Remember those essays you had to write the first day of the new school year? It was always such a bittersweet task recalling the joys of a carefree summer while embarking on another year of toil at a place you had to be but didn’t really want to be.
Those days are fondly remembered but washed into the fog of a retired life now. So what do retired people do on their summer vacation? Why not drive all the way across the country to your fiftieth college reunion in Massachusetts? Well that’s what I did this summer even though I had to miss the annual Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley.
I brought all of my instruments except the stand up bass (for obvious reasons) hopeful of getting into some good jams along the way. After all I’m headed for the east and especially the southeast, the nexus of our treasured bluegrass music genre. My expectations were high.
I’m traveling with Sophronie, my little teardrop trailer (named so because “now there’s a tear drop in my eye”). My first stop is an awesome free campsite in the hills above Winnemucca, Nevada. I had camped there before and the sunset was just as spectacular as before.
I eventually made my way to my sister’s place in Deerfield, Massachusetts. From there I attended my fiftieth college reunion at MIT. After that I made my way to Lexington, Virginia where my sister’s daughter JJ lives. While there we got tickets for a Dan Tyminski concert and enjoyed it immensely. The only downside was that I had to postpone my planned visit to the legendary fiddle contest in Mount Airy, NC.
I managed to make it to Mount Airy and secure a good campsite. I met Erynn Marshall there, one of my favorite old time fiddle players but unfortunately missed my CBA writing colleague Jason Dilg who was also there. (I missed Jason also at Grass Valley also because I was unable to get there for the first time in more than twenty years).
I headed north to West Virginia after the fiddle contest and spent a few days with Chris and Rosy, my long time cycling buddies. They got me into a local old time jam after a nice meal at a local restaurant in Shepherdstown.
I went by the Renfro Valley in Kentucky on my way to my next stop because it is so famous in bluegrass history but there was not much happening there so I continued to the Bill Monroe Park in Bean Blossom, Indiana for the oldest continually run bluegrass festival (at least I think so). I spent a week there and enjoyed the music but I enjoyed the cycling roads even more. The region is famous among cyclists like me because of a movie made many years ago called Breaking Away.
My return home from Indiana was devoid of music jams although I did seek them out. I enjoyed many scenic wonders of our beautiful country as I headed back west. This would be my 18th overland journey across the US. I celebrated our country’s 250th birthday on the day I finally got home after two full months on the road.
I learned something very important about bluegrass music on this trip. I expected another level of bluegrass to be the norm when I visited the heartland of the music but I did not find that to be so. Admittedly, my visit did not coincide with some of the major festivals in the southeast but in general I feel that our festivals out here in the west are just as good if not better. Bean Blossom was great and I’m glad I went but I would just as much rather be at Grass Valley. I’ll be there again for sure next year.
