Halloween is scary

Halloween dawned with me feeling rather poorly.  There is a bug going around, and it seems everyone is getting some form of it.  My turn was on Halloween.  I woke up every hour after 2:00 am and felt rotten when I got up.  No breakfast for me.  Once again I had another surprise at the morning meeting.  I was to lead a 3 day tour for a group of people from France.   Of course as everyone knows, fluency in French is not one of my strengths.  But not to worry, the French tour guide wanted to do everything, and all he needed was a driver.  Was I lucky!!   I just gritted my teeth, smiled a lot, said a few "bonjours" and "mercis" and managed to get through the day, again with seeing some great bear sitings.  Once home though, my body was not happy.  I tried to stay up to give out candy (6 kids), and write emails, but was completely done by 7:30 when I went happily to bed.  

The good news is that after a great sleep, I felt like a new man!  I am amazed how good it feels to feel well after you are sick!!  My second day with the French Tour went well, and I felt good enough to attempt to explore my French skills more with my new amis.   Fortunately for me they were wonderful people and did not seem to mind the way I butchered their beautiful language.

One other thing.  Both on the 31 and today, November 1, I did my first helicopter transfers from the buggy.   You drive the buggy to a designated spot, it lands, and people from your buggy buckle up and take to the skies for a very expensive tour.   Its a bit nerve wracking as there could be bears about, although we take every precaution to ensure it is safe.  The pilot scans the site before landing looking for bears, and the transfer is done quickly with very little time on the ground.  Today, however, our pilot had to stay on the buggy as we watched a bear who appeared about 1/4 km away.  Fortunately he went away from us, so when it was safe our passengers boarded and had a wonderful flight.

Well, thats it from the Tundra.

Take care everyone.

"Buggy Doug"