Ficks Travels

or "A Princess Goes Camping"

Come for the music; stay for the atmosphere

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Leaving the Gallatin and Yellowstone area behind, we headed up to White Sulphur Springs.  This stop-over has been on the summer road trip for four years now.  White Sulphur Springs is a town of about 800 residents that plays host to the Red Ants Pants Music festival every summer in late July.  The Jackson Ranch, where it is held, opens one of its cow pastures to hundreds of camping rigs of all shapes and sizes.  Centered in this mass of camping creativity is a temporary concert venue that in years past has accommodated over 18,000 people.  This year, the number of tickets was limited to a more manageable number and were sold out early. 

The cow pasture Sunday morning after some campers started leaving.
The only ORV in the cow pasture.

Campers “in the know” line up at the entrance gate hours before the 11:00 opening on Thursday morning. Each trying to lay claim to their favorite piece of the pasture.  It looks like a modern-day version of the “land rush” depicted in old westerns. There are quite a few families with a “quarter of million-dollar” rigs that will stake out their claim with $5 Walmart chairs and what looks like crime scene tape.  These are the front men for the rest of their group that will eventually circle up to create family compounds.  Some will even bring small backyard pools for the kids.  I have my methods for capturing more space than the ORV has to have but needed to stave off my feeling of claustrophobia.  (Hint: park adjacent to a designated roadway close to a fence so no one can hem you in.)

It gets the job done.
A Dynesty from the mid 80’s
Not bad for a “home made” rig
Look closely, there is a Ford overland vehicle tucked in there.
When this little unit was fired up, the ground shoock.
The ORV with the laundry hanging from the awning support.
There were a lot of different rigs in the cow pasture, but only one ORV
Some of the sites were a little less than level. On the positive, no one encroached on their space.

For the Princess and I, the Thursday night dance in town on Main Street is a highlight of the four-day event.  The street is filled with people of all ages, some with pretty good dance moves.  Most of the crowd just sways and shuffles their feet as I do.  This year, Jackson Holte and the Highway Patrol, my favorite side stage act from 2019, provided music for the party.  As the evening wore on, the crowd grew and the dancing got more lively.  It is so much fun watching all the people.

Scenes from the street dance.

The superstore and the World headquarters of Red Ants Pants clothing.
Dancers of all skill levels and ages
Jackson Holte and the Highway Patrol playing at the RAP street dance
The Stockmen Bar is the center of White Sulphur Springs

This is the 10th anniversary of RAP celebrated one year late. The 2020 festival was canceled early in the year. The lineup included a lot of performers from previous years. Two of my favorites were the Taj Mahal Quartet and the Mavericks.  Susy Bogus also put on a great show and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention The Steel Wheels.  So much great music.  As I was listening to the Mavericks Saturday night, I thought that my good friend Guenter would like these guys and I had found a band he may never have heard of.  Not the case, because when I spoke to him, he asked me if I had seen them. This group is probably the only one from the festival on his playlist.

Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal got some of his original fans from the 60’s up to dance.

One of the constants of RAP is the heat and the dust. This year, while the temperature did not rise too far into the 90’s, the sun filtering through the smoke made the afternoons feel like we were in an oven and with very little rain there was plenty of dust to go around. The fire danger in Montana, like the rest of the western states, was very high. Smoke from the fires in California and Oregon blocked out the sun most of the time. 

On Sunday afternoon, a fire started on a mountain about twenty miles away.  The sky got darker and ash started settling on the cow pasture. Taj Mahal kept playing and the crowd kept dancing kicking up dust. Only the out-of-state people were concerned, locals knew there was an irrigated field between us and the fire.  The green hayfield served sort of like a moat around a castle and would prevent the fire from crossing into the valley.  Later that night the flames top the ridgeline and were visible from our campsite. Just a little unsettling.

Late Saturday afternoon a forest fire started on the mountain across the way.
As the sun went down, the flames crested the ridge.

As in years past, we are a little melancholy at the end of the festival.  This is the focal point of our road trip each year and we are never ready for it to be over. We meet so many interesting people here that I would like to stay in touch with but never do.  Our campsite neighbor was particularly interesting. He was a retired professional photographer that specialized in B&W images of Bison. Just Bison. another person Sherrie met was a real estate broker with a very interesting life story. We hope to see them next year, people have a tenancy to camp in the same area and set their lawn chairs in the same spots year after year.  Once they claim their homestead, they tend to come back to the same comfortable place. I hope that holds.

Random shots from RAP

Limited special
seating
The “merch” tent
The security tent.
The “ice man cometh”. I heard that over 14,000 lbs of ice was sold over the four days.
Outlaw Cartage Co, Part of the on site taxi service.
Participants in the cross cut saw competion. The Princess wanted in on this.
The RAP is a family event.
The Kettle Corn / Lemonade vendor was a repeat stop for us.
Yellowstone Coffee Roasters, the best place in White Sulphur Springs to buy coffee this weekend.
Esential service at the festival. Just look for the yellow flag.
This kid traveled with his own tent on the back of his sherpa.
Sometimes we all need a little rest. There was only a few hundred people milling around but did not seem to bother these two.
People actually got up early to participate. I watched them walk by as I drink my morning coffee.
The new dance floor this year.
Inside the “beer tent”, the only good shade at RAP. Between main stage acts, you could watch the side stage and drink a favorite beverage. Half bottle of wine for $10.
Self-portrait in the “wash wagon”

Dennis

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