A little fire! Just a small one, a solo stove sized one. Thank you dad for continuing to let me use it. It really gets the boys excited. We had a little fire with the campers on property with us. We invited two raft guides who stay off property to come and cook with us. A grilled chicken pasta and asparagus night. Elijah continues to be the best chef we could ask for. We had a few zipline guides come out and hang with us for a bit and a bite to eat as well. While its nice everyone was together, it was the best to get the girls out to hang out with. We've been lacking the female energy since Cass has left. Juliet and Evie help fix that quite a bit. Evie reminds me a lot of Emily Zoll! I wish they could meet. They have the same laugh and same sense of humor and there is a really comforting feel around Evie because she reminds me so much of Em. 

I am officially a commercial guide for Montana White Water. I finished my free turkey boats and made some really cool connections through them. One zip guide, Paddy, sent me a contact who ended up being his older brothers close friend. His name was Mark and he was dope asf. He rafted the Arkansas river for five years and still finds ways to get out despite his schedule. He brought two nursing friends as well and I had some insane paddle power for my checkoff. Guess who can finally be paid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

whoop whoop! Sort of though. Turkey boats for the lower portion will start soon, let me know if you're in the area ;-)

My pictures skills this more recent round were rough. Blurry pics mean real moments. Oops lolz

So we all have that smart friend, ours is Cassie. Biomed engineering degree with a one year masters program for software design. She won't brag but I will for her. She's one of my coolest friends. We knew from that start that Cass would have to complete a few classes in the summer to finish on time while balancing this job. Between no signal where we work and the half hour drive to the nearest coffee shop, three days off, and no supplementary income right now - it was too much. As sad as I was to have her leave, this is the coolest and best thing for her. Girlclub is long distance now and I have way too many dudes around me. I do love them but I miss sharing the bed with Cass. Our last family dinner was the best and she left this last tuesday. I am praying next summer will work out better for her and she'll be able to fit in at least one more seasonal job with me. Not the same without her here, but I still have Natalie a few hours south. We miss you the most<3

Friends!!! Lots been happening, my bad for being to lazy to drive into town so I can blog. I feel like a mom blogger when I go out of my way to do this, maybe this is my future...#mommyblogger. Kidding, someone slap me if it gets that far. 

We went through training last week! Started Tuesday on the Gallatin - learning to read the river, rapid names, stories, etc. It was pretty relaxed the first day, easiest day for sure. Wednesday started our flip drills. I felt like I was gonna die the whole time but honestly it was super cool and feel badass as hell flipping a boat over. Total girlboss move. Thursday and Friday were drove to Gardinar to raft the Yellowstone river, our other company outpost. 11 trips down the river in 2 days, I am still tired. We had 5 runs worth of flip drills. We started with a stationary session standing in the water when we were at my location, but we transitioned to flipping in rapids really quickly. There was only one run where things didn't go as planned and I was alone on the outside of the raft. Everyone had floated downstream because of how strong the water was and the higher CFS and I had no paddle. Getting back in the boat wouldn't have done anything since I couldn't paddle and I can't paddle a 16footer alone lolz. I just hung on until another boat came over and saved me. Damsel in distress *wink*. 

Saturday was a personal location day so the staff split up and went to their perspective places. Unfortunately, we met this dope girl Natalie and she's at the other location. Still upset about that...I am forcing her to marry Matt hehehe. Hopefully we'll be able to see her soon, she was the immediate extra with the group and I wish we could've had a girlclub with her and Cassie sleepover before she dipped out. She killed it on the Yellowstone though so I know the trip she'll lead with me next time I am down there will be sick as fuck. Natalie - we miss you. We also have matching fish tattoos so like how were we not supposed to be friends. 

At the end of the week, we kind chilled for two days to let our bodies and minds recover. Guide school is the most physically and mentally demanding thing i've ever done but I did love it. I'm mad ready to get down the river commercially. We have do something called Turkey boats (free rides for locals/friends/random people) to prove we are ready. Emily helped me out and got me in contact with a friend in the area so I am meeting up with her Monday for a raft trip and a good friend of my brothers Noah and Matt, Andrew. Homie asked me if beers were allowed. I already know I will like him. We met some dude in a coffee shop and he texted me asking to set something up as well as the food pantry workers. Stopped in there to see if any of them wanted to go rafting and they were all pumped so I am hoping that'll give them some fun and they're helping us get our training done.

We also went fishing! We have since found out that we are not allowed to fish there so we won't be going back and will be more careful looking for spots, but Vinny caught a keeper! No one else did but we all got at least one. I caught my first trout ever and we cooked up Vinnys fish for him. He'd never eaten a fish he caught and he swore it tasted better because of it. I actually just used a fuckton of butter:). They also match the shoes I just gifted him. 


