A quick story of my recent adventures. About a month and a half ago my brother-in-law, Charlie, called to tell me that Robert Randolph and the family band were going to be playing a show in Boise, where Charlie lives. The show was to be on May 8, and RRFB was listed as the opening act for Ziggy Marley. This was a little dissapointing, because I really would like to see RRFB as the headliner, but regardless, I knew it would be a good show. One problem though. We were going to be in Iowa until the Sunday before the show (the show was on a Tuesday). And worst of all, I was going to be driving our new vehicle home (we purchased it in Iowa, flew there from Spokane, and Lindsey flew home, I drove home). The drive back from Iowa usually goes North across I-90, but by adding a 150 miles or so i can go the Southerly route through Boise.

So this is what I did. It was a LONG drive with a May snow storm on the Eastern edge of Wyoming and the Western edge. I wound up crashing on a friend's fouton in Salt Lake City for a few hours on Sunday night and then hit Boise sometime around noon on Monday. Charlie and I ran around the town he lives in, Nampa, which is more or less a suburb of Boise, until he had to go to work. That's when I caught up with my good friend Jesse Sears. He and his wife moved to Boise from Moscow last year so that he could become the director of outdoor programs at Boise State University (which should really be called Boise City College, but who cares about the details?). Jesse and Shelly have just recently moved into a new house and were excited to have me stay with them. Upon arrival Jesse informed me that he had a training trip for his staff going out the next day Tuesday, the day of the concert, and that he was planning on Charlie and I going with them. The trip was going to be to paddle raft run of the road section of the Peyette river just outside of Boise.

That night we grilled and I crashed about 10pm...I was pretty beat from the prior 5 days. During that time we had flown to Iowa to attended Lindsey's PhD graduation, spent some great time with her family. Some of our friends, Lucky, Angie and Benjamin Lindley, Dan Kelley Moriah Avery and Isabel Conner, and No Nutz Conner also hung out with us. We slept a little, but not much. I had dropped Lindsey at the Des Moines airport on Sunday morning at 6 am and then drove straight through to Salt Lake City, with the occasional stop for gas, coffee, and the eventual emergency coffee evac stop during which each time I cursed coffee and swore I'd never drink it again, at least not until the next gas fill up, where-in the cycle was repeated.

So Tuesday finally came, we got up early and headed to Goldies, which is one of the BEST breakfast places ever, it's in downtown Boise, if you are ever that way you MUST try it. Then we proceeded to the BSU outdoor program's office. The rigs were loaded and we took off. This was Charlie's first time on white water since his early teens. We had a great time, and were back in town in time to grab some food and relax before the show, that stretch of the river pretty simple with a few 3's and several 2's.

Once we got into the show (after a very rigorous pat down, just short of a rubber glove and two fingered salute) we found our way to a very nice ledge just above the dance floor behind some table and about 20 feet from the stage. The gentleman sitting in front of us had microphones and recording equipement. He informed us that he was not allowed to record Ziggy Marley, but he could record Robert Randolph. So security had taken his batteries away as he entered....wait, wasn't RR first?? NO!!! Ziggy had tired of opening for RR because he was just too difficult of an act to follow, so now Ziggy was opening for RR!!! Ziggy opened and it was a really fun show, I would highly reccomend checking out his new album, Love is My Religion. The unfortunate, or fortunate thing for us, is that most of the crowd was there to see Ziggy, which is understandable, he is a big deal, but RR is no slouch. Regardless, since Ziggy opened a lot of those people left after Ziggy's 1.5 hour set.... Which meant the venue was suddenly about 1/3 less crowded, and RR played to a less than packed house. It did make it difficult for the crowd to really get into it, but I truely enjoyed the show. Also, I am looking forward to it being posted on Bit Torrent in a few days. The guy with the recording equipment gave us his card and info on how to access the show. I will post that when it becomes avaliable.

The trip back to Moscow was uneventful and it was good to get home to Lindsey and Joey, who seem to be tripling his rate of growth!!! We are down to almost 11 weeks left...the excitement is building, he kicks and punches all the time, much to Lindsey's duerme dismay..