Billings, MT

Tuesday, August 16 – Monday, August 22

We had a great time in Billings.

First, down to business. Wednesday I called the local Chevy dealer to see about the check-engine problem. They could take me Thursday morning at 8.30 am. Great.

I took the van in on Thursday morning and they looked at it and checked the diagnostics. Turned out, I probably didn’t need to have that O2 sensor replaced back in Sioux Falls – the problem was bigger than that. It was my intake manifold (according to Wikipedia, that’s the part of an engine that supplies the fuel/air mix to the cylinders). My engine was sucking air, and it needed to be fixed.

The Chevy dealer needed till Friday afternoon to do the fix. Unfortunately, the warranty on the van only covered a little over 40% of the cost, so it still was a fairly expensive repair. But the Champagne Chevy was back in business, ready to roll.

Let’s hear it for Billings! The van is now fixed. Hooray!

While the van was at the shop, I was able to have lunch with Paige on Thursday afternoon. Turns out the Billings Little League team was playing the South Dakota Little League team that afternoon at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. We had lunch and watched the first half of the game at a local bar – the place was packed. Everyone was rooting for the Billings home team. This was their first trip to the World Series ever. (They won the game!)

That afternoon, I went to the Yellowstone Art Museum to see the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs exhibit, showcasing the annual winning photos since the inception of the Pulitzer Prize in 1942. It was really powerful – brought tears to my eyes many times. Turns out this exhibit is in permanent display at the Newseum … in Washington, DC … where I live. Who knew? (Get out much, Christine? J )

 It was Chris’s birthday. That evening, friends and family came over to Paige & Chris’s house for a party. Nephew Asher played his fiddle, Jay danced, Chris blew out his candles – it was a fun night.

Friday morning, Gigi returned home from Georgia, where she had been for two weeks with Paige’s parents. Gigi and I decided to bike to the Montana State Fair for the afternoon. OMG – we had so much fun. When was the last time I was on the Tilt-a-Whirl??? (Answer: a long time ago.) The Starship didn’t do good things for Gigi’s tummy, so we called it a day, went to pick up the Champagne Chevy and headed home.

That evening, Paige and I went to a book reading of a local Montana author about several Montana characters and life in the state. I have one on order so I’ll have more insight into what life is like in the west!

Saturday we started off with an early lunch in Molt, about 20 miles west of Billings. The Prairie Winds Café is an old hardware store that now serves breakfast and lunch. We were serenaded by a great bluegrass band during lunch (and the French fries were yummy!).

After lunch, Lynne suggested a drive into the prairie to look at some bird-nesting lakes. Lynne knows her back roads! We ended up seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but miraculously the Big Lake Nesting Island suddenly appeared before us, boasting curious birds … and toads! Gigi is a toad whisperer – she can catch anything!

Saturday evening was low-key and I gave the Champagne Chevy a good cleaning to get the “just been in the shop” smell out of it. Wow – it felt good to have it clean!

I went fly fishing on Sunday!

Chris is an expert fly fisher and had organized to go fly fishing with a few friends on the Bighorn River on Sunday. I was able to go along with the group. Who knew that fly fishing would be so much fun!

It was a beautiful day on the river. It turns out that I suck at fly fishing, but Chris tells me with practice I’ll get better. (I was jerky and need more flow. I kept trying too hard to place the fly where I wanted, when it’s better to just let it go. More yin, less yang. Sounds like the whole point of this trip, doesn’t it, Christine – more yin, less yang …)

While we were on the river, I couldn’t help but think that my dad would just pee his pants when I told him I was fly fishing in Montana. (Not sure he actually had a pee accident, but he sure was jealous when I told him on the phone the next day!)

The drive home was exciting, too – a MAJOR thunderstorm came up just as we were getting the boat off the water and hit hard while we were on the road home. Wow. Lightning. Thunder. Really hard rain, falling so hard and fast, Chris could barely see the road in front of us. Powerful weather.

When we got home that night, we watched the news to learn that the Billings Little League team had won their game that day against Louisiana. They are now 2-0 and advance to the next semi-final game, sporting some great hitting and fielding from the team.