Imre called. He said decided to have an easy day today. His original plan was to do grocery shopping and laundry, to mail another set of SD photos and call home from Galena, he wasn’t planning on staying in Ruby. He changed his mind for two reasons. First of all, he was tired, yesterday he had a hard time when he got caught in a storm. He is several days ahead of schedule, so it’s OK. When in Ruby, he heard that in Galena vandals ruined two kayaks/canoes in the past few days, so he decided to stay away from that village and spend the night and do the chores in Ruby.
Imre had met a couple interesting people since our last phone call. He says the villagers are just as curious about white people arriving on kayaks, as the paddlers are interested in learning about the Native Alaskans. Imre mentioned his bear encounter (Day #11) to someone, and was surprised when later several people approached him asking “Tell me how was that bear story?”
A few days ago someone introduced Imre to a fellow Hungarian. The man was very happy: “I’ve been waiting for 30 years for a Hungarian to stumble upon here!” He made a nice breakfast for Imre and they talked for a long time. The man is a bear expert, he explained that a grizzly doesn’t know the concept of a kayak and seeing the moving paddles, she probably thought this whole thing was a moose, and attacked it.
Imre stocked up on food as there will be no grocery store for the next 500 miles, almost all the way to the sea. He mailed the second set of SD cards, which will probably be the last ones as he doesn’t expect to ring any more post offices. He might not even find a public phone until he is almost at the mouth of the river.
Yukon River Kayak Adventure 2014 
Wow, to meet another Hungarian out in the middle of no where must have been a wonderful surprise for both of you. Guess that is “nothing by chance.”