Ennis, Montana

Hello, all.

It seems as I get farther away from the Academy, I get sloppier in my identification of species.  I have been informed by someone who knows his birds that the swan was a trumpeter swan, not a tundra swan; and the swallow was a barn swallow, not a cliff swallow.  Had I given it a little thought this would have come to me, as we were not near Arctic tundras, and the eave of a building is more like a barn than a cliff.  : D

We picked up a hitchhiker, a moose, on the way out of the Tetons, a cute little fellow.  We enjoy his cheerful company:

A camper welcomed us to the Ennis RV Village:

 

Now for a little background on Ennis, Montana.  We stopped here once before, on our way to Yellowstone.  This is the place with the fabulous restaurant, mentioned in a previous post, where we will definitely eat again before we leave.  Ennis is in a beautiful little valley.  Since it is September, the valley and hills are golden (just like California) with grasses that are going to seed.  Ennis is a small town, but the Madison River flows through it.  Fishing is a big sport here, and the Madison River is known for good fishing - fishing contests are held here each year, and we are told contestants come from around the country.

Soon after I took these photos, the sky opened up and it rained hard for a good half hour, and is still drizzling as I write this.

Now, here's the catch.  We had planned to stay until Sunday, and then head for Missoula so Lee could watch the Philadelphia Eagles play on Sunday evening.  (The Ennis campground doesn't have cable TV, the Missoula campgrounds do.)  But, once we were settled in our site, Lee extended the back two slides and turned his attention to the front two slides.  The first slide extended about a third of the way, and then quit.  The last slide wouldn't go anywhere. The motor was silent. 

Lee called an RV repair guy, and he looked at the motor and said it was shot.  He can order a replacement, but it won't arrive until Monday. While he was at it, he repaired the valve on the hot water heater.  Didn't I say, not too long ago, that RV coaches seem to need constant repair?  Go ahead, laugh.  It's okay, we can take it.  We are in the lovely Ennis valley. : )

There is actually plenty to keep us busy here.  Bozeman and Three Forks are each 50 minutes to the north and east.  The Lewis and Clark Caverns are perhaps a half hour north (Lewis and Clark never visited these caverns, although Lewis hiked down the canyon that leads to them).  Quake Lake (created by a quake in 1959) is an hour to the south. Virginia City, a mining ghost town, is 20 minutes west.   

Today, I can sit dry and comfy and watch the rain come down.  Perhaps I will have some hot chocolate, and read more of my book, National Geographic's "Guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail".  We are definitely in Lewis and Clark territory - in fact, we are pretty much surrounded by it.  More on that to come in later posts, hopefully.

Enjoy your Friday and weekend!