The pics below are the last fully family dinner. Explained in the next post....

                               HELLOOOOOOO GALLTAINNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is still the coolest place I have ever been. We arrived last night at camp and within 30 minutes we were getting ready to get on the river. A guy named Luke who used to work for Montana White Water (the company I am working for this summer) wondered over and asked. He had plans to raft with another Montana WW member and local Ethan and his girlfriend Angela. She was the sweetest, she brought us an extra lunch box of beer. In my head the first thing I thought about was how my parents might not love the spontaneous *raft a river you know nothing about with some strangers* thing but I do. My brother was in support, thank you Matt. Sorry Mom and Dad. 

We rafted a smaller portion of the river focused on the "Mad Mile" of class four water. Shit was gnarly. The water is too high to run commercially, but off duty guides couldn't care less. The river is sitting at 3300 cfs (fast) and they cap commercial customer before the mad mile if it runs over 3 grand. Luke said a few guides run the river higher and there's been a few who have rafted near 8 or 9 grand cfs. I would die but good for them. This water is perf. It is also like 30 degrees though and I am really appreciating the dry suit I invested in. 

We woke up this morning kind of early and figured there would be a few new comers...parking lot was entirely full. Swift water certification class started and a ton of guides needed to complete it. Luckily, we got certified last year with our river manager and got out of paying a couple hundred. Clutch asfff. We did a small baby introduction before Bill, owner and founder of MWW, asked if we wanted to join on the customer trip they were running around 10am. We all said yes and suited up. The trip with him showed us the whole river and we were out there for about 2 hours before we hit the mad mile and pulled over to take out. Our customers were two guys who were ready for a fun time so everything went extra well. I think Bill is one of the coolest dudes here so far and I am excited to have a Boss that is truly intertwined with their company unlike *cough cough* before. 

Its 3:30 now and this is the first time in about a day I could communicate outside of the people with me. There's a new icon on my phone that pops up because I am so far out of the range of signal/service of any kind. My technology addicted father may die if he visits (lol), but the mountains totally make up for it. Cassie and I are sitting at separate tables at a coffee shop because she's got school stuff and I know for a fact that if we sit at the same table, nothing will be getting done. I am going to call my parents now! Love you guys byeeee!

I've been on the road one whole week! I left last Friday, joined Cassie on Saturday. We met up at Elijah's where Vinny finally joined us as well. We are missing one last friend before the whole crew is all together and I am stoked. Poe has been good on the road and enjoys my dashboard as her sleeping spot and hunting grounds. The flies on the windshield are REAL scared of her. Cassie and I completed our first poop duty. I made a joke last post about how that is a mans job...consider us the largest girlbosses of them all because that was fucking disgusting and I hate it. Super cool I will be doing that until god knows when I decide I don't want to live in this thing anymore. 

We've met some cool folks out here too staying around the area. We camped a few nights around Billings (itch-kep-pe campground) and met an interesting couple. Ray and Darlene Love. RayDar Love as they called themselves. I think its in reference to an old song but I can't remember what they said. One was widowed and the other divorced and they've fallen in love late in life. I think they're both probably around the mid sixties but they've been on the road for a while and had some of the coolest stories to tell.

Last night at Battle Ridge campground, Cassie and I fought for our lives...elevation sickness. It wasn't bad but who the hell forgot to tell me that was a thing. I saw mountains for the first time ever and met more cool kids. These kids were a little older than us but they worked at Montana White Water and one of their close buddies still works for them. They were fun to chat with and I think we were all by the fire for a couple hours. 

        Today marks the end of the journey to Montana and I do have a few final thoughts to share
 
1. North Dakota is boring as hell to drive through and I don't ever want to go back
2. Badlands were the coolest thing in the whole world
3. Truck stop showers really aren't that bad
4. I will never be coming back to Indiana :)

THE FIRST TRIP!!!! Well this is exciting!! 

The first camping trip on a long list of places to go! This wasn't technically one of the places I was excited to visit. It was a whole 25 minutes away...but that felt like a super far drive because this was the first time I drove my cute little RV. It wasn't that hard, but its giving me imposter syndrome...isn't this a mans job? 

Kidding, but a mans job would include the sewage dumping portion and man do I wish I could avoid that forever. Two ladies at this campground were messing with their sewage lines in a way that wasn't efficient in cleaning the system. It was efficient in creating a shit smell on this half of the camp...literal shit. 

My dad came along for this trip to show me how to do this all. A man near us told him he thought it was cute his daughter wanted to come out camping with him. Jokes on that fool - Dad came camping with me ;)

Enjoy these pictures of my dad trying to get a fire going, clearly he isn't the expert I am. 

^ me and my inability to frame a photo...as a photographer (hehe)