One ruled out,, 2000 to go

In Jeff's world the chase, the expectation, the anticipation is the best part...what I'm saying is that reality and my life don't usually collide in the same sentence and a good plan turns into a...ahhh....an experience. Kinda like the vision I had of 5 days on the Alaska State Ferry, we'd stroll the decks and hold hands, we'd chat and play music for the passengers, we'd eat nice food and see whales....NOT...it was like a prison ship, with rain.

So having said that part of our new plan to find happiness ever after was to look around the Pacific Northwest for the idyllic town nestled in the woods and a river city to boot. Well, Salmon Idaho ain't it.We'd been around western Montana but had never gone down to Salmon Idaho which is only 100 miles form us here in Hamilton. The drive is gorgeous and Lost Trail Pass is steep and exciting and lush with Pine and Aspen  forest. But as you get down into the Salmon River valley it gets arid and high desert looking, it certainly doesn't look like salmon country much like the middle Columbia River. I'm sure there were salmon here at one point but I didn't have to ask. As we picnic ed in the City Park across from the City Hall and took in the river the left side of my brain said to little water, to many people, to far from the ocean to....darn hot, it was 88 as we had Heineken and Vienna Sausages with Swiss cheese.

But like Sloooowdotna Salmon is a river city, nobody has an exclusive on that deal. If you think we have the fish theme compulsion in Soldotna let me tell you, it spread or maybe we even stole it ourselves. Lotsa fish in the this river city.

So as we drove the streets we see Salmon is a little more of a working city than Hamilton. Hamilton is more lush and full of affluent retiree's of which we aren't one. But the Bitteroot river just blocks away is way prettier, quieter and cleaner. I'll show you what I mean.

I fish and then we walk our 3 miles every morning, it's the active lifestyle we've talked of. We've found several different river trails and a one hour bike ride that looks down on the river valley and then it drops down and  we ride along the river and canal's right back to our house. Because of the braided nature of the river and Montana stream access laws you can walk and fish virtually anywhere, I have yet to fish around a single person ....of course I've also yet to catch a fish.

So all of that is cool, metaphorically, it's been really hot here... But what isn't cool and which is something I don't know what to do about so maybe somebody can offer some advice. What isn't cool is my neighbor. She has no idea how rude she is when she goes to work and her yapping  Heinz 97 type dog sits in the window and barks all day. Now day time maybe I can handle but he barks all night long as well when she's in the house. How in the hell can somebody live like that. The dogs barks at me every time I leave the house, every time. Then to give you an idea of the hood here her next door neighbor has the year round yard sale going on so we have traffic and people walking around all the time.....yikes, maybe I'm just not a city guy and our experiment with civilization ain't going to work and we'll end up buying a house away from town...darn it, because theres something to be said about walking to the market and the river like we do everyday.

At the Saturday Market I met the ' Fly Guy ' . Chuck gave me good counsel and sold me some ultra expensive hand tied flies. And he even offered solace when he said that even the guides ( of which I'm gonna hire one ) are having trouble as the warm air = warm water = no bite and like every dedicated pescador he said it would get better and fall fishing will be red hot. In the meantime I'm using worms tomorrow at a new place I gotta drive to.

Finally, maybe, hopefully we're getting Century Link internet tomorrow so in a week or so I'll post video of a new song and I'd bet a few fish pics. Like everything it ain't what we're used to but right now nothing is....Hope everyone stays safe and happy.💚😎🐟🐠🎵🎵🎸🎸 OH, how's about that haircut ? At least I'm tucking my ear lobes into my shirt yet like my grandpa and my dad did.

It's warm, it's friendly at it's now

In Alaska you put your shorts on mid day when it gets warm, if it gets warm. Since arriving in the Big Sky I've worn shorts every morning and all day, haven't had pants on once...strange. Our first day here it was 94 and  that was a bit much but since then it's been 70's and 80's and with just a bit of Mexico in me it feels just right. Last night we watched the thunder storms role in over the mountains from the west and it was pretty cool....you could see the rain fall as it evaporated on it's way to earth.

Yesterday we went and found a new hike or two just up the road from us in Blodgett Canyon, this is how our new town looks from 3 miles away and a mile up....

There's clear cool water everywhere. I've been fishing 4 times now and yet to get the tug. So yesterday under the guise of buying MP some hiking shoes we went to Bob Wards Sporting goods and I got the skinny from a young expert who had of course fished the Kenai. I asked him that for the Bitteroot River right now if you could just have one lure or one fly what would it be ? He said for spinning it would be Panther Martin spinner and the fly would be some Muddler so when it gets light in another hour this is where I'll be, just 4 blocks from my house trying to figure it out...and you know for me the tug isn't that important, it's learning, watching, seeing what happens. Me and MP just yesterday saw nice big trout from the bridge so....we'll see. It might make me do a special edition of  Mile 14 when it happens.

Here's a pic of me and MPeasy at Spring Meadow Lake in Helena. It's a rehabed gravel pit that we skinny dipped in when I was a kid and now it's lush and restored and chucked full of Bass....that won't bite. It was driving me crazy...no...it's STILL driving me crazy, big bass you can see just suspended everywhere that won't take any thing I had. I had found my dads old tackle box so I had a mixture of of old spoons and few rapala's etc. Tried them all and was so frustrated I called in an over the air attack and called Dan Stewart in Bishop Ca. who knows the way. He said get rubber and when the fish are like that fish real slow and if you don't get bit fish slower....so I'm confident the next trip I'll be locked and loaded.

This mama goose gave MP a clear signal that any closer and she was going to nip one of her fingers.

There's Deer everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I took this shot early morning at MP's moms house. I tell people having those deer in your yards and on your highways like this would never work in Alaska. In Alaska they'd decide it was over escapement or whatever and would be executing them from helicopters...you know what Don Young said " you can't just let nature run wild "  ....mmmm....maybe that mind set is why the Kenai is closed again for Kings and the things we all loved about Alaska like Razor Clams and dungie crabs are gone. The politics of fishing doesn't exist here, in Montana fishing and catching is good thing and not something another person wants. I like that.

And Big country, boy howdy. MP's sister lives on a ranch near Gold Creek on the way to Helena from here. Here's a shot of her place from the road.

Now our place is a little more modest...Some might say my goodness, how could you move from a three bathroom 1500 square feet home with a river for a back yard to a one bath 800 sq. feet house in town ??? well it's easy, it's simple and it's us...in our back yard instead of dealing with 50 beetle killed spruce tree's we're deal with six plum trees and some huge Elm that shade us just fine.

We have two out buildings. The old garage is going to need some work like a new roof etc and fits MP's new car just right. The stucco building that I call Bert's house ( her grampa ) we're going to turn into a studio for me to play my music and MP will have her art work projects...so there's plenty to do on 7th Street Hamilton Montana USA. And ya know after we have this house fixed up if town life doesn't work out we'll move to the country, we'll see, no worries.

Well, I gotta drop the keyboard and head out the door, it's almost light and you know how I am about being on the water then. we get our internet on Monday so it will be easier to write and do the thing I enjoy so I hope you come back. I did this Mile 14 with a mobile hot spot on my phone...still learning at the age of  67... me and Beno agree it's the young side of old. I see I'm going to hit 200,000 views soon and that doesn't count the 25,000 I had in one day from being linked to national web forum a few years ago. So thanks for reading about our lives and loves....lets all carry on !

Touchdown

I've always thought that when you seem like the days fly by to fast it's because you're stuck in routines and in order to make time go slower you need to change your routines...well, this last 10 days has felt like 2 months to me. First off the Trip on the Kennicott was a long ways from the Love Boat. It was foggy / rainy / cold the entire way but gorgeous in a stark Alaskan way.

