I haven't been very visible on the forum lately for a variety of reasons... but I'm on today to say that a friend from the PGMusic forum stopped by to visit yesterday as he passed through NC.

You all know him as EDDIE1261, the musician from Ohio who sometimes collaborates with ROG.

We reached out to JIM FOGLE to join us, but he already had plans for the day. He got to talk with Eddie on the phone for a while as we drove around town seeing the sights, so he was still involved in the visit.

I'm fairly introverted, and it generally takes me a while to warm up to people, but with Eddie it was like we were old friends picking up where we left off years before. Conversation flowed easily, and his dog (Scruff) got along magnificently with my daughters dog (Pippy)... so there was no down side at all.

We pretty much spent the whole day talking about BIAB, the forum, song writing, playing in bands, and old girlfriends. (mostly Eddie's)

Anyway, a note to Eddie: You and Scruff are welcome here any time! I appreciate your willingness to stop and visit!

A note to everybody else: If you ever have an opportunity to visit other forum members... go for it! You already know one another from years of daily conversation on the forum. Meeting them in person is the natural progression of friendship.

Y'all have a standing invitation at my house if any of you pass through NC on the way to somewhere else. Just let me know when you're coming, and I'll have the lights on.

I had intended to take a selfie with me and Eddie, but never got around to it. Eddie took a few of himself and Scruff from one of the lookouts on Pilot Mountain... maybe he'll post it later in this thread.

His visit did a pretty good job of reminding me about the user showcase, so hopefully I'll spend more time there in the future listening and commenting on the songs

Sounds like a fun day for you guys. I know I've always enjoyed my visits with you Pat. I'm sure Jim is sorry he missed spending face time with you both. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing Pat! I still remember when you, Donny and I did a Skype session a few years back. Was very enjoyable.

And to return the favor, Pat is a very insightful, intelligent guy whose sens of hospitality was amazing. A friend had arranged a free stay at the Extended Stays hotel chain, a perk of his being a long time employee of that chain. Well, I am mobility impaired (very bad right knee) so I asked for a 1st floor room. They said they could accommodate me. But the pet rooms, for some MORONIC reason, are on the 3rd floor. (WHY put pets on the 3rd floor knowing they have to go outside for bathroom breaks?) Now, my dog is blind and old, and those 2 flights of stairs are not even within the realm of possibility for her. I have to carry her up and down any more stairs than the 4 she knows from memory here at her home. So I thought, okay, I'll see how this looks. I would have needed to make 4 steps up and down those stairs to get moved into the room. Pat graciously offered, and I gladly accepted, to bring up what I needed to stay overnight. After giving the dog some food, she always goes outside immediately, meaning I had to carry her back to the 1st floor so she could pee, then back up again. When she finished, he again offered to let me stay at his house, and I accepted his offer. I went into the office to check out and he cleared the room for me. This is really a good guy right here. He didn't have to do any of that, and he did it without thinking twice.

Then we got to his house, and his Pippie took about an hour to warm up to my Scruff. About an hour into the visit, I looked behind where I was sitting and Pippie was sleeping in her bed, and Scruff was on the floor with their faces less than a foot apart. 2 mellow dogs. I couldn't tell if Pippie sensed that Scruff is blind or not, but he seemed to be kind of helping her find the potty spots outside and such.

This was in addition to a quick overview of the city should I choose to move down that way. And I might. Because....

You know how you really love Brussels sprouts because you have never had anything but Brussels sprouts, but then you try broccoli and when you go back to Brussels sprouts you realize they kind of suck? After spending time in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, then coming back to Ohio, I realized that Ohio really the Brussels sprouts of states. The weather here is awful 7 months a year, the roads, by comparison, are bad when compared to those southern states because they don't get the weather beating the roads up north get. With nobody here, why wouldn't I move? Even if I went to a place where I know absolutely nobody, the 4 friends I do have here I don't see that much and we communicate mainly via text and email. They can text and email if I am elsewhere, right?

So I am going to start doing more intense research about some southern areas. Even the places that are hot in the summer, well, I live inside NOW, so.....

I'm very disappointed I was not able to meet with Eddie and Pat. It was nice of Pat to reach out by both private message and telephone to remotely include me.

