Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Today, I had to come down from the Blue Ridge Parkway.  That can be (and was) a little scary. It is easy to go too fast and get out of control. The brakes held up and now I am on flatter land.
   The highlight of the day had to do with wildlife.  Many of the roads on the route are out of the way and in wooded areas, which is why I have been enjoying all of the deer the last few days. Today, I was struggling up a hill in one of these isolated,wooded areas and glanced at my mirror. At the bottom of the hill (maybe 1/4 of a mile back), I saw a large animal in the middle of the road. It was unusual, so I stopped and looked back. At first, I thought it was a big, black dog. The animal was looking at me, which put me on edge. Then, it moved back into the woods - not dog movements, but cat movements. Shivers up the spine. It was a black panther (cougar). I am still unnerved by the sighting. The routes have since moved me away from the mountainous area. I am happy about that for lots of reasons now.
     Tonight I am in Charolottesville. I explored the University of Virginia today. Tomorrow, I 'm planning on spending time at Monticello. The forecast is for intermittent rain for the next 5 days or so. That will be interesting. Til next time.

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 17, 2017 at 6:59 PM

    Wow and where is the photo of that panther. In the movie "Songcatcher" the locals tell the main character that if one chases her, she should throw off a piece of clothing one by one and throw each piece down at he cat will stop to rip each garment to shreds. I should have told you.

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