Tuesday, March 11th

We went down to breakfast this morning around 9 or so, to a packed house. After walking the buffet line, I looked around and, finding no empty tables, asked a couple if we could share their table. They graciously agreed, and we had a nice time with Kevin and Jennifer from Toronto. Having seen pictures of the snow they've had this winter, we had plenty to talk about.

Kevin tells me they're running out of places to put the snow after the roads and parking lots have been plowed. He's learned a new phrase -- "Ice Quake," as the ice shifts and cracks. As crummy a winter as we've had in South Carolina, hearing about those north of us and their experiences makes ours not as bad.

We headed out around 10, down to International Speedway Blvd, to a music store. I wanted to see if they had a Martin "Backpacker" guitar, a small-bodied, full-fretted unit that is easily carried. In Florence, the music stores can order it, but don't keep one in stock.

They had one, a used one with nylon strings. The salesman thought that Martin had stopped making them, until he went online and found them. They're available from Amazon, with steel or nylon strings. It does have a nice sound. I'm more intrigued by the Traveler guitar, also available from Amazon:

Steel Strings, piezo pickup, removable lap rest and standard strap pins, this unit can fit in an overhead compartment on an airplane. The ratings are 4 and 5 stars.

Leaving there, we turned north on US 1 and headed out to "The World Famous Iron Horse Saloon."  We arrived around 11:30, and there was still plenty of places to park (for free) on site. Later, people would be paying to park in nearby lots.

We got the souvenir shopping out of the way early and stuffed the T-shirts into the trunk before heading down to the stage, where The Porch Dogs were setting up to play. They bill themselves as a "Cajun/Zydeco" band, playing old favorites like "Louisiana Saturday Night," "Diggy Diggy Do," "Jambalya" and more. They saw Linda's shamrock tattoo, and launched into a traditional Irish tune as well. They did a rendition of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," with Bo (the fiddle player), using an adolescent voice to do the parts where Johnny replies to the devil. Very funny. But his fiddle playing was as good as any we've heard.

Since they were on early, as the riders came in, not many people were down at the stage until later in their set. It was almost like a concert just for us, and we had fun interacting with them. When Kim came down to the stage, she shuffle-danced and laughed as they played.

What you can't see in her back pocket are a riding crop, a flogger and a cat-o'-nine-tails. I never asked her why. In the picture above, you can see the washboard vest the accordion player is wearing. She asked, and he let her put it on, handing her two bottle caps to play it. She played it for a little bit, then came over and put it on me. Who's gonna argue with a girl with whips?

I played along with one song, then returned it. Later, the accordion player used it to play along with Bo to "Dueling Banjos."

As people came over, the stands filled up a bit more, and this little girl enjoyed dancing to the Zydeco beat.

It's the kind of music that makes you tap your feet, laugh and enjoy. My kind of good time.

As the next band, JB Walker and the Cheap Whiskey Band set up , Linda and I went over to the picnic tables and ordered a half-rack of ribs (beef) to share. They chopped the rack into individual ribs, and put them in a Styrofoam container. the kind with the large section and two small sections. The ribs are naked, and you add the sauce of your choice, from sweet, smokey and hot. Instead, I squirted the sweet into one section (for Linda), and mixed the hot and smokey in the other. They were delicious, and we listened to the band from there.

JB Walker and the Cheap Whiskey Band played Classic and Southern Rock standards, like Marshall Tucker's "Can't You See" and the like. JB's been in the business for a long time, and his raspy voice makes you think he's been drinking the cheap whiskey for all that time. The music was good. His singing was less than that. But most of the people there seemed to enjoy it.

This image came from the 2nd story deck that stretches across the area. Lots of shaded areas, three bars (including one that was fashioned from an old yellow school bus), but not a lot of seating, all of which was taken.

We left around three and headed back to the hotel for a while. Later, knowing we needed to eat something, we decided to find a place to eat, and went to Dimitri's Bar Deck and Grill, on Atlantic Ave not too far from the hotel. The food was very good -- Linda had the traditional Gyro, while I opted for a Roast Beef and Chedder Melt on a Ciabatta roll -- and plenty of it. We couldn't eat it all.

If you recall, on Saturday we went to Publix where we bought some Keurig coffee pods that didn't seem to get back to the hotel. On Sunday we went back and explained the situation, and they let us pick another one up. Well, while putting something in Linda's trunk, I found the original box of pods. It had fallen out of the bag and ended up behind something else. We headed over there and returned the box to them, to their surprise.

Back to the hotel, a glass of wine or two, and an early night. The fresh ocean air, the warm temperatures and the riding and walking are conspiring to wear us out. But we are having a good time!

Wednesday started out with showers. It's about 9 o'clock now, and it looks dry out there. Don't know yet what we're up to, though. I'll let you know tomorrow.