Moment of Panic We have all at some time in our lives experienced a moment of panic. The moment when all accumulated knowledge we possess seems to disappear in a flash. While a million thoughts of what if replace our sound judgment. I had such a experience many years ago while deer hunting in the Ward Hills area of Lake County in Michigan. For those who might wonder where that is, it is northwest of the city of Baldwin Michigan. Or north of M10 and west of M37 in the heart of the Manistee National forest. When this event happened I had been coming to this area for several years and felt very comfortable navigating my way in and out of the forest. I'm old school I guess, I will never use GPS for something as simple as cross country navigation. I've always prided myself on my compass skills. Give me a topo map, a compass and a point to be at and I'll be there. Yet something went very wrong that November afternoon. After parting from the rest of my group I took off through the forest in a northeasterly direction. I walked a couple hours that morning before settling into a nice hide in a little hidden valley. That couple hours I walked to get where I was put me somewhere near the center of a tract of land of some twelve square miles. There were forest trails surrounding the area. And as any good woodsman knows as long as you DO NOT cross those trails you can find your way back. Just follow the trail and make only left or right turns and you will eventually find where your party is at. After a very quiet and cold day in the valley I started back. Using my compass I aimed off and headed south to the road. Knowing once I came to the road all I needed to do would be turn right and follow the road. I walked a very long time and stopped occasionally to sight a target object in the distance with my compass. When I entered that morning I walked through Aspens and Birch. That gave way to Black oak as I neared the little valley. Yet now as I traveled south I could see in the distance a very large stand of pine. Pine? I had not traveled through any pine at all today I thought to myself. Stopping a moment I took my old trusted compass from my pocket and checked my course. 180 degrees, due south. Now as the cold wind cut at my exposed face I began to panic. Could I be wrong? Is my Compass broken? Turning around behind me there was black oak just as I had been in all day. Deciding the compass must be wrong I started back the way I had just come from. I was panicking and I knew it. Stopping I took a deep breath and decided I had to reason this out before taking another step. I used my pin-on compass and compared its reading to my old trusted compass. They both read the same, so compass the is right. When we entered the forest this morning we turned north off the highway. We parked just past the first forest trail which has to be somewhere to my south. The light was fading fast now and the frigid temperatures were being honed by a driving wind straight off Lake Michigan. Again I took a reading on the old compass and headed out quickly southbound. I must have covered a lot more ground that morning than I had thought. As I neared the far edge of the pines I saw headlights go by. I had found the trail, but was still a fair distance from the turn out where I had parked the Bronco. Now facing directly into that raw wind I started my trek to go meet up with my party that would be waiting for me. I knew these guy's would not be worried if I was a little late. We had all been hunting up here for years. When I finally came into view someone ask, “what happened did you get lost”? “Me lost, not hardly”, I said as I started stripping off gear and stowing it away. Since that day I have always joked “I've never been lost, just a bit bewildered for an hour or two. But all joking aside, keeping ones head in a situation of panic is everything. Annually all over North America hundreds of hunter, trekkers, and backpacker go missing. The back country areas are a beautiful place to hunt, camp, hike, and play. But no matter what your level of experience a couple items could save your life. The following list does not apply to all activity's but many apply to all back country activity's. Warm clothing, spare blankets Waterproof matches Compass and Topo map if available [Most forest service offices have topo maps] Small first aid kit Extra water Snack foods [trail mix, granola, ect] Poncho {can be used also as a small personal shelter} If you are prepared and keep a level head you can turn a situation of panic into a personal victory.
