Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on September 15, 2016.

When Sharon Lambert is asked where she’s from, she laughs and answers, “Everywhere.”  Originally from Mississippi and in-between homes in Texas and Tennessee, Lambert is currently on the road full-time with her fellow Sisters on the Fly, an outdoor adventure group of more than 3,000 who caravan travel across the country in vintage campers.

Lambert and about 23 other Sisters on the Fly recently set up their decorated campsites, which frequently depict cowgirl themes, at Daddy’s Rabbits Campground in Willis for a long Labor Day week-end meet-up.  Their numbers were double that in 2011, when they stayed at the Willis campground and the entire campground was opened for them. This year, because of Labor Day, and long-time patron’s site reservations, only part of the grounds was available, said Marian Smith, who has owned the campground (open yearly from April 15 – October 31^st) with her husband Richard for 32 years.

About six of the Sisters camped at Daddy Rabbit’s for the full month of August and through Labor Day, when the rest of the group joined them.  “Some have jobs,” Smith said and could only be there for the long weekend.  Others, like Lambert and full-time caravan traveler Sarah McMuray, a farrier (someone who fits shoes on horses) from Florida, plan to caravan with sisters to Bar Harbor, Maine, for what the Sisters have dubbed “The Maine Event.”

In Floyd, the Sisters enjoyed seeing Loose Strings, an all women Blue Grass band from Galax, at Wildwood Farms and shopping for clothes at a pop-up boutique that Leah Delp of LuLaRoe Fashion set up on site.

On Friday morning of the long Labor Day weekend, the women learned clogging in preparation for attending The Friday Night Jamboree.  A class was held at the campground pavilion and taught by Kim Spencer, owner of The Back Porch Cloggers Dance Studio in Floyd and Blue Ridge Dance Fitness in Christiansburg.  A Saturday evening BBQ catered by Floyd’s Bootleg BBQ was also on the schedule.

–Our World Tuesday