Life is a highway...

Sometimes life is a busy interstate highway ~ which we try to avoid

Sometimes life is a scenic back road ~ which we prefer

 Sometimes life is a gravel road ~ more of these if only we had a jeep

Tom Cochrane music video on YouTube

It's not all about fishing

I think I'm finally getting used to just living here in Montana. We've been coming here for years for a fishing vacation, with the sole purpose to fish - and have fun. This is our 3rd full summer in Montana with our motorhome and I think it's really hit me that I'm not here to fish each day until I drop. Or until Rick drops. I think today was the first day that I just relaxed and chilled. Although we did go fishing.

The past few days have been great fishing and we've spent some long days on the river. We're non-stop fishers once we hit the river and start casting. No lunch, usually no potty breaks, no sitting out an inning to watch the others play their game, pretty much fish fish fish for 7 hours. I say it's a good thing Rick likes to fish because he'd be bored and lonely since I'd be fishing all day.

I planned to get to the river a little earlier this morning, but we visited with a neighbor camper and took some photos of one of his lake flies. Rick didn't have many chores this morning so we pulled on our waders and walked down to a deserted river around 11:00. It was overcast with high clouds and we fished almost by ourselves for a couple hours. With it being overcast it was impossible to see where the fish were sitting on the bottom. We like to sight fish even when nymphing. Not being able to see the fish is less fun and like casting with my eyes closed. Truly hit and miss. More miss today (hooked a few) and we both decided to call it quits early, but we left the door open to return later in the day if the sun came out.

Once back at home (motorhome is home), I put a pork roast in the electric roaster, fixed a snack of smoked trout from our neighbor, and just chilled. A storm rolled in and the sky darkened with clouds that promised wind, lightning, thunder and rain. As I'm writing this Rick is reading another book, but only after having tied some more flies. Flies that I'm sure we'll use tomorrow morning when I plan to be on the river bright and early. Some things don't change = tomorrow I plan to have fun and fish, in that order.

Another good day

Good fishing, talking with old friends, making new friends, sharing fish tales, and a great place to live. Again it was difficult to concentrate on serious fishing with so much going on around me. A couple times during the day we watched an eagle circle overhead and I wished I had the big camera with the powerful zoom lens. The picture is not good, but I have to include it. All I usually carry with me in the water is the waterproof Olympus SW 1050 and it doesn't have the best zoom. I took a couple shots, but stopped to just watch in amazement as it flew around in circles.

A family of merganser ducks came swimming up the river and they were so cute to watch. When they crossed the river the momma duck made the ducklings race across at high speed probably afraid of them being eaten by a big brown trout. Rick could see them racing back and forth across the river and thought it looked like a school of anchovies hitting the surface. When the ducks were across from us on the far bank they were diving for food and coming up with small fish. Then they would chase each other around trying to take the fish away. So cute to watch.

Now back to fishing. We're at a time when the conditions change by the hour throughout the day and flexibility is key.

A friend floated by that we hadn't seen in a long time. Mike Bias, Executive Director of the Big Hole River Foundation, biologist, and long time fly fishing guide, anchored his Hyde boat and we had a good catch-up chat. Check out Mike's webpage to contact him and see some of the adventures he has to offer.  http://setsetset.com/ Mike was fishing with another acquaintance, Guitou Feuillebois, and yes they were catching lots of fish. It was our good luck that Mike's clients had cancelled at the last minute and he offered us a couple yummy sandwiches, chips, salad and dessert that were meant for the absent anglers. Thank you Mike! Not only did the absent anglers miss out on a good meal, they missed a great opportunity to fish with a very experienced guide. We'd met Guitou (Ghee-two) last year and we'd shared some of our flies with him. He returned the favor and gave us a few of the flies they'd been using. I like sharing the good times and good fishing with friends. Yes, it was another good day.

Click on the start arrow at the bottom left corner of this slideshow window.

the Banker & the Fisherman

I stumbled on this parable while cruising the Internet. It struck a chord in me and when I read it to Rick, he liked it, too. So I'm sharing it with you.

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, "only a little while."

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then?”

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”

“Millions. Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

Who are you, the Banker or the Fisherman?

(Photo from one of our trips to Mexico)

Almost heaven

Almost heaven. Real close to paradise. Nearly nirvana.

How fortunate are we that we get to live in Montana and pursue our dream of fly fishing the entire summer in such a glorious place?

