Wow, September is Right Around the Corner

Can't believe how time is flying by.  We have watched the smoke waft in and now thankfully it is mostly gone.  We had a big fire only 15 miles away that brought in a fire fighting team that set up across the road from us, but luckily we had a bunch of pouring rain that put the fire out and the team left for other sites.  The smoke in the air made for a neat sunrise.

We've been fishing like crazy, and doing fairly well, always makes it a bit more fun.

Warm enough to wet wade

Got him!

Just being out here is worth it.
Mom and her fawn moving through in the morning

We've had some awesome coffee spots, both high up on some overlooks and also right down on the river.

We replaced our sewer dump valves, it seems their life is about 5 years before they start to leak.  A fairly easy job, a little messy, and a little challenging to hold everything in place while getting the bolts in so the gaskets line up.

The new valves

One in and one to go

All done, black on the left and gray on the right

We got our replacement flag pole and quickly got our flag flying again.

I wanted to share some artwork present in the campground.  No, we don't understand it, but all this was done with spray cans of paint in no particular order that we could detect.  And it seems to be a work in progress as each day something else gets painted, a step stool, a trash can, etc. If you know what this is or means, please let me know.  No we didn't ask the artist:-)

Impressive, right?

I have been thinking about the different responses to the virus.  I read several forums and several blogs and there is a contingency of folks that have shut down all their travel plans this year due to the virus.  I have shared some of our observations as we go into different states as to how they each have responded.  Here in Montana there is a state wide mandated mask policy so if you go into a building you must wear a mask.  It actually makes it easy in my opinion.  And I would say participation is about 90%.  Montana allows dining in, which I am not ready to do personally, but it seems to be fairly distanced.  We still try to get take out a couple times a week.  But what I am getting to is all the RV parks we have seen and visited are Packed!  I have been reading where RV sales are off the charts, funny, on one hand I read people aren't traveling, but then we see all the parks full?!?  In actuality RV's are perfect social distancers, you are "quarantined" in your own rig, anyone you interact with is outside, and you usually distance anyway.  We have read where certain places and states are quite vocal in keeping outsiders and out of staters the heck out of their areas, but we haven't experienced any animosity or gotten any strange or hostile looks with our out of state plates, don't know if that would be true in all places though.  And there are lots of out of state plates here.  Also reading the paper and the news online, I read where house prices are rising everywhere, sellers markets everywhere, but unemployment is off the chart, people are hurting economically, yet buying houses everywhere ???   Just poking around here in little Ennis, property is expensive and selling like crazy, I'm sure here it is mostly retirees, but it can't be everywhere.   How does this add up?  Each person has to find their own comfort zone in this unsettled time.  We have definitely altered our normal activities, and I guess you could say saved money from not eating out constantly:-)  Just some Bill musings.

But all is good with the smoke leaving and the fish biting.

We got our view back

And even if we aren't eating out so much,
we are eating well.
Bison ribeyes, it's what's for dinner!

One Week Down

 We've completed our first week here in Ennis, MT, and are loving it.  We have been able to slow down and take care of a few items and not feel we need to get cracking to see what we want and do what we want.  We took care of a few repairs, replaced our Fantastic Fan lift motor and replaced the under cabinet vents, no more smell:-)  We even took the time to wash the motorhome and truck.  Mostly been relaxing and enjoying being here.

Jan says, "Cheers" from our awesome site with the incredible views

We've gone fishing a couple of days, no luck unfortunately, but we aren't alone with slow fishing. The neighbors we've talked to haven't been having much luck either.  Seems we are in the dog days of summer and the fish are a bit warm, should pick up in a week or so.  But fishing out here is reward in itself, the scenery is fantastic, it is peaceful, not crowded, and we've had some nice picnics all by ourselves on the side of the river.

The Madison near Three Dollar Bridge

These 2 pics are "Between the Lakes" on the Madison
Between Quake Lake and Hebgen Lake

We have been enjoying exploring the area and loving the stellar weather.

Looking down on the town of Ennis

A cool shot of our campground with our flag flying proudly!

Which brings me to a sad moment.  We had a line of significant weather come through last night, thunder, lightning, rain, and wind, but it didn't seem all that bad, but this morning I heard a hello at the door, and a lady asked if I knew about my flag?  The pole has broken and it's fallen down! Sure enough the pole snapped right at the top bracket, I couldn't believe it, seemed like we hadn't had it that long.  We looked it up and it turns out we have had that flag pole since 2011, and since we fly it almost every day, I can't complain.  I ordered a new one immediately and it should be here soon so I can get the flag flying proudly once more.

Then in an email with Jan's cousin-in-law, Sandy who lives in Idaho asked if we were getting any smoke?  I said no and showed him a picture similar to what I have posted here.  Clear as a bell. Well thanks Sandy, today we can't see anything, the smoke is thick!  Every region of the country has natural events that impact your life, may they be hurricanes, blizzards, tornados, thunderstorms, floods, but out here it is fire.  7 million acres burn in the states each year.  We have been very lucky this year with no real signs of fire, but this late in the year with the dryness, now is the peak of the fire season and there are many burning.  I'll show you 2 pictures of the exact same view, the first is a few days ago and the second is today, right now.

Amazing, isn't it?  It's thick enough you can smell it and you
can feel it while breathing

Hopefully the wind will shift and we'll be clear again soon.  We are planning much more fishing next week, and will probably make a trek to Bozeman for some real groceries:-)  It's really not that far, 40 miles.  There is a store here that's okay, but it is a little bleak with a town population of less than 1000.  Jan is looking forward to a real nice grocery store.  With the lack of eating out all the time, it's become more important.