It is is now Friday, May 22, second "official" day of the festival. I started traveling west about 0615 Tuesday morning with the goal of reaching Sam Houston Jones state park in Louisiana that night. Joe was also leaving but started a little later than me. However, he also stayed in the same campground, and we made plans to all go out to eat dinner that night.  Next day we were on our way again, driving for about 60 miles before stopping at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  After breakfast, we each set our own pace for the final leg, me driving about 65, Joe driving closer to the speed limit.  We arrived at KFF within about 30 minutes of each other. The down side of pulling the bigger camper is that I averaged closer to 12 mpg rather than the 17 that I was getting with the pop-up. The extra space and amenities makes it well worth it.

After getting set up on Wednesday, we all got together and went into Kerrville to have dinner at Mamacita'a. Riley and Nash joined us, having driven straight through and arriving in Kerrville earlier on Wednesday.  Later that evening Joe and I played some songs at his camp site, then walked around the meadow to see if anything else was going on. Not much, as everyone seemed to be relaxing and getting ready for the festival the next day. Got into bed pretty early, around midnight.

Thursday morning I got up, prepared eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast, and took a walk around the campground. Stopped by Joe's for a bit for a visit. We were able to get our wrist bands sometime after lunch, so we were set for the music. Spent the remainder of the day visiting with some friends from previous years.

A tradition of the festival is enjoying Big Earl BBQ, but sadly, Big Earl passed away a few months ago, and there is no more Big Earl BBQ at the festival. Another BBQ vendor was in his vendor booth, so we decided to try the BBQ brisket, hoping I guess to start a new tradition. Unfortunately, the replacement BBQ was really bad. The meat was very tough, and what wasn't tough was fat. And the cost was more. I talked to several people who had tried it and no one liked it.

More later about yesterday's music. I will say that our friend Ken Gaines opened the festival and did a great job, like we knew he would.

After listening to Ken's set to open the festival, we hung around a while, then wandered around the campgrounds. Later, we went back to Joe's place to play some. Dana stopped by as well as Janet (with her fiddle), Ed, (Janet's hubby) and her sister Claire. Joe, me, Dana and Janet had a little song circle for a while, playing music and drinking wine. After that broke up, Joe and I went down to Camp Stupid to listen to the good music there. Everyone was having a good time and celebrating the fact that Ken opened on the main stage. I left there about 1 AM to call it a night.

It's now 1130 Friday, and we are all up and stirring. Breakfast complete, coffee consumed, I've been playing some of my own songs to try to remember them. I haven't really played in weeks, and it shows. Also listened to Joe's CD this morning for the first time. Awesome, of course, like I knew it would be. Not sure what the rest of the day will be like, but we will be back in the main stage area tonight. Looking forward to our friend Dan from San Antonio arriving, probably tomorrow, to play with us. Great singer/songwriter.