Fellow E-11ers:
As has been my custom to do now for each of the past eight [count ‘em!] Extravaganzas, my last post-Extravaganza day (today) is spent in reflection and appreciation for all that we have seen and done during that summer’s Extravaganza and this day is no exception to its eight predecessors. As I traverse from room to room buttoning things down, I cannot help but to smile on each room’s wonderful residents and all of the truly exceptional experiences that we were blessed to share during E-11; as in the past, your laughter yet peals from the nearby Ponderosa pines, the chipmunks yet scurry about Headquarters with your special élan, and the simple wonderfulness that the Extravaganza has come to embrace yet provides its aura over this special part of God’s own backyard.
Take the Moose Room, for example. Group One saw the Father’s Day father-son combination of Eddie “Two License” Downer and son Doug then in occupancy, spending time together as every father-son combination in this world should take time to do, followed first by Group Two’s Doug “Popeye” Hamilton returning for his eighth Extravaganza, this time with his long time business associate and Extravaganza veteran Ken “No Camera” Snider [Popeye, this time with his bride “Lori Lori,” having just departed that room for a second time but a few days ago] and then by the wonderful return of Group Three’s Grady “GQ” Garrett and his glorious bride “Grinnin’ Penny”, who on their first visit here had been dating for over 20 years only to now find themselves lifetime bound as husband and wife.
On parallel paths, our Blackfoot House saw The Brian “Moraine” Shepard Clan in residency for Group One, complete with all of his three wonderful Father’s Day celebrant children “Eliza Jane”, “Fear The Beard” Josef, and “Tsar Josef” along with Eliza’s beau Stefan and this year’s special addition of Steve Manfre only to be followed by The “Squawfish Tim” Rodgers Clan during Group Two, complete with wife “Shanna Banana”, prodigy “CT” and “Snowflake” and accompanied by their Gisela, maternal grandmother and the one and only “Fawn Lady” Lori Ware and then, during Group Three, by the Kers Clausen Clan, complete with wife Kathy, daughters Katie and BJ together with husbands, boyfriends and lifetime friend in Kjeld Hestehave and his partner Diane.
And then add to the mix of over 66 anglers our wonderful E-11 visitors and guests: World renowned Sweetgrass bamboo rod makers Glenn Brackett and Jerry Kustich (together with their business manager Dave Delisi); Montana Wildlife Federation President Tim Aldrich together with National Issues Coordinator “Big Ben” Lamb and Development Director (and former Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Executive Director) Jeff Hagener; National Wildlife Federation Rockies Regional Coordinator Tom France together with National Outdoors Coordinator “One If By” Land Tawney; and our Montana Matters Napa concert performers Bob Wire headlined by our dear, dear friend and Montana Matters Troubadour Shane Clouse.
And if that were not enough, then add to the E-11 bouillabaisse Mother Nature’s epic runoff (the likes of which no one of us has ever seen in his or her lifetime) that took down our treasured local rivers (the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, the Bitterroot River and the Big (“A River Runs Through It”) Blackfoot River) and, as an alternative, saw us reaching out to Commander Cliff of Beach Transportation to take us for the first time ever each of our nine fishing days over the Continental Divide to fish the special waters of the Mighty Missouri River where, even there, the runoff was of epic proportions—the flow during Group One being 10.400 cfs only to see that high water mark double to over 22,400 cfs for both Groups Two and Three. Enroute, Group One had “The Trout Tub”; Group Two had “The Extravaganza Express” and Group Three had “Montana Matters”—all three had one thing in common, each had a blast aboard!!!
And, in the truly unusual face of it all, what did our wonderful cadre of guides, under the special leadership and mentoring of our Double Up Outfitter John “The Great But Propaneless” Gould do?? Well, they discovered new math and took the potentially most adverse of fishing conditions and created “ 23 + 35 + 53”—the record number of Twenty Inch Fish registered consecutively by each of our three groups with a previously never even conceived grand total of 111 Twenty Inch entrants—registration that, unlike in previous years needed but one Twenty Inch board, during E-11 required four such boards—simply stated, a record that I cannot ever even conceive being approached let alone bested.
Indeed, Extravaganza 2011 was and is one for the extravagant record books. But hang onto your fish hooks, gang, as plans are already deeply underway for next year’s Tenth Anniversary Extravaganza which, I can assure you, will be of epically extravagant proportions…so keep your eyes peeled for soon-to-be beginning E-12 email invitations coming your way, as each and every one of you are most cordially to return to the beautiful scene of it all next year as we again reach out into the wonderful flora and fauna of Western Montana to bask in the glories that there await for us.
After all that we have seen and share together this past Extravaganza, who in clear reflection can honestly deny that Montana, truly, matters?? This special part of the earth thanks you, as do I, for the present of your E-11 presence; beckons your 2012 return; and thanks you from its very essence for your www.montanamatters.com support.
Raise a symbolic final glass with me, if you would, as, together, we now put a bow on Extravaganza 2011 in a toast to all that we shared together, in salute to each of the 1,800+ fish that graced our nets, and in special appreciation to each of you for taking special, precious time to share with each other a goodly (and Godly) portion of what Montana laid at our footsteps this summer. From the very essence of my soul, I thank and salute each of you for being with us during Extravaganza 2011 and extend this most sincere invitation to grace us again with your special presence.
Best to all from the now closing scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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Click on the play button above to hear the new song written about the Montana Extravaganza and Rock Creek Ron.
