With no early morning activities scheduled for the last day of the third leg of the “Make it Better” Summer Tour Presented by Kia Motors, we had a chance to relax a bit before shoving off to Prineville. We checked out of the hotel and packed all of our gear into the Sedona with time to spare. After perusing the daily newspaper for a few minutes, it was back on the road for our final day in Central Oregon.

The view from atop Prineville is stunning. The entirety of the town, which sits in a canyon, can be surveyed from a viewpoint just southwest of the city, allowing you to take in a bird’s eye of this tight knit community.

Our first stop brought us to the headquarters of Les Schwab, which has been based out of Prineville since it’s founding in 1952. A picture of Mr. Schwab, a great friend of Oregon sports who passed away last year, greeted our group as we popped in to drop off some goodies.

After that, Team President Larry Miller headed back to Portland while the rest of us made the short trip to Crook County High School to ready ourselves for a basketball clinic.

We arrived at the gymnasium just as members of the newly formed Crook County Kids Club started filtering in. It was a smaller group, around 35 kids, which could have been due to the fact that it was the first day of the county fair, but we didn’t mind. In fact, it gave us an opportunity to really get to know some of the kids while also allowing us to give focused instruction. After radio analyst Antonio Harvey and intern Jordan Davidson led the group in stretched and warm-ups, we broke up into groups. Antonio and Director of Player Programs Chris Bowles ran the free-throw drill, VP of Broadcasting Dick Vardanega lead the layup drill, Jordan and fellow intern Molly Meadows helped the kids with ball handling and passing and VP of Community Relations Traci Rose talked with parents and signed up any late additions to the camp.

The other great thing about having a smaller group is that we were able to give all the kids prizes. Antonio quizzed the campers on all things Trail Blazers, eventually finding a way to steer just about every kid to a right answer and a subsequent reward. After Sun E. Smart of Providence Health Services showed up to hand out free sun screen, we wrapped up our week of clinics by thanking the campers and their parents for coming out and for being supporting the Trail Blazers.

After a bite to eat in Redmond and a quick stop at the airport to drop of Chris, we pulled onto HWY 97 toward Mt. Hood. A few hours later we’d arrive in Portland just in time to catch rush hour traffic, which served as a reminder as to so many choose to spend their days in Central Oregon.

Summer Tour Maps: Trip 1 | Trip 2 | Trip 3 | Trip 4

Tour Stops: Salem | Albany | Bend | Prineville

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