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Day four began a little earlier than the day before. After a nice shower, I dressed and
decided to see who was stirring. Morgan was the pretzel on the couch (cottage #5) and John was
asleep on the kitchen floor! (Poor guy.) Roger was sawing wood on his cot out on the porch. Marion
was behind the cottage, sitting at the picnic table, enjoying a morning cigarette. I sat down
across the table from her and we began talking quietly so as not to disturb Roger, who was perhaps
10 or 15 feet from us, separated only by a screen. Then an "evil" thought entered my mind. My
friend Dave and I were in Nashville once in the '80s when he used a microcassette recorder to
"document" my snoring. Since my minidisc was my latest new toy, I couldn't resist using it to
"document" Roger's extraordinary "synthesizer." So I sneaked (snuck?) back into the cottage, grabbed
the gear, and set it up a few feet away from Roger. I quietly rejoined Marion and it was all the
self control we could muster to keep from laughing uproariously, rolling on the ground. About six
minutes later, I retrieved the gear, set it on the picnic table and told Marion, "This is an
excellent example of wildlife out here at Okefenokee." Marion urged me to use it at that night's
museum concert.
Breakfast ensued with Morgan whipping up omelets as best he could, considering how sticky the
non-stick pan was! But all was tasty none-the-less. Everyone seemed to pitch in with food
prep (chopping, etc.) and cleanup so no one was burdened with "work." Then a good number of
swampers were off on a nature walk. Passing the boat dock, we heading out on a trail that
continued via a boardwalk. Lars' boys decided that Dave was their new best friend and later
included Marcel. We all talked and listened to birds and frogs and spotted some critters,
including a scared little fawn. It was a great time and camera shutters were snapping open
and closed. Back at the boat dock, we invaded the ranger station/gift shop to pick up momentos
and gifts. The rest of the afternoon consisted of being lazy, messing with the gear and packing
it up for the night's concert at the museum.
Dinner was another blur like breakfast. Food just seemed to pop into the room from a parallel
universe! The musicians were fed first to allow packing, transport, and set up at the museum. Many
other hands helped with all the schlepping. The stuffed raccoon and 'possum sprouted the now
mandatory tangerines (you've seen the photo of the raccoon on the "Okefenokee Dreams" CD, haven't
you?) Like a puzzle, everyone figured out how to get five musicians and their gear onto the tiny
stage. People who saw the flyer that Vic posted at the gift shop started arriving. One asked what
kind of music we played. Vic's response was, "Electronic Swamp Music."
"Is that like bluegrass?" came the query and I nearly fell over, stifling laughter while grinning
ear to ear. Set up was completed, candles were lit, and I encouraged Vic to play MC and introduce
us. I'm glad I entrusted Morgan to record the event on my minidisc, otherwise the intro would have
been lost. (Note to self: In the future, be sure the person closest to my DAT, entrusted to press
record, does so before festivities begin and understands that there is no need to pause or stop the
tape for events under two hours duration! No need to conserve tape, either.) Five of us play, then
the Friday night threesome do a number. Was there another number by all five at this point? [Yes.]
(Details are getting foggy as this is being written nearly a month after the fact!) Peter did some
nice work and then Marcel joined in part way through. Then Dave did a medley of TD piano solos. Great
stuff despite the errors due to nervousness. (Dave, it's only us and we're cool. Next time, don't
be nervous!) Tear down, pack up, load out, transport, off load. Party until bed time. Rather than a
CD, I thought I'd listen to that night's minidisc recording of the museum concert while drifting off
to sleep. Since the minidisc has two headphone outputs, I had the brilliant idea of sharing this with
Marion. It made her feel special to have this shared with her. But I must reveal that I was more
thrilled to be able to share it and make somebody feel special. So ended day four.
Day five (Monday) was my last full day at Okefenokee, After showering and dressing, I was fiddling
with some gear (making a CDR perhaps?) when Lars' boys came bursting in, wanting to say good bye to
Dave. Out of courtesy to Dave, I said that he was sleeping (which he was!). But Lars explained how
little folk need closure. So they went into the other bedroom to hug Dave awake, er, um, good
bye.
Today, I took the minidisc back out to the boardwalk nature trail, set up, and hung out at the gift
shop away from the microphone. Mostly I sat in one of the rocking chairs. But I asked for directions
to I-95 and got a map of Georgia while I was there. Retrieved the gear and went to breakfast.
