50 Years Of Boat Float

What’s happening on the second weekend of July for 50 years in Sweet Grass County, Montana??  Boat Float weekend.  Crowds of folks load into water crafts of all sorts and float 95 miles from Livingston, MT to Laurel, MT on the Yellowstone River.  Crowds of beer and other various spirits are loaded into the boats along with the people making for a raucous good time!  We’ve never done the boat float and probably never will but one of my quilting buddies, Janet, lives on the Yellowstone River and she along with her husband Jim threw a Boat Float party today.

We convinced Jim and Ellie it would be a great time watching all the drunk/sober folks float down the river.  And we were right—plus we got to introduce Jim and Ellie to lots of our friends! 

95 miles these boat float with two overnight stops—one in Big Timber, the other in tiny Reedpoint.  Many of the boats stop in Columbus, MT, about 25 miles short of Laurel, MT.  In the events’ heyday as many as 1000-1200 boats made the float.  This weekend’s numbers were expected to be between 50-70 boats. 

This black lab lives here and every time a motor operated boat would come within hearing distance he would assume the pose and then race the boat down the river bank. 

Even the pooches get into the act—notice the lifejacket on the dog and the people—a rare occurrence, sad to say.

Anyone who knows Jim knows he is not fond of snakes and that is a severe understatement.  We were going to sit on the bank of the river to eat and of course Jim notices this snake right off the bat—the three of us sat to eat, Jim stood in case he needed to make a quick getaway!!! 

My favorite cowboy by the river.

Back home we began making preparations for our last dinner (this visit) with Jim and Ellie.  They provided some deliciously marinated fajita meat and I made guacamole.  We seared some peppers and onions to add to that delicious beef—oh, my!  Jim also made a butterfinger pie to add to the rhubarb cake I made this morning.  Yep, we are waddling now!  

It rained as we were driving home and rained off and on most of the evening—we were treated to this rainbow which when I put the photo through its paces in Picasa, I noticed was an almost double rainbow—there is a very faint rainbow in the upper left corner of the photo.

It was a good day in Montana!