' book In Search of Excellence) to show my camp desk and housekeeping people how "cast members" are trained at Walt Disney World. As a group, we had a lot of enthusiasm, and the video gave us a solid goal.
The only negative part about the job was that the park lost oodles of money every single year, which meant that around midsummer -- when it always became clear that this year would not be "the year" that the park would get "turned around" -- the general manager would become extremely irritable, and vent his frustration all over whoever happened to be around (although never at me). More than once I walked into his office to confront him after he had vented on one of my employees. Each time I would explain to him that, if he had a problem with the way one of my people was doing her job, he needed to come directly to me, since -- in every single case -- the employee was following my orders to the letter! The manager would apologize to me and promise that it wouldn't happen again.
Until the last time it happened.
The manager left a retirement-aged employee standing in the middle of the gift shop crying her heart out. I consoled her the best that I could, then went directly to his office. His response: "This time I'm not going to apologize." I quit on the spot. (On my way out the manager asked, "Can we still call you to work on the computers?" My answer: "Of course!" I would be more than happy to get paid far more without any of the drama!)
Fast forward twenty-some years...
After about a year of fulltime RVing, I found a campground that really needed help: Honey Bear Campground. The owner -- who has never camped a single time in her life -- had bought the campground 6 months earlier, and was in way over her head. I just started looking for things to do and ways to help out, and stayed about a month. Among other things, I created a system for reporting and tracking problems...repairs, errors and things like that. Had it not been for the owner, I'd have stayed there all season. But, she was bleeding money and was even more difficult to get along with than the manager of Redbrush Park had been. (During my first week at Honey Bear Campground I broke up a fight between the owner and a guest!) Finally, one morning -- after I had watched her walk all over a couple of her work campers for the umpteenth time -- I hitched up my house, told the owner goodbye, and left.
A month later she called me and invited me to come stay at the campground over 4th of July weekend. I knew she was just looking for some more free help (on a particularly busy weekend), but I didn't mind. I really enjoyed working hard for the campground guests. I showed up July 1, and endured a few more weeks of random neural firings.
Things came to a head the day that I busted my tail finding accomodations for a family with 4 RVs who had -- months earlier -- reserved 4 campsites together. For some odd reason (probably having to do with the alignment of the moon and stars) the owner had moved two of the reservations to two different areas of the campground, and had canceled another one of them entirely! After finally finding 4 sites together that the family was content (barely) with, one of them discovered that the sewer hookup at his campsite was clogged. I realized that the last thing this group needed was one more delay. I reached into the sewer pipe and cleaned it out by hand.
As I washed up at the office I remembered something: Hadn't I written a "trouble ticket" on that clogged sewer line two months earlier? Sure enough, I had! Why was I the only person who cared about satisfying our guests??? I wrote a strongly-worded note on the trouble ticket and taped it to the owner's computer screen. The next morning she fired me (I guess you can fire an unpaid volunteer!), using language that I had never even heard my father (a merchant marine) use.
A few weeks ago the owner of the campground called me to ask if I'd help open the campground for the season. She assured me that some major "stressors" in her life were now settled, and that she would be much easier to work for. I doubted that she would be that much different (she wasn't), but I showed up (as an unpaid volunteer, as before) and brought in a work camper who hustled from dawn to well past dusk for very little pay. I was hoping that the owner would see the value of keeping a couple of people (one free, the other dirt-cheap) who were willing to do whatever it took to open her campground. (My bad. She didn't.)
She must have had a really bad night last night, because this morning she came into the office looking for a fight to pick...even more than usual. She lashed out at me more than once, and I let her know that her verbal abuse wasn't appreciated. She responded, "Well then, let's just end it right now." I suppose she thought I'd beg her to let me stay on as her unpaid doormat.
I didn't.
So...now I'm at Bandits Roost campground near Wilkesboro. Next Monday I start my volunteer work for MerleFest. The festival ends Sunday, May 2. After that, who knows? I'd love to find a campground that would really appreciate someone who takes guest relations seriously.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Food for Paradigm-Shifting Thought
It is useless to try to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. -- Jonathan Swift
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Tonya and the Grandkids!
Tonya brought the grandkids (Diana's and Julie's kids) over for a visit today. We had a great time, fishing, exploring the stream, and more.See more pictures here.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Wailers at ASU
Friday afternoon, as I checked in a tenter from Columbia, South Carolina at Honey Bear Campground, he told me that the purpose of his stay was to attend a concert by The Wailers at Appalachian State University.
THE Wailers? As in Bob Marley and The Wailers???
Yup! They were playing at Legends, an ASU students' nightclub and social center. The ASU campus is only 3 miles from Honey Bear Campgound.
Over the years I've enjoyed several live reggae performances. But, there were a few things that discouraged me about this concert:
- The music wasn't scheduled to start until 9:30 pm, and an opening band was going to play for an hour. That meant that The Wailers wouldn't start performing until about 11:00 pm, which is way past my bedtime.
- The venue was a nightclub. I've rarely been in bars, and never in a club. (Drinking makes me sleepy, so I don't drink often.) Although I knew I'd love the music, I wasn't so sure about the atmosphere.
- The online ticket sales website listed the event as BYOB; each person was allowed to bring six beers. (Again, I wasn't sure if it was someplace I'd want to be.)
Okay, I figured, if I get too tired, or if I'm really not comfortable in that crowd, I can always leave.
So I went. On the way I even picked up a 6-pack of Guiness Draught. (Drank 2 at the concert, brought 4 home.)
I couldn't have enjoyed it more.
The opening band, Soul Benefactor, was great. With guitar, bass, drums, trumpet, and trombone, they played an hour of upbeat music, including a few Stevie Wonder songs.
The Wailers -- as expected -- were awesome. (The guy who told me about the concert said that one of the vocalists was Bob Marley's nephew.)
The crowd was 99% ASU students (I saw a handful of fossils my age), and they were all there to enjoy the music. No smoke, no rowdiness; just a whole lotta fun!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Possible Paradigm Adjustment
The world did not change 11 September, but the English-speaking peoples' understanding of it did. -- From A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 by Andrew Roberts
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