Things to worry about (because we like to worry)

Fill in the blanks here: _______ and ________ and _________, oh my! If you guessed any one of these, you are correct:

bears
escaped convicts
crazy American Indian on a horse
wolves
moose

Bears
Well, bears is a given. Melissa seeks out this information ALL the time. If we meet a local, her first question is, “have you seen any bears around here?” To which they always reply, “YEEESSSSS.” And usually a horrific bear encounter story follows where the local gives a play-by-play of a friend of a friend whose arm got eaten by a bear. Then I usually find Melissa rolled up in a corner somewhere, clutching her bear mace repeating over and over in a whisper, “lets rent a car, lets rent a car.”

Escaped convicts
Are you kidding me on this one?! Seriously, all I wanted to do was enjoy my morning breakfast of 55 pancakes when a newscaster pipes up in the background, “two escaped convicts and their accomplice are suspected to be hiding in Yellowstone.” Yes, the very Yellowstone that we will be camping in in a few days!

Crazy American Indian on a horse
Melissa and I rode through the Wind River Indian Reservation today. Today there was (and still is) a 5’7”, 270 pound American Indian wanted by the FBI for a string of brutal crimes. He’s committing all these crimes while riding a horse. And he is only 11 miles away from where we are sleeping tonight.

Wolves
I was warned about wolves a couple of days ago, while doing laundry at Lander. While the guy told me about the scary wolves, I acted scared but thought to myself, “This dude is nuts.” And then low and behold -- he was right on the money! A little poster outside of a convenience store told me so! It showed a picture of a scary, teeth baring wolf with the words -- ‘We were told wolves would only attack the sick and lame. We were told wrong!’ And there were horrible, gruesome pictures of wolves attacking livestock and deer and pictures of the disgusting aftermath. Those wolves are crazy. We could be next!

Moose
I too thought moose were very peaceful creatures. Until a young man in Wyoming told me differently! Apparently, they just up right charge you if they see you. And then they stomp on you. And then they continue to stomp on you after you are dead.

Brooke