Ennis, MT - Los Angeles, CA

Days 66-68

I rearranged my gear in the vehicle and headed south to Ennis to visit my Grandmother and run a few errands.  I returned Bill and Nick’s inflatable one man and checked in at Grandma’s around 4PM.  Her house had just been completed from a two month long, exterior makeover.  Her home, which now stands out from the mailbox half a mile away, is utterly beautiful.  Most of the features that were camouflaged before, like the logs and general architecture are now apparent.  I filled Grandma in on some of the more incredible moments of my trip and then, as a treat, we watched Wall Street, the film, in the Ennis movie theatre, which only plays one movie at a time.  Afterwards, we had a special dinner at Sportsman's and crashed after a long day. 

Opening day of hunting season.

The following day, I agreed to rearrange some of the furniture in her home because we were turning a small den into another bedroom.  Little did I know that it would end up being an eight hour project.  But hanging out with Grandma is always a blast and we ended up laughing quite a bit.  Before dark, I chose to see the boulder that had crushed part of the Ennis Dam.  I thought they may be able to remove it, but now it seems that it may indefinitely be part of the dam.  I was pleased to see that Ennis Lake retook a healthy amount of water and then headed back home.  We watched the start of a movie until we both dozed off. 


The next morning, Grandma was nice enough to treat me to an Ennis Pharmacy breakfast (its actually called Yesterday’s) at 7AM knowing I would try to drive the entire way to Los Angeles in a day.  It was great to see Grandma in such great shape and, again, she's STILL got it!  I know that I was planning on driving down highway 101 through Washington and Oregon to then catch Highway 1 in California, but it just was impossible to do it all.  In fact, its been a major lesson for me, not to overbook myself with plans when you may want to spend an extra day in an unexpected place like Tofino or spend an extra day with family. 

Sunset over Arizona/California border.

Anyway, I did it.  After 1,060 miles and eighteen hours of driving, I made it to LA to see my good friend Javi from Amherst College.