If everything in Alaska worked as good as it's Marine Highway system the State would be doing a lot better than it is. They are on time, had a protocol for the virus that seemed to work....but at the same time the service is about work and efficiency and for entertainment you better think ahead of you're using the Alaska State Ferry system. The covid policy was basically stay in your state room, wear a mask when out and stay away from people so....after about three days that room started to feel like the State Penitentiary. With no cell service I had not brought movies for the computer like I should have so it was reading and card game - Scrabble Marathons. MP and I have long talked of getting a motorhome, one of those cool roadtrek conversion vans and after being in a Ships cabin for 5 days we realized we're going to have to rethink that plan.

The ferry is all about work....this guy loaded in Whittier and got off in Cordova, I had no idea you could carry so much with a pick-up truck.

Today is my 67th birthday....yikes. I guess I might be feeling it, my ribs are better from falling out of the bunk bed but my backs sore again from working on the house. So today we're taking a day off and are going to get at the fishing program. I'm just now getting in the groove and will post pics of Hamilton Montana and our new place on planet earth real soon, So far MP and I feel good in spite of it all being a little stressful which is kinda crazy ....for the first time in my life I have absolute nothing to stress over but by jimminy I still seem to find a way.....I gotta stop that and I will. Fish / Hamilton / music next time.....We love you all.

First of firsts

I've had a lot of that lately... Right now I'm writing from Juneau where we're stuck on the boat because of the condition of our planet.  It's raining,  in fact it's been raining since we got to east side of the Whittier tunnel.  I was using my phone as a mobile hot spot but with just one bar on my phone it won't do it and it especially won't do pics so I'm using my tablet to blog for the first time.  I've learned lot about Marine highway travel... Like be careful with the bunk bed ladder,  I'm not hurt anything like I was when I did the Carl Wallenda in Mazatlan climbing down the rocks to grab a stupid fish but my ribs are pretty darn sore from bouncing off the couch,  good thing it's padded,  those rocks at Playa Escondido werent.

I really do have some great pics but they'll have to wait until I get connectivity so instead I'll do one of my favorite things.... A list, of a  few firsts. 

1. Who'd have guessed you can catch herring on bare hook ? Actually a series of small hooks tied with the loop knot.  And these ain't your Cook inlet OK nasty bait herring but beautiful great silver guys about5inches long and I bet they'd be great deep fried. 

2. My first line up of vehicles loading was different in a typically Alaskan way.  2 1969 Ford broncos,  one semi rusted out and the other entirely rusted out.  The laters  clutch was out and they engaged granny low with the starter when they had to.  And the there was the woman and her son with broken leg who were driving a mahindra off road vehicle loaded to the max and had a pretty hung exterior door tied to the roll bar to keep the rain off. 

3. Our first restaurant meal in five months was just fantastic.  A window seat on the Kennicott and Prince William sound with only a few other diners and great clam chowder and ceaser salad... We talked about us instead of business and that night I slept an entire 8 house for the first time in I don't know how long.

4. Artichoke - jalapeno -cheese dip

5. And oh... The first time I haven't fished the world famous in July for 44 years.... And y'all know what?  I'm OK with that.... Moving forward. 

This blog entry was a first for sure.  Finger typing just doesn't work for me.  A part of the creative process for me is the keyboard,  I learned typing in school and it just helps me create.  So,  I'll do pics and real typing on the next mmmmmmm....rainy stop,  Ketchikan.  Hope all my Alaska friends are getting their fish. 

Yahtzee

I guess the pic below makes it official . And it kinda looks like the new owner has a different vision for the place so I guess that's coooool. You can't blame anybody for wanting to have privacy or do whatever they want with what they own....it's just a sad end to an era that had to come. So many people have so many memories from this special place on the planet earth but ya know what they say...nobody can take that away.

