I park the car and sit. In peace. Gazing at one of the most pristine grassland valley I’ve ever seen.

“It looks so much different than it did last time I was here” I’m thinking to myself.

“But what’s that in the grass over there?”

About 500″ ahead of me, about halfway between the road and the forrest at the base of the mountain ahead, it seems two eyes are staring right at me.

They are!

A coyote!

That’s so cool! I hadn’t seen one yet.

We’re staring right at each other, his beautiful pelt camouflaging so well I loose sight of him sometimes, even though he’s being perfectly still.

An then, as if this weren’t enough, enter stage left, out of the forrest, three deer, prancing along as naturally and cheerfully as little girls in a glitter store.

But they’re headed toward the coyote, who’s still staring right at me.

“WOW”

They approach, closer, and closer… then the mountain, the deer, the coyote and me are all aligned, like a strange constellation of alien planets.

BOOM!

Without having once turned his head, or it seemed moved a whisker, prior to this moment, the coyote springs up with a bounce that places him 180 degrees from his positioning a second ago and beelines for the deer.

And it’s like fire’s been set to the glitter store and

WOOSH!

The deer, all three of them, take off full speed, yet not quite as fast as the coyote.

It seems he’s about to catch up when the deer, with the speed, precision and choreography of a school of fish, turn on their heels and pull and almost 180, on point, and bolt full speed the way they just came.

Our poor coyote friend might have the speed, but he doesn’t have the precision or agility the deer seems to have for instant directional change.

His turn looks more like a the drifting cars in the fast and the furious, painfully placing one paw in front of the other in a wide turn, slipping through the whole turn, unable to effectively fight the pull of centrifugal force.

And another turn, and another, and another.

The deer frantically but elegantly shifting left, then right, then left.

The coyote clumsily but rapidly sticking to their tails, losing ground with every turn, but gaining fast in the straightaways.

Me, head left, then right, then left, like I’m watching a tennis match, jaw dropped at first, but mouth now turning slowly from an oblong O to a giant smile.

This is the most amusing thing I’ve ever seen.

Ok, yes, I’m being a little heartless, there are lives at stake here, on both sides. The coyote needs his lunch and the Deer need their rumps.

But I feel like I’m watching a live and non-animated version of Wile E. Coyote be evaded by deep as clever as the roadrunner.

“Beep! Beep!” go the deer with every plant of the hooves and instantaneous maneuver.

I’m now holding my sides from laughter as they WOOSH just past my left..one, two, then three…across the street, and straight up the cliff behind me before disappearing into the forrest.

The coyote pays no mind to my getting up and rushing to the other side of my car for a better view as he zooms past me too, across the street, and scrambles up the cliff, it seems, slipping, sliding, and holding on to dear life.

Whew! That was a chuckle!

I open my car door to be getting on my way.

But wait! There’s more!

A deer pops out of the trees, then back in; followed by the coyote.

Another deer, out and in. The coyote.

I can’t believe my eyes. I feel like I’m watching a Scooby Doo chase scene.

Like this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE7IRO-EhPk]

This goes on a bit longer and then I don’t see them again.

Pfeww…

I catch my breath and slowly get on my way.

On to the next adventure…

That’s all for today kids, but comeback next week for more.
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Episode 2 Trouble at the Border

Episode 4 (out same time next week)