from one fall to another fall and without a fall

Day 4, July 10th.

I stayed up late last night asking other motorcyclists (on reddit) and searching for a better way to ride this road.  Seems there's 3 things wrong, causing problems with my ride. Main problem, tires.  I just don't have the right tires for the ride. The bike is heavier in the rear, causing problems, and the bike is heavier in general.  Can't do much about that, so when in doubt, throttle out.

Went down to the Two Seasons restaurant for breakfast...not sure what I wanted.  Eggs and bacon with homefries? maybe Sausage?

No.  I got this.

I didn't have a choice in the matter as there was  a fan problem in the kitchen and they couldn't cook anything hot.  oh well, time for a bit of health food.  I wonder how much a regular breakfast would cost as this cost me $7.  ouch.

Checked my tire pressure and it was at 10lbs.  sure, it's best to ride with a little low air in the tires but 10 lbs is crazy low.  I pumped it up to 18 and hoped it would hold for a little while.  I suspect my tube is leaking.

Rain again today.  I went and filled up the bike and a young lad was working the pumps.  His question; "Do you really believe in Zombies?".  hah.  I asked him how the road was to Happy Valley Goose Bay (HVGB).  He said it was really good but I won't find a place to stay in HVGB and that I should stop in Churchill Falls.

Nice kid, but a liar! (see below)

I went to Tim's for a coffee and to mull things over.  Ride to Churchill Falls and stay the night or push my luck and go to HVGB? Happy Valley is 532km from Lab City and I'm not certain the bike nor my body can take that much pounding in a day.

Off I went towards Churchill Falls, 219 km away.  Wow.  The road as the kid described is NOT good at all.  Slimy, potholed, slippery gravel snake. With  rain and truck spray and that rain fogging up my helmet, which has a mirrored visor, I couldn't see anything.  My feet were soaked in minutes.

I should note that there's about 90km of it paved leaving Lab city. The rest is gravel, except for the portion nearest Churchill Falls (right after the river) where there's massive construction and it's pretty much a 4x4 trail of sand with boulders in the road.  potholes here would (and did) damage smaller vehicles.  The pickup in front of me kept bottoming out.

I Finally got to Churchill Falls at 2pm and went to look for a place to stay, as per the kid's recommendations.  The black spruce inn was fully booked until November.  NOVEMBER.  I asked for a campground, to which they said, "camp wherever there's grass, no one minds"

They said to try the other place in Town.  I drove around town before and didn't see it.  Seems that the School/ Municipal / shopping center / restaurant /other businesses are all in one big building.  odd.

They were booked as well.  I asked if there was a good place to camp and they said the Church.  Knowing my luck, i'd camp at the church and zombies would rise from the dead.

I ordered some Lunch. Nachos.  know why they're called Nachos?  cuz they're mine, Nachos! they were meh, but at least all the chips had cheese on them and weren't soggy.  come to think of it, they weren't that bad (albeit plain).

something caught my eye on the menu.  Supreme Donair. ahh... what the hell, why not.

It's essentially a pizza, but different.  Pita crust with Halifax Donair sauce, Donair meat, pepperoni, cheese then topped with lettuce and tomatoes with more sauce on top.  quite delicious.

View from the restaurant.  It didn't get any better than this.

Left the restaurant to get gas and go.  I had decided on pushing on towards HVGB, even though I was cold, tired and sore.

I was getting my things settled on the bike in the complex parking lot and was approached by an Ontario man travelling with his daughter to Gander, the long way around.  Coming into Churchill Falls, he blew a tire on the construction road.  As luck would have it, he found a tire in wabush, but no way to get it to him.  Luckily for him, the hotel manager had a truck coming in from Wabush and told the driver to pick up the tire for him.  Only in Labrador! 

He mentioned that he may stay in town and camp at the church, but told me about a nice spot to Ninja Camp (ie: no pay) at Muskrat Falls, 30 km before HVGB.  

Off I went in search of the infamous Muskrat Falls.

Again the road was crap but less traffic here after Churchill Falls. 

The road.

same road, a little later.

road conditions.  I lightly moved my foot across the road.  nasty stuff.

While having a smoke break, a guy in a truck stopped to make sure all was well.  He told me the gravel ended 50km later and it was all new pavement.  Sweet.  but still 50 km to go.

