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Woody’s Fig Newtons. I called Woody,
who was probably still asleep, on his
cell phone.
“
Woody, where are those Fig New-
tons?
” I asked.
“
They’re behind the passenger
seat
,” he said.
So the bear had sniffed out the Fig
Newtons.Within a few minutes, every-
one was down in the parking lot, giv-
ing their condolences.
The first thing I did was call the
State Police, who quickly confirmed
my suspicions.
“
The Black Bears have been pretty
active around here lately,
” said the
Trooper. “
You’re just lucky he didn’t
rip the entire car apart
.” He went on
to tell me that a bear can smell a gum
wrapper inside a sedan, and destroy
the car to get inside.
“
If a bear comes up to a log cabin
that has food inside, he will literally
tear the logs apart on the corner of the
building to get it,
” he said.
I guess I should count my bless-
ings that he took the path of least re-
sistance: the convertible top.
Otherwise he could have shredded the
aluminum body and torn the doors off
their hinges. I couldn’t be mad at
Woody. Forgetting some food in the car
after a long day on the road was a mis-
take anyone could make. Regardless,
he felt awful.
He and I cleaned the interior as
best we could, then joined the rest of
our group for breakfast.While they de-
cided to go touring for the day, Woody
and I would source a place where I
could change my clutch slave cylinder.
One thing was certain: there were no
repair shops nearby. I asked a bunch
of locals and no one knew of a shop
within thirty minutes, the closest one
being a dirty diesel truck repair shop
with a questionable reputation. I was
becoming depressed, when I noticed a
small plane landing behind the forest
near us.
If there was an airport, there were
probably hangers and tools and guys
who love mechanical things. There
were actually about a dozen hangers
and scores of small planes parked
about. I walked into one hanger and
saw a man behind a desk.
“
Excuse me,
” I said. “
My Cobra is
giving me clutch problems.Would it be
possible to use your shop for an hour
The SHELBY AMERICAN
When I woke up after our first night in Alieska I discovered the original top on CSX2490 had been torn open. “
Who would do this?
”
I wondered, but the Sheriff asked if we had left any food in the car. Woody admitted that he had and the Sheriff confirmed a bear
had broken in. Travel advisory: leave the Fig Newtons at home! (
Lee Cross photo
)
Spring 2019 70