Ever-body's Doin' The Buzzard Lope!

2012 Mullet Festival

Stan's Idle Hour Restaurant and Bar

Goodland and the Southern end of Marco Island, Florida

Stan

The annual Mullet Festival is always held the weekend before the Super Bowl, which is the last weekend in January.  We attended several of the annual "free-for-alls" with our friends, Chris and Tannya, when we all lived in Naples -- way back in the 1990's.  It is truly an outrageous event.


First, there's Stan himself. Stan Gober is from Alabama so that fact alone creates some kind of weird feeling of "redneck" kinship. Stan is a crusty ole codger who fishes, drinks, sings, writes corny songs about life in Goodland, Florida and generally enjoys life. I've heard he's quite a philanthropist too. He's probably in his late 80's by now.

Welcome to beautiful downtown Goodland.

Stan's Idle Hour is a series of wood 'shack style' buildings that look old and run-down because they are. Locals call them "chickee huts" but they're just old shacks. There's a gravel parking lot and a boat dock too. 

It's been many years since our last Mullet Festival so we were happy to be in the vicinity in time to attend. Chris and Tannya will be there and we invited some more RV friends to join us -- but in the end, just the hard-core of us returned to be honored by the drunken revelry that goes with the crowning of the Mullet Festival Queen.

Things were still pretty calm when we arrived.

Tannya waving on the left. Our friend and former co-worker, Terri on the right.
The headless arm of Chris is flailing around in the center of the picture.

Chris welcomes us with this pointing gesture.
The sign is a line of one of Stan's corny songs titled "What Kind of Fish is That" -- a favorite of ours.

Tannya -- always smiling.

It's early afternoon so the swelling crowd is still pretty docile.

The stream of cars coming into the festival is never ending. The crowd grows steadily...

Chris and Wayne catch up...

Not Buzzard Lope contestants. 
Tannya and Terri

The Mullet Festival goes on all weekend with fish cleaning contests, a Buzzard Princess contest for kids and music all weekend. But the grand finale is Sunday afternoon and it's all over well before nightfall.  Live music, dancing and joke sessions are held at the tiny, trashy stage area that's much too small for the popular event these days. Wood and plastic picnic tables are strewn about the dust and gravel parking lot -- some have umbrellas' other's do not.  Buckets hold bottles of beer with a few ice cubes thrown on top. Food is cooked and served furiously --- mostly not too good.  Our hot dogs this year seemed to have been wrapped in plastic.

I saw booths of kettle corn, fried and smoked mullet, fresh vegetables, burgers and fries being sold. Additionally, Stan's has a full kitchen that's serving the majority of the crowd via table service. Horrors -- imagine the wait.

Yes, even the produce stand does a brisk business today. 
I saw dozens of people carrying fruit and vegetables in clear plastic bags.

The crowd is unbelievably diverse: well-dressed young couples, near naked of all ages, parents with babies, old hippies, bikers in leather, fishermen, punks, local Goodlanders and some really old people who look like they're on a group outing from the nursing home. Meanwhile, the very well-to-do sit drinking wine from fine crystal, on yachts tied to the dock.  Here's a sampling of what I managed to photograph:

A rather tame head dress. Note the fish among the feathers. 
Always lots of fish and feathers here.

I zoomed in on this one to give the full effect of what I was seeing.
This is a female. Her male counterpart was just as hideous.

Someone said this is the Mayor of Goodland, but I just don't know for sure.
His name tag identifies him as the Buzzard Lope Queen Inspector.
Basically, his attire is a red thong with a tuxedo coat.... and. yes, feathers.

A view from behind the stage shows a bit of the crowded boat dock (not nice enough to be called a marina).

Another view of the potbellied Mayor.
This shot includes his fashionable footwear.
Someone offered to take my picture with the Mayor.
No thank you.

Another fashion diva of the festival. 
Notice no one seems to pay much attention?  There's plenty more just like her.

As a point of reference, our small group is perched upstairs to the right. Wayne's in the blue and white stripe shirt.

Cars continue to pour into the festival area... Beer continues to flow....Sun continues to shine...
Drinkers continue to drink......and the band plays on.

I snapped this one in middle afternoon.  I think everybody's here now... right?

Not an official part of the Mullet Festival, there are some interesting vehicles to be seen along with the serious people watching.  There are dozens, no hundreds, of motorcycles and plenty of ritzy cars.

Lamborghini

This guy had to be in his 70's. Part of the "Old Guys Rule" club, I think.

But wait. Let's not lose focus. We're here to see the competitors for the envious title of Buzzard Lope Queen 2012 and the competition is fierce. Anybody can participate. No dance routine is required and neither is talent.  It's mid-afternoon when the band begins playing the favorite Stan Gober classic, "Ever-body's doin' the buzzard lope" ...  The winner is determined by the volume of applause, hoots, whistles and other noises produced by 3,000 drunk people -- most of whom cannot even see the stage.  We hoot and holler anyway.  We choose one of the ladies... er... women (they may not be ladies, after all) as our favorite.  I squeezed my way through the wall of people on the wooden steps and tried to get near the stage for pictures.  I could not. I held my camera as high as I could to get these pictures and they aren't too good. 