Once I hit pavement I was finally relieved. phew.  waitaminute... something's not right.  The front was bouncing around a lot.  should check tire pressure later.

I spotted and overturned, crashed chevy sunbird in the ditch.  I guess it's cheaper to just leave it there than ... than what?  is there even a wreck yard in Labrador?

I found Churchill Falls area and kept going to the furthest point i could go... A fire? people? nice! i can't get into trouble if others are here.  Actually, it's Labrador... no one cares. The view there is incredible.

Here I met Todd and Tony who were on a 10 day Kayak portage trip.  

I pitched my tent on a moss bed, fighting with the blackflies.  Deet 98% to the rescue! that stuff works well but probably gives you cancer. I wore a mesh bug shirt and it seemed to keep most of them at bay.

Todd, Tony and I sat around the campfire.  I was too tired to eat and didn't feel like making food.  We chatted for a while, Tony works at the IOC mine in Lab city, and Todd works for a geo-stabilization firm outside of Dorion.  Both are Lab natives and have relatives in the area.  Those relatives brought them a lot of beer.  After 3-4 times asking if i wanted a beer, I gave in.  I gave in more than a few times.

Good times were had around the fire by all.  We were all exhausted, them  by kayak, me by bike and we sat and stared into the wonderful fire.  Turns out that they are developing the Muskrat falls area for a hydro dam and the area we were in will not be available to the public later this year. SCORE!  I'm happy that guy from Ontario told me about this spot.

Bunking for the night and looking through  my tank bag, it seems that my can of diet coke somehow exploded inside the bag.  yay.  now in retrospect i can understand why my crotch felt suddenly cold and wet during the day.  

cold and falling asleep all I could here was the wind making my tent flap and little scurrying animals. There were some bigger sounding animals, so i'll suspect and hope it was deer.

Manic Monday to the Big Land

July 9th.

I now don't regret not camping.  Looking outside shows rain and i suspect it was raining for most of the night.
I got up at about 7am, but was awoken during the night dying of heat.  WTF.  I guess i like to keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold.  Mc D AL T.

Last night my hands started itching pretty bad.  I'm hoping the hives aren't coming back because i'm off the steroids and have nothing to combat it with.  I'll have to deal with it as it comes.

Feeling rough this morning.  Hands felt swollen, back was stiff and hurting... not in the best of shape.  I guess it could be expected since i put on about 1100 kms in two days and I haven't ridden that amount of distance since my last trip in November of 2010.

I went out for a smoke and a little red squirrel came running to me.  It came and sniffed at my naked toes.  I suspect that this one was given food by people a lot.  A motel employee yelled out to me as she walked by "It looks like he's interested in your toes this morning!".  Guess that she knows this critter herself.  Damn thing kept running around, staring at me right in the eyes, wherever it was.  No food for you little red rat.

That got me thinking to breakfast and the abysmal supper i had the night before.  I didn't feel like given them any more of my money, so I had this:

I packed up and got moving at about 8am.

Motel and restaurant

You can't make it out, but gas is $1.58 a liter. That's $6 a gallon.

The road leaving Manic 5 was pretty horrible.  My front tire kept on wanting to wash out on me and had no traction whatsoever.  Yay for street tires (90/10) when i should have been running dirt tires.

I had a couple of Oh Shit moments, but luckily no underwear needed to be changed.  I stopped after about 40km to take a smoke break.  My shoulders, back, legs and mind was killing me.

I got to the Gabriel Relay station for a gas up and some breakfast.  I was hoping it would be better than the Motel I was at.

Taking my lighter out of my pockets for a smoke, i notice i have no money.  DAMMIT.  there goes ~$160 that i had in my pocket.  It's in one of two places... on the counter at the motel cash, or on the side of the road between the Motel and relay station.  rule of thumb, don't keep all your eggs in one basket.

$7 breakfast was good but somewhat lacking a sidedish... 

Beast all muddy

My lower legs were full of mud and i could begin to feel the cold water be absorbed by my wool socks.  I had my liners in, but still cold somewhat.  My feet were wet, but not fully cold.  yay for wool.

I had the  GoPro going today on and off but I don't know what the quality will be like as the lens was fogging up.  stupid rain.

The bike's first little problem cropped up here.  I started it up and found that the neutral light was always on. Later during the day it would go off, or flicker... it just did anything it wanted.

