Big Fish Tory Has Success

 

We arrived at the KOA in Missoula Montana from Wisdom Montana.  We got settled in and got caught up on laundry. Our KOA neighbor and Steve struck up a conversation and Ron is from Atlanta spending a few months in the western states. Nice guy and Steve enjoyed talking with him.

As we were getting ready for the evening, Yongsam pulled up with his bicycle! He discovered KOA was the only campground in Missoula that allowed tent camping and he spotted our truck and trailer. We were thrilled to see him and Steve invited him to pitch his tent on our small lawn.

At the end of the evening I went to bed and Steve, Yongsam, and Ron spent some time outside visiting. The next morning Steve fixed a chili omelet for Yongsam and we were able to visit with him some more. We learned about his family and what it’s like living in South Korea.  He is such a wonderful young man. He left around 0930 and headed to REI for a bicycle tune-up and then to conquer Lolo pass.

Youngsam and his omelet

 

A quick hug

Saying Good-Bye

 

 

Monday we hit Rock Creek with George who Tory worked with for several years. He treated us to a 21 mile float on the creek which gave me a chance to practice my fly fishing casting and Steve to calm his craving for catching fish.

We hit the creek around 10:00 with the goal to catch some really big fish! Well my goal was to at least not stick myself or anybody else with my hook!

Hoping for fish, fish, fish

 

Steve was having success getting some trout, and I was having success at not hooking anybody!  After a while, Steve and George traded places so George could fish and not row the raft. He was having great success at landing fish, while I was still successful at not hooking anybody. I did manage to hook a branch which swallowed my fly. At least it didn’t swallow me.

After a bit I was able to catch something other than a branch. No, silly it wasn’t Steve or George. No it wasn’t me either, it was actually a trout!  Yay!! I caught my first fish with a fly!! I was excited and proud so we took this picture – Steve rescued the fish from my fly so we had a chance to pose before we put this guy back in the water. It certainly wasn't as big as Old Moe but it was really big to me!

My First Fish while Fly Fishing

 

I was quite pleased that I managed to catch two more! Steve of course probably caught 50 or so but he didn’t get the big one he was after. That just means we get to try some more!

We plan on spending some time with some friends before we hit the road Tuesday and we were fortunate to leave the KOA after a few days and put our home at some friends of ours up in a canyon where Izzy can have fun with the deer and visit a creek whenever she wants. The setting is beautiful and Vince, Relinda and Nicholas are great hosts!

The view from our door

Vince, Relinda and Steve

 

We had a few days of beautiful weather and managed to get out on a couple of golf courses. I won’t bore you with the details of our game, but let’s put it this way, you can tell we are amateurs and the word practice should be the first word out of our mouths every morning!

We hitched the trailer up and left Tuesday, June 18^th for Big Fork Montana along the Flathead Lake. Will tell you about that in the next post!!  Happy first day of summer!