Bear in the park

Well, today turned into quite a day. It started out with Dan forgetting to turn the alarm off and it going off at 6:30 this morning and waking me up. That was okay sorta - after I got up and got a cup of coffee in me I was okay, but I wasn't real happy at first. Anyway, it sure has made the day long! After we had some coffee and breakfast we both had showers and then we decided that we would walk the park for our morning rounds - Dan swears that he had already made a round before the alarm went off on the bike, but I'm not sure about that. However, we did decide to do another round so I could update the reserved sites for the weekend. Dan got on the bike and I grabbed a couple of bottles of water and off we went. I did fine for probably the first mile to mile and a quarter -then I started to get tired. This really distresses me - it shows how very out of shape I am. It probably has not helped that for the last month all we have done is sit and ride in the truck. Anyway, I did sit down and rest while Dan checked out the auto loop - I ended up having to bike down and write the new dates on a couple of reserved sites - then when we got to the RV loop I only walked part of it. So, I guess I did about a mile and a half today instead of the 2 miles total. I don't guess that is too bad considering - but I would like to be able to do all 2 miles with no trouble. If I keep at it everyday, I'll get it down I'm sure. Dan says that we will be in shape by the time we leave here in September.





After we came home I did some more paperwork - I'm trying to get all the paperwork done for the park - for our stipend and get all the paperwork reconstructed for the trip out here - I had to put everything in the "black book" and I have to have all the receipts ready to turn in for our traveling allowance. That will certainly help, but it won't even come close to covering all the cost of getting here - much less getting home. But, I guess a little is better than nothing, and I shouldn't complain.





While I was working on the paperwork I baked another loaf of bread - Honey Wheat this time. It turned out really good and I have it all ready for breakfast in the morning. I also started a grocery list so when we go into the grocery store we won't forget half of what we need. While I was working on all this Dan decided to go down and check on a campsite that we were a little worried about - there had been stuff thrown everywhere when we had done our walk/ride and he wanted to see if the people were back and had cleaned up. Well, when he came back he said that it was worse than what we first thought - not only was there stuff thrown all around the campsite and stuff burned in the fire pit there was stuff thrown into the lake (like feminine products) and he wasn't sure what we were suppose to do. So, he called Marc and told him. Marc said that he would come out which he did - he and Dan went back down there and were cleaning up the mess when the people finally showed up - well, to make a long story a little shorter Marc threw them out of the park. At least that is one headache we won't have this weekend.



After all that excitement Dan wanted to go to the "mall" and see what was there. Well, guess what - not much! I told Dan that I really didn't understand - this city has really confused me. This is the capital of Alaska - and yes, I know that it is land locked and you have to bring everything in my boat or air, but there is nothing here - no chain restaurants, no clothing stores, nothing. I don't know where the locals go to buy stuff. We asked the ranger who is our 'supervisor' where some good places to eat would be - not the tourist stuff but where the locals eat and he said that Juneau was not know for its good restaurants. Then the mall was just about shut down - probably about 6 stores in the whole place. Like I said, I'm just confused.





After we finished walking through the mall Dan decided he would take me to "Mickey -D's" for dinner since it was right across the street- 2 McDoubles, 2 small fries, 2 senior drinks, and 2 apple pies - $8.48. Not too bad. Then we went to Blockbuster - yes, we found one very close to the 'house' - and got a card and checked out two movies for five nights - It's Complicated and duplicity. Since we have to be here in the campground all weekend we might as well have something to watch.



Then the really cool thing happened. We had to do our night rounds to do our campground report and we got all the way through the main loop, the backpackers loop, and the auto loop. We had just about finished the rv loop when I saw something in the road - at first I thought it was a big dog when all of a sudden I realized it was a bear - a big black bear who was not afraid of us or the truck. We watched him go through a couple of campsites before heading back into the woods, but toward the other campsites. So, Dan and I went back around to tell some of the people who were eating outside of their tents that we had seen a bear and it was headed their way. We needed to make sure they got all their food stuff put away. After we alerted everyone we went back around and there he was again, only now at the RV dump station. We watched him a little while longer and then when we started to drive on down the road he started running right beside us only in the woods. We decided we needed to get home and Dan needed to clean up the grill because he had fixed fish today outside and hadn't washed everything up. After accomplishing that he went down to visit one of the campers while I came in to do the blog.

I've had several interruptions - from running out of camp fee envelopes to the Internet knocking me off line twice now - so it has taken me longer than I thought it would tonight. So, before I get knocked off again I'm going to close for tonight - there has been enough excitement for one night. I hope you guys are having a good week and ----------------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!