It's always something

 And I thought Alaska was a place with a lot going on....maybe it's just coincidence but this Montana deal is full of it, dynamic lightning storms that always result in a fire that's treated as routine in these parts. Then there's the accompanying toad strangler as Geno would say, if you've ever wondered what a one and a half inches of rain looks like in 15 minutes here's a  short video. Now in Mexico we've seen some serious rain but not like this and in Alaska the rain just pitter paters around but lasts for days....and I mean days.

In fact as I type this morning the world famous is experiencing another flood watch. The Snow River Glacier dumped ( the Jokulhaup )\which is does routinely and with another 5 days of rain in the forecast the Kenai River is sure to reach at least minimum flood stage. Now in Soldotna I've dealt with that many a time, I've worn raingear for 27 days in a row, I've had it rain so long that I never had to wash the boat for 3 weeks....but I ain't never had it run in the house like here in the Big Smokey Sky country.

And how does that work....well, just the other morning me and MPeasy were driving up the hill to our house when a red pick up with flashing lights passed us and Mp said " guy sure is in a hurry " . And I said  " yup he sure is. looky there ".

That was just the start of the show. Turns out our house was the perfect place to watch from. it is literally only about 5 blocks away right up into our mountain view. Here's a look see without tele.

So for me it was kinda the Helena version of watching Yellowstone being filmed over in Ham Bone. I got on my bike and humped the hill for a closer look. I was impressed with the industry of fire fighting. We easily had 30 trucks and another 20 police blocking traffic as well as two helicopters and a four engine jet that brought the red stuff that put the final touches to the 18 acre fire which nobody knows how it started.  

Now how do I say it...mmmmm.....well I've known a few firemen in my life and I've never met one that don't drive a new pick up truck, ya know what I mean.  So I figure with all the watching, preparing , radio calling and nut scratching there had to be about 1.4 million in payroll hanging around.

But I gotta say , those guys are good and there was no doubt that fire was going out. The State Forestry people got in the air first and the guy driving that Huey pretty much put the fire out single handedly. He flew that thing like a piece of his body . He never hovered just kept moving and swinging the load so the water would disperse in a line . He made a trip from a local lake about every 7 minutes, it was like watching choreography.  He had the bucket on a short leash so it wouldn't swing much, watching a man and his trade is a beautiful thing.....thank you firefighters.

So, being a little stressed from all the natural disaster avoidance me and my running mate decide to hit the links and we drive back to our new favorite golf course in Elliston. We hit our first shots right to the edge of the Blackfoot River where MP notices that the chokecherries are ' gorgeous ' and perfectly ripe. So as we tee up for the next hole out comes a real Bear. Now this guy is about a 300 pounder as ol retired guide 003 has seen a few bears. He's acting like he owns the place because of course he does.  Now the left side of my brain said ' he's only a black bear ' and the 69 year old side of my brain said ' you need to quit doing stupid stuff all the time '....so we decided to not play through. we were the only people around and well it was time to make an adult decision. I left a note in the money box and Tom the owner invited us to another round on him. 

With the air quality index in the red and me being an asthma guy we got up Monday morning and decided to exit stage left. We found nice clean air at our new favorite casino, Northern Quest in Spokane where I won 20 bucks. Yup, we spend gas, food lodging and of course a few Pacifico's for twenty bucks..  But the highlight of the trip was Kootnei Falls in the very Northwest corner of Montana , very close to both Idaho and Canada.

What a gorgeous spot. You can feel and hear the power of the water. It's a mile and half hike to the suspension bridge which of course we had to walk. My only other experience with a swinging bridge is in Puerto Vallarta where they have everyday suspension bridges over the river that are rusty and  well, mexican. But they're only 15 feet above the water....now this baby is tall , long and sways pretty darn good. Perfect . 

And the views....man oh man....

So Team X will be in Mazatlan October 25th.  I'll have pics of Day of the Dead celebration and I'd bet dollars to donuts a few slimey's . I'll get a couple Mile 14's out before but please come back...I'll get inspired by something more often I'm sure....😎