Both Eddie and Pat are fascinating people. Even with Pat holding the cellphone to Eddie's ear I could tell they were having a good time together.

Ain't it good to find out that the folks on this forum are cool folks in person and not axe murderers?

BTW.... I was less than 2 hrs down the road. You're welcome here any time as well and I have moved from the small town. I'm out here on 28 acres of wooded land. Much better for hiding the bodies..... for my dog to find of course.

FWIW, Herb... I did think of inviting you, but I wasn't sure how long Eddie would be in town, and that's a pretty long drive (seemed longer than 2 hours when I drove it). Plus, I don't think you are retired yet, so I figured your ability to get away on short notice would be minimal. But... we did think of you. David Snyder too.

One of these summer weekends you should host a jam session and let whatever forum members who can make it pitch tents and camp for the weekend <-bad sentence structure, but hopefully not so bad the point is lost

We could call it HERBFEST

Here's the selfie with Scruff from when me n' Barney headed up to Mt Pilot.

Hi Guys,

Glad the trip went well. If it had been just that bit closer I'd have joined you.

One of these days.....

I was fortunate to have Pat and Mario visit my cabin when I was giving a concert. It really is a joy to meet others from the forum.

So, when is Herbfest? May? And what kind of participation would it take t go from Herbfest to Herbstock? LOL!!!

Herbfest.... hummmmmm ....... bring your own herb? I like that.

Interesting idea for the open invite to forum members to come and hang out and jam.

I do still run the business but it's slowed down a bit... kinda let things go and that's fine.... I call it being semi-retired. I can often move my schedule around to accommodate the things I want to do. As long as I have the money to pay the bills and do what I need and want.... life is good. Today for example..... play with the features of the new 2019 BB and then pull about 500 feet of wire to the gate for grid power and video intercom so I don't have to run out and open the gate for visitors. I also want to get into the path in the woods and work on grinding more of the smaller brush and clean that up.... so much to do and so little time.... especially when you are a professional at procrastination like me.

edit: glad you did think of me and Dave. No problem.

I spent about 4 years in Ohio. I think after you spend a little more time traveling that you will come to realize that Ohio is actually the Haggis of the States. ;-)

And "Haggis of the States" is paying it too big of a compliment.

As I have lived here my whole life, I rarely went anywhere else. Until I went to the south, just for those few days, I didn't realize how angry and racist it is where I live. Blacks hate whites, white hate blacks, and everybody hates Mexicans. There are fights here every day for no other reason than somebody starts some mess with somebody else for no apparent reason.

In North Carolina, I met a decent sized handful of people. Likely 80% of them happened to be black. One guy, my age, saw my plates and said something like "How you doing? Getting out of that awful weather for a while?" And I ended up talking to him for about 10 minutes. And everywhere i went people were friendly. South Carolina as well. Florida i wasn't in long enough and I was visiting family so I didn't do much but hang with them.

What FINALLY dawned on me was that the black people I met were SOUTHERN first, then they happened to be black. Everybody overall was a lot nicer than the people up here. (Possibly why I myself have the "edge" I do. I am ALWAYS ready to throw the gloves down. And at almost 68, it is not the time to be throwing the gloves down!)

My biggest concern about moving from here is the unknown as far as neighborhoods and safety. I live in a ghetto now. I don't want to sell my house, buy another, move down there and find I moved to a ghetto there. This little week long journey made me aware of some things. As I entered South Carolina I had this sense of "This could be home" immediately come over me. Of course I was on 77 South and not in the neighborhoods, but I just had a sense. Some place like Rock Hill-ish would be great. Stay inside when it's crazy hot, and no 2 feet of snow that lasts a week. The snow I left here last Friday just finished melting away today.

So, perspective.

My favorite Ohio story came from a guy who moved back here from Tennessee to take care of his dying mother.

Folks were asking him how far he was from Ashtabula and wasn't Ashtabula within the arctic circle? For non-Ohio folks, Ashtabula is right on Lake Erie. They have their own weather patterns there.

I worked there for about 6 years. Ladies dress code was business casual and hunting boots.

...Deb

Yep... I like the south. I'm thinking that Florida is kinda like the north in the populated areas due to all the resettled snow birds. The rural areas have snakes and alligators...and it's a humid hot all the time.

