Up early again this morning in order to meet up with my friends, Marge and George, for some breakfast. Marge just got back from two weeks over in Russia, so it was fun to hear some of her stories from her tour. Sounds like she had a wonderful time, and she even brought me a shot glass from Russia. Maybe I need to go buy some decent vodka to break that one in with.

    On to Longmont after that, where I had my yearly physical. Poked, prodded and punctured... it actually went better than I thought it would. The only thing I hate is the blood letting they do so they can do 'blood work up's'. Oh, and that whole turn your head and cough thing too. So far the only real problems are that I weigh to much, duh, and because of that, my blood pressure is higher than it should be.. Lucky for me it isn't so bad that I have to go back on drugs, but I really do need to think about getting serious about losing some weight. Its just so easy, and so much fun, to go out and eat with friends and family when I'm in town.

    Also had my teeth checked out while up there. No cavities, and only minor gum stuff going on. About what you would expect of someone who hasn't had a tooth cleaning for a year or so. Got them all cleaned and polished up, and should be good for yet another year on the road.

    Hung around Longmont for a couple of hours and spent a little time picking up some new windshield wipers, a new air cleaner and some injector cleaner stuff to dump into the gas tank. Got all of those things installed and then went and had a bite to eat at a local Chipotle, where I read the last of the paper, did the crossword, and read a magazine.

    Once done with that, it was on to Boulder for the regular Friday night contra dance. Not real busy tonight, only around 100 people for the evening, but it was enough for 2 pretty decent dance lines. Good music and some fun partners to dance with, but I left a little after the mid dance break as I was starting to feel pretty sleepy and it was more than an hour to get back to the house.

    Will be up early again in the morning in order to be on the road to Pueblo in time to meet one of my brothers there for some lunch. Didn't think I was going to get a chance to see him as he is nearly always away fighting forest fires in the summer. Lucky for me though, he came off one a couple of days ago and hasn't found another one to go back out on yet. Will be good to see him again and hear what he has been up to. Wish his wife was going to be there also, but she is off visiting her relatives in Nebraska right now.

    So it's time to be off to bed. Here are the last pictures from this years river trip. Hope you enjoy them. Will post something new next time.

Missouri River Trip in Montana - August 2013

Yet another day on the river. The scenery is changing yet again. Lower sandstone cliffs along the river and maybe a few higher white cliffs farther away from the banks. On the higher hills you can see extensive pine forests while along the river there are more willows and cottonwoods.

A short break to stretch the legs. At this stage the canoes have shed a couple hundred pounds in food and liquids so it is much easier to paddle now.

Can't believe he can sleep in that position. Rhodie on the other hand can sleep nearly anywhere.

Life can be pretty easy at times.

 

Everyone seems to be sleepy today.

Looking back up river.

Nice to have a fence around the whole camping area. Didn't have to worry about cow poo everywhere for a change.

Starting to lose the light again as the sun starts to set in the west.

Our camping spot for the night is called 'Gist Bottom' after the old homestead that was once there. Haven't ever hiked over to this old cabin for some reason. Will have to fix that one of these days.

Looks like it would of been pretty lonely out here when they lived in that cabin.

The camp site sign. At 122.6 river miles we have only another 27+ miles to do the next day to get to our take out.

Another sunset on the river.

The next morning we are up bright and early and packing the boats. Rhodie is a great supervisor.

It turns out that Rhodie hates laying in the boat on her pad if there is any water on it... who knew! So every morning Tom and her had this ritual where he would pick her up and carry her over to the boat so her feet wouldn't get wet. Hard to believe, but he wouldn't do that for me when I told him I hated to kneel if my pad was wet or muddy.

I can't believe he does this. :)

And into the boat she goes. 

At one of our stops I noticed about a bazillion of these iridescent beetles climbing up and down a bunch of willow branches. Have seen this before on other river trips. It is kind of neat looking. A whole lotta beetle sex going on here.

More beetles.

Kind of looks like a picture a couple pictures above this one. Only the scenery has changed.

The end of the trip. We have paddled at least 149 miles and have had a great time. Time for the women to drive back to Fort Benton to pick up the other vehicles, while we guys deal with unpacking the boats and get everything ready to pack up and go.

It's just starting to set in that we made it.

And there it is.... not bad for her first river trip. Another 10,000 miles or so and she might just fit into the group. Just kidding,... she did great.

 

The boats are empty and have been cleaned up while all the gear is separated out and ready to throw into the cars when they get back.

A little more than 4 hours to run the shuttle so we just got the chairs out, drank a beer or two, they were still cold, and sat up the tent so the dogs could get away from the flies. It was a great trip, and just like usual, it went by way to fast. Also like always, we were already starting to plan the next one. Life is great!