I know what he looked like to us - exactly like a big stuffed animal with perky ears soft fur and a surprised look on its face. I can see why it is hard to convince people that bears are unpredictable dangerous wild animals. We have seen more wildlife on this leg of our trip but experiences with people have left more lasting impressions on us. And this is as it should be, for one of the most important purposes of our trip is to meet people from different parts of North and South America. Corny through it may sound, more than inspiration from stunning scenery, more than the high from physical exertion, we hope to know people better.
Some people cross our path for only a short time, others for longer.
It had been an awful day for me - the tandem was making a horrible screeching sound that we could not diagnose, we had ridden into a stiff headwind over rolling hills ALL day and it was late. It was Len and Evie, a couple from Wisconsin that we had chatted with a few days earlier. We first saw them at a roadside camp eating four rather large pieces of beef, each. We could not stop drooling as we set up camp and prepared our daily pot of macaroni and cheese. We pulled over and they invited us to eat dinner at their campground 25 miles away.