Once I got back home from my Oregon Trail adventure, I did a quick turnaround and pointed the RV to the Catskills.  For the past 17 years, I’ve attended the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.  This four-day music festival is held each July in the little town of Durham, NY.  It’s become an annual pilgrimage where I go to camp with my fellow bluegrass brothers (and sisters) and get infused with the music that I love.

I’ve written a few blog posts about this festival.  You can see them listed at the bottom of this post.  Last years post was – Finding the Unexpected at The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.  Each year, there’s always something new to experience.  New bands to see, new songs to hear, and new people to meet.

It’s All About the Experience

And that’s one of the things I like about taking my RV to an event like a music festival.  The experience is so different from anything else I experience in a typical RV trip.  I’m not immersed in the scenery, history, or a nature camping experience.  It’s all about music.  Four days of non-stop music.  The sounds, the song stories, the harmonies, the instrument skill.  It’s an auditory experience.

It’s also a social experience.  I’m surrounded by friendly people who all share a common interest. We’re like a tribe or clan who are all related.   We camp close together, share meals, play music together, and share our stories.  There’s no social classes or experience levels.  We’re all equal. Some of my best friends are people who I’ve met at music festivals.

Vlog vs Blog

This year, I’ve been doing more videos of my travel experiences and trying to grow my YouTube channel – J. Dawg Journeys Videos.  Making videos is fun and a great way to record and showcase my journeys.  For this year, I decided to do a vlog to show what it was like to attend the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.  You can see it below.

I had a great time at this years Grey Fox Festival.  There was lots of great music. I got to see some perennial favorites (Del McCoury, Steel Drivers, Della Mae, Ricky Skaggs) and hear some new bands (Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, David Parmley & Cardinal Tradition).  I also made some new festival friends.

New bluegrass festival friends – (L to R) Dave, Donna, Terry, and John

This years Grey Fox was also notable for some of the weather.  We had a full day of rain on the first day of the festival.  The wet conditions didn’t seem to deter the fans or the performers, but it did bring some mud.  Well, more like lots of mud and some folks seemed to revel in it.  It was just too much to ignore so I made another video of the muddy conditions.

So, that’s was how I spent some time during July.  Getting a good dose of Bluegrass and festival fellowship that recharged me and hopefully holds me until next July.