It turns out that they had 10w40 motorcycle oil here, so i bought the last two remaining quarts.  They must have  been there a while as the white containers are stained yellow. nice.

The gas here was over $1.70/ litre.  That's $6.50 a gallon for my American friends.

The road from here was mixed... from nasty wet slippery sand where it wants to eat my front tire, to smooth new paved highway.  Whenever i hit paved sections, I tried to make up some speed.  There's a lot of construction on the road but as it's quebec, what do you expect.

One thing to note is that the driving here kinda sucks.  The truckers are mostly ok, but the dudes in the pickups don't give a crap about anything.  They pass in blind corners, tailgait, etc.  I let all of them pass on the dirt/gravel/sand sections.  There was a good paved section from a bit before the Ghost town of Gagnon to Fire Lake.  I stopped at the ghost town for a smoke but as all the structures have been removed, all that is left are the sewer grates and the pavement with curbs.  It's the only paved section i saw any kind of dividing lines marked on the road.

Between Gagnon and Fire Lake I passed the only other motorcyclist since leaving that morning and didn't pass another after.   

I noticed the lone biker, on what seemed to be ... a KLR!  we both recognized each other's bike and gave an air High 5 as we passed.  I think it was a red KLR, and he had a helmet cam mounted as well. hah.  True Bromance...

The rode from Fire Lake onward was more or less hell.  I almost washed out a few times as it's sandy/muddy with washboard. nice.  Did i mention this thing has more curved  that most roads i've ever seen?  This includes the tail of the dragon and the famous CA 1 in California.  

You want a twisty road? the 389 is it.  This section is... just horrendous.  I think my pucker factor went so high i won't be able to crap for a week.

At one point before hitting Fermont I came upon some mining operation.  The water was totally red but i don't think my camera picked it up.

There was a massive mining operation (couldn't take pictures), where it seems they are just ripping the mountain apart.  Lots of money here.  40 or so kilometers, this happened:

I finally hit the border of Labrador!  I got into Lab City at 3pm (4pm?) and headed right to a Tim's (the only one) and almost crashed on the road turning into it due to gravel/sand on the asphalt.  almost.

I went in for a coffee and to warm up a little.  My hands were numb and my feet were wet.

Sitting inside with my jacket off, i left a big puddle from the excess water off my jacket, pants and boots.

I searched on my cell (yay for service) and found a hotel nearby called the Two Seasons. Off i went to see if i could get a room.

Well, lo and behold, there was a last minute cancellation and got a room for the "inexpensive" price of $140. ouch.  shut up and take my money!\

suit up to dry, the dehumidifier on and my socks wrung out (i'd say 1/8 cup of  brown water) i set out for food.

Not much in Lab city, that's for sure.  A McDonalds across the street, a restaurant in the hotel, and a few pubs.  I walked over to a place called Mary Brown's Chicken.

I was hungry  real hungry so I took the 5 piece chicken deal which came with a medium fry, medium salad  and two drinks. $20... expensive, but everything here is.

Hell, a large coffee at Tim Hortons is $1.96. 36 cents more expensive than back home.

When i told the dude behind the counter it was to eat in, he stalled for a second. Ha.  

The dude was interesting.. chubby dude with shaggy hair, dimples and look of sadness in his eyes.  If I lived in this town, I'd be sad too...

I'm a pig.  I ate all the chicken and macaroni salad and most of the fries.  I took my time.

By far better than KFC, but still not better than The Old Country Store in Mississippi.

Spending my time in the Hotel lobby  for most of the night as this is the only place the wireless signal seems to work.

Time to go dry out everything and get ready to get wet again tomorrow.  More rain to come. meh.

From Fjord Ranch to Manic 5

As you may have noticed, the time of posting and time i put in the blog don't match.  I'm playing catch up as i'm going in and out of internet and cell zones.  can't do much about that.


tday 2 July 8

Last night I could have asked for better!  I woke up in the early morning shivering.  It cooled down quite drastically and i was not dressed appropriately.  the 2lbs sleeping bag didn't cut the mustard and I was too lazy to wake up fully and go put one some warmer clothing. From the sounds of it, the wind picked up quite a bit and i guess because we're right on the st lawrence the wind brought cold.

I didn't set an alarm, namely due to my phone being dead.  I think it was about 7:30 when i got out of the tent.

Today i tested out the mountain house scrambled eggs and bacon, with a nescafe 1+2 instant coffee.