The Future and Technology The future has always promised great things historically speaking. Leonardo Di Vince dreamed of flight yet it was century's later when the Wright brothers made it a reality. Of course it only took governments a few years to mount guns on the idea to kill one another. The creative think of ideas to better mankind. The inventors make the idea work. The opportunist's get involved to make a profit. And the consumer gets to purchase cutting edge technology at least whatever is cutting edge that month. In 1978 when I was still in High School I discussed an idea I had with some friends of mine in my graphic arts class. The Idea was very simple, an automobile with a computer built into it. And a highway with sensors in it. The idea was simple, using sonar or radar to avoid other cars the computer would read the sensors and travel unaided by humans. A safer automobile was the general idea. A few years ago I actually heard that somewhere in California they were actually playing with this idea or at least something similar. Unfortunately before this happens I expect the flying cars like in the old Jetson's cartoons. But if you think this is an outlandish idea think back to the world of our grandparents. I'll use my grandfather as an example here. In his 72 years he watched the invention of both the airplane and the automobile. He lived through a depression, two world wars, the dawn of the atomic age, the technological boom of the 50s and 60s as well as manned space flight. None of this could he have imagined as a boy. Just as he as an old man could never have imagined everyone carrying a phone in their pocket, the world wide net, or the assorted “I” toys. So what could be in our future I wonder. Hopefully some good things that no one can distort into a weapon, we have more than enough of those already. Here are a few Ideas for some useful items we do need. In a world of seven Billion people I'm thinking new ways to grow food and housing should be near the top of the inventors lists. Perhaps combining the two, apartments with tillable areas on their roofs. Or domed Arctic city's climate controlled to house people and grow food. Domed underwater farms off shore on the sea floor. Irrigate deserts to grow food. We need a new energy source something to make fossil fuel as extinct as the dinosaurs. Pumping Geo thermal air for heating is one idea. Making better use of both solar and wind power are another. Yet somewhere there is something not yet discovered with more power than the atom yet safe. It just has to be found and explored. Perhaps some kind of electro-magnitic pulse, or plasma based energy. Mankind has so much potential just based on the technology we have developed in the last one hundred years. The technology curve is in our favor just look at the hundred years before this last century. And with a growing demand on our planet, we must start looking at the obvious problems of the future now. We need to look beyond the status toys and start thinking about the world we will leave to our grandchildren. That's not saying I don't still want a flying car. I DO! |
Ever been left behind in Montana For anyone who has never experienced the crushing emotions of being truly stranded allow me to relate yet another story from the road. The company that I took my training with in the 1990s was well known on the highways as a training company. Despite the criticism we encountered on the road the company actually had a very good safety record. The majority of their accidents being the rookie slow maneuver type, backing, turns, ect. When I trained in Green Bay the company was still doing a three step training program. School, followed by two weeks of individual training with a road trainer. A skills test then an assignment to a C team. I was pretty excited when I got my C team assignment and a partner who was a little older. Right away I made the assumption that his being older would mean he had skills equal or better than mine. That was my first mistake. Yet to tell this story I really need to explain what happened in this team experience, because without it teaming with a young lady would not make a lot of sense. I can not honestly remember “clueless George's” real name, suffice to say he was not ready to drive a 80,000 lb truck. First load straight out of Gary Indiana was a trip to New Jersey. I planned the route and we were off. I went to the bunk but found it difficult to sleep. When teaming I always had to be near exhausted to sleep. By late afternoon it was my turn to drive. I couldn't wait to get behind the wheel of the old cab over International. Happily I drove all night through the mountains of Pennsylvania. And as we neared our delivery point Clueless took over but insisted I stay up to help navigate the last bit of the trip. I did and once we arrived I discovered George had a disability. His brain refused to work in reverse. After several attempts to hit the dock I finally took over and docked the truck for him. Lucky for us, {me} we loaded out of the same place while I slept. Somehow George had found his way back onto the toll road and headed west until he woke me in the dark saying, “I need your help”. I got up and pulled the curtain back to see where we were. We were in a residential neighborhood somewhere in Pittsburgh. Clueless George explain he had needed to go to the bathroom and took and exit but couldn't find his way back to the highway. “Which way to the highway”, I asked? George just shrugged his shoulders with that clueless pathetic look on his face. I got lucky and guessed right and at least found downtown, from there I finally found our way back onto the highway and again we were headed the right way. I drove the remainder of that night as I adjusted our route. He had planned a route that took us way out of route. So I corrected the route and by morning had us on I40 just west of Knoxville Tennessee. Now clueless George took over again. He was incapable of power down shifting. As I tried to sleep he ground about the gearbox playing search and destroy. A couple times when he did find a gear I