Tailgate Training Camp, Ochoco Forest Campground, Oregon

This pre-football season four day camp-out has become a tradition for us and our tailgating friends, whom we see only during football season.

We've met in this group campsite for so many years we've lost track (probably about eight years), so it feels like home. It's a great opportunity for us all to just sit back, relax, visit and talk football (among other things). With tents and RVs tucked into the trees, and the huge log shelter available for cooking and dining, we have all the comforts of home.

Smoke from the fires on the Warm Springs reservation hung in the air, more visible some days than others. We did have a little lightening during our stay, which unfortunately started a fire near Black Butte. The forestry service had firefighters and equipment staged around the area in strategic locations so they would be ready as soon as a smoke sighting was reported. They really are organized and on top of the situation here.

We took a day drive to Walton Lake, which was closed last year for remodeling. They have done a beautiful job of improving the camp sites and the trail, as well as adding some nice little paved areas for fishing, so the lake is now more accessible for the handicapped. Several people were fishing when we were there, some doing pretty well too, as the lake was stocked with all sizes of trout earlier in the spring.

Training Camp was as successful as ever, with the guys happily sporting their new party duds, supplied by Dave who obviously had a good time shopping on his last trip to Alaska.

The afternoons were devoted to serious games of "washers" and watching the livestock, who clearly knew (better than the humans) how to really relax.

All in all, we feel fully ready to meet the season head-on, and all we can say now is, GO DUCKS!!!!

You can witness more of the shenanigans in the album.