'11/#48 Does A Bear Poop In The Woods?

Today we spent the day out looking for water falls. The leaves are also changing so the cameras are click, click, clinking their little hearts out. The weather was beautiful & is was shaping up to be a wonderful day. As I was driving the twisting mountain roads there was a sudden squeal accompanied by OOO, OOO, OOO from the passenger seat. Mary was wide eyed, hopping in her seat, & pointing toward the river. Finally one word squeaked past her lips.....bbbbbbear!!!!!!! Sure enough there was a bear swimming across the river. Then he crawled up the river bank toward the road. Mary snaps out of shock & grabs the camera as he crosses the road. I have stopped the truck & grabbed my camera by the time the bear makes it across the road. Now this side of the road has a narrow grass shoulder & a vertical rock wall so the bear is a little frazzled. He then turns to the wall & proceeds to climb straight up using his claws & the vines. We were so close we could hear his claws scratching on the rocks. By the time he was gone into the woods Mary was almost hyperventilating & made me rethink the question. It is now "Does a bear make a tourist poop in her pants?". Well this time maybe just a little.

This week we have more friends visiting. We are really very fortunate that we have so many good friends. Another day showing guests around Dollywood & one more night at the Stampede. It is a great feeling being able to show our friends a good time. When our friends leave we only have a little over week before we hit the road.

That means just 3 more days of work. Then there will be the goodbyes with all of our new friends from Reds. Again we are very lucky to be able to make such good friends wherever we go. We will have to close out all our work & banking business as well as get the rig ready before we go. Time is going to fly by.

So I am going to say good night & make sure Mary is not suffering any lasting effects from her near-bear encounter from our home here in the bear infested Smokys because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary