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Originally Posted by orlok
You seem remarkably calm about it.
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What's not to be calm about. Starting at age 9, I've spent thousands of nights in the woods or jungles. I'm as comfortable in them as I am in a cheap motel, except I don't have pay-per-view TV. Well, actually these days I guess I could, as I bring a tablet with me for reading and navigating. To spend an extra unplanned night or two is no big deal. I know that if I walk in a straight line, or follow a stream long enough I'm going to cut a road eventually. If I were lost in Alaska after a plane crash, and knew I had possibly a few hundred miles to travel before I found any signs of civilization, believe me, I wouldn't be quite so calm. Having looked at a road map of the area before I left, I knew that at the most I might have to walk 20-30 miles in the worst case scenario. As it turned out, once I could get a signal, I discovered that if I followed a contour line around the mountain I was on, for about 10 kilometers, it would put me due east of where I left my bike, and about 10 kilometers away from it. I walk 10k almost every day during the week. It turned out that I was actually close enough (
IF I knew where I was) to have walked out the day before. It's not as if I was marooned in space.
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Wasn't your wife worried when you didn't turn up after the first night?
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We've been married for 19 years. During that time the road has gotten lost at least 4-5 times, once with her with me. She was 'concerned' about me, but not worried (nor particularly surprised...) With my lifestyle, it really doesn't pay to 'worry' about me. It would become a full time neurosis and drive a person nuts.
I had planned to be out over night for one night. She knew I had at least an extra day's worth of food beyond what I actually would need with me or more (to say nothing about what can be found in the jungle,) as that's part of my normal planning when I go into the woods, and emergency signaling devices (red smoke and aerial flares, whistle and mirror) if needed. She's attended Survival classes that I've taught, and knows that if I'm going off the beaten path that I've everything I need to keep me happy and healthy for an extra few days if required.
In a study done by one of the major US hunting magazines some years ago, they discovered that about 97% of hunters NEVER get further into the woods than 500m from their cars. They are afraid of getting lost. That was just never something that bothered me. Besides, I always knew where "I" was. I just didn't know where the road was!
Stitchawl