Bozeman, Montana reeled us in (again) after we left Dillon, and we skidded into town on Monday, September 10.  We absolutely love Bozeman.  Maybe it’s the 12 breweries in town, maybe it’s Bridger Bowl, maybe it’s the gorgeous Hyalite Reservoir…actually, it’s all of that, and more.  Lots of people like us are moving to Bozeman, and it shows.  We have been exploring Bozeman for a handful of years, and every time we return, we can just feel how much the town has grown.  And this time was even more pronounced than before…there is new construction everywhere you look, and the real estate prices are likely off the charts for retired folks like us.  We will keep looking, for sure, but it seems that we missed a Bozeman opportunity by about a decade.  Anyway, we parked the rig about 15 miles outside of the city at Hyalite Reservoir.  What an awesome place…great campground right on the water, mountain biking right out our back door, and zero cell service.  It’s been funny for us when we’ve had to cut the cord on civilization.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  This time, it was pleasant to put down all of our techy little gadgets and just chill.  After all, that’s the point of this excellent adventure, isn’t it?  We did venture into the big city every day to visit a few of the breweries and to stock up on supplies.  We snuck in 9 holes of golf at the Bridger Creek course on the north side of town, and we slugged down some delicious sour beers at Bozemen Brewing, Mountains Walking Brewing, and MAP Brewing.  Just when you think that Bozeman couldn’t absorb another brewery, bam, one is built from the ground up out of nowhere.  This time it was Mountains Walking, brand spanking new and right across the street from Bozeman Brewing.  Sour beers, AND wood-grilled pizza…it doesn’t get much better.  We really enjoyed the Hood Creek Campground up on Hyalite Reservoir and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in camping  in the area.  We spent 3 beautiful nights here, and almost didn’t want to leave.  We saw our first bear on the trip on the way down Hyalite Canyon, a small black bear crossing the road in front of the rig.  We have been living in bear country for 5 weeks at this point, and it was a reminder that they are indeed out there.  This encounter was the type and variety we preferred.  We need to avoid the surprise encounter with Mr. Grizz, for fear that our fat little bodies will make a pretty good meal for a 500-pound grizzly.  The food highlight at Hyalite was the breakfast tacos I made one morning…eggs with homemade chorizo, roasted Hatch chiles, and sour cream on grilled yellow corn tortillas with roasted homefries.  Deeeeelicious.  And get this, on our last night, it even rained!  It was only the second time we had seen rain in over 5 weeks, and it was actually kind of nice.  Once we checked out of Hyalite, the folks at Simms Fishing Products were kind enough to invite us on a factory tour of their facility in Bozeman.  What an awesome place with great, like-minded people, and this is home to where every pair of Simms waders is manufactured.  Thanks again to Sue and Matt at Simms for making this happen.  And thanks to Miss Meghan Moran (M-cubed) for buffing out the Simms peeps with Smith sunglasses.  It’s almost like I still kind of work for Smith, at least that’s what I choose to think when it works in my favor.  Otherwise, I am an unemployed bum, and loving every minute of it.  And yes, Meghan, I still wear a Simms fishing shirt EVERY day, just like I used to do at Smith.  I am sort of like a Simms model, only not nearly good-looking enough to pull that off.  Whoa…just thought of this…what if we could talk Mr. Tom Brady into wearing a Simms fishing shirt every day????  Bozone, over and out.