Oh, the water...Ohhho, the water

I've had a Marley's Ghost (Van Morrison remake) song in my head all day...."Oh, the water...ohho the water. Let it run all over me." WHY? you ask. Because it's the Sunday before Bluegrass, and we should be settled into our campsite in the middle of the Pecan Grove right now. Sitting around a cozy campfire, visiting with our friends. Enjoying the 70 degree cool air, bundled up in sweatshirts.

BUT, we're NOT. Because it's rained so much here in South central Kansas in the past few days, the entire fairgrounds, the home of Bluegrass, is under water! Friday morning was mass chaos in the campgrounds, as a mandatory evacuation was ordered for all campers. Might not sound like such a big deal, but we're talking about thousands of campers who have been here for weeks already, and had just settled into their new camp "home" on Thursday morning. People from all over the United States. They had to hook up their campers and pull out of the fairground. It was a strange site driving around town Friday afternoon...campers were everywhere you looked. Some ended up out at the City lake, some at the sports complex, and even a handful in the Dillon's and Wal-Mart parking lot. The die-hard Bluegrassers seem to be taking it all in stride. We're hoping to hear something by tomorrow morning about the festival. It's almost certain there will be no camping in the fairgrounds this year, but we're hoping all the shows will go on as planned--there are usually four official stages. You might have to enlarge this picture to see...but this is what the grandstands/Stage I loked like this afternoon.

Here is what it usually looks like during the festival. This is Stage I at last year's festival. So sad!Our group ended up South of town at the Boxcar. We're kind of in a temporary spot for now, we hope. It's a gravel area where cattle trucks come through to wash out...that explains the fly problem we have, and why we hope it's a temporary spot! See, here are a couple of the campers, backed right up to the cattle trucks :) That's David waving!The actual Boxcar area is beautiful, and also along the Walnut River. We camp out there often throughout the year...here are some pictures of what it looks like. These were taken in April when we were there for Tonya's birthday.
This is the area we hope to be in by tomorrow evening, after the river goes down and things dry out. It's a bit depressing to think that this year just won't be the same. But we're going to have our own little Bluegrass at the Boxcar, and we'll all REALLY be looking forward to September 2009! If you don't hear from me for awhile, I'm in a tent...down by the river. I'll have pictures to share next week.