“It ‘bears’ further”

Explanation…

I apologize for the quick ‘Bear’ post, but I was at Powell Ranger Station Idaho with an iffy signal.

For those of you whom were fans of the ‘Late Great Paul Harvey’;

Here is ‘The rest of the story’.

My lovely bride and I were on a 4+ hour Scoot ride through the Lolo pass of the Bitterroot mountains.
At or near the 5,233 ft summit of the pass is the Montana/Idaho border. We decided to turn around at ‘Powell’ Idaho, in 12 miles, as indicated by a mileage marker.

There is no ‘Powell Idaho’, there’s the ‘Powell Ranger station’, which has adjacent to it the ‘Powell Lodge’.
There is a lodge/Restaurant and it has surrounding log cabins. The area also has a ‘rustic’ convenience store gas station.
We stopped to stretch, I pumped fuel while @The_CINC went inside to grab a couple of cold drinks.

Once I finished fueling the Scoot, I found a shady spot to park it in, and I went inside the store.
The word ‘Store’ is a gracious description. Beer/soda/gas with some snacks in a cramped 100 year old building.
I queried;
“Excuse me sir, but where may I find a restroom other than the local ‘Doug Fir’.”
“There’s a building to the left outside.”
I exited the building, turned left on the wooden covered porch.
Just as I stepped off the porch in order to cross the road, to the restrooms, I looked down.
Just to my right was a medium sized blue cooler, with the head, paws and hide of a ‘Black Bear’, in a white plastic garbage bag.

“Holyyy Shit, there’s a ‘bar in thar’…” I said matter of factly
The young lady watching it smiled and nodded her head in affirmation to me.

I then crossed the small access road to the little cabin that had the restrooms. Just in front of the building were two fellows with a 12 yr old or so boy as a passenger, sitting on Harleys.
One of the men looked at me and said
“What did you say?”

I replied
“Did you see the bear in the cooler?”
“What?!?”
“There’s a black bear in that little cooler.”
“You’re shitting me!”
“I shit you not!”
Yes, I’m that quick, that’s my stock in trade.

On my way back from my ‘pause that refreshes’, the young lady, watching the cooler was still there, bored. She was waiting for her gentleman to buy ice. I asked her if I could get a picture, she said she didn’t care.

Picture: The Head, Paws, and hide of the bear, in the cooler.