RV SUMMER TOUR 2007: Miguel's Final Days on the BEST Bus

Posted Tuesday 14th August 2007

Monday, August 6, 2007: New Wind Kiteboarding, The Gorge

"This chair smells funny," proclaims Miguel after silent minutes traveling through the forest in a green minivan on the Washington side of the Gorge, but we'll get back to that later.

We pulled into the Event site down at the sandbar in Hood River, Oregon, on Friday. We had a day to ourselves before the busy weekend ahead so, we decided to go kiting.

I understand now: it's windy here! The power is all around you here ... riding between two snow-capped mountain peaks and railway trains, and this huge river, which flows west but swells east because the wind just howls big, long, powerful gusts ...

New Wind Kiteboarding is our local Kite school here, and we could see they were doing a great job because the majority of kites on the water were Best.

We checked in with owners, Jim and Kory Bison, and got to work. We ran demos for the next three days, and for as busy as we were, things actually ran quite smoothly. People were stoked on the Waroos here, and I can understand why. It's what I fly when I feel I need as much depower as I can get.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Our last night in Hood River, we met up with Bucky Ashcraft and friends for sushi. Well, sushi turned into martinis, and after a few of those we found ourselves in the only bar left open at midnight on a Monday. Here (I can't remember the name), we were all squeezed in a booth sharing an interesting mix of the cheapest liquor and juices called the "Scorpion Bowl." Grom Gormley, a local kiter, was a big fan of the Scorpion bowl, and the second, and the third until we were leaving to find him still sipping the last drop. Good thing he was the one with the directions!

We then piled into a green minivan with our designated driver, Molly, at the wheel. The seats had been ripped out so we all sat on the floor, which made for an interesting drive around Hood River. Our next stop was Tonia Farman and Greg "Tekko" Gnecco's house. This was where we noticed an old seventies-style chair, puke orange in color, sitting out by the neighbor's driveway. That chair would fit perfect we thought, so Grom decided to put it in the back of the minivan. It was Miguel who was the first to claim the chair for the ride back to Stevenson. So, there we were driving in complete silence by this point just waiting to sleep and out came the quote of the night with a proper English accent ... "This chair smells funny" ... which is where we began.

~ Kris Kinn

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Today concludes Miguel's three-month journey on the Best Bus. Driving over 10,000 miles, visiting 18+ retailers, and meeting hundreds of new people, Miguel's time on the RV has finally come to an end. Miguel has left the United States to meet up with the BEST Odyssey in Los Roques, Venezuela, for two weeks of kite instructing in paradise.

On behalf of the entire BEST Kiteboarding family, I would like to say "Thank You, Miguel" for an excellent job as our ambassador for the 2007 BEST Bus Summer Tour!

Cheers, to a job well done!

~ K. Gold

The Tour is not over quite yet!

Please click on: Forum Calendar to see who takes over the reins and where we're off to next!

For the complete RV archive, visit the RV Tour Page.