WARRIOR RUN, Pa. — It was a surprise of a lifetime for a Luzerne County family vacationing in Tennessee.
"A lot of people can't believe it that it actually happened. That the bear was just sticking his head out the sunroof, waving. It was like a perfect Kia commercial," laughs Derek Kline.
While Derek Kline says he's no stranger to bears, living in Warrior Run. He sure wasn't expecting to go on vacation and have a run-in with a car thief.
"So my wife was yelling at me, it's her car. We just got it all fixed up, and we come up here to Tennessee. Everybody was like, 'You have to close the windows, close the doors.' I said ain't nobody going to steal our car'," he laughs.
But little did Kline know, a furry peanut robber was on the loose in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
The hungry bear opened the car door and climbed in to treat himself to a snack inside.
"The bear actually opened up the console and didn't even break it. Took the peanuts out, sat there in the car, ate the peanuts, left the shells. And then I guess he was honking the horn and then got scared and jumped out the sunroof," explained Kline.
While the car was left pretty much unscathed with just a small rip in the headrest, Kline says he learned a pretty big lesson this trip.
"Next time when my wife says close the sunroof and close the windows, I should probably listen," he laughs.
Lesson learned, but it will sure be a story his family will be sharing for decades.
"My grandkids will know about this!" said Kline.
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