Chapter 1

I remember the day well. It was July 14th, 2024.

The sunny Alaskan day was breezy and 72 degrees, and I was enjoying myself just riding around the countryside and taking in the beauty of this part of the State.

It was my Second time being in our largest State ... technically ... so I was pretty stoked.

At 59, I wasn’t in the best shape, or health, and this trip was a ‘bucket list’ for me.

My name is Joseph White... ‘Joey’ to those who know me even slightly well ... and I’m from a little college town in Mississippi.

I call myself ‘semi-retired’. But all that means is that I only have Social Insecurity to rely on if and when I am able to fully retire. So I guess my long term plan is to work at least part time for a while ... Likely as not, right up until noon on the day of my funeral.

I had currently taken my Two-weeks paid vacation from my Security Supervisor job, used my soon-expiring air miles from a previous job, and flown up here to Alaska for Ten days of exciting and glorious R&R.

Soothing time away from the ‘Twenty-somethings’ who didn’t show up for work when hired, made lame excuses for being late every other shift, and all the lowlife scumbags who steal anything that’s not nailed down. And of course the people who ALWAYS thought that we didn’t have the right or authority to stop them from doing it.

But the thing that I believe I was looking forward to the most, perhaps, was being able to actually sleep for more than Four hours a day on Five days out of the Seven.

(If anyone ever asks you to take a job as as supervisor ... RUN! It’s nothing but stress and numerous uncompensated hours of work.)

My last trip to the Alaska was in 1998, and was decidedly lackluster.

I was a truck driver, delivering oilfield equipment at the time. My boss and I boarded a ‘barge’ in Seattle, with our trucks and trailers, on a Tuesday morning. We drove off onto an Alaskan port dock on Thursday morning, dropped the trailers, and drove right back onto the barge.

We were back in Seattle by the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Not a remarkable visit, but enough to ‘technically’ cross Alaska off my ‘visited States’ bucket list ... Leaving only Hawaii.

My only regret was that on this current trip I had opted to not endure all the TSA hassle, and had left my sidearm at home.

For this trip, I’d have LOVED to have my Ruger .454 Casull on my hip, since I was exploring a lot of the ‘back country’ alone.

But my reasoning was less about legalities, as Alaska was still seemingly immune to the current political influences of the raving lunatics who were in charge for the past 4 years. My decision was based on the reality that my carry on ‘backpack’ was stuffed to the gills with ‘allowable’ items, and my Two checked bags were both already 49 pounds each with just the clothing and essential gear that I needed for my adventure.

So I left out the additional 10 pounds of armament, ammo, and accessories.

A mistake that would bite me later. Literally.

The violation of my ‘always armed rule’, would prove to be the worst mistake of my life ... Or maybe it was perhaps the best.

Five days into my adventure I had stopped at a small park near a little river where other visitors and tour buses frequented so everyone could take pictures of the numerous big brown bears catching fish and such.

It got pretty busy on some days, especially when the bugs and mosquitoes were light.

Unfortunately, this was one of those days.

People were EVERYWHERE. Cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, motorcycles ... and BEARS.

Lots and LOTS of bears.

I wheeled my rented Honda 750 Shadow Aero into the lot, and actually got a parking spot very close to the long wood and metal foot bridge that spanned the river.

As I shut down the engine and sat there a moment just taking in the view of the river, I noticed a VERY large bear walking up the path on the other side of the river, toward the other end of the bridge.

A quick scan of the bridge revealed that about Eight grownup couples, a couple teen boys, and a lone small girl of about 8 or 10 years old were all standing along the rails. They were taking pictures and watching the river scenery intently.