The miles rolled by, scenery blurring out the window. A podcast playing loudly, the windows rolled down.  The gentle snores of the dog curled up on the backseat.  We sat next to each other up front, quietly, letting our thoughts go with the passing trees. At the curve in the road up a head, I noticed what appeared as two furry ears and then a large head came into focus.  John braked sending the dog forward off of her preferred seat as what I had originally assumed was a dog with a hiker.  I sucked in my breath realizing it was much wilder than a dog and definitely not a hiker.  Its large brown furry body leaped into the road mere feet in front of our vehicle. My hands automatically grabbed my camera that had been nestled in my lap. Bringing it to my face I took shot after shot automatically adjusting it as we watched this surprisingly quick brown mass of a bear cross the road and plow into the brambles of bushes and trees on the opposite side.  The twigs snapping with the speed and weight of the bear until it could no longer be seen but instead the noise of its movement betraying its presence until that too was gone.  We sat in the middle of the road with smiles on our face and eyes wide open with the gift we were given.  Never I seen a bear up close like that in the wild as we drove along.  Looking down at the camera, I grinned at the photos that I had on my camera but also wishing that bear would have turned around and looked back so I could have a shot at it's face.