It's not easy to make out who is the contestant so I'll help.  This is her back side -- she has on a hat. Black feathers (yes more feathers) make wings on her shoulders and there is a pink and white feather boa around her neck.
 Her elbows are in the air... She's imitating a buzzard.  

Contestants root for one another.  Hoots and hollers for everybody. 
All this dancing and yelling calls for more beer!

I don't know who was named 2012 Buzzard Lope Queen.  Not many people do know.  It really doesn't matter.  Good fun was had by all.  .... until...

If you think this ole guy looks mad... You're right. Somehow he got himself into an argument with someone in our group. He was "invading our space" I think.  His wife tried to mediate without much luck. 
Wayne and I did not participate in the fracas, I'm happy to say.

Fortunately, the argument did not come to blows or fisticuffs but threats were made and tempers flared between the old guy and one or two others among us. Finally, the invading person, helped along by his wife, moved on; action that was anti-climactic since the festival was ending anyway. 

... and so until we meet again for the 29th Mullet Festival in Beautiful Downtown Goodland....

These Mosquitoes Have Got To Go!

iPad 2: Can An Old Dog Learn A New Trick?

My friend, Pam, loves technology and is an avid "Apple eater" so when she showed me her iPad2 while we were at Paradise Oaks in Bushnell, I watched her easily swipe the screen and was quickly convinced that I must have an iPad2.

I've always been a user of the traditional computer products and have many years invested in mastering Microsoft technology.  My current laptop and previous personal computers were Dell and/or Gateway and I've enjoy using them.  Hearing so many positives about Apple's genius, I felt I'd better try it out. 

It took several weeks to find the iPad2 in the color and with the capabilities I'd decided to buy, but in late January, at a Ft. Myers Best Buy store, I found it.  The sales representative answered all my questions; the most important being the ability to return the product for full refund, without restocking fees, if needed.   I explained my computer needs -- basic word processing, blogging, photo management, personal online business, Internet research and of course, Facebook socialization with my gazillions of friends. LOL.

My sleek new iPad2 -- ready to unveil.

In the end I bought the iPad, a fold-up keyboard, a glare shield (for outside use of the iPad) and installation of the glare screen for a whopping total of $825.  Jeepers.  It's gonna be worth it.

It was love at first swipe.  Small, thin, lightweight and easy to use. The icons (or apps I guess they're called) were cute and easy to open.  I was a bit disappointed that I had to input credit card information to download the free apps but reluctantly did so.  The first few days were fun but not seriously productive in the things I use a computer to do.

First problem encountered was the lack of using Google's Picasa for my photos. Second problem was that I wouldn't be able to download photos from my cheap little Nikon Coolpix to the iPad. Bummer. I found what seemed to be a reasonable facsimile of Picasa in the free apps, but it proved to be no good.  Drat.  Next problem was that I was still tied to a tabletop using the keyboard I'd purchased and furthermore, the keyboard prevented using the iPad camera the way I wanted and without the keyboard, I'd need yet another cover.  Finally, I found using anything other than games and Facebook with the iPad to be cumbersome. 

In hindsight, I think I didn't truly understand the real purpose of the iPad.  I wanted a laptop. After just over a week, I made the critical decision to return it for a lightweight laptop.  

Oh well... As Wayne says, "if you hadn't tried it, you would have never known and you would have regretted not trying it."   Well said.

2012 Tampa RV SuperShow

The annual RV Super Show in Tampa has been on our calendar for a long time and when the day came to leave Bushnell for the Florida State Fairgrounds we were pretty excited, notwithstanding the rain that moved in for the day. 

We got our usual mid-morning start, saying our goodbyes, topping off the propane tank and leaving Paradise Oaks. The rain prediction is sure to complicate a hectic half-day as we'll need to walk Lexie and Ozzie in the midst of getting settled at the fairground.

Several heavy downpours slowed our speed as we traveled south on I-75.  Towed vehicles must be unhooked before entering the grounds so we just drove separately. Traffic moved steadily until we got to the fairgrounds where we found disorganization and confusion among both the attendees and show volunteers.  At one point, during heavy rain, the check-in process was stopped altogether.  I saw no evidence of flaring tempers which was a surprise as old folks sometime lose their patience.

We were settled into our grassy site in one of the training areas about a half mile from the show sometime around 1 p.m. and were surprised to see the rain didn't cause much mud in the area.  To this point, we've not heard from Ray, Cindy, Dan or Sheila who we are looking forward to seeing again.  It's been five months since our paths parted in Montana.

This is our spot for 4 nights and 5 days. There are hundreds of rows just like this one.
We're about a half mile walk to the RV show. The shuttle runs but on no particular schedule.