So we signed on the dotted line and I have to tell you it wasn't as hard to do as I thought it might be, Then we went right back to work and then celebrated spiritually with our old friend Loren Stewart.  When we bought the place Nikki apologized for having to leave some stuff, like us the job was overwhelming.  So one of the things we found in the house was this collectors bottle of Jim Beam Whiskey....Loren being Scottish of course was a good single malt guy so I guess he just never got around to opening this beauty. He had it for 20 years and we had it for 25 so we toasted him and Nikki, ourselves and the Kenai River with 45 year old Jim...and ya know there must be something to that ageing deal because even though I never drink whiskey it was pretty darn smooth.

But not all is lost ....if any of you get nostalgic I'd bet ya my old friend Keith would let you visit his place and tell Boat Launch stories for the modest price of a 12 pack of Kokanee. Thank's Keith for offering to keep the place a part of the Kenai.

That Big Eddy Jetty sign I built for Loren in 1983 as part of my use fee. It was crazy. I seemed to lose some customers in that day and my working theory is that when I told people to meet me at Big Eddy Jetty they turned down Big Eddy Road where a 100 guides are headquartered and my customers just disappeared from my calendar.....

I was overwhelmed a a week ago wondering if we'd ever get the basement cleaned out...Well we did and my back feels like it . But I think we're actually ahead of schedule and if it weren't for this covid virus we'd be on easy street. For the Alaska Ferry system they want a 72 hour pre check in negative test and no lab in the state ( which are both State labs ) will guarantee a 72 hour return....mmm.....so, we'll see. We did take a break from packing and road tripped to Kasilof to see how the fishing is going. We happened upon Jacque Kosto the Head Ranger here and had a nice visit about the past and the future of this place. Really nice,  he thanked me for my volunteerism and meant it....AND then we got to  witness a guy hook and land a jumbo which was hooked perfectly in the upper lip and then released it to spawn while showing his son how to handle it, so cool !

So we're feeling good...the other day as I worked up my sweat from hand trucking the basement MP said something to me really important. I was hurting ( sciatica ) and she was finding objects of the past and sometime getting a little emotional and we had country music blaring as we stopped to chat a bit about the stress of moving  she hugged me and said " do realize we haven't had a fight in months ? " ....Love ya baby. So, with that story here's my song of the week.

Hope you return to Blog Mile 14....I'll write as long as you read ! But maybe more sporadically until we land.

Road Trip

So what did Otter and the boys at Delta Tau Chi do when things got a little weird and they were on double secret probation ???? Road Trip !  And that's what me and MPeasy are fixing to do, another grand adventure in the life of retired fish guide #003 and soon to be roving pescador.

Owning Stewart's Landing has just gotten to be overwhelming for us. We have at least 30 or 40 beetle killed trees that need to be taken care of and we've been married to the place for the last 30 years. We've not done anything in the summer but work, work, work,....so, we've sold the place. You know me, I'm a 100 % guy so when we discussed all the options the answers were obvious, we just need a clean break and move on to the next chapter.

This place is absolutely beautiful and people who come here will say " how in the world can you leave that place  ?"  But they only see the splashing salmon and the Bald Eagles circling.  They don't see all the responsibility it takes and dealing with an empty house every winter while we snowbird. So, we're down to 2 homes now, muy bueno.

 So, in true Jethronian fashion just this morning as we talked about the difficulty of traveling through Canada in the Covid era MP mentioned a friend knew somebody who had taken the ferry from Whittier to Bellingham WA. I checked the schedule and it was meant to be...a sailing on the same day we have to leave the house at Mile 14. So on July 6th we'll be on the Kennicott with a guitar and a smile headed for a new life.  Then  as soon as it's safe to travel we'll be getting around looking for the next adventure. For all of you Washington and Oregon people we're going there first so when you see that old white truck in your drive way , don't shoot. MP is so excited to get back to her family in Montana so we're going to give that a good try and if it turns out we feel like we've made a mistake , well that's easy to fix....we'll find another place or even move to Alaska.

