Running with Bears

So this morning I went on a run before work (I'm currently working as a kindergarten aide, so I don't have to go in until 8:30). I left the house at the same time Shaun left to pick up his carpooling friends.

It just so happens that as I was turning the corner of our street to run down the one in the picture, Shaun and his friend saw this huge black bear barreling across the street that I was about to turn on. Since Shaun knows my usual running loop, he and his friend drove the bear away and then circled back around to give me a heads up about the situation.

Boy, am I glad I didn't decide to run earlier this morning!

PS- If you click on the picture, it makes it bigger and you can see just how big that bear was.

Lost in the Swamp

Today's your lucky day! You dropped by to read my first ever guest post, the premier post of my dear and loving husband, Shaun. He wrote the following story of our adventures to Tallahassee last weekend. Leave him some comment love to encourage him to guest post more often! :)
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Shaun's post entitled "Leon Sinks and the Wanderers"

After days of meticulous (or not-so-meticulous) planning, my wife and I set out for an adventure two hours to the north and east of us, in the wild land of Tallahassee. The goal was simple: Qdoba, shopping, and a trail run through the charming Apalachicola National Forest. The first two parts of the day were wildly successful, if putting us slightly behind schedule. We arrived at the Leon Sinks Geological Area around 4:15pm with the park closing at 6pm. The plan was to run slightly more than halfway around a loop, then take a crossover trail through the middle of the loop so as to cut the total distance from around five point five miles to around four miles. Four miles in an hour and thirty five minutes? No problem!



A lovely setting to be sure, the Leon Sinks are a collection of deep (and steep) holes connected by 41,000 feet of underground caves filled with crystal clear iridescent aqua blue water. The early going seemed easy, almost too easy, as our feet glided effortlessly across the pine needle covered trail, winding us in and out of dense forests with the occasional view of an expansive sink hole. As we continued on our trek, the lighting began to noticeably decrease, particularly while we were in the denser portions of the forest. It was not long before I began to worry about this lack of light, inwardly at least, so as to not upset the condition of the beauty behind me who was so meticulously picking her steps over the occasional root or branch.



Several minutes later, I could see the signs for the crossover trail ahead, and with that sign our sure escape from this wilderness that was quickly sinking into an ever increasing darkness. "TRAIL CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE" read the fairly permanent looking sign hammered into the ground. Was it because some new sink had opened up and they had to cut a new trail around it? Or perhaps it was a river running through the trail at a higher than typical level making a bridge later in the trail unusable. Whatever it was, the lass quickly made certain we were not going to disobey the sign. I agreed. I was worried though, I had studied the map well enough to know that if we didn't take the cut through, we had at least 2 miles to go and it was already nearly too dark to run. My memory flashed back to the car radio an hour or so before as the weatherman reported overnight temperatures at or below freezing in the Tallahassee area. Damn this forsaken wilderness!



Continuing down the trail, a gay song perked up from behind me warning any would be bears or cougars to stay away. It was my unwavering bride, still in good spirits, but taking comfort in her song as she began to realize the plight we were in. The songs lasted for a while but soon went silent. The silence was then interrupted by the occasional sniffle or choked breath as it became clear to me that the tears were soon to follow. Though brave spirited and ever confident in my abilities to get us out safely, this southern bell is far from at home in the woods. After roughly five minutes of courageous running through shortened breath and tears, I agreed it had finally become too dark to safely run. My wife at my side, we would have to walk, so we strolled with my arm around her shoulder through the perilous night.



It was dark. Real dark. And with the winding of the trail, I did not know for certain in which direction to find our car. We had to keep to the trail, because if it was lost, all may have been lost. Due to my lack of proper prior planning, the sure fire result had followed: piss poor performance. The 7 P's! How many times had my good Uncle David warned me of the 7 P's? We had no cell phone, no light of any sort, and not nearly enough clothing should things go south. A few missed steps, or a sprained ankle and I knew we were in for a very long, very cold night. A new depth of understanding of scripture came to my mind as I prayed that we might not "strike our foot against a stone" or lose the path by turning off it "to the right or to the left." The only noise was the sound of our feet, the occasional sniffle, and owls eerily hooting through the forest. With almost no moon to light our way, I strained my eyes hard to stick to the path. "It shouldn't be taking this long!" I thought to myself. "It's just around this next corner!" I would confidently proclaim aloud, never betraying my true thoughts.



Finally after an hour we came back to the trail head. The loop had been completed, and it was now only a few minutes back on paved roads to the car. The ordeal was over, and we were no worse for the wear. I checked my watch; it was 5:45, one hour and thirty minutes after we departed in broad daylight we arrived back at the car in the moonless dark. The park wasn't even closed yet! How careless of the Florida Parks and Recreation Department to keep a park open this long passed dark. Once safely within the car, heater on full blast, I opened my cell phone to see it read 6:48pm EST. Proper prior planning…