Part 1/2
A belated Happy Montana Greeting. We arrived back from Tasmania just over 2 weeks ago -- absolutely fantastic, need to go back again! -- and immediately busy with swapping the snow tires off, following up on some deferred car repairs, preparing the 3 snowblowers (ours and 2 neighbors) for the summer (tune ups, replacing belts, adjustments), and having an excavator arrive for 4 days to install hydrants in the yard to greatly ease watering the yard. But I remain committed getting thru my almost years backlog of photos and stories.
April 6 is Montana Day, owing to the single area code of 406 for this great state.
6 years ago on April 6 I ceased my employment. And since that moment life continues to only get busier. A recap of my 5th year of non-work is in order ...
One year ago, on April 6, 2023, I was in Portmeirion, Wales, the film site of the classic British TV series "The Prisoner". A very apt place to celebrate the end of "working for the man". As the shirt clearly states:
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! MY LIFE IS MY OWN!
That trip was immediately followed by another adventure driving a car from Portland OR to Anchorage AK, including a 3 night ferry right from Bellingham WA to Skagway AK, and continuing the drive on the AlCan Highway. A superb trip covered in a prior email.
This was followed by a quick trip to California, where I saw the now pier-less cement boat at Seacliff Beach in Aptos. When the kids were young we used to be able to walk out onto the ship with them. Now the ship is in pieces and all remnants of the pier removed.
The highlight in June 2023 was rafting the Smith River for 5 days (covered in a prior email)
Sandy had cataract surgery in June, and delights in relating the story of how she wanted to show me something on her phone and I replied I'd have to get my glasses ... She laughed. She did not need her glasses!
Sadly, with all the travels I was unable to train properly to be prepared for the Glacier Half Marathon in June, and so for the first time since the race's inception I had to cancel. This was big disappointment. I am working hard on my training for this year's race.
4th of July week was the Aussie Invasion visit, with us hosting 5 people from the penal colony down under. We had the great pleasure of taking our guests to the Polebridge 4th of July parade. It's a unique slice of Americana, with the parade on a dirt road lined with lawn chairs, people, dogs, libations, bear claws from the bakery, located in one of the few areas of the country without cell service or electricity.
Some of the criminal behaviour from down under persists!
July was also 2023's big house project -- replacement of our cement patio. We are now at the point where we can pick and choose house improvement and upgrade projects on a more proactive, rather than reactive basis. The old patio had numerous cracks, caused undoubtedly by the fact that it was poured level, so water would not drain off it! This has now been corrected.
I actually missed out of witnessing the concrete pouring. I was out backpacking for 6 days with Nabeel at that time. We hiked to the Chinese Wall -- the one that is in Montana. 1000 feet high and 20 miles long, the wall is an absolute wonder. Writing up the full story is on my to do list.
(does this wide angle photo make me look .... wide?)
More visitors in August. Some just like a more relaxed vacation Funny story -- Warren said Bruce would never go on the couch, and yet the minute Warren left the house look what happened!
And some visitors with very wild hair
Even made time for a Scamp trip in the summer
September was an Alaska trip starting with riding the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Fairbanks. It was their last day of the season with the dome cars. Enjoyed the fall colors. Wonderful equipment, meals, and scenery. One highlight was arriving into Fairbanks at 8pm in the dark. Sally brought Thistle with her to pick us up. Thistle has been to the airport to greet arriving people numerous times and is familiar with that routine; anytime she is in the car and gets near the airport she gets very excited. But she had never been to the train station, and when she first saw Sandy it so surprised her with barking, yelping, jumping for joy the other people detraining where quite taken aback by this wild dog!
Part of the motivation for visiting Fairbanks was to run the HooDoo Half Marathon with Sally and Bryson. This would be my only running race for 2023. I believe I have run at least one competitive race a year for each the last 39 years! Sally, Bryson and I all finished with the same overall time (1 hour 54 minutes). Sunny and 26 degrees at the start, it was in the 40s by the finish on the loveliest of fall color days.
In October, nothing beats biking up Sun Road on a clear fall day.
Or a chocolate poppy seed muffin from the Polebridge Mercantile before they close for the season
October is also when Sun road closes for the season, so one last drive to the top before it closes
.... continued in part 2
