In 1998 my cousin LLBear and I worked in the kayak department of the LLBean store in Freeport, Maine.* There I met people - humans mostly - from everywhere imaginable, places with wonderful and exotic names : St. Louis, Louisville, Bay Saint Louis, Edmonton - surely these must be splendid and sophisticated locales. Like many bears before me I became obsessed with a quest for travel and enlightenment, though I worried about the details: Were there Dunkin Donuts in far-flung cities? Good Yankee pizza? Maple syrup? Provenders of clothing for dashing young bears? Not to mention accounts and broadcasts of the New England sports teams dear to my heart?
But I persisted even in the face of these worries, saving money and studying maps, gathering information and planning - what? - a journey into the great unknown.
* You will notice a similarity between the names of the Bears and the Beans, as well as a long established working relationship. We are said to be distant cousins, although the family history is somewhat vague on this point.
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