Stupid tourist mistakes.
Several hours after the sticky window incident we came across a huge black bear lying on the side of the road. It was her side of the road so I didn’t mind the fact that once again she stopped the car. We didn’t see any movements from it but there wasn’t any blood or anything to indicate what had happened to it either.
I had an idea for a great picture to share with our friends at home. I told J to get out and put one foot on the bear. I figured we'd tell people she'd fought the bear and won.
For some odd reason (maybe she is less crazy than me), J was reluctant to do that but she volunteered to stay in the car while I got out and posed. She said the pictures should come out just as good without her getting any closer to the bear than she was at that time.
We were stopped there in the middle of the road for several minutes discussing which of us should pose and which should take the pictures. Before we could decide we saw another car approaching so we ended up just driving off without either of us posing.
When we got to the next town we stopped for gas. J mentioned to the person at the gas station that we had seen a bear on the side of the road that appeared to be dead.
The Canadian commented, “Aye we know about the bear. A truck hit it early today but I just sent someone to go pick it up because of the stupid tourists.”
I avoided eye contact with J and asked, “Stupid tourists?”
“Aye the stupid tourists keep stopping there and getting OUT of their cars to take pictures of it. Can you believe people are so stupid? One of them are gonna get killed for sure. They couldn’t even be sure the bear was dead. Sometimes being hit by a car just stuns them and of course other bears might come around at any time. People on vacation seem to be on vacation from common sense around these parts.” She was shaking her head.
J sent me an ‘I told you so’ kind of look but I managed to keep a straight face as I acted shocked that anyone would even consider getting out of their car near an injured bear.” I slid back in the car real quick.
J waited until we’d pulled back on to the highway until she burst out laughing. “Stupid tourists.” She muttered.
“Yeah, stupid tourists.” I said joining in the laughter. I made myself a little promise right there to avoid stupid tourists mistakes and be more cautious.
The next day we were driving along in the middle of nowhere, a couple of hours from ‘bump in the road’ but still an hour from ‘hole in the wall’ when a little bear ran right across the road in front of our car.
“Oh look, it’s a baby bear. How cute.” J stopped the car right across from where the little guy was scampering up a steep embankment. We both pulled out our cameras and she lowered her window so we could get better pictures.
The bear stopped at the top of the embankment and looked back at us as if he was posing so we’d have time to get his picture. He was making little bear noises and we were busy clicking away with our cameras and commenting on how adorable he was.
I was startled by a loud growling noise coming from the opposite side of the road. A huge bear was charging straight at our car. My side of the car. “Go! Drive!” I screamed.
J hit the gas and we shot forward just in time to avoid the bear hitting the side of the car. My side of the car.
I turned to look back as momma bear seemed to be trying to decide whether to chase us or join her baby. A few pounding heartbeats later she headed on up the embankment toward her baby and I let out the breath I was holding.
It was time for another gas station stop when we reached ‘hole in the wall’.
The friendly station attendant came out to chat a bit while we filled up the tank. She asked where we’d come from and where we were headed. After we told her, she casually asked us if we’d seen any bears along our drive.
I told her we had seen a cute little baby bear and I was just about to tell her about the scary momma bear when she gave a snort of laughter. “Well at least you didn’t stop and try to take pictures of it like this fool did a couple of days ago.”
“Oh?” Again I tried to look like the thought had never crossed my mind.
She grabbed a picture and brought it over for us to look at. It was of a jeep with the soft cover top ripped and hanging in shreds. There were a few dark stains on the seat and some dents along the side. “This fool thought he’d just stop right smack dab in the middle of the road and take some pictures. He didn’t even look around to see where the momma was. Of course the momma’s not gonna be far from her baby. There he was in his little jeep sitting between her and her baby. She tried to go right through the jeep. He got so scared he was having trouble shifting and taking off. The jeep died and the momma bear went to ripping up the jeep. She managed to catch him on the shoulder with a paw swipe before he could get the jeep moving.”
“The man’s lucky all he got was a few deep scratches from her paw. Can you imagine someone seeing a baby bear and not bothering to see where the momma is before they stop?”
“No,” I said with wide eyed innocence. “I can’t imagine anyone doing that.”
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