“I feel there are two people inside me – me and my intuition. If I go against her, she’ll screw me every time, and if I follow her, we get along quite nicely.” – Kim Bassinger
When a beautiful landscape is also a safe place for Maggie and me to park Gypsy Lee, life couldn't be better. The Idaho state park campground above was lighted, patroled nightly and located by a scenic lake. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
When you’re an old broad who lives in an RV and often doesn’t know where she’s going to spend the night, safety is an issue. There are just too many sunrises and sunsets I still want to see.
I thought about this seven years ago when I sold my Utah home, and disposed of almost all my possessions and became a nomad.
My rules for staying safe on the road began with driving only during daylight hours and making sure I had a safe berth for the night. I quickly realized most inexpensive Forest Service campgrounds, where I thought I would be staying, didn’t quite fit that bill. They were a little bit too lonely and isolated for my comfort.
Written by Rana DiOrio and illustrated by Sandra Salsbury
National parks, state parks and decent commercial parks, while a bit more expensive, have become the mainstay for my nightly, weekly or even monthly stays, as this past summer when I volunteered as a campground host at an Idaho state park.
For additional safety, I have a guardian travel angel, a daughter-in-law who always knows the route I’m traveling when I’m on the road, and with whom I check in with once a day. And when I lock the doors of my 22-foot RV, I actually feel safer than if I were living in a home where I couldn’t see all the doors and windows. For added measure, my canine travel companion, Maggie, makes an excellent alarm system. She barks when anyone comes within about 30 feet of our home on wheels.
I wish when I was younger, and a mom of five kids, I could have felt as secure about their safety as I do today about mine. I was fortunate that my offspring escaped all the pitfalls of speeding cars, unsupervised creek swimming, stranger encounters and teenage foolishness to become adults who now worry about the safety of their children.
I do believe their job is even harder than it was for me, and more complicated for their children than it was for them. Rana DiOrio, author of the award-winning “ What Does It Mean To Be …” children’s book series tackles this situation in her latest offering” “What Does It Mean To Be Safe?”
It’s a book I want my grandchildren and great grand-children to read. One of the best messages of the book, which is delightfully illustrated by Sandra Salsbury, is that kids should follow their inner voices, that their own intuition will tell them when they are not in a safe situation.
I found this interesting because it was my own inner voice that told me I would be safer while on the road if I traveled only when the sun was out and spent my nights where there were people and lights.
I also remember times as a young child when my intuition told me never to be caught alone with a distant male relative. As an adult, I realized how on target my inner voice had been when I was only eight years old.
While designed for children, Rana’s book has a message even for us grownups.
Readers can buy her book by going to: http://shop.littlepicklepress.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-safe-p33.aspx Enter the coupon code BBTSAFE at check-out to get free shipping and a free poster to go with the book.
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