Merry Christmas!

With ice or straight up?

A friend called the other day while driving from Texas to Colorado. He was on his way to pick up his son and then they were going ice fishing! Ice fishing! I know a lot of people like to ice fish, especially when it's winter and the only way to satisfy that craving for fishing to to cut a hole in the ice, but those 2 words don't go well together for me. I like to fish without ice. See, I like to wet wade and having ice on the water is just too much for me to handle. I like it when the water is at least 56 degrees.



Anyway, Eric wanted to know what we were up to since we sort of dropped off the blog world and weren't reporting in. I thought I'd do a quick update on a recent fishing excursion. Lucky for us, here in Arizona during the winter the ice is rare.

Our nephews came to visit last month and the 6 year old was like a typical eager little boy wanting to fish. We took them to the local urban lake where Fish & Game had just finished stocking catfish and had started stocking trout.

When the nephews are older and we're on a stream we plan to introduce 'em to fly fishing, but for now we had to "stick" with the garden hackle variety of store-bought worms. On the first day of the urban lake fishing they caught a nice little bass and let it go. The next day they caught a crappie and a good size trout (for an urban lake). This time the fish swallowed the worm-fly and a neighbor fisherperson wanted them for dinner so we gave them up. However, we were able to share with our young nephews that we put the fish back to live another day whenever possible.

The older boy was very interested in the fishing adventure, but the 3 year old was easily distracted by the other kids playing in the playground and wanted to feed the ducks more than he wanted to wait for a fish to bite. Sort of like me when the osprey flies overhead or the deer wander down to the river bank, it's easy to be distracted.

Although Rick cast the line out most of the time so the worm had a good chance of finding a fish, he let Josh practice casting and soon realized that he was pretty darn good. He'll be able to cast a fly rod some day soon.

We were just as thrilled with our days of fishing as our nephews were. We look forward to the future when we can share fly fishing in Montana with them.

Happy Friday Fish

is that a smile? Does this look like a happy fish? Sort of looks like a smile.

He's happy 'cause he knows I'm going to let him go free.

Friday Fish Friends

So many people would ask us if we had the fish named and we'd say "Yes, they're our friends."

Here's one of our Friday Fish Friends

Friday Fish on my Mind

I try to take time on Friday and remember the good times we had on the river. Actually, I think about the good times everyday!

Fall to Winter to Summer - Huh?

Back in October we saw the leaves change from green to yellow, orange, gold, and red. Ahhh, the changing of the colors! There was a crispness in the air and it was beautiful! Everyone was anticipating colder weather and better fishing.

Soon after we had the colder weather and a couple days of snow, followed by many more days of snow. Lots of snow in fact, but we had a small window of opportunity to head south away from the freezing cold snow and we took the opportunity. We knew that the snow was not going to go away and if we wanted to escape we'd have to get going. I was a little sad to think that we'd be leaving.

The snow was unreal! It was an eerie sight looking out the windows at midnight, like we were on another planet. A moonscape. And when the sun was shining, it was like a field of sparkling diamonds had been scattered. Having never been in that much snow for that long, I thought it was magical. It was so quiet with the usual sounds muffled by the deep frozen white pillows. Beautiful to look at, but no fun to walk on the icy paths. And impossible to drive in. We were "snowed in" for a couple days and that was an odd feeling. I wondered what it would be like to spend the entire winter in such conditions.





This is how we usually spend our winters. Back in Arizona where the only thing sparkling is the sun.

Another FINe Friday Fish

What a 'fin'e fish! Fine! Fine! Really Fine!

Friday Fish 'Fin'-d

What a 'fin'd!

Settled in

I think everyone has called, emailed or stopped by to see that we are once again home in Arizona. Settled in for at least a little while. And it sure is nice to be here. The place looks good, the community had a spiffy upgrade over the summer, and the weather can't be beat. Arizona has got to be one of the best places to spend the winter.

But yes, I'm still going to talk about fishing. And a little on living in the motorhome.

Friday Fish ~ Tiny Fins

With a 3 weight fly rod on a small stream, even these fish are fun! And there are always a few surprise fish hanging out in the deeper pools. This is a great way to let beginners get the feel of catching fish on a fly rod.

You just can't yank them out of the water or the little guys go flying over your head into the grass!

