Alaska Bound: I Saw a Black Bear!
I deal with the same kinds of stresses you do at home. Wondering if I will ever find love again, how to maintain friendships and ties with my family, and the evil money stress. Money is probably my number one stress. It is not cheap to travel, but the experiences make me richer beyond my wildest dreams. Business was horrible for me for the month of May. I had my laptop stolen on May 1st which turned my world upside down. I was too depressed to work which made me behind on hitting writing deadlines. It wasn’t until very recently that I started writing for other bloggers again. I just haven’t been able to catch up income wise though and made far less in May than I have in years. I would like to break into the world of writing for travel magazines but haven’t figured out that process yet. But what all that did was hit my pocketbook with a sledge hammer. Some days I can’t travel any further because there is no more cash for gas.
Yep, same stresses just different. I am working on different sponsorship opportunities for individuals and businesses. What I’m doing is unusual and I do get a lot of support and blog traffic from my community. So this was what I was thinking about for 5 hours yesterday. I have to make $750 today or I can’t continue on. How am I going to do that? I started brainstorming blog ideas I could sell. What value opportunities do I have that people could get behind? For five long hours, I worried, I strategized, and I prayed.
Gas is almost $5/gal in Canada and the food is pricey too. I went to the local grocery store and bought some bananas, peanut butter, hummus, tortillas, cheddar cheese, and Powerade and it was $37! I got on the road and ate breakfast at 2:00pm.
I wasn’t outside Prince George for maybe 45 minutes when I saw a black spot off in the distance. Is that a bear? Hells yes, it is!! Woot Woot! I pulled over onto the shoulder and grabbed my Canon Rebel T5i that I borrowed from BorrowLenses.com and starting taking pics. I was giddy like it was Christmas!
I started shooting with the 17-55mm lens and couldn’t really get a clean shot. Then I pulled out the big girl lens, the 70-200mm f/4L lens. I couldn’t figure out how to to focus the thing! There was this plastic holder thing and I didn’t realize it needed to come off first. Whoops! Then I was in business. The bear was still pretty far away so I didn’t get the best shot, but I was happy. My first black bear seen in the wild! YES!
First shot was taken with the 17-55mm lens. Pretty far away, looked like he was eating the flowers. 🙂
I got a great Black Bear Butt picture with the 70-200mm f/4L lens. The big guy wouldn’t turn around and then just plopped down and took a nap.
I had checked with the Milepost book my dad had bought me and it had great things to say about the town Smithers. There was even a Municipal campground that had free WiFi and campfire wood with showers to boot for $17. Count me in! Lilacs were in bloom all over this gorgeous campground right near the river.
I’m writing this blog post now sitting on this here bench. Last night I sat here for a long time wondering why I am the way that I am. Why am I so different from everyone else? Why do I see the world differently? Will I ever be financially secure again and not have this sheer amount of stress on my shoulders? What am I doing wrong and how do I fix it? Last night was the Night of Why’s.
Trying to find the restrooms was not easy as they were hidden. First time I had seen bathrooms quite like this. Funny enough, I ran into a Canadian couple who was camping just in front of these and we started talking. They offered me mosquito spray, because at this time I had quarter-size welts all over my body, and in places there really shouldn’t be any. I hadn’t been out of my car for 5 minutes and didn’t have my spray handy.
Carolyn and Jim invited me to hang at their campfire to keep away from the mosquitos. I brought a growler of porter from Georgetown Brewery (Seattle) and talked for quite awhile. It was a good way to end a long day! I headed back to my tent with bear spray, mosquito spray, but most importantly, new friends.
I get asked a lot about donating to my travels. Here is my PayPal Donate button until I get the Donations page up and running on this new site. Thank you for supporting me. Without the love and support of my community, and especially my friends and family, none of this would be possible.
Disclosure: Links within this post may contain affiliate links that I earn commissions from. Example, if you click on the above BorrowLenses.com link and purchase anything from that site I make a small commission, no matter what you purchase. This is how I pay for my travels and this blog. Thank you for supporting me!
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