Day 17: Mt, Solon, VA
Nau mai
Yesterday we performed at Red Wing Roots festival in western normal Virginia.
We were woken at 5am to the sound of spinning wheels and the smell of burnt clutch drifting into our bunks through the air conditioning vents. It was pitch black outside and there was dense foliage pressed up against the windows on the left side of the bus. We had taken a wrong turn and were trapped up a one-way road somewhere in rural Virginia fifty miles east of where we were supposed to be. The trailer had slipped partially off the road and a thick tree branch was wedged in between bus and trailer preventing us from moving forwards.
Tristan and Annie were first on the scene, heading up a nearby driveway with John, our bus driver, to ask for help. They knocked on the door of this isolated house and a few minutes later it was answered by a man in disrepair, covered in scrapes, blood streaked down one side of his face, left arm hanging loose in a sling, and clearly under the influence of some strong painkillers. He had fallen off his bike yesterday, he said, and had a broken collarbone and hadn’t been able to sleep.
Our codeine powered hero was happy to help though and came to look at our situation, deciding that he needed to summon his son to bring the chainsaw, presumably from somewhere in the area, as he turned up less than fifteen minutes later. The chainsaw child didn’t waste any time, climbing atop the trailer and hacking away the offending branches and anything else that looked like it might even think about threatening our progress up the road. He worked bravely and efficiently, batting away pieces of severed tree as they fell all over him while continuing to saw with the other hand.
With the trailer freed up we were ready to move. We stood back at a distance and watched as John gunned the engine, surging the bus forward and miraculously bringing the trailer back onto the road. Arctic Charger was back in business, but we still had to turn around and get back to the highway. Our best minds got together and planned our route out; John the bus driver, Codeine Hero and Chainsaw Child debating whether to stay on the driveway and risk getting caught on the low overhanging trees again, or swinging around through the adjacent field and risking getting stuck in the grass. The field was tested and found to be dry and hard and was chosen as the better option, and so John gunned the engine once more, ready for the final manoeuvre that would either get us back on the road in the correct direction or embarrassingly stuck in someone’s field in rural Virginia.
Artic Charger began forwards, swinging into the field and bowling down the tall stalks of grass at a speed that none of us expected. Clearly bus driver John was taking no chances with getting stuck and was expecting his momentum to carry him out, no matter what. It was a magnificent piece of driving. A minute later we were on safe ground and boarding the bus again, waving goodbye and thanking our new Virginian friends, and heading back to our bunks to try and grab a few more hours sleep before we presented ourselves at the festival.
It was gorgeous and sunny when I awoke again. We seemed to be in paradise. Tall trees surrounded us providing shade and calm. The stage was a stone’s throw away from the bus, as was the catering tent, and the toilet block. This was the kind of festival that we could enjoy. We were in a place called Mt Solon, at a festival called Redwing Roots, held in Natural Chimneys Park and Campground. The natural chimneys weren’t hard to find, the natural limestone formation visible from the main stage, looming pointedly over the festival grounds.
I loved this triple decker hammock setup.
Looking at the main stage of the festival.
I went to the catering tent for my first meal of the day, discovering that it would be a meal of BBQ. Pulled pork sandwiches were the main item, with sides of beans with bacon, macaroni cheese, and coleslaw.
A view from one of the smaller stages. We watched the farm vehicles at work while enjoying a set of Irish folk music.
We had a great day at Red Wing Roots festival. There was ample time in the day to work and relax. We watched some great music and enjoyed being out of the city, surrounded by grass, trees, and handsome tall rock towers.
This Airstream trailer was our green room for the day.
Jonathan has dubbed this photographic method the ‘Tossie’. Here are a few Tossies taken right before we went on stage at Red Wing Roots Festival.
Last night Jon installed Grand Turismo IV onto his computer. It’s tricky to operate as he doesn’t have a full steering wheel rig yet, just a Playstation controller, but here are the first few attempts at the first driver license test.
The unfortunate quirk of the .gif format is the lack of audio. I would recommend pressing play on this youtube video and letting it play in the background while you watch each gif. (Sorry for using a Youtube short, it was the only Mazda Demio sound I could find).