Breakfast was another foodfest with Morgan at the omelet pan again. Only the omelets weren't
sticking... Hey, Morgan went to Florida and bought a pan! Now there's dedication for you. Morgan
turned out to be a much better breakfastmeister than I ever could have been. Then it was back to the
swamp in motor boats. I decided to try captaining again, if only to get through an entire trip without
being towed! So what happened? I flooded the engine before we ever left the dock! We changed boats
and we're off. The others were waiting in the waterway that leads to the main swamp. This time we
headed away from Minnie's Lake and Billy's Island to explore new territory. With all of the tourists
at home or at work, all the critters were out in force. After a while, we returned to Billy's
Island. (It's MY island!) This time I stayed at the dock to rest and avoid the mosquitoes. Too bad
because I missed seeing the owlet. Returned to the cottages.
More food followed by a bunch of us transporting the gear to a picnic shelter. John said that he
wanted to do a "noise" piece. So once the PA was up and running, I played the minidisc of Roger
snoring, announcing it as "Wildlife at Okefenokee." Laughter all around and Roger seemed to be
good natured about it. I put up the effect send on the minidisc channel so Marcel would be able
to mangle the snoring with his effect unit. The concert began with me fading in the minidisc as
Marcel mangled away. Peter added samples of Lars' boys he had made the day before. I was able to
get my looper going just in time for the minidisc to end. So instead of looping the snoring, I
looped myself talking to Marion. (See day four at the top of this post.) Well, it made for a
nice demarcation from the beginning of the piece. What a great time I had making noise and music
with people whose CDs I play on my radio program. I was absolutely giddy! When the music ended,
we packed up as fast as we could because the intern ranger was going to take us out on the swamp
on a pontoon boat. It was twilight as we left the dock. I started my minidisc again to record
the trip. Once out on the swamp, the intern took us upstream and killed the engine. Everyone was
quiet while I recorded the swamp at night. I broke the silence with, "So when does the sequencer
bit begin?" We used flashlights to find red dots... alligator eyes! After a while, we returned
to the cottages.
I was packing gear in my car to get a head start on the next day's trek when Frank asked if I could
play the DAT of that night's concert. So instead of going to bed, I unloaded the DAT from the car,
set it up in the "food cottage" and joined the party. Pete used the opportunity to record the tape
on his minidisc. (Why the heck aren't these things more popular than they are? The US hasn't caught
on to these gizmos the way they have in Europe and Japan...) I brought out my memory book for people
to sign and write down their thoughts. You'll have to come to the next Okefenokee Swampfest if you
want to read what people wrote. There's plenty of blank pages left for future trips and your
entry! There was some food (of course) and I finally had one of the beers I bought back in
Atlanta. I left while people were still going. But I had to get to bed in anticipation of the
long drive ahead of me. Day five was done.
Day six I did my final packing and said goodbyes to whoever was awake (Marion, John, Peter and his
wife). I left at 8:30 and drove west out of the park the way we had entered just a few short days
ago. At the first highway, I turned left and, once again, was in new territory. This route took
me south out of the swamp in an easterly direction. I entered Florida and continued east. I entererd
Georgia and continued east. I entered Florida (again) and continued east. Then the road
ended!! Actually, it was torn up all the way to dirt for reconstruction. So I back tracked to a
highway patrol station a mile back and asked for directions. Went back to where the road ended,
turned north, drove a few miles, and turned east. In Callahan, I stopped at a McDonald's for
breakfast. As I got back into the car, the radio happened to be tuned to "Bubba Radio!" (You
HAD to be there...) Drove a bit and picked up I-95 North. Entered Georgia! Nothing much to
talk about the drive up I-95 except that I had to stop and take a picture of a restaurant/tourist
trap called Swamp Fox. I got as far as Fredericksburg, Virginia before I called it a day 13 hours
after hitting the road. I wasn't feeling well so I never went out for dinner.
Day seven I was feeling better, checked out, and had the complimentary continental breakfast. Five
hours later I was home, having driven through Virginia, Maryland, (spotted the Washington Memorial
to the west when bypassing DC), Delaware, and New Jersey before getting to Pennsylvania. You know
when you hit Pennsylvania. The roads turn to crap.
I'm ready to return to the swamp. Hope you enjoyed reading my account of this special event. I'd
hate to see it grow any larger because it would loose the intimate, family feeling we shared. It
was great seeing people I had met in Europe, heard on CD, or knew only via email. Since returning
home, I've joined both of the TD groups on Yahoo.
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