Forget Bears, it's the Butterflies that are out to get me!

When planning this trip, one of the most frequent comments I got was about keeping safe from Bears. To prepare myself for the big America Bears, I did some weight training and I am pretty sure I could win a wrestling match if it came to it (joke).

No real relevance, it just made me laugh

In practise, I have not seen a bear.  I have not seen a Cougar or a Rattlesnake or anything else dangerous.  If things stay that way, I will get to Miami a happy man!

I have had the pleasure of seeing a Bald Eagle, Vultures, Deer and Foxes from afar.  The smaller animals are harder to spot.

Not my picture, but it looked like this

As a cyclist you move a lot slower than a car and roadside animals react differently.  I have seen many animals i.e. Herons, Frogs, Chipmunks that will happily sit at the roadside.  They are so familiar with cars that they don't budge an inch as they drive past; but along comes a cyclist and they're off.  This makes them particularly easy to spot.  Sadly this is true of dogs too, but I have had no dog attacks since Neah Bay!

The one nuisance animal is a surprise to me; the Butterfly.  Like other animals mentioned, they seem sit on the roadside sunning themselves on the white lines.  When I come along they take flight.  The problem is the butterflies tend to fly straight into me.  Many an American Butterfly has been left with a sore head after me ploughing into it at 20mph.  

But they hurt me too!