A successful tour

I got a phone call from my friend Jack last night saying that he had safely arrived at his campground in Avon out on the Cape Hatteras Nat’l Seashore.  Out plans for today were for him to drive over to my rig on Alligator River NWR, and from there I’d give him a tour of the refuge. 

Of course, he wanted to see some bears, but I wasn’t sure we’d have much of a chance since we wouldn’t be leaving until late morning.  While I waited for him to arrive, I enjoyed all of the little butterflies that were gathering nectar on the blooming flowers in my front yard.

As we were going down one of the back roads, I caught sight of a bear walking down the road quite a distance in front of us.  We moved up closer to try to get a shot through the front windshield, but he didn’t hang around for very long.  No chance for a nice close-up, but I was relieved that at least we had seen a bear.

One thing I appreciate about Jack is that whenever our paths cross he generally takes me out to eat.  I enjoy sharing a meal with someone other than Emma.    This time I chose the place, and you can bet it wasn’t a Waffle House!  I’ll never let him forget that ‘fine’ dining experience.  Anyway, we ended up at the Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant in Wanchese.  We both had tasty seafood dinners, and liked their homemade chips with Wanchese sauce. 

After lunch, we stopped by the Gateway Visitors Center so he could see all the great exhibits.  Wouldn’t you know, today was the day that the folks from Florida came to do the final touches to all of the exhibits and fix those things that needed adjusting.  All but one or two exhibits were roped off.  Shucks!  By the way, Jack is the one with the mustache above.  Don’t we look fine in our fire fighting outfits?

In the afternoon, we drove some more of the refuge roads.  As we turned the corner to head back to the rig, this big male was standing on the levy by the corn fields.  I thought it was probably the same male that I had taken some photos of last week in this same area.

He did a marvelous job of posing for us.  He probably spent the hot afternoon hours relaxing in the woods, and had just come across the road, through the water ditch, and up on the levy when we arrived.  I was even able to get this pic of him shaking all the water out of his coat just like a dog does.

While we were busy snapping off shots, I glanced up the road, and saw another bear walking towards us.  It was still about a block away when a car came from the other direction, and it exited into the woods.  So we saw three bears on a day that I wasn’t sure we’d see any.  I’d call that a successful tour!

When I got home and looked at my pics, I decided this big male was not the same bear I saw last week.  If you look closely at its hind quarters you can see that the poor guy is afflicted with the mange.  Last week’s bear had no such affliction. 

I have to work tomorrow, and then Jack and I are going to The Lost Colony production in the evening.  It will be a late night, so I’m guessing I’ll not get a post up tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy