The life of a traveling dishwasher...The Middle Fork Debate of the Century
My name is Treesh and I have been working for ECHO since June of 2010. I am a River Guide by summer, and a Personal Chef by winter. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? Gourmet food, beautiful scenery, creativity, adventure, a constantly changing environment, and last but not least, a whole lot of dirty dishes. I have washed dishes all over the world, but the finest place of them all is the Middle fork of the Salmon River - the only place I’ve ever gone to get dishwater, and accidentally come back with trout.
Doing dishes on the Middle Fork of Salmon River
On the Middle Fork, people come for the river and come back for the food. Everything tastes better on the river after a long day of swimming, jumping, paddling, hiking and soaking in the sun, slowing down for a hearty meal always comes at the perfect time. And that brings me to the first core lesson of being an ECHO guide….ok fine, it is actually the fourth lesson:
Lesson 1: Physical strength and key technical skills for river safety
Lesson 2: Unbeatable friendliness, unstoppable positivity
Lesson 3: Being really really ridiculously good looking, on and off river.
Lesson 4: Wishes will not wash dishes.
Call me crazy (you really can!) but I get a little...possessive over the dish line. ECHO guides take three things extremely seriously; fun, safety, and sanitation. The dish line (Most specifically Warm Soapy Bucket #1) has become my happy place, maybe it is the warm soapy water against the chill of the night, or the fact that for whatever reason, the dish line is a great place to talk about funny things that happened that day, and really really ridiculously good looking people you saw, it is a great place for singing, and even dancing (controlled small movements only, this is a high risk environment).
Dish fail with Treesh
Historically speaking, I have always despised sharing the dishline, which others perceive as helpful, though I secretly know that it is derived out of selfishness. This summer, I opened my mind (and my heart) to sharing the dishline, with a few river runners who shared the ECHO passion for sanitation and fun. Sometimes, I get a little messy (see below), so I must confess the help was appreciated. So has the great debate ended? It is hard to know for sure, but if you are one of the few, the elite, who share our passion for fun and sanitation, at least have the courtesy to give me Warm Soapy Bucket # 1.
