Rita, my newly discovered 2nd cousin and I decided to attend the Oregon Country Fair, and camp there a couple of days. She came up for the Rhythm Festival, so we hadn't really gotten to know each other quite yet. And now we'll be sharing a campsite. It was bound to be an experience, and it sure was!

Looking Southwest from the campsite toward the next row of campers. With my brand new Jason Webley T-shirt. There were easily hundreds of tents!

We got there Friday morning. Rita picked the campsite that advertised a drum circle - The Darling Reunion campsite. Good move! There was a quiet camping area, and a not so quiet one. Loud please :-)

With tents quickly set up we headed to the fair. The place is so big getting lost was a frequent diversion. We found our way to see Taarka (Jarrod Kaplan & friends) amongst the trees.

Rita trying to decide what to wear. Looking about East from the camp site.

When we set up, one of the guys in the major tarp-tent next to us (top right in the photo) warned us they might be loud into the night. Yea right... He doesn't realize we're drummers at that point :-)

We made our way to the Drum Tower at about he center of the fair grounds, found a spot on some hay bails and set to work. After a while, Thione Diop came by ended up between Rita and I and proceeded to turn up the heat!

Later we had something to eat at Chez Ray's. They have a wonderful permanant installation, with small tables scattered amongst the trees. A young guy was standing on the small stage with a guitar creating some intense moods with his fine talent. It seems everyone within earshot was showing their appreciation.!

After that, we met up with Debo, who plays dunduns in Rita's group and runs a falafel stand at the fair (and has been doing that for 25 years!). Next to the permanent stand is a tiny stage, where she set up her dunduns. Some other drummers Rita plays with joined, then a guy with a Sax joined. With hunger setting in, and darkness, we found fresh fruit & berry pies that were out of this world!

We hadn't planned on it being dark when we returned, so it was an interesting walk back to camp since we didn't bring a light. Probably about a mile on a dark road. Drop the excess at the tents, and on to the camp ground fire pit & drum circle. There were probably 20 or so drummers on some basic patterns. It was crowded, so it was too hard getting to the center where the drummers were. We sensed a lull in the music, so Rita and I started belting out Sofa or Garangedon or something like that. That really got the energy going! After that it was pretty easy to get to the middle.

After a couple of hours, we headed back to the tents for some relaxation. Rita headed to bed, and I headed back to the pit. It was hard, because there were a lot of small campsite jams going on too. So many decisions.

At maybe 3am, it was time to get back, getting lost on the way of course. Activity never really closed down for the night.

Looking about Northwest from the campsite. I was in the tent at the bottom of the picture. This was the scenic way to the drum circle so we find out. Getting lost was half the fun :-)

Saturday morning we decided to try the solar showers. Hard to tell which faucet was hot or cold, since clearly the sun was up to full steam yet. But once under the water it felt good to get clean.

Rita's husband, Don joined us in time to catch Jason Webley's performance under a large tent. I don't think I'd ever had that much fun watching a performance. At one point he got everyone to hold their hands up and wiggle their fingers, then after a bit of talk, he says quickly now tickle the armpits of the person in front of you. Chaos ensued ;-)

Then we saw an amazing African Ballet (Ballet Joli I think) that definitely brought a tear to my eye. Everyone was right on the mark, and the women dancing with bass drums & sticks had such smiles and precision.

Saturday evening was considerably quieter, but not without it's moments. I think at 3am someone lit off a bunch of fireworks popping in the sky. It was colder too, but the stars were beautiful.

Sunday it was time to head back. It seems trains can be somewhat unreliable, so I ended up taking a bus to Portland, to catch a train there. I sat next to a girl who had been to the fair, She is something of a political activist, so one guess where the conversation went after a while. It was sad that she was only going to Portland. so it was nice to chat about that. And it seems the festive mood was not over. We were mooned from a van driving next to us.

All in all, it was an amazing experience. And with Rita being family, it was surreal and so much fun to discover all these things we have in common. This may just have to be a annual pilgrimage!