Final Days, Mountain View, Arkansas

Red Cardinal on Rear View Mirror (click on photo to enlarge)

1934 Ford V8 Convertible

This one-week visit to Mountain View has been so much nicer than I could have imagined. I knew Murray would enjoy our stay, as he is so interested in music (unlike me) - he loves to hear & watch the various instruments used, how different musicians harmonise and all the nuances in between, but the surprise is how enjoyable I have found it.

First up, the location here in the Ozarks is lovely. We awake to the sound of chirping birdsong, and it continues on and off all day. Very peaceful. Our RV park is on top of a mountain and we look down on valleys and across to other mountains of the Ozarks. Mind you, the mountainous terrain does mean my cardiac system gets quite a work out when we ride our bikes the 1.7 miles in and the same back out of town - up hill and down dale. I guess it helps to burn off the calories we ingest as we are eating outselves silly - yesterday, Friday, our four Louisiana friends picked us up at 9am and we went to the well known Ozark Folk Center. They have a restaurant out front, and for $6.95 they offered a full buffet breakfast. The 3 ladies ordered the $3.99 egg, 2 strips bacon, grilled chopped potatoes, toast (or biscuit (scones to aussies), and a bowl of chopped cooked apple and another of peach to go with the toast or biscuit. Good cholesterol building foods! From there we went next door to the folk center itself, and for the next 3 hours, immersed ourselves in watching demonstrations of crafts of yesteryear. The centre had a path winding around, and dotted along the path were small buildings that housed each craft and a person dressed in the clothes of that craft from days gone by. There were candlemakers, broomakers, coopers, potters, school marms, herbalists, ironsmiths, blacksmiths, woodturners, jewellers, and so the list goes on. As well as all that, there was a chap playing a dulcimer, a group playing country/gospel music (see video at the bottom), and a guy playing an instrument none of us had ever seen before, a hurdy gurdy (see photo in left of top collage).

We returned to our RV to take a breath and get ready to sneak over to the entertainment hut here in the campground, as it was Cindy's birthday and Mike had arranged a large, beautifully iced (like cream) and inscribed sponge cake. We all met there and Cindy was suitably surprised at the turnout. Mike had bought tubs of very popular Blue Belle home-made vanilla icecream made in Texas to go with the cake, and it was delicious. Now you might understand why we gleefully jumped on our bikes an hour later and rode into town - burn, calories, burn.

It was such a glorious day, that the ride into town would have been a real delight, had it not been for the steep inclines! Oh well, such is life. I just got off and pushed the bike uphill - now I know why they call them pushbikes! We got into town around 4pm, used our combination lock to secure the bikes, and wandered around town. Being the festival, there were music groups dotted everywhere you looked. Street stalls were set up in the streets (blocked off to traffic) and people were wandering everywhere. Murray couldn't resist of photo of the old Ford car, and I took several photos to try and capture it all for you. While Murray sat and watched one music group and ended up chatting to a guy who played what looked to me like a huge guitar, I wandered the stalls and was surprised to see a lady selling didgeridoos. They are an Australian Aboriginal instrument, so what was an American woman doing selling these - I was intrigued and went over to chat to her. Apparently her and her partner flew to Australia, met with some aboriginals and respectfully explained they wanted to make didgeridoos and sell them in USA. The aboriginals were thrilled their music and instruments were to be replicated, and taught them how to play them, and how to make them. Although the markings Deborah & Scott put on theirs are their own, and do not look 'aboriginal', but that is probably deliberate. I heard some of the music they make with Scott playing the didgeridoo and Deborah playing the flute, and it is very easy and peaceful to listen to it. If you are interested, they have a website http://www.martinandscott.com/.

Murray had a music show to attend to at 7pm, so around 5.30pm we made our way home (with me walking the bike more than riding it) and had dinner in time for him to be picked up for the show. I spent the time on Adobe photoshop, but didn't make much progress - I think I was plum tuckered out by our Ozark activities.

Today is Saturday and the main day of the Ozark Folk Festival with the town parade. It was an overcast day, with the odd sprinkle of rain, but not cold. We walked into town and met up with our Louisiana friends who bought me home hours later - Murray walked back about 2 hrs after we got back. The weather didn't seem to deter too many people until just after lunch. Speaking of lunch, Murray bought a smoked turkey leg, and I had a sweet corn on the cob, dipped in butter. We wandered through a fudge/candy store, and a coffee shop cum artist gallery where we listened to a man play wonderful tunes on a dulcimer and listened in to a few more music groups before calling it a day. Tonight will be another music show, then some more on Sunday. We will drive out Monday and head for Fordyce, south of Little Rock where we look forward to catching up with Joe Bill & Sandy once again. All in all, a very enjoyable stay.

If you like folk music, check out the video below: