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| ... like a villain |
And he's seen first hand pony magic, too; like all the strangers that help us out. Example, an older fellow walked up and said, "I'll give you twenty bucks if you let me sit up on that horse. Here, take a picture of me so I can show my friends... Do I look like a cowboy?" He did.
So, what do our readers think about the group name... 'Five Cent Fiddle Solar Powered' ... 'FCF+' ... 'Hanrobolowvey' ... ? That last one's actually our celeb name; catchier than "Ertarmeadahol", which sounds like a petroleum derivative.
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| It's Florida, see the alligator? Neither have we :( |
Anyways, we keep putting ourselves out there as smile-bringers (less greasy than Dominos' smiles), music-providers, storytellers and ultimately, people outdoors in need of food and shelter - or at least a dollar for a song - and the hospitality keeps on coming in. We'd sound like a broken record to list every time cool people help out, but we're endlessly grateful and we'll always hit the highlights here.
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| Hannah, "Click click..." Meadow, "... yeaNO." |
We stayed on a property where 3 generations of a family all lived. Camp was setup just behind their old tennis court on which we made a bonfire (their idea). The kids running everywhere and asking silly questions made that particular fire lit concert one to remember. God bless folks that take in strangers. The following morning, we showed them how to transform a hyper puppy into a happy family pet. 'Cause we all know how wound up 6-month-olds all too often make aggressive, dangerous older dogs and no one wants that.
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| Fan of the month! |
The next day, the 6 mile stretch of Hwy 98 over Okaloosa Island kicked our butts... badly. By the time we neared our destination, the sun had gone down, the 20 mph headwind hadn't let up for an hour, the cold was absolutely biting, Hannah's knee was sore, Harvey's bike had a rear tire leak, Meadow was exhausted and her hind toes were definitely wearing strangely, Olive's footies had fallen off, leaving us to pick sand spurs out of her already sore front paws... and on top of it all, Robert's bike trailer connection had broken almost in two; the metal pipe had split at a seam, and we knew the piece wasn't long for this world. Consider butt officially kicked, right?!
We hobbled another mile before T (who had seen us a few times earlier that day) stopped us and invited us home. Camping with our toasty-warm Burrow quilts would've been fine, but it would've meant another 5 miles that night to get out of Fort Walton Beach; not fine. Thanks T.
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| Harvey's first (yep first) ever professional haircut |
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| This is K who invited us home; she's a great hair stylist and owns horses, too |
Robert went to the junkyard early the next morning, scoring an aluminum pipe from a walker to replace the broken trailer-tongue pipe. We also stopped by a food bank for him to resupply and by 4pm, still in Fort Walton Beach, we opted to not make a long travel day of it. The gang ended up at K's house, just 3 miles away. K and her husband, R, are just super kind people. They even said they'd be willing to put Hannah up when Harvey goes home. Awesome! The next morning, while Harvey fixed the same flat for a second time, R constructed a steel covering over the toe of Meadow's hind sneakers, which had broken through.
We forged on down Hwy 98, past miles upon miles of air force base on our right, through a narrow construction corridor, and past at least 4 Tom Thumb gas stations spread out over 15+ miles. In fact, we camped out behind one such convenience store. It was cold, though, so we found a home for our instruments in a nearby RV park overnight. It was another nice couple that offered the warmth of their home on wheels. Tell you what, seeing that whole rig was enough to make these troubadours long for a weather proofed wagon!
The next day was more travel and more cold and more gas station coffee/hot chocolate to stay warm. Towards the day's end, we met a woman with a horse farm on our route, S, who invited us home. She had a camper/trailer for us to stay in and a stall for Meadow. It was so much fun hanging at her place, we decided to swing through again in a few weeks when Harvey returns from Raleigh.
Speaking of his Raleigh visit, Harvey has two (yes, two) new nieces! Here's a picture of his brother's first; cutest baby girl we ever did see.
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Pensacola was a hop, skip and a 3-mile-bridge jump, the next day. We busked and had a great time the first night but at midnight we still hadn't locked down a place to stay. That happens sometimes. So here's a picture of our campsite... less than a half mile from busy, downtown Pensacola. Ninja campers we are.
It was about this time that our dear Robert felt the call of the open road. Whereas FCF is staying put in the area for a few weeks while Harvey visits family, the solar powered man needed to follow the sun; so west he went. We had a blast, brother. Best of luck, Robert, and we hope to see you soon. Blessings.
You know, staying up late and meeting a zillion new people here in the cold season (think temperature, think virus) takes a toll on one's immune system. Harvey started feeling under the weather and Hannah could have felt better too. So we sought warmth and rest and God gave it.
Two girls that we met on the street were kind enough to put us up for a couple cold nights. We sang around their fire too. It's always nice to play for a captive audience as opposed to the street audience which rarely listens to a whole song, and probably can't hear much over the traffic anyways. We used their computer for most of the day (for those of you wondering exactly HOW we update this thing, given the lack of technology we carry). Their dogs, the puppy in particular, loved to play with Olive.
Harvey hopped a bus around midnight and made it to Raleigh to see the new baby. Hannah, after another enjoyable outing with S&T, trailered to Crestview the following day to spend the next two weeks helping to train a horse belonging to our friend K (from Fort Walton Beach). Life is good. We're warm and safe and happy and will be ready for the trek to New Orleans...
- FCF
Olive's nails remain perfectly trimmed because of the natural wear from 15+ miles a day... all except the 2 front dewclaws. You have to do the dew ... claws.
Meadow is woman's best horse training aid. She'll stand still (think bored hipster) in the center of a round pen while trainer and horse-trainee work around her, which brings a more calming, natural horsey presence to the business of round-penning, joining up, etc.
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| Olive says, "95 pound bike? Psh! That's nothing; let me ride too!" |
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| Pony + gear = 1040lbs, give or take |
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| Here a picture of S... hanging with Meadow |
Pensacola was a hop, skip and a 3-mile-bridge jump, the next day. We busked and had a great time the first night but at midnight we still hadn't locked down a place to stay. That happens sometimes. So here's a picture of our campsite... less than a half mile from busy, downtown Pensacola. Ninja campers we are.
It was about this time that our dear Robert felt the call of the open road. Whereas FCF is staying put in the area for a few weeks while Harvey visits family, the solar powered man needed to follow the sun; so west he went. We had a blast, brother. Best of luck, Robert, and we hope to see you soon. Blessings.
You know, staying up late and meeting a zillion new people here in the cold season (think temperature, think virus) takes a toll on one's immune system. Harvey started feeling under the weather and Hannah could have felt better too. So we sought warmth and rest and God gave it.
Two girls that we met on the street were kind enough to put us up for a couple cold nights. We sang around their fire too. It's always nice to play for a captive audience as opposed to the street audience which rarely listens to a whole song, and probably can't hear much over the traffic anyways. We used their computer for most of the day (for those of you wondering exactly HOW we update this thing, given the lack of technology we carry). Their dogs, the puppy in particular, loved to play with Olive.
S&T met us on the street playing music. We stayed at their house for 3 days partly because Harvey was really feeling under the weather at that point; partly because the other serious cold-snap of the winter hit with serious force. It was well into the teens and remember wind chill is a son of a gun on the coast.
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| Ice-covered Pensacola, FL |
The roads were covered in an inch of ice. People were falling down on the sidewalks it was so slippery and the very few cars out in that mess were moving in slow motion. The Yonder Mountain String Band concert was cancelled - too bad - as it would've been the first big concert FCF attended since the trip began.
Meadow enjoyed the grass in the big old backyard of S&T, and Olive enjoyed chilling with their dog, shown here:
Harvey hopped a bus around midnight and made it to Raleigh to see the new baby. Hannah, after another enjoyable outing with S&T, trailered to Crestview the following day to spend the next two weeks helping to train a horse belonging to our friend K (from Fort Walton Beach). Life is good. We're warm and safe and happy and will be ready for the trek to New Orleans...
- FCF
Olive's nails remain perfectly trimmed because of the natural wear from 15+ miles a day... all except the 2 front dewclaws. You have to do the dew ... claws.
Meadow is woman's best horse training aid. She'll stand still (think bored hipster) in the center of a round pen while trainer and horse-trainee work around her, which brings a more calming, natural horsey presence to the business of round-penning, joining up, etc.
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