NC is a pretty cool place. There are areas you would not want to live.... such as in the cities. Pick a place where you can see the coming and going "welcome to our town" signs at opposite ends of the town. Small towns here rock. You're not a stranger for long and people know your name. we got hoodlums and wanna be gangstas.... just like anywhere, but they mostly hang out in the hoods of their towns and leave decent folk alone, because they know we have guns and will use them.

I'm thinking that if you're admitting you live in the hood now, and if you move here and DON'T move into a city.... it's gotta be better than where you are.... plus... you get lower taxes, warmer winters for the most part, friendlier folks, less winter snow, and you're only 2 hrs to the beach or the mountains in the central part of the state. ( And we have concealed carry )How can you beat that?

Yeah Herb. Twice a week a pizza driver gets shot for his pizza and the 20 bucks in his pocket. The thugs call in and order pizza to be delivered to a vacant house and when the driver comes up they rob and beat or shoot him. 3-4 businesses a week get robbed, cars are stolen every day. My general area is considered the hood, but my street is in the pocket inside of that has not had a crime in the 14 years I have lived here. The bulk of the crime is downtown as well as in a couple of very specific areas a few miles from me. And if you are at all streetwise you know what to look for.

Plus there's that whole concealed carry thing.....

I would mainly like to put this several months of awful weather behind me. I know there is snow from time to time in NC but it isn't 22 inches and it isn't accompanied by -2 degrees like what I left behind me when I came down south and it doesn't stay on the ground for weeks because it never gets warm enough to melt. Sure in the mountains.... I am not going to go all Grizzly Adams and line in the mountains. I wouldn't even mind proximity to a city, but for the most part I am home all the time and rarely go out anyway. Give me high speed internet and proximity to a Walmart and I am good. I just don't want to have to live with my head on a swivel because someone who hates me just because I happened to be born white will shoot at me. The north is THAT racist, and I didn't see it until I got away for a week.

So I am spending a good amount of time on real estate sites looking things over. I may have to make some concessions because of finances and budget, buy if I have to paint rooms and pull out carpets myself, so be it. There is a place listed in the Winston-Salem area right now that would do me very well, with a big fenced yard for dogs and enough solitude that I could easily live there. We'll see how this all plays out. I'd love to be down there somewhere by next winter.

Either way I'll come down for Herbstock!

Sounds like you guys had quite the lovely trip! I have some friends coming to visit me from the states during the summer so I'm excited to have some adventures myself!

please keep us posted on the adventures, Ember! We might not know your friends, but its always fun to hear about what other people are doing on their vacations

ha! Now that's funny!

I went to a party like that once by accident. (Really, it was by accident. I came for the music)
1971. Deep woods. Campfire. Mostly minors. Kegs of beer and other illicit substances. The police came.

Imagine about 100 people scattering and running at full speed through the woods into the pitch darkness.
Briars. Creeks. A whole forest of trees to run into. Poison ivy. Fallen trees to trip over.
You can't avoid what you can't see.

Everybody who didn't get arrested had at least a bloody nose from kissing a tree at full gallop.

I'm not crazy about being old, but on a scale from 1 to 10, my bad decisions these days are mostly 1s and 2s, whereas at age 18 they were mostly 10s and 11s. There's a song in there somewhere.

Eddie, I did the same thing that you are doing now 10 years ago. Like you, I grew up in Ohio. Actually not far from you, Sandusky. The important part of this, as explained later, was Lake Erie.

I moved to Atlanta for a job and must admit I went southern fast. The absence of snow, mild winter temps and southern hospitality suited me just fine. What really got to me was I missed the Lake.

Eight years later, I moved to Gulf-side of southern Florida. What could be better than this? Beaches, Sun, Gulf waters, fishing! But things changed. Seven months of the year its 90 degress plus with 90 percent humidity. When the temps break, around Thankgiving, millions of "snowbirds" show up to an area where the infrastructure can't support them. So I became somewhat dislussioned living on that sandbar and wanted to get out.

I guess it came time for some reflection, what did I really want? Number one, has to be near water...I grew up with it, gotta have it...fresh water preferred...I found I hate saltwater! Number two, 4 seasons....12 months of summer in Florida gets old fast...decorated palm tress for Christmas just ain't right...but NO SNOW! Number three, smaller town...I've sit in enough traffic jams to last a lifetime.

