IT DROVE A SPORTS CAR
When we were paying our entrance fee to Yosemite---we took a short trip to Yosemite for a weekend from Foster City---several people were excitedably making a report to a Park Ranger.
"We saw it! Can you believe it, we saw it!" she said with her hands moving up and down and sideways. "A bear was driving a sports car down the road." The ranger just stood there---looking, with a complex expression on his face, at the people making the report.
In talking to the ranger, we got the whole story. The owner of the convertable sports car parked it along side of the road. He got out and took a walk, forgetting that he had his lunch, which he just bought, sitting on the passenger seat. When he came back his sports car was gone.
What happend, so the ranger thinks, was that a bear came by and climbed into the car, trying to get the lunch. Reaching for the food, he hit the hand break and the car started to move down the road. Because the car was moving, the bear panicked and grabbed the steering wheel.
Meanwhile, the people, who made the report, were driving up the road. When they passed the sports car, they saw the bear holding the steering wheel while the car was coming down the grade.
The park ranger told us that no matter how much they advise people to put their food in the trunk of the car, they just won't do it, thinking that the bears will not bother the food if it's locked in the car.
Oh, by the way, the car that the bear was in was found smashed into a boulder. The front seats were ripped by the claws of the bear, the steering wheel was bent, and on the floor were droppings of the bear, smelling up the car.
This event with the bear helped make our weekend in Yosemite interesting. There were several other stories that the ranger could tell us, but we could not stay to hear them. We told him that we would be back at a later date, so that he could tell us the stories.