So it's adios, maybe you all felt the vibe from that song last blog entry....So to all my guide friends from the 1980's I want to thank all of you for inviting me into your fraternity, you know I never made varsity in my life until I met you. For all of you fishing guides that used our spot and I know so well, I wish you all the most success and hope for a bright future for all of you, this is a wonderful lifestyle and I'm with you all the way. The people of Soldotna don't need to look far to see how great their community is....just look at the kids, great place to raise children, thank you. And for all of you along the way, my customers / friends we'll be seeing you, leave the light on please.  We love you all.

As for Mile 14....if you'll bare with me I'm going to evolve this into a fishing and learning blog as I explore the new stuff I'm so excited for. If I had to guess I'll bet I go after Montana trout fishing just like I went after Kenai salmon...full speed. While we're packing I'm to busy to blog, we've got a ton of stuff to do...no , 10 tons actually so I'll take a bit of a writing break but will post as much as I can, when I can...and it'll be fun. I'll definitely blog the trip south on the Alaska Marine Highway.  I hope you come along !

My song this week....well, I wanted something relevant so went to the archives and dug out a Jimmy Buffet song. It's a little rough but if you get through the first verse it smooths out a bit.

Ouch....maybe a bit more than rough. oh well...😎

It's a boy

Yep, he left the world at 31 inches and somewhere around 16 or 18 pounds and for me it was one of the most exciting fish of my life.

If you remember last year on her birthday it took MP exactly 3 minutes into the first troll to catch a jumbo which we released. Well this one was the day after her birthday and bit after  a good 10 minutes into our first troll. We were where we always are, under the Cottonwoods above Eagle Rock with not a boat in sight. The bite was classic, the rod doing it's gentle flatfish thumping and it stops for a second and actually goes a bit slack as ol slimey stops the action and then the hook gets him and down it goes, fast and hard. Unlike some ladies MP muscles it out of the rod holder and with one good jerk the fight is on.

As she tires the fish I try to get one of those cool ' in the water shots ' where the fish is bright and glistening in the emerald glacier water but I guess I'm losing a step or so because this is as good as it got.

MP finally says " put that @#$&* camera away and net this fish " so I do and as soon as it's safely in the net the rod goes slack and the line flies  up loose...and the plug is still in the fish. mmmmmm.....a bit of a debate goes on about how that plug connector came to be open. The pescador says the snap was closed when she put the Flatfish on and it must of come open in the fight. Now I've netted just a few fish and have never seen that but hey, there's a first time for every thing.

It was just the right size. We have a new early run management plan that only counts the ' big fish ' which are the best spawners and allows us to keep Kings under 34 inches. Which we did . It's really ritualistic that first King of the year and of course they are the very best eating if you talk with salmon people. Caught commercially over at the Copper River Delta right now that fish is worth a couple hundred bucks, easy. We like to steak the first one and our meal was the boneless butt pieces simply fried in butter. We shared the rest with salmon loving friends and neighbors, the Alaska way.

 Ain't that a great shot ? I had a guy tell me one time as we were gutting fish " your gutting table has a better view than my hot tub "...

My song of the week is a Guy Clark song that was kinda the signature song of my friend Ben Ellis. When ever we played together he would sing this song and about a year ago the weirdest thing happened. Guy Clark who I think is one of the best song writers ever  died and Steve Earll came out with his tribute album ' Guy' and of course this song was on it and I thought I should work on it...well the weirdest thing happened, I realized I already new it and just didn't know. I started with an A chord because Guy usually used the key of A and then the lyrics just rolled off my tongue just from hearing Ben play it so many times years ago. It's the magic of music, the connectivity with the story.

For this one me and the audio dept. here at Mile 14 went down to the office to record it and I think it turned out just fine, maybe the best one I've done actually...

A buddy of mine texted me last night to remind I was a bit behind schedule on my blog posts and I looked and he was right....yikes, the time goes by and we can do better. I'll try to get one out every week because we're going to have an ultra exciting summer and I want to invite you all to share it with us, please don't give up on Mile 14 if you enjoy it....😎