TuzigootJournal: Dillon and Ennis

While we were in Glacier NP I had targeted Dillon, in SW Montana, for our next destination. The spot where Lewis and Clark abandoned their boats and bought horses to get them over the mountains and eventually to the Columbia River is near here. Also, I had googled Montana Fourth of July parades and found Ennis, only about 70 scenic miles from Dillon. Its parade and rodeo have a long tradition.

We get to the Dillon KOA Friday afternoon, then head for Ennis first thing Saturday morning. Stopped to buy gas for the Cruiser and find I'm missing my American Express credit card. I thought I had tried to use it (but got rejected as occasionally happens - small businesses don't like what AmEx charges them for the privilege) at the local IGA, so we checked back there. Nope. Went back to Tuzi, checked the pockets of pants I had worn previous day. Nope. Tried to call AmEx, but number on back of card didn't lead to customer service. We figured it had to be somewhere in Tuzigoot so we went on to Ennis.

To finish the credit card story now, once we got home, in mid-afternoon, I got the AmEx customer service number from the website and called to put a 24 hr. hold on the card. Asked service rep for latest charges. Nothing since Friday at Flying J in Butte - a legitimate charge. Hmm, maybe I left it there. Called Flying J and sure enough they had my card. Fortunately, Butte is just an hour from Dillon and I had time to drive up and back in time to finish our glorious fourth at a bluegrass/country concert in the Dillon park. Here's a picture of the scenery along I-15.

Meanwhile, at Ennis, we set up our lawnchairs by the parade route. En route, here's a view of the valley in which Ennis is situated. Nice day for clouds.

Parade was fun, and provided ample people-watching entertainment, but, frankly, I was a little bit disappointed. Not much music. In particular, no marching band. A couple of bagpipe bands doing Scottish tunes, a truck and wagon sponsored by a local watering hole that was playing the theme from Gilligan's Island, and that was it! Nevertheless, for your viewing enjoyment:

Main action in Ennis was downtown, two blocks from where we were set up. Restaurants, shops, and bars all doing big business. After the parade we joined the throng and strolled up and back, then went back to a barbecue restaurant near where we had parked. Turned out to be sitting at an outdoor table with the parents of and wife of the restaurant owner (actually, husband and wife own it together and also a pizza shop in town; parents came from Minnesota-three grandkids to see). Just bought these properties a few months ago. We had a good lunch and visit.

The road from Dillon to Ennis goes through Virginia City, a restored mining town, once the territorial capital of Montana. We were reading historical descriptions of one block of houses and I decided to take a look at one the governor had lived in. I pushed open the front door and walked in. A startled couple jumped from their living room chairs as I walked into their private residence. They acted like people make that mistake all the time and they insisted that I look through the house.

Some other Virginia City scenes.