The rain subsided and we found our way to the show area  and saw several coaches in the afternoon. My first impressions of the 2012 Monaco coaches weren't favorable as they all seem to be too "glitzy" for my taste. Wayne agreed.  Maybe that's a good thing as we're not tempted to trade. We ran into a couple with two dogs in a dog stroller. One was a Maltese and I can't pass a Maltese without at least asking about it.  I asked about their stroller, larger than ours, and Jeannette (the woman) told me she wanted to buy a larger one as her dogs are overweight and too large for it.  I asked if she wanted to sell hers and her husband quickly quipped "$50 and it's yours". To make a long story a bit shorter, Jeannette bought a new larger stroller for her fat dogs and I bough hers. Then I saw a couple with another Maltese (on a leash and tired) and sold our small stroller to her. Gee, I love buying and selling stuff. Sadly, I always take a hit in the pocketbook.

On Thursday, the first full day of the RV Show, we found ourselves impressed by the Itasca coaches and then the American Coach models.  The crowd was larger than on Wednesday afternoon but we were able to go into nearly all the coaches that interested us, missing just the Newell. It was a really warm, sunny day.

This Ellipse was nice...

It's easy to get lost in the maze.

I don't know....
This guy looks like he might not know how to ride this thing after all.

"Hey, we're the good ole boys!"

There's a lot of weird stuff here.

Missing our Bushnell neighbors, Joe and Pam already, we were happy to get a call from Joe mid-morning. It was difficult getting together at the RV Show as the areas are so confusing and poorly marked.  Wayne had scheduled installation of the new windshield at 1 p.m. so we were unable to connect for lunch with them but we did manage to meet for a few minutes once they had completed their rounds of vendor shopping. We took a few pictures and loved on the dogs who were so cute riding in the little canvas wagon.  After some last minutes hugs and dog kisses, we parted ways, promising to stay in touch 'till our paths cross again. 

My tummy's bigger than your tummy.
Yeah, but I've got more facial hair.
Maybe. But it's grayer than mine.

Some people make a science of attending the RV Show.
Notice the notebooks in the wagon. Pam even got a tattoo on her hand.

Wayne:  "This RV sales girl thinks my legs are cute."
Joe: "The likes me best, though because of my USMC shirt."
 Jess (the salesgirl): "I'm wasting time with these ole guys. They look broke to me"

Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Pam is fussing at me for taking all these pictures.

That's another really good thing about this life. We meet people, make friends and then part ways, knowing we will meet again somewhere along the road. Facebook has proven to be a terrific tool for keeping up 'till we meet again.  This is proven in our friendships with Tom and DJ, Marcella and Landon, Dave and Connie, Ray and Cindy, Dan and Sheila and now Joe and Pam.  It's a great way to live and I just can't imagine anything better. ...especially good for those who enjoy being with the spouse and we're fortunate that way too.

Before the crowd got really big.
Lots of Rascals and scooters here. Watch out!

Bagpipes entertainment.
(What do they wear under that skirt?)

Newell.  Out of our price range.
Shown by appointment only, thank you very much.

All of Friday was spent at the show. We arrived early and made our way into the Tiffin coaches. To our surprise, we met Bob Tiffin  after he commented on Wayne's Auburn cap and then introduced himself.  For those who don't know, the Tiffin family has close ties to the University of Alabama and has provided several good punters to the Alabama football team over the years. As the conversation continued, Wayne mentioned his family hometown in middle Tennessee to Mr. Tiffin who knew the city very well as his father bought insulation from a company there many years ago. Turns out that insulation company was owned during that time by Wayne's grandfather.

Checking out all the amenities while the babies wait in the stroller.

Wayne babysitting while I take a look -- and a photo.

Somebody told Wayne about towing a truck with camper behind their big coach.
Of course, Wayne loved this idea and had to try on a Lance!
I think I've talked him out of this one.

Around noon, we bumped into Ray and Cindy along one of the midways. We then stopped by their coach before heading in for the night.  We're exhausted with sore feet.

Ray in the blue sweatshirt.

A cool snap made sitting outside uncomfortable even with the little gas fire pit.

On Saturday we took a break from the RV Show, knowing the crowds would be huge, to visit Lazydays RV in nearby Seffner. We wanted to take a look at the pre-owned late model coaches to see if anything stirred our interest.  It did not.  Saturday night we stopped in again at Ray and Cindy's coach where we enjoyed visiting with Sheila and Dan. Ray was filled with excitement over the Holiday Rambler he'd seen at the show. We had taken a look at it on Thursday and didn't feel the same enthusiasm but agreed to meet Ray at 9 a.m Sunday morning to take a second look.

As planned, Wayne, Ray and I took the long walk back to the show next morning and I must confess I fell in love with everything about the Holiday Rambler. Joined later by Cindy and Sue, we took a last look at several other coaches before we finished up and headed out.

Ray's enjoying oj and a breakfast bar.

Okay. I'll take it. I love the floorplan.
I don't love those white fabric dining room chairs.

2012 Holiday Rambler

Ray's checking out the drivers side.

Cindy's had too much caffeine.
Nobody's this happy this early in the morning.

Ray and Cindy's friend, Sue.

Out of focus. Literally.
Cindy, Ray, Wayne and no, that's not me -- it's Sue.
As usual, I'm the photographer.