Me, first thing in the morning, thinking about the freeze dried eggs.

I took out my little stove and heated up some bottled water.  2 minutes later i have a 3 cups of boiling water.  One cup of boiling water in the bag of eggs and sealed it back up.
I took two packs of the coffee for the mug and filled it up with water.
The coffee is pretty damn good.  I like not having to fuss over whiteners and sugar...
After waiting 5 minutes for my freeze dried eggs to soak up the water, I ate.  No bad. No good.  Meh.  At least it gave me some much needed energy.  It cost about $7 for the bag of eggs and bacon and it's supposed to be 2 portions. really? i could have easily eaten two bags of this stuff (not for the taste or texture). lesson learned, don't buy eggs in baggies.

Would you eat this?

The eggs didn't do much for me, but the coffee was so good i was gulping it down, hence the little amount left in the mug.  I snapped a pic of myself to see if my mood changed after the eggs and coffee.

Still  bagged from lack of sleep/cold/shitty eggs.

I showered and broke camp as i wanted to get to the Manic 5 dam by nightfall.  The plan was to camp overlooking the dam.  more on that later.

went north to the ferry (free) to get to Tadoussac and onwards to the 389 at baie comeau.

waiting in line for the ferry

me on the ferry and not pleased that i couldn't put the sidestand down and held the bike up the whole time. bike is too heavy and can't be on side stand when sitting on it..

Ahoy!

The road here on the 138 is nice and twisty, but with one problem... The wind! The only song that comes to mind riding this road is "come sail away" by Styx sung in Cartman's voice... you guys.  I couldn't take pics due to the wind.  I needed every thing i had to stay on the road.  The KLR is a giant sail.


I wanted a coffee, but saw a restaurant on the GPS at the Econolodge.  As the eggs did not suffice, I went in for Second Breakfast, expecting more of the same crappy restaurant food.

I was denied this.  Instead of crappy food, i found the restaurant had both A la carte menu and brunch buffet.

brunch buffet it is!  everything i had was good and had second helpings.  the "red sausage" is pretty much hot dogs in some syrop.  was delicious.

I took some tire pictures, to see what the 389/trans lab would do to my tires.

The food was a welcome gift as i would need every ounce of energy to fight the winds until bai comeau. After a coffee at Tim Hortons (probably the last i will see for a long time) I decided to go to walmart across the street for a few supplies.  Water (always needed), some hot chocolate (after 8 rocks), some nut bars and a can of... hell, i can't remember. It barely all fit on the bike, but fit it did.

I filled up and headed up the 389.  I turned on the GoPro on video because there's nothing but twisty roads.  I can't work with the videos on the road, but at the start of the 389, there's  a sign that says twisty roads, 211km (and large trucks).  vids will be uploaded at a later time.

It isn't the most technical road i've been on, but with the huge potholes, massive frost heaves and tar snakes that could eat a tire, it really keeps you on your toes.  And trucks.  Lots of trucks.  I followed one guy who kept his speed up in almost every curve.  This caused him to go wide more than a few times. Once he was completely in the other lane.  Dangerous roads.

The winds had died down, but were still constant.  So a Windy Windy road i rode.  I was keeping a good pace, my lines and apexs were all off, due to the road conditions, and once... just once, i came close to going over the yellow with a late apex.  I was going a good  pace, and a car was following a bit close so i kept going.  I was distracted and coming in too hot.  Unfortunately a pickup was in the other lane.  I almost target fixated on the pickup, which would have drifted me into him. No matter, I looked where i wanted to go and i missed him by at least a foot... ok, maybe by about 8 inches.  You know how guys and inches are.

The road surface was good at this point and i made up some time.  I came to a stop due to a van sideways in the road.  With the tiretracks on my side in the ditch, the broken glass in the road and the crushed roof, i think the van rolled over.  I'm not sure of the camera was rolling at this point but i hope it was.  I asked if they needed anything, they didn't and no one looked hurt.  about 10 minutes later an ambulance with lights and sirens was going past me.  Not sure where he was going, but it would be far from the nearest medical assistance.  I decided to slow up a bit.

I came back behind the truck that was going over the line.  This time, i didn't pass him like i did before (quickly and almost in a blind corner).  Word of wisdom, if there are no passing lanes and you need to pass a big truck, wait for a long hill.  They can't get up that fast and even my little thumper can pass them easily.