Rio on the Rio

It's a good feeling when you get good customer service. And such was the feeling when we needed help from Rio Products.

Rick had purchased a new Rio Gold fly line and had used it for a while when the tip of the line started to separate. Like the outer coating was separating from the core. Since it was only the first 16" or so of the line we thought it couldn't be caused by moving through the ferrules of the rod so we called Rio to see if they would replace the line. The company has been in business for a long time and we knew they stood behind their stuff. We'd used their fly fishing products for years and knew many fishing guides who also did. We called the company and immediately spoke with a gentleman who asked us to send them a note and a piece of the bad line. He understood that we were fishing, apologized for any inconvenience and said if they found it to be something wrong with the line they would have a new line out to us in a couple days. And he was correct. Without any questions we had a new line in our hands in just a couple days. This is truly great customer service.

Rio Fly Fishing Products

I'd been looking at another line for next year, made by another company, but I think I'll just stick with what I know is good and reliable. And with a company that stands behind their products. Thank you Rio!

Missin the Fishin!

I miss the fish!

Ahhhh... the warmth

We've been in Las Vegas at the Thousand Trails park for about 2 weeks and it's been wonderful! Warmer than Montana, not as hot as Arizona. The weather has been in the 80's and we've been thawing out from the snow and ice. This year LV has been our transition spot on the way north and south. Not surprising to see some our neighbors here from our home community. You can tell from the photo that it's one of the most popular TTN parks. Lots of trailers and motorhomes!

We're not big on gambling, but we've been trying our luck at the seafood buffets. We enjoy the Friday night seafood buffets and the Sunday champagne brunch buffets with the main purpose of finding crab legs! Rick said the Wizard, Time Bandit and Cornelia Marie need to go back out to sea for more crab and restock the buffets!

This has also been a good time to reorganize the motorhome. Not that we needed to do much, but it's nice to be able to pull out some of the stuff and decide if we're going to leave it in Arizona or take it to Goodwill. I made one trip with an armload of old t-shirts to the Goodwill store right next door. How convenient to have it close by.

It's also been a time to clean. Rick took the Fantastic Fans apart and cleaned them and I did the windows inside and out. I definitely don't like to go any higher than the second rung, but I ventured up to the third to reach the tall windows outside. I still had to ask Rick to get the highest spots. I emptied the refrigerator and cleaned it now instead of having to do it when we get home. Because of the bumpy ride it develops little black marks from the cans rubbing and I like to get rid of them. Rick was able to take the fishing gear out from the basement storage bays and repack it. I used the cleaning product "Eliminate" on our shower and it looks brand-sparkling-new. (Thank you Harry!) The hard water leaves spots all over, but "Eliminate" gets rid of it with little scrubbing. Rick also checked the motorhome fluid levels and the tires. Tomorrow the rugs will get a good shake and I'll clean the tile floors thoroughly. It's more convenient having water and electric hookups while cleaning. It's also cooler here than in AZ. In between the cleaning we've been walking, solving jigsaw puzzles and reading. We both love the puzzles - especially the 1000 piece puzzles.

We have a few more days here, a couple more buffet meals, and then we'll continue our journey south.

Friday Fish - Or eel?

This rainbow was 23" long, but my goodness, was it skinny! The head was very large and out of proportion to it's body. It reminded me of the moray eels of the Florida Keys, not a Montana rainbow trout!

Travel days

I love driving the motorhome!! It is so easy to maneuver, has lots of power to get us up the hills, it's comfortable and so convenient to have our home where we go. Driving 400 miles each day for 2 days wasn't bad at all. Of course having Rick there to navigate me through the traffic and detours helps a whole lot! It just wouldn't be fun without him.


For most of the first day we were lucky to be looking out the windows at the snow rather than in it. We'd left more than a foot of the cold stuff in the campground and know from the weather reports that it's been snowing there since. We got out just in time! The scenery on the trip was beautiful and the roads were clear. We don't have chains for the motorhome nor would I like to be in conditions that required chains.

One snowy evening, October 4th, as we were thinking about leaving the campground, I noticed very slow traffic on the interstate and Rick got up to see flashing lights of a snow plow right out front on the highway. We then saw a jackknifed 18 wheeler in the highway median and saw him put on his emergency flashers. I called 911 to report the accident and it seemed we might have been the first to call it in. He probably slid on the icy bridge and thankfully didn't go over the bridge into the river. It was hours before the truck was pulled out of the median. A big reminder to travel when conditions are good, if possible.


