A toast to May 3 in Mount Airy

How's this for a a spring road trip? Just add warm temperatures and a sunny sky and you're ready to relax. ...

May 3 -- a Saturday -- the Budbreak Wine Festival will be staged on Main Street in downtown Mount Airy. It's an easy reach: 90 minutes straight up I-77 from Charlotte.

Awaiting you are 17 area wineries: Childress Vineyards, Duplin Winery, Fiddlers Vineyard, Ginger Creek Vineyards, Herrara Vineyards, Lake James Cellars, Morgan Ridge Vineyard  & Brewing Co., Native Vines, Old North State, Olde Mill, Round Peak, Slightly Askew, Southern Charm, Stony Knoll, Surry Cellars, Thistle Meadow and Waldensian Heritage Vineyards.

New this year -- this will be the fifth annual Budbreak -- is a beer garden with ales from four N.C. craft brewers, including Mount Airy's Skull Camp Brewing.

Hours are noon to 6 p.m. Tickets for the event are $15/advance; $20 at the gate. (You can also get $5 tickets that don't include tastings.)

Live music? You can listen to the Mediocre Bad Guys, followed by Eric and the Chill Tones.

Here's the thing: The Mediocre Bad Guys band features famed rock 'n' roll sax player Bobby Keys,  who started out long ago as a Texas teen playing with Buddy Holly and went on to be a sideman with the Rolling Stones.

That's him doing the wailing sax solo on "Brown Sugar."

Keys' tenure with the Stones included cuts on  "Let It Bleed," "Sticky Fingers," Exile on Main St., "Goats Head Soup," "Emotional Rescue," Stripped" and "Shine a Light."

You've probably him play live on various artists' live albums, notably Joe Cocker's famous  "Mad Dogs & Englishmen"

May 3, you can hear him live. Outdoors. As you kick back with a glass of wine or beer. Not far from home.

Maybe we can fix the weather forecast with Mount Airy native Eric Chilton.

He will be playing there that day with the Chill Tones. Chilton is also the  weatherman for  WFMY-TV in Greensboro.

Tickets/details: www.budbreakfestival.com.