I got to the Motel L'energie which is the only gas stop in 200+km in either direction.  Miss this one and you're boned.  I went in looking for oil, and decided to just get a motel room instead of the little niche camp spot overlooking the Manic 5 dam  As it was raining (drizzling) on and off, cold and windy. I now regret that decision.

first, the room.  Ok room, a double bed and a TV that gets 5 channels all in french. yip.  what do you expect for $95 in the middle of nowhere?  should have camped.

next the Restaurant.  to call it that is to shun all restaurants in the world.  This is a cafeteria and a bad one at that.

i decided to go with their special of the day #1, the minute steak.  This came with a Soup, a drink and desert.
The soup was a cream of chicken.  It kinda tasted like bland chicken and seemed to be made entirely out of flour (to thicken).  Think a watery chicken soup base with flour in it. meh.  Next the minute steak.  This was the most disgusting thing which i've ever eaten (in it entirety). it was the toughest piece of meat i've encountered.  Tough enough to BEND A FORK when using the side of the fork to cut instead of a knife.  The butterknife did the job, but didn't cut it so much as snap the pieces off.  It was served with a watery gravy you could see through.
It came with mixed canned veggies a ball of mashed potatoes and a salad which... what do you call some shredded iceberg with a slice of tomato on it? nasty.  you call it nasty.
The meal #1 should have been call the Shoeleather Surprise for the texture, the taste and that it appears to have been boiled in a pot with old shoes.
Finally the dessert.  Lemon pie, but i'm not sure if it was a merange or whipped cream.  it had a texture somewhere in between.  the pie was actually very good and it seems that at least whoever made that, knew what they were doing.

The half baked bisquick was better than this crap.

I wrote for a bit and decided to go to the office to see about some oil for the bike.  they had every oil except the oil i run, 10w40.  the car oils have the friction modifiers that the wet clutch on the bike doesn't like, and the diesel oils ALSO have modifiers.  crap.  no oil here.  running low too.

next time i find oil, i'll be buying 2-3 quarts... I've used up one Litre since leaving home.

I went up to the spot i was going to go camp at.  There's a nice firepit in the middle and every firewood piled up.  I regret getting this motel tonight.

Even though while i was up there is was quite windy and raining, it would have been awesome to see the dam at night.  right now, i'm too tired to care about the dam at night.  I've seen pictures.  good 'nuff!  I did take pics and that dam is HUGE.  you cannot grasp how big it is unless you are right there.

See that little white blob on top of the dam in the center?

enhanced!

obligatory bike pic

tomorrow i go up this road.

Maybe I'll come back one day, maybe not.  Oh well... some you win, some you lose and some things stay the same.

Trials by fire

Last night (july 6th) I could not sleep. I packed all i could pack and finally went to bed at about 2:30am.  I got up at 5:45am. I'm tired, but I guess lack of sleep does that to you.



Thankfully I started taking things out of my gear that I didn't think I would either need or use.  The large tire spoon, the bead breaker and sandals were left behind in an attempt to reduce weight.  I left a few other things behind (can't remember now) and I'm thankful that I did.  I think i Packed to 99% capacity. I have no space to even put a bottle of water on the bike.  I tried to trim down the essentials and I still packed too much somehow.  Most probably too many electronics and camping gear.  



Left home at about 6:30am and gassed up and got a coffee.  I finally got going at 7am to the grand road. The Odo reading at this time is 24028km, but truth be told, I have an extra 10k km on the clock since I was without a speedo cable from Texas to home on my threecornersusa tour.




I couldn't get my bluetooth headset and the chatterbox to work properly, so no sound for now.  No XM Satalite, no music, nothing but wind noise. yay.

I got the GoPro taking pictures every 30 seconds to see if i could catch anything interesting.
Today was "SLAB DAY".  No visiting, just making miles so that i can take the extra time up the road, when something interesting comes up.  Looking over the pics, they're pretty boring as they all look the same.  They all look like this:

I stopped for coffee a few times over the course of the day.  It was hot.  damn hot.  I thought at one point i was getting a heat stroke.  The suit kept me comfortable though.

"Hello? is this thing on?"

