B & D's USA Hideout: Eastern Oregon

Another season in the sagebrush and cold waters of Eastern Oregon is in the books. This time I had my man with me for the first six weeks. Brian had some time to himself while I set out each day in search of Steelhead beauties. He would drop me off at work each morning and pick me up in the evenings. The house was well kept, there was cold beer in the fridge and a hot meal in the crock pot. Brian got a lot accomplished with the camper. Mainly preventative maintenance that was long overdue; re-sealing the windows and doors, painting the rusted metal work, upgrading the axles and tire size and intstalling a ladder on the back of the camper. It was a lot of work but it kept Brian busy and gave us peace of mind about our future travels on the road.

It wasn't all work for the two of us, my schedule was four days on and three days off so on the weekends we'd take off exploring. We revisited Walla Walla, WA over Easter just to make sure the wine was as good as we remembered it. There, we visited Drew Bledsoe's winery that is called Doubleback. We brought the camper with us for its sea trial, she did great. We also took a trip up to Leavenworth, WA. Leavenworth is a Bavarian Village centered in Washington at the foothills of the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains. We toured the Nutcracker Museum and attended an Ale fest. We brought the tent this time and camped alongside the Wenatchee River. We thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend adventure here. We also spent a day in Pendleton and bought two tickets for the underground tour. We learned about the amazing history of the old west; the brothels, the gambling, the illegal drinking. Imagine what goes on today if this is what was possible a hundred years ago. It was fascinating.

It was a really nice change of pace to be settled together on our paved pad in the sagebrush along Columbia River. Deer often grazed by or bedded down for the night not to far from where we rested our sleepy heads. And some times we could hear the coyotes calling out to each other just after dark.

After Brian left, I had to get used to cooking for my self once again. My work partner, Dale, and I powered through the rest of the season, unfortunately not seeing too much in the way of Steelhead. I only saw 10 live fish all season. With the raging high waters and lingering winter, we had tough time getting into all of our surveys. We did see quite a bit of cool wildlife; white-tail and mule deer, elk, black bear, red fox, several beavers, bats, turkeys, kestrels and lots of snakes. Dale is an all around biologist but studied entomology for his master's degree. We became very good at our wildflower identification and most anything else that walked, crawled, slithered or was rooted in the ground. It was a very educational season for me and I loved it. I think I may be back for one last season in 2018, pending Brian's schedule. None the less, I am greatful for such a cool job and rewarding experience.

Leavenworth, WA