expected to hear the transmission falling into the road. I knew that if I wanted to save the transmission I better get up front and coach him. {looking back I wonder after this experience why I ever became a road trainer} Powering down is really easy most drivers can do it just by sound alone. But in Georges case I had to take him back to school. I told him to watch his tachometer. As the RPMs came down to about 1300-1400 he should take the truck out of gear, rev the motor to 1500-1600 rpm's and shift into the next lower gear. This is done when climbing through mountains or hills with heavy loads to reduce drag on the motor. It is all hand eye coordination. Yet even with me sitting there coaching he continued to play search and destroy on the transmission. Finally I just told him when to clutch and pump up the rpm's, while I shifted for him from the jump seat. Funny that the passenger seat is called a jump seat. Probably because after a day with Clueless George you want to open the door and jump. I was exhausted, I drove my shifts and supervised his. But now we had to stop and fuel in Nashville. This was the scariest part of my ride with clueless George. George always seemed to get nervous in traffic, or when lanes narrowed. And both of these would soon come together to create a deadly situation. First he missed the exit for the fuel stop. He immediately slowed down and started for the shoulder. I ask him what he was doing. He said he was going to back up he missed the exit. Allow me to make a point here. Backing up on the shoulder of an interstate highway is very dangerous in your personal vehicle. INSANE in a truck! No I insisted, then directed him to continue on to the next exit and do a flip. Unfortunately before that we had to cross a bridge where they were working on the inside lanes. The lanes narrowed and true to his habits George dodged away from the closer traffic. Now people say that in a moment such as this your life passes before your eyes. I don't know about that but it did slow to about one tenth speed as George climbed the curb of the bridge and started bouncing off the railing. The entire 80,000 pound unit bounced like a pin ball all the way across the bridge. I know my lips were moving but after the words WHAT THE *****? no more sounds came out. The incident shook George up too. So without a word between us I let him pull into the fuel stop and begin fueling. While I rushed to a phone to call dispatch and demand another C team partner. Now my friend Joann had a similar experience with her C team partner who somehow rolled a truck crossing Texas with Joann {Jo} in the bunk. Jo and her female partner had nearly had a fist fight only days before this incident. This is when Jo and I decided to team up rather than give the company another chance to choose our executioner. It was a fun team, I gave Jo the easy wide open driving and I took everything else. We had to make some changes in the bunk as well since there was only one bunk to share. Jo made up the bed in the bunk and I would throw a sleeping bag on the bunk when it came my turn to sleep. We also tried to give each other all the privacy we each needed since it was a business team nothing more. The twenty three year old was a very good driver as well as good company. But there were a couple times that thing got funny. One of these happened out in Wyoming just after it had started to get dark one night. I was snug in my bag in the bunk when suddenly Jo dynamited the brakes. Throwing me sleeping bag and all out onto the doghouse {a raised platform between the seats in a cab over}. My feet hung down into the jump seat, my torso was on the doghouse, and my head in Jo's lap. I remember looking up at her and asking, “is there a problem”? Slowly she pulled onto the shoulder of the road laughing uncontrollably. Then she explained that antelope had crossed in front of her and that was why she had hit the brakes. We both enjoyed a laugh and I crawled back into the bunk to sleep. On another trip she had decided she preferred the night shift of driving though she rarely drove her full ten hours. I usually got a couple of her hours each day that I drove before starting my own logbook. We were out in Montana headed for Oregon. It was very early in the morning and she had pulled into a Bosselman's or Burns Bro's I don't recall which. I remember waking as she made her way into the lot. I peeked out and realizing we were stopping so I decided to get up and go use the restroom. I assumed she was going to get fuel. Pulling on a pair of running shorts and a T-shirt I put my flip flops on and headed inside. Yet when I returned the truck was gone. No problem I thought she probably has gone and parked in the lot. She would do this sometimes where ever we were going to shower. So dressed as I was I started cruising the lot in the early morning darkness looking for my truck. Row by row by row I searched. Until I discovered to my horror my truck was not there. Oh my God, she left me here! I had left the truck without my wallet or even change. Thank God the company had 1 800 numbers. After a long wait I finally got the night dispatch on the phone and explained the situation. They in turn sent a message to the Qualcom computer in the truck. And I went back outside to the fuel island to wait. After about an hour I saw my tractor coming into the lot, Jo laughing her fool head off as she carefully pulled onto the island. I took a moment to get control of myself before walking over to the truck. Jo reached over and opened the door asking, “need a ride there handsome”? Then she went into another laughing fit. Humbled I climbed into the jump seat. We did however come up with a way to make sure that never happened again. If the person in the bunk exited the truck they would place their pillow in the jump seat. This would let the driver know they needed to wait. Jo finally got to a point where she missed her home and daughter. She took a local driving job down near Louisville Kentucky. I never saw the girl again, yet when I think of teams she will always be the one I had the most fun with. |
