R and J in the USA

We were hemming and hawing as we looked at the short half mile walk through the woods in Icy Straight Point, Alaska. It was such a short hike, but we had what is referred to as “Bearanoia”. There were signs in front of the nature walk reminding people to be “Bear Aware” and making it clear that bears call this woods their home. Our bear spray was back in the van in Wyoming. We knew the walk was probably fine, but we were, what’s the word, chicken. Even though we wanted the fresh air and to stretch our legs, we couldn’t stop reading that sign and were starting to consider taking the free gondola safely back to the cruise port.

As we were hemming and hawing and in the midst of whimping out, a tall, sturdy, jovial gentleman walked up behind us. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about it. I’ve walked back and forth on this trail by myself a bunch of times already today.”

Julie was thinking, to be fair, if I were a bear, I would much rather mess with Julie than this tall and sturdy fellow. But, fair enough, his point was taken.

We invited him to be with us for the company and to calm our nerves and he cheerfully obliged. We felt better now that we had a group of three, the recommended amount of people when walking through bear country.

His name was Gary. He was from the Houston area and had the most wonderful Texas drawl and a big old smile to go with it.

As we started walking he admitted, “I’ll walk with you, but I’m slow.”

”Oh good,” Julie said, “That means if a bear comes we should easily be able to outrun you.”

Without missing a beat, Gary said with a smile, “Oh, if a bear comes, I’ll be fixin’ to trip you right away.”

Yup. It’s safe to say we liked Gary from the word go.

As people do when traveling, our conversation got to the “where are you from?” and “first time in Alaska?” and “first time on a cruise?” territory. Gary told us about life in Texas and we told him about life in New York. He told us of his aspirations to see Niagara Falls someday, both the Canadian and the American sides, a sight we get to take for granted, being practically in our backyard. We told him about our trip and how we were really looking forward to seeing Texas. Gary was as giddy as could be about our trip and excited to share with us the different go to spots in Texas. He asked THE question: “Do y’all like barbecue?” Julie looked at Ryan. Ryan looked at Julie. We looked at Gary and made it clear, “Yes, Gary. Yes. We very much like barbecue.” 

Before we knew it, we were out of the woods with our pleasant conversation with Gary being the only encounter we had.

Later, while shopping in one of the local gift shops, we heard someone calling out “Julie!” It took us both a second to realize that was for us, since, we don’t really know anyone in Icy Straight Point, Alaska, and didn’t expect to have one of our names called. We both eventually turned around and it was Gary. He was giddily coming up to introduce us to his wife, Tracey. 

“These are the folks I was telling you about,” he said to his wife. We all chatted and felt that extra good feeling you feel when you get to meet a stranger who feels like an old friend before too long.

Even though we figured we would likely never see Gary again, we walked away and felt that warmth of a new friend. We wondered if we did have the misfortune of encountering a bear closer than we wanted to, maybe, just maybe, there would be no outrunning or tripping going on after all.