Got back from three days and nights of hot, intense contra dancing down at Camp Sertoma in North Carolina. Packed up the trailer on Friday afternoon and took off around 3:00. Only an hour and a half or so down there, though I did have to pull over about 30 mins into the trip when a piece of my added on driver side mirror lost a part and nearly fell off on the road. Managed to hang on to the edge of it while pulling off the road then spent about 15 mins trying to find the piece that fell off, basically a black plastic wedge, but no luck there. What is kind of interesting is that I did find a perfectly good piece of small rope laying along the roadside. It was just the right size and length to tie the rest of the mirror back on well enough to get the truck to the dance and back.

    Made it down to camp by 5:00 and pulled into my usual spot right near the entrance to the camp. Reasonably level and wide enough to park the trailer and truck together, it is just a short walk on to the main camp. Time enough for a nice nap and then a quick dinner on the front porch before heading for the 'barn' where we danced for more than 3 hours to the music of the band Contrazz and the calling of Robert Cromarite. (sp) What a fun filled evening it was.... I so love dancing to that band... and it just got better as the weekend went on.

     I slept in late on Saturday morning of course, but was still up and about from about 10:00 a.m. Spent some time getting a bit of breakfast and reading some magazines I hadn't had a chance to read yet, so it was fun to just relax. On to 'lunch' around noon where I caught up with my friend Rima. We decided to head over to Hanging Rock State Park and hiked their signature Hanging Rock Trail. A nice couple of hours out in the woods during a beautiful fall day. Hiked out to the end of the trail and spent a couple of hours sitting on the edge of the rocks looking out, and down, over a vast part of the country. We watched the buzzards floating on their thermals and looked out over the hillsides where trees are really starting to change color now.

   Back to camp after that and more food before another night of fantastic dancing. That night we had Crowfoot playing and Gaye doing the calling. A somewhat bittersweet evening as it looks like Crowfoot, who are from Canada, may not be touring anymore in the configuration they are in now. Something to do with a new baby and wanting to be home with the wife and child... or some silly thing like that.   :)      It was a great night of dancing and I only sat out two dances the whole night. Seems that I have managed to pull some muscle or tendon down in my ankle and it tends to put a hitch in my step once in awhile. Lucky for me rest, drugs and moderation seem to be enough to get me by.

    My favorite dance day of a weekend is of course Sunday. I actually got up early enough, don't ask me why, to make it in to breakfast. A pleasant morning of talking and hanging out before the first session of dancing with Contrazz. I think they must of held back all of their best and most frenetic tunes for Sunday because it was just one hot dance after another until they finished up more than an hour later.

   Cue on Crowfoot then, and yet another session of wonderful dancing. So many great partners, so few dances to dance with them with. Did all but one dance in the final set, but did manage to dance one final sweet waltz with Rima.... And then it was all over for yet another year.

   Spent about an hour packing up the trailer and hooking it up to the truck. Had to wait a little while for enough people to leave to provide room for me to drive in and turn around. From there it was just a couple of hours to reach Floyd. We stopped for an hour or so in town and ate at the local Mexican restaurant. Not too bad as Mexican restaurants go, especially one this far east of the Mississippi, but not all that great either. Still, my first meal there was pretty good, and this one was okay, so I'll eat at least another one there before passing full judgment.

    Got the trailer back to Rima's place and settled it in for a couple of weeks. Will be staying in the area for a bit longer before heading out on the road again. Will be hanging out for the next couple of days... there is a lot more mowing and trimming that can be done.