For me, that all puts me in Northern Georgia, South Carolina, North Caroline and eastern Tennessee. With that in mind, I did what you did....road trips! Spent the better part of two years traveling around those areas. Found some great spots, met some great people.

Finally, quite by accident, stumbled on Lake Keowee in the north western corner of South Carolina. Twenty miles long, 3 miles wide...pristine fresh waters in sight of the Blue Ridge mountains. A few small towns, lots of woods, waterfalls, mild temps, great people...who don't know anything about Ohio State football...all they talk about is Clemson!

Have been here for about a year now and really enjoy it. So follow your dream, head south...but not too far south! Find the mountains. Be sure to look for water...us Ohio boys have to have that whether we know it or not.

Keep us posted on your travels.

Jeff

Jeff, you summed up exactly what I want to find. Warmer temps, but mountains when I want to find some nature, water when I want to fish.... most importantly, a place where that annual 3-4 days of snowfall measures 1 inch total and melts by 11 am.

You found your version of Utopia. I am just now starting to search for mine in earnest.

Sounds like home to me Eddie. I'm 5 minutes from the point two rivers merge, Lumber and Little Pee Dee. Regardless of direction, no more than 10 minutes to a boat landing. An hour's drive from the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. Three and half hour drive from the Appalachian Mountains. An hours drive from the Santee Lakes known worldwide for its fishing. If you're a veteran, VA facilities in Wilmington, Fayetteville, Columbia, Sumter and Charleston are within a two hour drive radius. Several National Forests for nature, Lots of State Parks and a Boardwalk along a National Certified Scenic Designated River that's more than a mile long. Wonderful spot just 7 minute drive from home. If you golf, Myrtle Beach has 35 plus courses. Love history? Camden, Charleston, Georgetown are all close by. Want to marry a rich woman? Hilton Head is an easy drive from here, interstate most of the way. Amtrak is available for your long distance travel with a clearer view of the landscape than flying. But we have four airport hubs within a couple hours drive if you fly.


By chance, yesterday at 2:00 pm, Florence, SC about 30 minutes from home was 83 degrees. The hottest spot in the nation at 2pm. It was 103 degrees warmer than Glasgow, MT.

We do fall short of your annual 3-4 day snowfall. It's one or two at best and rarely up to an inch. Usually a dusting maybe twice a season that sticks but rarely covers the ground and is gone within two hours. Just west and to the north is where snow that accumulates begins. Again, an easy drive if you're ever nostalgic for snow.

Close drive to David, Herb, Jim, Pat and myself for all your BIAB needs. We have several good hospital regional systems and larger high quality teaching hospitals such as Duke and MUSC within a 30 minute helicopter flight.

I'm enjoying this thread. A mighty long road trip through towns and states, without actually going there. Hope you find your Shangri La Eddie.

That is an outstanding Chamber Of Commerce moment there Charlie. I am indeed a veteran and get all of my medical attention at a VA clinic just a 8-10 minute drive from home, with the hospital being an hour away. I really like fishing, but I rarely go. I really like live music, but I rarely go hear any. I like a lot of things that I just don't do. This short 6 day jaunt was the first time I have actually acted "retired" (unless you count the normal 9 am wake-up - today was at 7 because the dog had to pee) and I retired in July of 2013. Between being a homebody at heart and very much a loner, and add in an old, blind dog that I must be around 24/7 of she panics, home is where I usually am.

Being down in that Carolina weather was like when a junkie gets that first shot of whatever he gets quickly addicted to. And as I type this, I glance to my right out the window and see the snow beginning to lazily waft down on this 24 degree morning....

I think springtime will find me on the road again, maybe to the Upper Peninsula of That State Up North. Never been across the Mackinac Bridge.

PS. I don't want to marry ANYBODY....

As I read through all the comments in this thread, it really is interesting to see how many of us live "not that far" away from one another.

During the working years when there's a limited amount of vacation time to be spent wisely with the family, it's hard to appropriate any of that time for a forum get-together. But as more of us hit retirement and have serious time on our hands, we should consider the possibility of an annual BIABfest, at rotating locations, hosted by a different forum member each time.

Even if the turnout isn't large, I think the potential for personal enrichment would be.

