On the Road, seeing sites and dealing with adversity

When traveling especially, thousands of miles from home many hazards lie out there. If you know of them and make some plans, they don’t blind side you. For instance before we took our trip to Alaska we all (the two couples going) discussed the things that might happen and what we would do.


(MY (our) GREAT GRAND DAUGHTER ELSIE MAE (2YRS), a Fantastic site near Clearfield, Utah)

(Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City)

We had decided if a death occurred back home, the one(s) most closely associated would fly back for the funeral, the others would camp near a major air port and wait. We had three able drivers (four in a pinch) and if one became very ill, and they could fly back to the Charlotte area, the other couple would drive the motor homes back to NC.

( On the Road)

If one of us died, we knew to contact a funeral home in the nearest town. They in turn would arrange for the body to be flown back to Charlotte. Arrangements of the other three would be played by ear from that time on. We figured everyone would fly back until the funeral and arrangements were taken care of. Storing everything until someone came back with arrangements to move the motor homes.

That is the concerns of health problems. What about a major breakdown? An engine or transmission? Well some folks with extra money buy catastrophic insurance that will take care of everything from hospitals to rebuilding the RV. I think the premiums are too high, so we don’t have that insurance. Any damage we will have to cover. The chances are slim, and I believe in odds, and they are in our favor. I have never driven thinking, ‘This engine may blow!’

(And you thought it did not exist!!! It is in Illinois.)

We do, however, carry road assistance service called ‘Good Sams’, for a $100 a year. Yeah, lucky me, when I drove this 26000 lbs of vehicle into soft dirt in Tellico Plains, TN earlier this year, we more than got our money’s worth. Sherry called and they sent a wrecker out. Same with flat tires. So we carry that type of insurance.

Of course there are accidents that might happen, but that is something you cannot plan on, so if there are no major injuries, that will be played by ear.

We all, the entire human race (yeah that means you), live by faith. Believing we will live forever (yeah you, too). I have thought and thought about that. If you plan to live until tomorrow or next week, then basically, you think you will live forever, because tomorrow or next week never comes.

On Stock Island, just north of Key West, there is a bar with a sign painted permanently on the side, “FREE BEER TOMORROW”. The man has never given out a free beer. You do not plan to die today do you? It is always tomorrow or sometime in the future.
So until tomorrow,
NIte Shipslog

PS: (A saying attributed to Will Rogers)
There are three kinds of men:

The ones that learn by reading.

The few who learn by observation.

The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.