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"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
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Cool. Went last week for some socially distant jamming. A day and a half of rain didn’t dampen the spirit but I burned 6 gallons of propane in my heater to make popup housed jamming comfortable.
Enjoy your adventures. Keep your bubble small
Not all the clams are at the beach
Arrow Manouche
Arrow Jazzbo
Arrow G
Clark 2 point
Gibson F5L
Gibson A-4
Ratliff CountryBoy A
Way to Go! Over the last six years since retirement we have averaged approximately 250 nights a year in our RV while towing it about 10K miles each of those years. We absolutely love being mobile.
The only issue we have since we spend summers in the north east and north midwest and winters in the south east is fighting humidity even though our trailer is well insulated. This may not be an issue for you in Texas. I have totally gutted our bathroom and shower (still have an outside shower) and converted the space to storage since these areas only contributed to inside humidity. Besides instruments, amps, mic stands, e.t.c. take up alot of room.
Enjoy your journey and do not allow any grass to grow under your feet.
Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
Kentucky KM-950
Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)
I’ve been renting RVs for family vacations for a while now—it’s the best way to travel. I’ve driven up both coasts and spent quite a bit of time in the NE. Fun times!
...
Nothing like camping/rving and picking.
Adam
We stay in the NC for the summer. I take up half of our large bedroom closet storing my guitar and mandolin, with one more mandolin plus an octave mandolin to be added in the next few weeks. I guess I'll have to reduce the amount of clothes I bring with me.
I whittled everything down to one mandolin and a 12th fret guitar, as I'd intended to travel the country in my old camper van, but then I remarried (to an ex-wife, no less!) so plans have changed. Looking forward to getting the RV on the road. We're both stoked about the possibilities.
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
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"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
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HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Pulling my old '87 Airstream to bluegrass (or gypsy jazz) festivals is just about my favorite thing. Every odd year (2015, 2017, 2019, etc.) I spend all of May, June and part of July working 6 days a week in our plant's maintenance/refueling outage.
2020 was going to be my first year in the last 7 that I wasn't moving kids in/out of dorms, traveling out of state for family commitments, etc. I had my time off all arranged for maximum attendance at the PNW festivals....
I still have my life, health, family and job so I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Just sad for the good times we won't have. I guess I'll look forward to 2022. Hope to see some of you all then!
I play:
* Saltarelle Bourroche chromatic button accordion
* Ozark 2240 Mandolin
In my spare time I run https://www.mudchutney.co.uk selling folk music and celtic themed t-shirts, hoodies etc.
I’m envious, Mark. Keep it between the lines. And be sure to spread your talent around.
May the gasoline be plentiful and cheap.
May your tires always be round and rolling.
May the sun never be in your eyes.
May a rest area always appear at just the right time.
May the chicken-fried steaks be the best you’ve ever had.
And may the horizon ahead always hold the promise of a new adventure.
We travel with our camper trailer, sometimes for as long as a month, and most times with some other folks that play music. We just returned from 5 days at Grayson Highlands SP in sw Va, and and did a lot of outside jamming (with appropriate distancing). Does anyone besides me have a spouse that plays upright bass? This is a shot of her 3/4 bass in the camper. She also has a 1/4 size that we carry on long trips. I can't get her interested in any kind of acoustic bass guitar, bass uke, etc
Russ Jordan
As I originally posted, 2021 will be our 25th maintenance and refueling outage. Half of my summer will be spent working 12 hours every day, 6 days every week. I'll miss most of the festivals.
And Wintergrass '21 is already cancelled. I'm not laying bets on the rest of the year at this point.
Congrats! Have a lot of friends who use campers. Both for festivals and just for travel. That's pretty dedicated. Would be very difficult for me to go down to one each guitar and mandolin. Okay, at this point, maybe one guitar I can see. But still switch between mandolins too much to settle on one.
Enjoy the trips, wherever they may take you.
Brentrup Model 23, Boeh A5 #37, Gibson A Jr., Flatiron 1N, Coombe Classical flattop, Strad-O-Lin
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For the past 20 years we've spent May through October at a county park campground about 12 miles north of where we live. We've "graduated" from a 27-foot trailer to a 32-foot 5th wheel to a 38-foot 5th wheel. We love it. The finally park opens tomorrow, delayed two months due to coronavirus - and we can't wait. The sad part is that in all our travels and all these years (add on 9 years of tenting and 2 years in a pop-up trailer), I've come to realize that the spontaneous campground jam is a rare thing indeed. It's happened maybe twice in almost 30 years. Those two were memorable beyond words, and I think of them often. No matter what, starting Friday evening, I'll be wandering the campground loops at Addison Oaks late in the evenings, listening for the sounds of an acoustic guitar around somebody's campfire, hoping lightning strikes thrice. Jams or not, it's hard to beat time spent in any kind of RV.
