GUEST WITH THE NEW TRAILER

"Camper Density" seems a bit lower than at this time in recent prior years, and there are still plenty of "parking" places. Since the festival "officially" starts in a couple of days, a fairly large number of incoming may be expected, so finding a spot gets increasingly difficult as time passes.

Electrical hookups in the Pecan Grove were of course all gone the first day of landrush. I haven't been into the Walnut Grove enought to tell if there are still a few hookups, but it is **possible you might find one there.

By Thursday you will have trouble finding any place with shade, but there are plenty of friendly canopies and camper awnings to provide places to retreat from the heat if it gets too severe. Thus far the heat's been reasonably tolerable.

Weather has been unusually good thus far. I sat in rain every night for the first week in pre-lineup, but we've had only very minor sprinkles since. Last night brought an "intense" rain lasting about a half hour, but didn't actually deposit much moisture, although humidity was high early today. Fortunately no wind of significance in that one. Forecast is for somewhat cooler, but of course includes possibility of "scattered showers."

Early pickin' parties have been fairly numerous, and we've found a few new groups to like.

We're back in Wichita for Lin to replenish her med supplies and to do a bit of laundry, but hopefully will be outa here within an hour or two to get back to camp. Her new "mobility device" is keeping her in wide circulation - and is keeping me close to camp mostly charging batteries. We seem to have gone "electric" in a pretty big way this year since they've decided that bicycles, scooters, golf carts and other such must have "lights" if used at night (when everything fun goes on) and for our primitive equipage that means a separate rechargeable battery for each bulb - and often a separate charger for each battery.

** If you're not able to get a hookup, you won't be able to use Air Conditioning of course; but you can be reasonably assured there will be plenty of folk willing to assist with battery recharges if needed to keep your DC accessories running, although you might have to lug the battery to the charger in an area where there are hookups. Some of the areas remaining are a fair distance from a water pipe, so depending on where you land you may need to depend on on-board water. (One of the reasons lots of camp groups "pool the dishwashing."

See ya there. (We're in the Pecan Grove, South side of the main loop, and lots of people refer to us as "Thumper" - the brand name on our somewhat rare trailer.)

John