the wildlife.

[jar]

Long long ago in a land far far away, well, I guess that depends on where you happen to be but it was long long ago, I was working as a shuttle bus driver on Hilton Head Island. Every hour I'd make a run from the William Hilton Inn through Sea Pines Plantation to the Heritage Golf Clubhouse and back, picking up and dropping off folk along the way. It could have been one of the most boring jobs I've ever had but I never liked boring jobs so decided to make it fun. I turned it into a combination shuttle bus and Island tour with running commentary and pointing out sights all along the route. On days where we were ahead of schedule I'd add in short diversions to show the guest parts of the Plantation they might never have seen; the tree houses and often the herds of small deer or an alligator sunning on the bank or a Great Blue Heron stalking the edge of one of the lagoons.

The change in the nature of the job kept me entertained but it also became quite popular with resort guests lining up to take my shuttle just for the tour. One thing I grew to count on was a big old gator that always liked to climb up in the sun beside one of the lagoons we passed. He was fair size, maybe seven feet long and wide as a tree trunk. On this particular day he was sunning, mouth wide open, and there, lying in the grass about three feet from him was a lady taking pictures.

Now these are all wild gators. And gators can be amazingly fast even on land. And gators are carnivores. So I stopped the bus, rolled down the window and said "Excuse me, but that's a wild gator and he can run as fast as a horse for short distances". The lady replied, "Don't worry, I won't hurt him."

So I drove on.

[Chrissy]

That is a great story. Thanks.