All my life I wanted to be somebody, now I realize I should have been more specific.
Mine is a 31' "bumper pull" with a nice, open floor plan, Dutchmen Astoria 2773RB. I've been camping in one form or another all my life, and like you only rarely find others to jam with unless it is a festival situation, but I've met many people and made a few musical connections nonetheless by playing at campsites and public parks. I just prefer the outdoors.
@Eric Platt: I hear you, it was tough to whittle down the instruments. I sold a dozen guitars and a couple of mandolins about 18 months ago, and some of that was very difficult. I sold my favorites. I kept my smallest guitar, and I kept my favorite cheap mandolin (needed the dough from my favorite mandolin). But I knew that eventually I'd be in a position to buy another dream mandolin. Most recent difficult choice was between buying the travel trailer now, or the dream mandolin now. Since I have a playable cheap mandolin that I love, I was (barely) able to make the choice on getting the RV now.
I'll soon have a second mandolin in hand, which is being offered to me as a gift from a friend, and we'll see what that one is like.
Last edited by Mark Gunter; Jun-25-2020 at 9:50am.
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
----------------------------------
"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
----------------------------------
HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Mark--some of our favorite traveling/camping has been in Texas. Texas has some of the nicest state parks. We really enjoyed the Hill Country, Big Bend, Davis Mountains, Seminole Canyon. We camped at Luckenback's Hug In one year--lots of fun but too many loud generators in the field where we were. I want to go to Palo Duro Canyon next time.
Russ Jordan
We've been looking at Palo Duro real hard, Russ. It may be one of the first trips in the travel trailer. I agree about Texas State Park scene, it's pretty awesome. I've enjoyed many of those parks through the years. I'd like to do a rim cabin at Palo Duro Canyon for a couple nights, though, has to be an awesome view.
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
----------------------------------
"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
----------------------------------
HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
I have owned campers since '81. Started with a popup, moved on to a 30 foot bumper pull, then to an 18 footer. Loved them all, however, I felt stymied by the 30 footer. Thousand mile impromptu trips were no longer happening as the expense of towing and size of my trailer was slowing me down.
But Camp Ground Jams, visit River CampGround in Lakemont, Ga. You will find plenty of Jamming on the week-ends and even some during the week (sometimes). Another campground with plenty of jamming is SunSport Gardens in Loxahatchee, Fl.
If any one else has recommendations for campgrounds with frequent jams, please let us know.
Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
Kentucky KM-950
Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)
That's great info, Bill, thanks for the heads up!
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
----------------------------------
"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
----------------------------------
HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
Kentucky KM-950
Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)
+1 on Palo Duro, Mark....
My wife and I have been regularly driving back and forth from Austin to Santa Fe since we first met up there 25+ years ago.
PDC is the typical stopover site to camp.
We still pull out the tent. I love that place.
West Texas sunsets and sky are everything they say.
Enjoy your travels!
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
Enjoy...reminds me of years gon by; trucking from festival to festival in our camper van, wanted to go bigger, so bought a new Class C, biggest mistake of my life, nothing but trouble, leaks and things breaking. The old saying held true...The best day was when I got it, and the next best was when I dumped it.
Hopefully you will have better luck.
2021 The Loar LM700 VS
That's a common story, I think
For myself, I bought an old, beat up van, stripped the back cabin, built cabinetry and a bed and a chuckwagon style kitchen in it. Sold or gave away most of my earthly goods and lived in it for about six months, traveling between Louisiana, Texas, NM and Colorado. Loved it. Had no desire for another house, motor home or travel trailer.
Then I remarried. Back in a house. But we both love camping and plan to do extensive RV living, so the travel trailer is a necessity for us. I love my old van so much, I recently added adequate solar and around-the-clock refrigeration, with the ability to use laptop, etc. It functions as my "man cave". Life is good. I hope the travel trailer does not become a horror story for us, but I bought it with my eyes open. My first choice of the van camper is no longer an option for the two of us.
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
----------------------------------
"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
----------------------------------
HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Tent camping in the Canyon?!? I did this...once. The winds came through about 2AM and kept at it most of the night. My “shelter” (made of tent material) was tied down to the ground but took off like a kite (found next morning wrapped around someone’s RV on the other side of the campgrounds). Our actual tent would’ve met the same fate if my wife and I hadn’t stayed up most of the night holding on to it and keeping it from flying away. It was a crazy time! As we were checking out of the park the next day, I asked the lady at the desk about the wind. She (and another local in line) laughed and said it was a MILD night in the Canyon. Yikes! would hate to have been there for a bad one. All said, I’d love to go back there, but it would be in an RV next time.
...
We opted for a trailer with an additional outdoor kitchen--my wife is responsible for the nod to Guy Clark on the outdoor kitchen door. MMC--Sam Bush played mandolin on Dublin Blues!
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Russ Jordan
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