Following up my Tri Cities show I took a bit of a detour down to Bend, Oregon to hit up some of the open mics and check out their music scene. The Bend trip set up the perfect routing to meet the Orion Expeditions raft guide training on the Deschutes on the way to The Dalles for a Saturday show at Route 30 Burgers, Bottles and Brews.
I first trained with Orion 20 years ago, making camping out with the guides and guidelings a bit of a homecoming. Four of the five instructors from my training were still on the trip, with three of them still teaching students while I was there! I joined the float Saturday before racing up to Route 30 for the evening's performance, had some fun in the sun getting used to my playboat again.
The Route 30 show was a bit of a mixed bag. It's always a bit of a toss up when you're playing a new venue, and with a few other large events in the area it ended up being kind of a dead night. That said, Route 30 had a great stage and sound system. Bryan, the owner, runs his own sound company and is active with several area bands and festivals. I'll definitely be back at Route 30 in the future!
Sunday saw a few of us who took part in the Deschutes shenanigans itching for a little more whitewater. In our crosshairs was the upper Wind River near Carson, Washington. It's a steep, rowdy stream filled with fairly continuous rapids, and it was running on the higher end of things when we showed up at the put in. While we had a bit of carnage in the first big drop, the group handled it well and we had a great day on this PNW classic run!
I'll be spending more time with the Orion crew in June as I combine my upcoming Leavenworth shows with some big water guiding and a little more kayaking on central Washington's Wenatchee River.