After knocking the rust off his fly fishing gear in Ennis (post here), we traveled through Livingston, MT on our way to Big Timber and the Boulder River for more fishing.
We stopped for an afternoon in Livingston, whose main street is a little slice of Americana. Its small walkable downtown with mountain backdrop contains modern shops and restaurants but they kept that Route 66 feel with vintage store front signs and retro painted advertisements. I highly recommend a spending an afternoon to explore.
The Boulder River originates in the Gallatin National Forest south of Big Timber and just north of Yellowstone National Park. Driving up the valley takes you past the ranch used to film the “Horse Whisperer” and several spots on the Boulder were used in the film “A River Runs Through It”. It is a classically beautiful Montana valley and a favorite of Doug’s over the years.
We met Doug’s son Hayden, daughter Kellen and their mom Karen in addition to Karen’s aunt and uncle at the Empty Bar Guest Ranch (emptybarguestranch.com). The main house with a couple of cabins accommodated the family and we were able to get the RV leveled up for a couple night’s stay in their driveway. It was a great opportunity to visit with both kids at one time and we scored some fantastic meals!
Doug, Kellen, and Hayden
In contrast to the Madison River (see post here), the Boulder River near Big Timber is a much smaller river with smaller fish and access by hiking along the shore versus floating in a drift boat.
Since I don’t fish, Bailey and I had planned to hike a nearby trail. Unfortunately, wet weather the night before and a large equestrian outfitter in the area made for a muddy trail that cut our hike short.
Fishing 
Attempted Hike 
This left me riding solo…literally…as I grabbed the ebike to explore this stunning area. What I loved about this river was the ever changing patterns of water cascading over and around the numerous boulders. Sitting on its gurgling banks provided a moment of mindfulness. It was a great afternoon!
AND did I mention the entire afternoon was just me and my ebike?!
Remember that movie where Pee Wee Herman’s bike is stolen by his archnemesis neighbor? He offers $10K for its return and after visiting a Madam Ruby, a phony psychic, he makes an epic journey to the Alamo, where she claims he’d find his bike in the Alamo’s basement. When he tours the Alamo, he discovers there is no basement. Sadly he begins his journey home and ends up in an outlaw biker bar where he inadvertently knocks over motorcycles – domino style. The bikers agree to grant him a dying wish and he chooses to dance to “Tequila”.
Pee Wee’s unorthodox dance moves win the bikers over and to help him return home, they provide him with a motorcycle that he immediately crashes. When wakes in the hospital he sees his bicycle on a television show. He sets his sight on stealing it back. When he does, the police arrest him, but the movie studio executives agree to drop the charges in return for rights to make an extreme action movie based on his bicycling adventure. He leaves the drive-in movie premier of the movie about his adventure early telling his “girlfriend” Dottie that he doesn’t need to see the end of the movie because “I lived it.”
Yeah, the love affair with my ebike is kinda like that.
Yeah, the love affair with my ebike is kinda like that.
I’ll admit as well that this isn’t the first time I’ve fallen in love with a mode of transportation. I owned a Kermit green Honda del Sol named Maverick that I drove until clients probably started to question my worth as a consultant. I then acquired a grown-up, 4-door 2005 Acura (named my Hooptie) and drove it over 260,000 miles prior to selling it for the RV adventure. I was even a bit late to the office on the morning of 9 July 2019 as I was documenting its 250,000 mile odometer rollover in an empty parking lot on my way to work. Look how happy I am! We’d been through so much together.
That’s either true love or some weird obsession with #goals, but I digress…
My ebike is a LIV Amiti E+ 2 made by Giant. Doug did a lot of research to help pick this model and here’s why it’s so amazing:
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- It’s a class 3 ebike. Other classes are often not allowed in national forests so be sure buy this class if you plan to ride there.
- It’s pedal assist (can’t just be throttled) so it forces me to continually ride, building strength with every ride but never worrying about the ride being beyond my / the bike’s capabilities.
- It quickly charges and conveniently so through a custom outlet Doug had installed in the RV “garage” when he upgraded our RV with lithium batteries and solar.
- It’s well designed with an incredibly comfortable seat, handlebars at the perfect angle, 9 gears easy to shift plus 5 levels of assist, and its packaged in a sophisticated, but feminine, frame that’s grey and turquoise blue.
- It’s a beast (with max speed at 20 miles per hour) and a great equalizer to Doug’s mad cycling skills.
The Boulder River trip was over too quickly and while the weather wasn’t perfect, Doug enjoyed the fishing, I enjoyed my bike ride, and we both enjoyed seeing family.
We beelined it from the Big Timber, MT over to Billings for much needed respite. We stayed in my mom’s driveway and were able to visit with my brother, my Uncle Harry, Aunt Brenda, Uncle Tom and my wonderfully entertaining 94 year old Grandma Guay. It was great to be able to tour them through our RV, catch up, share some meals, do laundry, plan our next month on the road, and take a long shower or two.
While there, Doug spent a day on the river with my brother, a few of his friends, and family cousins Carrie, Hart and Truman while my mom and I pampered ourselves with manicures. Bailey was delighted by my mom’s homemade dog treats and playtime with Ferris (mom’s dog), Karma (brother’s bird dog) and Griz (my Uncle’s very cute new bernedoodle puppy).
Homemade Treats 
Griz 
3 Generations 
Uncle Harry
Billings invigorated us all and we were grateful for the company and well wishes!
