Welcome Home!

In 2014 I returned to my beloved Western Montana home after a two-year work relocation to the “Midworst”…Illinois. My wife was in her late pregnancy and time was of the essence as my opportunities to get out and fish were about to seriously dry up in two months when the baby came, so I set forth to one of my favorite trout streams for Memorial Day. The salmonfly hatch would be in full swing and though this particular river was somewhat popular amongst local wade anglers, it received very little traffic from boats due to whitewater, sweepers, sketchy boat ramps, rough roads, and the remote location. At the time I was boatless and we had only one vehicle. I borrowed my buddy’s raft and my sister-in-law, who was going out of town for the weekend, was kind enough to loan me her FJ. She had recently moved back as well and the rig still had MN plates on it. The realization that I was going to a locals-only stream in a bright blue FJ with out-of-state plates and a raft was not lost on me. I endured un-welcome stares and one middle finger on the rocky road to the river, but found my favorite camp site vacant, settled in, enjoyed an evening fishing session and hit the hay.

My buddy Erik had agreed to meet in the am and I awoke to a flat tire. The river road was in especially rough shape, but we decided to gamble, put the spare on the right rear, and headed upriver to drop the boat in the drink.

I was looking out the driver’s side view when, to my astonishment, the LEFT rear tire rolled away from the truck. Awestruck, we immediately hit the ground…HARD!

Never had I experienced a wheel coming off while driving and was certain I had done serious damage to my sister-in-law’s rig. Upon inspection, however, everything seemed to be OK. We left the rig where it was and headed into the nearest town. Fortunately, my friend Erik had a buddy there with a shop and he was able to fix the tire for us.

At that point we decided to cut our losses and head home.

Welcome back to Montana!!!