Today, although crowded most of the time, I really enjoyed myself and realized that everyone is here to have a good time. Some are driven to catch the biggest fish that they can. Some are here for the companionship. Some are here for the peace and tranquility of the great outdoors. Hard to find tranquility when it's crowded, but everyone was cordial, some were helpful, and a few were very friendly.

We made new friends and saw many old fishing pals that we hadn't seen in a long while. Because most of the other rivers in the area are "blown out", there were a ton of people here hoping to catch the fish of their life.

There were so many people upstream that it looked like a free casting clinic was happening.

It was sort of a slow fishing day for me, probably because there was a lot of activity going on around me. I was distracted, but mostly by the muskrat, river otters, and colorful song birds that live on the river. Not even the fish could keep my attention for long. It's wonderful being here.

Settled for the summer

We arrived Wednesday at our Montana summer home and boy is it good to be settled for a while! I love traveling in the motorhome and seeing the sights, but it's nice to know we'll be here for the summer.

The river looks great, perhaps a little low for opening day, but the flow was kept higher than normal throughout the winter. We're hoping the higher winter flows resulted in a successful spawn and more and bigger trout than summers past.

We're seeing lots and lots of fishermen arriving for opening day. They're setting out their waders and assembling their rods. From a distance they even seem a little giddy with anticipation. We're still debating if we will fish on the first day. We both agree that we don't want to bump elbows, or worse, get hooked by some wayward worm on a hook. We'd both rather avoid the opening day fishing fishermen frenzy.

Newport, Oregon

This would be a nice place to take a summer vacation.

Newport, Oregon

There is a lot of history in this region and interesting sites to see.

This is a great place for local fresh seafood.

Great for fishing and crabbing.

Lots of history and interesting places to visit.

Plan a trip to Oregon!

Think about it!

Driving can be fun

I did not like driving to and from work. I did not like the traffic. I did not like the roads.

But I like love driving the motorhome! I love driving in the rain and even the icy, almost snow. I love that I can drive where and when we choose. And I love where we go because its not to work!

I don't like driving in windy conditions, but being retired allows us to stay put and wait out the wind.

Not in hiding

We've gotten calls and emails asking if we are in the wit-sec program, running from the law, or just in hiding. Hah! We're just retired! And up to our ears with living.

We don't have enough time in the day to do all we want to do. How did we ever get it all in when we were working? I know how... we were up at 4:30 AM, driving from 5:45 til 6:30, in the office until 5 PM, home by 6:30, and in bed around 10. Okay, 11. Too much driving in bad city traffic, too much time indoors in the office (almost never going outside, even for lunch), too little sleep, and no time to do nothing. (how did I get by on so little sleep?) Now we have time to do nothing if we choose. Thank goodness we worked together or we would have seen very little of each other. Now we are busy, busy, busy and thoroughly enjoying it. Very minimum stress and mostly good weather. (I'm in the periodontist waiting room & not wanting to look at the stock market, but that's about the only stress we have right now.)

With retirement comes no schedule to adhere to. Up at 7:30 (or so), breakfast when we want, driving when and where we want (will it be highways or scenic back-roads today?), and 9 hours of sleep if we want. Rick has a saying...2-2-2. Drive 2 hours, arrive before 2 PM and stay put for 2 days. It's not always like that... sometimes it's 5-5-5, but still, it's good and it's what we want to do, when, how and where we want to be.

So, no, we are not in hiding. Just taking a break from blogging. Having a home on wheels gives us the freedom to follow the sun or run from it, whichever it is. I know I need to catch up on our activities and adventures. We've done a lot and been to lots of places since leaving Montana in October. Just lovin' life and each other. More later.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Being on Vacation vs Retirement

The difference between being on vacation and being retired is that when you're retired you have more time to be on vacation.

I came up with that one on my own the other day when it was rainy and cold. We were sitting in our warm motorhome (how many times have I said that lately?), and we were watching the other fishermen in the campground getting ready to go fishing. They were putting on waders, jackets and raincoats and they were going fishing come rain or come shine. They were only here for a couple of days, either on vacation or here for the weekend, and they only had these few days to fish and enjoy themselves.

We on the other hand, are on permanent vacation. So when it's raining and cold and windy, we don't have to go fishing. We can just live our life like "there's always tomorrow", as Rick likes to say. Actually, one of our mottos has always been "Live for today, plan for tomorrow" because you really never know if there will be a tomorrow. Another one of our mottos is "There's more to life than money", although I say "Money makes the world go 'round". Another one Rick used to say, when we were working, is "You better enjoy what you're doing. If not, go find something you like to do."

I don't know how I got sidetracked with life mottos, but perhaps you've got some of your own.

In transition

We're in transition, ready to leave Las Vegas and ready to settle in at the river in Montana. We've been reading old fly fishing magazines, brushing up on bugs and knots, and putting the old periodicals aside so we can donate them to the campground laundry room in Montana.

Rick's been reading a new book about every three days - historical fiction. I've been playing with photos and making greeting cards while watching recorded episodes of the TV show Lost. I've watched it since the beginning, but somehow got 12 episodes behind. I've also started a new book, Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now.

The campground is thinning out a little. It seems that when 2 motorhomes leave only 1 comes in to take it's place. There are no scheduled activities in this Thousand Trails campground, unlike other TT parks, but with so much going on in Las Vegas it doesn't make sense to have organized events here. A lot of people go out to eat and gamble, some go to hike and sightsee. We've done a little sightseeing, visited a few casinos, drove up the Strip (with quite a bit of building construction going on), we even gambled at the poker table for a short time. I love to play Pai Gow poker, a slow moving card game with a $5 minimum bet, and after an hour or so I'd lost $15 and decided to give it up. High-roller, huh? We don't enjoy large crowds (of strange people) so we've stuck pretty close to home. And we've really enjoyed being in our motorhome.

Next Wednesday we'll leave here and travel about 10 miles to Cummins Intermountain for an "adjustment" on the engine. There's nothing wrong, but Cummins issued a campaign for recalibration of the ISB engines. I guess it's more of a service bulletin. The appointment should be finished quickly and then we'll be on our way to our overnight stop. I'll probably have a 6 hour drive on Wednesday and then 6 hours again on Thursday. It's getting a little warm here - 94 - and it's hard to imagine that in a week we won't be running the air conditioner. We'll be running the heater. Our low at night here is 85 and when we get to Montana we'll be lucky to have highs in the day of 75. It's going to be a nice change.

I didn't take the two photos of the Las Vegas city night lights, but remembered that some friends had been to Vegas a couple years ago and had taken some. I couldn't find any photos on the Internet that were any better than these.

Think it over & over-think it

This is something new for me, this rut feeling. I've always been the one to embrace change, look forward to it, even suggest "upsetting the apple cart." But I'm also one who likes to have options, another course of action, Plan B to fall back on. So I am a planner. I'm also one to want quick action. Maybe it's the waiting that's putting me in a funk.

Lately I can get myself in a rut when I'm "contemplating" a big change. I think it over and over-think it. I plan and plan. And when the change is weeks away, I plan and over-think. And it puts me into a rut of sorts. I don't want to start any new projects, but yet I don't want to finish the current ones. I'm in limbo. I make to-do lists to prepare for the anticipated change, and check the tasks off as we get them done. I want to be on the road like our other RV friends, but I want to see family one more time.

I want to make the change because it means we are on our way to a summer spent fly fishing! Fishing and freedom in retirement is what we eagerly looked forward to for years. I avoid thinking about the change because it means we will be far away from family for months. The young ones seem to change and grow up each week. I know we will see them in a few months, but by then one will be babbling, another will be walking, another will be potty trained, and another will advance to the first grade. Phone calls, email, postcards, and webcams will be our means of communication from the motorhome on the river.

I tell Rick what keeps me up at night and he says I should live in the present, not the future. And certainly not the past. I don't dwell too much on the past, for I learned long, long ago that it is impossible to do it over. I don't regret the past, but learn from what's done. I spend more time thinking of the possible future than on the already done past. Sometimes, when I lay my head on my pillow and try to sleep, my mind races in anticipation of what might happen tomorrow. I play out scenes, have conversations, rehearse events, decide on yet-to-come choices and do a lot of "what if's." And it keeps me from sleeping. When Rick said I should spend more time in the present of course I did a couple quick Google searches on the subject. I've found some insight into how to deal with my Midnight Madness and I'm sleeping better. I have ways to deal with the thoughts racing around in my head late at night.

And now that we're closer to our departure date I'm taking action and getting the stuff done that needs to be done in order to go fishing. Opening day is a month away and we'll be in Montana before then. It will be a good summer. I rehearsed it in my dreams.

Good Friends & Good Times

We've found that RVers are the friendliest and most helpful people! I guess that's because we all want to live in a home-on-wheels and travel. We have a lot in common with each other, dealing with the good and bad of it. And we try to help each other do this.

