Years ago, when the world was very sad, a group of us got together and formed what is known as the Full Moon Bus Club. The world has become less sad as a direct result of this!
What does this have to do with Mad Uncle Dave you may ask? We were already assigning nicknames to each other. I quickly figured out that I could let them dub me as something I might not care for, or I could generate my own. I saw my role as the not all there uncle, who the parents dread and the kids just love – avuncular, and seen as the free spirit of the group.
Fortunately, it stuck, and to this day, almost 20 years later, there are folks who only know me as Mad Uncle Dave, or MUD.
A brief history. The Full Moon Bus Club came to my attention at a bus camp-out known as High Country Bus Festival, held at Grandfather Mountain near Boone NC. The founder, “Snoopy” came around and asked if we’d be inclined to join his club. The nucleus of the club was based in Charleston SC, where I was stationed at the time. In no time flat there was 10 of us, camping on the weekends of the full moon – hence the name. We started several camp-outs, notably Edisto Freeze Your Toe, and Thanksgiving Misgivings. To this day, both of these camp-outs are celebrated. It gives me great satisfaction to know that around Thanksgiving each year, groups of people get together all over the country to share their love of VW buses and good food.
Another tradition I started was Breakfast Burritos. The breakfast Burrito is, imho, the world’s perfect group feeding proceeding. You can put almost anything in it, make it vegan, load it with meat and cheese, and it is easy to eat. The Full Moon Bus Club put on a breakfast burrito feed at High Country for years and it was a great success.
