Scott Dowdle

Welcome to Spring! I hope all those April showers bring lots of May flowers. Now that the Spring Fling is past news, we are heading into the years campouts with many adventures ahead of us. I am looking forward to seeing new things and new places along with renewing memories of places I haven't been for a while. The trip to Jerome was a lot of fun and everyone there seemed to enjoy the casual atmosphere of this years event. I think it kind of set a tone for the rest of the year. Everyone I talked to just wants to get out and enjoy life and soak it all up.

The upcoming campout at Three Island Crossing in Glenns Ferry will be new to me. We scouted it out on the way home from Hagerman and what a surprise! My only visit to the area was maybe 40 years ago and at that time we stood on a sagebrush hill overlooking the river and the islands with nothing having been changed since the pioneers came through a hundred years before. It is now a beautiful, grassy park with many amenities. It will be fun to spend some time there and refresh the history of the Oregon Trail. Being a native Idahoan, I have taken a special pride in living along the route taken by so many, who endured so many hardships in pursuit of their dreams. In a very, very small way, we are the modern version of those pioneers. We see new places, go new directions, and though we take many amenities with us and travel better roads, it's still an adventure with sometimes more hardships than we plan for. Here's hoping the year ahead will be good to us and filled with many new things.

Many thanks again for all the help to make our campouts so much fun and go smoothly. [The potato bar at Jerome was just one awesome example!]

Scott