Back blipping. Thursday:

This photo is of what used to be the footbridge that connected one end of the festival ground to where cars were allowed to park on the Lodge side of the Rose River. The footbridge is no more. The following story describes more drama involving not this footbridge but the bridge/ford that cars drive over to access the Graves Mountain Lodge grounds.

We left in the morning as usual to head to Graves Mountain Lodge for the music festival. Forty-five minutes later we arrived at the fork in the road that leads to Syria, Virginia - where the place is - and found the road closed. Because of high water, they said. There was a little crowd of people with campers and what not waiting at the end of the road where we were. After a bit they say we could all go on up the main road we were on for a ways to a tiny place called Etlan and turn left on Rt. 643 and get to Syria from there. So off we set in a little caravan of cars and trucks and campers. Finally we found that road, went down it for a longish way and suddenly fetched up at a police roadblock. They say they will let us pass if we show them our festival tickets, but they aren't letting anyone else through because there is a search and rescue thing going on. It seemed that on Wednesday night, when the flooding started happening in a big way, one of the guests at Graves Mountain - we think there for the festival (a lot of people arrive earlier in the week and camp - and enjoy the meals at the Lodge - including a seafood buffet on Wednesday night) - had been washed down the river and was being searched for - presumed drowned. We arrived at the area and found that all the people who had been at dinner at the Lodge building on Wednesday night were still there, because the ford/bridge thing that crosses the Rose River on their driveway was pretty much completely under water. So no one could leave. Plus no one could get OVER there to check in and get keys to their rental places, or get into their rental places if their rental places were on the far side of the river. We lucked out when the head of the housecleaning crew drove in and saw us in front of our rental house and let us in. Some of her crew were across the river and were stuck there, some were on our side and were stuck there. But she had master keys! Connie - who is now our new best friend. The river went down enough on Thursday night so that they were shuttling people back and forth a bit - but not letting people drive their own cars over yet. We did get checked in, but it was once again raining hard - so we didn't stay there for dinner, for fear we'd get stuck and the dogs would be alone in the house all night! By Friday morning, however, we could drive across - still through water, but not so much so that you couldn't see where the edges of the ford were. Just about an inch deep, maybe. The river, of course, was still rushing. By this morning the water was no longer going over the ford, but the river was still much too high for anyone to get in the river and play as they usually do at the festival.

We came home a day early - as it happens - because there was more rain due Saturday afternoon and evening and we weren't really into sitting in the rain trying to enjoy the music anymore.

Meanwhile we never got the official story on the drowned person - who still had not been found when we left this morning - they were back out searching when we left. The most solid sounding rumor/story we heard was that two women had tried to cross from the Lodge side to the main road/campground side - where they were presumably camping? - in an ATV/golf cart sort of vehicle. It got swept off the bridge/ford and one of the woman got OUT of it to try to get to the shore and was washed downstream. The other woman stayed in it and was rescued by the Madison County fire department or some such group. We don't have our newspapers yet (they were held while we were away and will be delivered tomorrow, hopefully) so I don't know if there's any more official story in print. #2 Son did say he read about it in the paper yesterday.

Drama and tragedy - a festival no one will forget, I'm afraid. I think this was our 20th year of attending and although it's been horribly wet some years, and one previous year we left early because of it, this is the first death. Although one person did tell us another story of a camper who died some years ago in the campground after getting drunk and falling off something or other.