We traveled from Montana to Salt Lake City and stayed overnight at Cabela's in Lehi. The next day we did another 400 miles and made it to Las Vegas. The Thousand Trails park here is close to the strip, but once inside the campground you can almost forget you're in the city that never sleeps. You don't hear the street traffic so much, but you can frequently hear sirens responding to some emergency.

As we drove through Utah we once again ran into the army of large orange traffic barrels. Not actually "ran into", but they were lined up like soldiers for miles. I have a theory about the orange barrel-size cones of Utah. My theory is that someone at the Utah highway department has a relative in the cone manufacturing business. The cones stretch on for miles, often with no construction or workers visible. This year they didn't bother me as much and we actually had some good laughs about the miles of orange.

As I said, the 2 travel days were good, except for the gusty winds in the St. George area. It was pretty bad for about an hour and I'd have to say the wind is the least fun when traveling in a high profile vehicle. I'd even take a constant wind rather than gusts that hit you from the side. But we made it fine and Rick said I did a good job of staying within my lane. It did seem that every other car gave me lots of room and never stayed close by for long. The wind calmed down before we got to the Virgin River Gorge, a beautiful canyon between St. George and Mesquite. The Gorge is quite astonishing the first time you go through it.

'Fin'-ally! Friday Fish

Finally! After 2 dozen casts in the feeding lane, you think know it's a perfect drift, over and over again, you're starting to doubt the pattern and you're ready to look for another riser. Just when you relax and don't think the fish wants your fly, it rises up and takes it. 'Fin'-ally!

Snowy River

I walked down to the river early in the morning after it had been snowing all night and could hear the swooshing sound of snow falling off the bushes along the riverbank.

Later I could hear the melting snow drip from the bridge and every so often a large chunk of ice would dislodge from the bridge and land like a canon ball in the water.

Early one morning Tom Smith had a couple fishing clients on the river and later in the day Andy Bennett, also of Backcountry Angler, had a couple guys catching fish. The freezing temps didn't keep them from enjoying their fishing vacation. (If you're looking for a fly fishing guide, look up Andy. A really nice guy who's on a river every day.)

I saw one or two others in up to their waist, braving the cold temps, hoping to hook a big one.

I thought about digging out the waders and setting up the fly rod, but decided my last fish had been caught and released.

What a magical place.

Friday Fish 'Fin'-ale

A great 'fin'ale fish.

This was the last fish of the season.

It was cold, about 5 PM on Friday afternoon. Rick and I were fishing about 10 feet apart from each other, sharing flies, trying to figure out exactly what they were eating. I moved just downstream from Rick, getting a little closer to some rising fish. I floated my dry fly under the log snag. My fly disappeared under the structure, I tightened my line, and had this fish on the other end. I can still hear Rick's words, "Thank goodness. Keep it on the line, I'll get the net." And once we released the fish he said, "Ready to go get warm?"

Missing it already - the fish, not the ice.

We'll be back in 6 months.

Final moments of our "summer" in Montana

Motorhome spinning it's wheels.

I hate to think that it could slide down the hill into the river!

Just needed a little tug to get him going.

Deep snow drifts up to the picnic tables and trailer doors.

Lasting memories.

The snowbirds have escaped!

We made it! We waited until noon, when the temperature got above 32 degrees and the ice was soft, but we made it out safely! I warmed up the engine and Brent had made a couple more passes with the tractor, plowing up the ice. No problem, no sliding, and no spinning wheels. We know the next time the forecast is for 3 days of snow, we're heading south with the geese!

I'm sure all of you (especially Tom & Jo from Alaska) who have grown up with the snow, think we are crazy. It's just snow. But when you're not able to drive either of your vehicles without being towed out, that's crazy.

If I didn't have to leave, if I had planned to spend the winter in Montana, that would be another story. Just like we were able to watch the seasons change from spring to summer to fall, I would have loved to see winter through to the end. I would love to see the trees shake off the cold and come to life in the spring. But we needed to go and we have a couple travel days ahead of us.

I'm not done with stories from the river. We're going to miss Montana. I hope I find some time to share my memories and I hope you check back soon.