We're lucky to have gotten to know a few good folks in our travels. This week we've been visited by Mike & Sharon while they rented a RV lot in our resort community. Another couple who own a lot here, Tim & Crystal, have also had some free time and we've seen them a few times this week also.

Well, actually we first met them on-line at the website iRV2.com, but we've camped with them at Quartzsite for the past 2 years. It's been fun to visit with them this past week in our own communtity. We all went out to dinner one night and we had dinner with Mike & Sharon a couple nights ago in their motorhome. (We felt so comfortable in their motorhome and I can't wait to get back into ours!) Another night the six of us got together at Tim & Crystal's motorhome and enjoyed drinks and dinner on their patio.

The weather was warm and the sunset was a gorgeous orange and pink. Just as it was getting dark someone noticed a wild young bobcat at the end of the yard romping around chasing a rabbit. The young bobcat appeared to only be playing with the rabbit because we agreed that he could have easily caught it. The bobcat climbed a small tree and we could see it precariously making it's way to the end of the farthest branches. It chased some birds out of the tree and slowly made its way to the ground where it again played with one of the birds. We had heard that the residents in our community had complained about the bobcats and called AZ Game & Fish to remove them. It was a special moment to see the wild bobcat at play. It was even more special to spend time with good friends. Thanks guys and safe travels!

I never thought I'd know so many doctors

Another thing I used to scoff at. I never thought that we would know so many doctors. Literally, doctors from head to toe. I'm surprised at all the doctor appointments that have started to appear on our calendar. I guess once you hit 50 that's what you have to look forward to.

They're all for wellness checkups and yearly exams and (knock on wood), we're healthy. We go to the dermatologist (skin doctor) twice a year for check ups and it seems she can always find some little spot to burn off or remove. Last fall Rick had a few suspicious spots burned off his face and I got away clean. This last week we went back and she found 2 spots on my face to remove and Rick had a spot on his wrist that was hurting so she removed it. The cuttings were sent for biopsy and we'll have the results back in a few days.

Doctors appointments usually aren't any fun, but we are grateful to have good medical insurance and we go for our checkups. Don't always like to, but we would rather know what's up with our health. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. I say "Better to know and deal with it."

Fun stuff

We've settled into a routine schedule of fun activities! We're having soooo much fun! This is the fun part of retirement! We still love to play pickleball (me probably more than Rick) and it's a good incentive to get up early and get going. There are lots of choices of where and when to play, but we like the round-robin play everyday from 7:30 AM to 11:00. There are also ladies groups, couples groups, an advanced group, weekly lessons and mini pickleball tournaments happening all the time. All the enthusiastic players and the pickleball club keep the pickleballs flying from sun-up to sun-down.

The weather is warming up and by 8:00 the courts are busy. Rick plays 2-4 games and then around 9:00 he heads up the street to the Sawmill Woodshop for a few hours. He's working on some cool pieced and turned bowls. I usually stay and play a few more pickleball games and on Thursday I played with the ladies group. A lot of play on that day - 12 games!

I've started riding my bike around the community and some days I go back and forth from home to the town center a few times. Great exercise! I go home for lunch and Rick usually joins me for a little sandwich. Today he planned to stay late at Woodshop so I surprised him with lunch and he didn't have to leave the shop. He's working on a bowl that looks more like a wooden puzzle. Maybe I'll post some photos of the life-cycle of a pieced bowl.

I spend some of my afternoon time at the Stitchery club or Arts & Craft club participating in classes or working on my own projects. And sometimes I wander through the Ceramic club to see what they're up to. Activities are starting to wind down so I won't join something new right now, but next year I might check out the line dancing lessons. Friends say it's a lot of fun and good exercise, too!

Sometimes I take my camera on my bike rides because I never know what will catch my eye. The morning light can be so perfect for photos. It's gorgeous springtime in Arizona and the birds are abundant. Lots of Canada geese, quail, and the prolific doves. The cactus, trees and bushes are starting to sprout and flower. I took the photo of the cactus and then tweaked them a little. I don't usually tweak photos, but seeing the cactus with the saturated colors is almost cartoon-like. And Beavertail cactus is anything but cartoon-like.


By 4 PM we're both home, sitting on the patio, planning what to cook on the BBQ. After dinner we talk about what's on the calendar for tomorrow. FUN! FUN! FUN!