Ma'am, it's 35 mph back there

It was the best day on record this summer when I landed in Kodiak. At 7 PM, the sun was shining, it was 70 degrees, and I had all the windows down. With a caravan of others, I drove home in 5th gear, singing along to the bad radio station, getting weird looks from people eyeing my lattice work in the front seat of the bug.

I came home to a warm welcome from the puppy, who was overjoyed to see me. I changed quickly, put on his leash and headed out for Near Island, a small sub island of Kodiak that has a few trails with breathtaking scenery. As the car I had been following turned off on of the road, I put the bug in fourth gear and cruised down the hill by the hospital and kept going. I see the Kodiak police do a U turn and come back and get me, just as I had down shifted into second gear behind an RV going up hill by the middle school.

"You in a hurry, ma'am?"

What followed was my gushing about my cute dog, the beautiful day we were having, my desire to stretch my legs after a business flight from Anchorage, oh, ad "I'm new and haven't quite driven around enough yet to know the zones."

While he called in my license for a usual tracing, he educated me about the zones along the main thorough fares. He asked if I were a Coastie, eyeing my VA plates. I stated that we had just arrived and my hubby promptly left me to fend for myself, etc, etc.

With clearance from HQ, he let me go with a verbal warning and told me to have a good time with Tok.

And that we did, with cruise control on, I completed the drive to Near Island, where Tok and I tackled the two main trails. I loved the sights, he loved the smells. We ventured out onto the beach, and he trampsed up and down along the seaweed and other vegetation. Under his weight, some of it hissed and scared the willies out of him. What does he do in reaction? Pops off and darts his little jaw at it, ripping off part of it and chewing, only to spit it out when he realizes it tastes like, um, decaying vegetation.

I forgot the camera. I am sorry, readers. I will take it again tonight and hopefully, nature will continue to cooperate, as well as my right foot...