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.

So this is a snow shovel?

This is a snow shovel!

We spent Monday preparing to leave. It was still snowing, but we packed up what we could in hopeful expectation that it would stop snowing and on Tuesday it might even melt enough for us to drive off the site, up a 150 foot incline and onto the paved campground road.

Rick brushed snow and ice off the sides of the motorhome and we dreaded pulling in the 2 slide-outs. The slide awnings didn't look quite right and we were afraid the awning toppers wouldn't roll up as they should. We called the Service Manager of Guaranty RV, Tim Cooke, in Junction City, Oregon and asked for his advice. He talked us through some possible scenarios and we proceeded to retract the slide-outs without any problem.

What did help is that Rick went up on the roof of the motorhome and brushed off more ice and snow that had accumulated on the slides. (As a side note, the good folks at Guaranty RV are friendly and knowledgeable and we hope to visit them next spring - just for fun. Thanks for being there for us when we need you!)

On Monday, Brent, the campground owner, drove his tractor with the plow and sort of cleared the dirt roads. Rick used the big blue snow shovel and cleared around the car and the motorhome and around the campground buildings. He also dug down a little further on the road to be able to see the dirt in places.

I thought if I could get the motorhome going at a pretty good speed while "launching off" the site, I might be able to make it up the incline by staying on some of the dirt patches. However, the dirt road was still mostly thick ice, about 12" thick. Brent got aggressive and tore it up with the skiploader.

Brent had to pull out one motorhome that got stuck attempting to leave their site and it helped me to see how easily he was able to dislodge the other guy. With more dirt showing, my confidence returned because I didn't want to be towed out! It's either get going up the hill or slide backwards down the hill.

When will it stop?

I woke up at 3 AM on Monday morning and walked around the motorhome, looking out the windows to see everything in the campground COVERED with fresh, new snow. It looked really deep with lots of drifts. The wind had been gusting and the powdery snow had formed dunes throughout the campground that looked to be 3 or 4 feet deep. It was up to the height of the picnic tables. It was eerie, yet beautiful. Like a moonscape.

I climbed back into the warm bed (yes, with the heating blanket on) and could not go back to sleep. I was worried about the unpredictable weather and afraid it wouldn't give us a break. Rick eventually woke up and I told him I was concerned that the snow would not melt on Tuesday and we would be "stuck" for another week or maybe more. All winter? Rick assured me that the road would be plowed, that the snow would melt enough for us, that the motorhome could take the cold, and that we would get through it all in great condition. After that I was OK and able to get back to sleep. The problems in my mind were eased.

Rick woke up around 7 AM and he too was amazed by what he saw outside. No one had yet spoiled the pristine snow with their footprints and he wondered how deep the drifts were. He took a few photos before the sun came up in our little valley. The dog, Clover, saw Rick through the windows and came running as he was taking the photos.

Although we told the owners we would try to stay until they returned from their trip, I know in hindsight we should have left before this second snowfall. Knowing now how much snow we've gotten. Knowing now how cold it can get.

We are loving the beauty of it and we are learning about living in our motorhome in freezing weather. What a great experience we've had here, seeing spring turn to summer, skip through fall, and come smack-dab into winter, all in 5 months.

Sunday snow

It started snowing again on Saturday. It was forecast. It was expected. But every time I looked at the weather internet site it seemed to change. And not for the better.

Now it showed that it would snow heavily for 3 days, with possibly a small window of clear weather on Tuesday. But then Wednesday should bring more snow, and Thursday, and Friday still more of the white stuff. In these 3 days we will probably get more than a foot. I hope the warm Tuesday forecast doesn't disappear.

The temps are about 32 during the day with overnight lows in the 20's. Tuesday should bring us high temps around 40 and once the campground roads get plowed by the owner it will hopefully melt enough for us to drive the motorhome. The campground roads are dirt and they are on an upward incline to the main road. Just a slight hill upward to freedom. With snow on the uphill road the cars slide around a little. The 4x4 trucks have no problem, but we all know the motorhome is not a 4x4. And we don't have chains.

I haven't watched the weather this much since we lived in the Florida Keys and we'd watch the hurricanes form. We have plenty of food and propane. No worries about surviving a week or more, but I wonder what the very cold could do to the motorhome. So far it has performed perfectly! ( I give most of the credit to Rick for keeping it all working as it should.) No problems with any of the systems and with the electric heater, the propane furnace, and the electric heating blanket we are staying toasty warm. Lets just hope things continue to go smoothly here and we don't have some emergency reason to leave. 'Cuz it would be near impossible to leave in our vehicles.

Hindsight is 20 ~ 20 DEGREES!

Actually, it was in the low 30's, but the chill factor made it feel like it was in the low 20's.

One day of snow was fascinating & amazing! A nice experience. Beautiful like a winter wonderland. But we've stayed at the campground for a few more days and we're getting MORE snow! I mean MORE SNOW! And the wind has been fierce, blowing at 25 mph, gusting to 35 mph according to the internet weather channel.

At midnight it was 37 degrees and tomorrow is going to get colder, all the way down to 31 most of the day. It's supposed to continue snowing all of Sunday and Monday, but then Tuesday is supposed to bring us warmer temps. Hopefully warm enough to be able to complete packing and move south to sunshine.

The campground owners will be home on Monday from their 3 week trip and we will no longer be watching over the campground. We think the weather will give us a clear window of opportunity and we will be able to make our escape. We hope.

'Fin'-tastic Friday Fish

A 'fintastic' day on the river!