A couple of years ago when Matt Finley hosted a get together at Lake George, two people came... and they were both retirees. Maybe that's the key that makes it work. Small groups have different advantages than large groups. I actually prefer smaller get-togethers because you have a better shot at getting to know people.

And there's also Skype, as Steve mentioned earlier in the thread. (Although, it has been my experience that the best way to make me quiet is by pointing a camera at me.)

Same old broken record, me talking about a forum meet. But plug it into the back of your thinking. We ain't dead yet. All it would take is for somebody to announce a time and place.

And of course, I fondly remember your one-on-one road trip a few years back when you visited here in Pensacola. And of course, my wife and I had a chance to meet the Finley's when we went to the Hudson Valley in New York. So, I've met two forumites and both time was a wonderful experience.

Well, John, if you ever meet my crabby azz I'll break that streak for you!

LOL!!!!

Eddie,

I use the VA for my health needs. There is a VA health clinic just off I-40 between Greensboro and Winston-Salem. The regional hospital is thirty minutes east in Salisbury, NC. The clinic facility turned three years old this month. The clinic and hospital have a teaching arrangement with Wake Forest Baptist Hospital. WFBH has been rated one of the top 25 teaching hospital systems in the US by US News & World Reports for more than 15 years consecutively. Richard Childress Racing (RCR Enterprises) hosts a Veterans Coffee the first Wednesday of each month. Vets are treated well around here.

That area keeps sounding better and better. Garage facelift and bathroom reno needed before I can sell here, both of which are scheduled, but I truly do want to leave the north. Just that short getaway opened my eyes to some things. And with the two of you able to tell me about specific areas as I look at houses, I have an edge.

Reading and following from afar, Herbfest and all that sounds Minted.

I have come to the conclusion, I think Herb could easily have us all staying on his land , then we could all be known as the PG Herbies.

Like Videotrack I am also loving this thread and dreaming, for me if only. America.. aww well back to the day job.

But I will still be following Eddies journey.

Good luck..

on the broader topic of where we could live after we retire and aren't bound to the town where we worked:

Youtube is full of vlogs by expats who have moved overseas to places where their meager retirement funds have more buying power. VietNam, Thailand, the Philippines are just a few of the places where retired westerners are moving. For anybody who might be inclined to dream about "what if..." it's a deep rabbit hole once you start looking into it.

No Way , my thoughts are on the thread and that only, while reading from afar and enjoying folk from areas of the world, I have not seen or been,.. ooops I'm a poet and I don't even noet Broad or not.


Thanks

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I have a tent. And a pretty good generator to power amps and PA systems out on the lower 40 acres. (Or wherever the bonfire and camping is going to be... )

I am enjoying this thread a lot too, particularly because with Pat Marr taking on the lead role that Michael Lang filled at Woodstock, Herbfest seems to be gaining traction despite the fact that Herb, in the role of Max Yazgur, has not really offered to host such an event. LOL!!!

Good god this place CAN be so much fun!!

There are two Woodstock reunion events at the same time. Neither is anywhere near Woodstock, NY. So that opens up a lot of possibility for Herbstock. Maybe you could come to the real village of Woodstock. It’s pretty close to me (I regularly record there).

3 friends and I tried to go to the real Woodstock but we were about halfway across Pennsylvania when we heard that the traffic was so bad we likely wouldn't even have made it before it ended.

And I also wanted to go to Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble but he went and died on me....

Its very easy to talk about a get-together.

Somewhat less easy to get somebody to host it...

The real challenge is in getting people to attend.

Which is why most of what gets discussed never happens.

I am enjoying this thread too though way across the big pond. Nice to get an insight and a pictured painted of the places you have been and would like to travel to.

I was even looking forward to a blog from Eddie when he was thinking of starting his RV travels that time, then he went and sold it, though it was the right thing to do he felt.

Have any of you ever put places into Google street view and then have a good look around, I do this all the time, brings a bit more realism to a place name.

Haven't got to America yet myself, maybe some day though time is on the march and I would need to get a move on. Probably would be a trip to New York if I did get around to it, I do love the streaming cams from Times SQ.