I stopped into Donnacona for lunch and bumped into a couple  riding back from the Gaspe area.  we chatted bikes and rides for a bit. Eric was his name and unfortunately forgot hers.  They are actually from close to home (north of buckingham).  we all recognized how no one in the area actually have any gear on.  the only riders with Full face helmets are the sportbikers and apart from that, no one had any jackets.  Tshirts do not could as gear as it neither keeps you cool in the heat, or helps with any kind of crash mitigation.

All i can say is that everyone looked at me funny because of my silver suit and helmet.  I'm the oddball one!  oh well, at least i won't have to pick up my teeth after a crash.
I wonder if this is why they don't have full face helmets... no teeth to take care of?


Already the bike is sucking back oil... i'm hoping it's because of the pace i kept today, going 120-130 most of the time.  it's not a sportsbike, that's for certain and another thing to note is that it was hot. i'll have to keep an eye on it.

I got a campsite for the night at Fjord camping and ranch.  I chatted with the cutie working there about motorcycles and how she hated riding in the rain when she used to ride.  I was about to ask her why she didn't ride anymore, but i was too dead tired to keep talking.  Thankfully that saved me from embarrasing myself as i noticed the wheelchair she was sitting on.  I suspect it's due to a horse accident.  Damn horses are 20 times more dangerous than a motorcycle.

I took a bush camp spot instead of the spot overlooking the st laurence.  I'm not a water baby, it's just not me.  I'm more of an Ent fan.  I saved 6 bucks in the process ($19 vs $25) and  I was also closer to the washrooms/showers.  The $6 i saved, went right back to them in firewood costs. heh.  Win some, lose some.

My spot was at the very end of the campground which was fine by me.  It looked like mostly tent spots, and not an RV place at all.  this meant no TV, video games or loud music.  it was quite heavenly.
I went out to a store and got some hot dogs and a can of green beans.  Green beans? yes. Green beans.  I'm not a huge fan of baked beans, too starchy and gives me gas.  Gas isn't very good when you spend most of the day on your ass on a bike.

I decided to make doughboys to eat with the hotdogs and green beans.  Got the fire going, attempted to make the doughboys using Bisquick. The can of green beans cooked nicely in the coals.

My hands were dirty with failure, literally.  I had goopy biquick all over my hands and it seems i made the doughboys too wet and it started falling off the stick 10 minutes into cooking them.  meh.  I ate the hot dogs and beans and washed that down with a bottle of orange crush.  Since the outside of the doughboys had cooked, i picked away at it and ate some with the dogs.  It was still pretty good, except raw in places.  I ate half of that and gave the other half to hot coals in the firepit.  The coals didn't mind.

cleaning goopy bisquick from all over your hands is a pain in the ass by the way.  you need a lot of water.  water i didn't have on hand.  reminder, bring more water.

I did 675km today.  It may not seem a lot, but since i hadn't done this many KMs in one day in two years, it took a lot out of me.

munching on a hot dog, i hear the approach of some beasts.  Clopclopclopclop... Two people on horses racing by about 60 feet away behind the camp sites across the trail.  scared the crap out of everyone, because no one expected horses to be running around.  Oops, i forgot this was a campground and RANCH.

I didn't do much for an hour or two except stare into the fire being all warm in my tshirt and shorts with a nice breeze blowing over once in a while.

I fell asleep to the sound of the wind in the trees... a gentle rustling and swaying.  i couldn't ask for better.

Freaky Friday!!

Bad title I presume but Meh... it's Friday and I'm a little freaked out by this trip.

ok... so I'm not really freaked out but mostly apprehensive


I'll be leaving here Saturday morning and heading east.  I've prepared as much as I could and I know I'm still forgetting to do things.

From the reading/research i've done, the TransLab highway is the most difficult road in North America. Compound that with not having the proper tires for the ride and the lack of skill to ride it... well, we'll see.

At the top left corner you see "where in the hell is Womper".  this should show the last 7 days of where I am via a GPS Map.
If you see the dot not moving for a day or two along the road.  Don't be concerned, I may just be fixing the bike, or taking a break.

If you see the dot for about 3-4 days not moving... I may be crashed in the ditch with the bike on me.

If you see the dot move off the road and into the bush, continually moving.  A bear ate my Spot locator.
If you see that dot stop moving... you will then have proof that a bear does indeed shit in the woods.

Beast.  Ready for action.

Fear not.  I've got my gear, I've got my pepper spray and I've got my axe.

At least I can always make myself a nice spicy chipmunk stew if I get stuck.

3...2...1... countdown!