Bear Encounter

Ok, who would have thought a bear would run out in front of you just 46 miles outside of NYC and just 1 mile from our house? Well that is exactly what happened on friday night when Mick headed out at 10:30 pm to pick me up at the airport returning from Salt Lake. He didn't see the bear, just felt the impact on the driver side of the truck, saw a flash of black fur and felt a big bump as he drove over him.
Mick turned around, but didn't see the big guy, so thought the bear had run off into the big corn field. After limping back to the house in the truck, he got the Acura and headed out again to get me. It was then that he saw the bear laying on the side of the road.

I meanwhile had arrived and called him to let him know I was heading to the door. He said he had almost asked me to get a cab and told me the story. Why the cab? Well just 2 miles from the bear encounter a cat ran out in front of him and he fatally injured the stray guy also.
Ouch!!! When we saw the size of the bear and damage to the truck, we are so grateful that Mick was not driving the Acura. Mick would surely have been hurt and the car probably would have been totaled.

Notice the bear hair between the tire and rim.

The scary thing is that the next morning Mick went to get a haircut and I asked him to get more pictures of the bear during daylight. When he got to the spot, there were cars around and people down looking at the bear. It had moved about 10 feet from the original place friday night. We feel so bad that he had suffered so during the night.