For a while here I have been finding the Forums a little depressing, this wrong or that. Not much seemed nice. Then I read this. I found this thread warming (if that is the right word). Sounds like some folk have good times. Your experiences are different to ours in the real South. (Below the equator).

It is a good read.

Tony

I do that a lot. As I look at houses in smaller towns, the kind where directions include "Go through THE stoplight", I take a virtual drive through the town and look at the storefronts and such. If a town is full of payday loan businesses, pawn shops, smoke shops that sell smokes individually rather than by pack, that gives me a feel for the economic climate of the place and the element that lives there and they go off my list. But if I see a busy street full of local businesses with people walking in and out of stores, then they get my attention.

I just wish Google would update that more. I looked at a house recently that Google maps street view showed to be a grown over, tangled mess. The real estate site photos though showed that all the awful shrubs and the dead tree have been removed, and the yard was bright and cheerful. The imagery on street view was from 2013. My own house shows my old windows and shrubbery in front of my house, which dates those pictures as being before 2014 when I bought the new windows.

Overall though, Google maps is a great tool.

I’m another Carolina transplant I moved to the upstate of South Carolina a year ago. Actually work up around lake Keowee on occasion. I like in the Spartanburg area. I love it here, and would not move back to Southern California unless I had to. It’s beautiful and far better for us financially. $1.00 a gallon cheaper gas, and I pay 1/3 what I paid there for housing.

When I saw your location I thought "Isn't he in California??" Now I know why.

Another candidate to attend Herbfest! How many do we need before the food and drink vendors start asking to attend? Bring me the Italian sausage and peppers sandwich guy and I'll never leave. If the Elephant Ears truck comes I will start building a house.

Back when I traveled on the company dime I always looked at the age and condition of personal vehicles to get an idea how economically successful an area was. It always amazed me how some parking areas would be filled with Mercedes, Lexus or BMW and a short distance away fifteen year old pickups and beaters were the norm.

One thing that amazed me was how in the snow belt you see a lot of vehicles eat through because of road salt but they disappear once the weather turns warm and people bring their "good" vehicles out of storage.

All this fun talk of Herbfest made me think about something. Until I visited Pat, I had no idea just how many users here are in the Carolinas. Given that, what would the objections be, if any rational objections exist, to require at the very minimum a user list his state? I mean, privacy? C'mon. What kind of paranoia is it to care who knows what state you are in? Besides which, as I just showed one user here, with the internet anybody with minimal internet skills can find you in about 5 minutes. Complete with a picture of your house if they choose to take it that far. Of course nobody is asking for home address and such, as that is obviously taking it too far, but in the spirit of community and the "musician bro" factor, it would be great to know where everybody is.

That way, as we plan Herbfest, we know who to expect will descend on his property!!

Ok, I live near a place called "Center of the World."

Center of the World

Nothing there but the sign is cool!

...Deb

Eddie,

One of the forum users created a map thingy where anyone can mark their location with a virtual push pin. They have a link to the webpage in their signature.

The forum literally has thousands of members and I think three participated.

While your idea has merit I doubt it will fly very far. But I've been proven wrong before!

I have actually stopped and taken a picture of that very sign and posted it on Facebook with the comment "No. I am the center of the world!!"

I had a guy out Warren way fix a baritone sax for me and on the way to drop it off and pick it up I passed that sign.

so... Ohio has towns named CENTER OF THE WORLD and UTOPIA.

North Carolina has HORNEYTOWN, HIGH POINT and CLIMAX.


Your move. ;-)

Climax and Hell are both in MI .. just sayin

And let's not forget Intercourse, PA. Which has never, and I don't know why, appealed to Climax in That State Up North to become sister cities.

But back to Herbfest..... Will there be t-shirts?

$45 at the merch tent.

suggested schedule of events for Herbfest 2019:

1) while we consume the 1st case of beer, have a meet & greet

2) 2nd case: jam session

3) 3rd case: target practice (shooting at beer cans from events #1 and #2)

4) 4th case: same as event #3, but now the beer cans are balanced on one anothers' heads

5) 5th case: Same as event #4, but now its live action and nobody is standing still. Every man for himself. Last man standing gets the generator and PA system.

we'll probably only need ONE "survivor" shirt

Just sayin'.

Ha ! Ha! one t-shirt.

AND,it can be free...... with nobody there to collect the $45.....