Walking on the Wild Side...

I've done my share... but I don't really want to talk about downing shots of tequila first thing in the morning. (only kidding)

Actually, the impetus for today's blog is something far more somber. I just read that the body of the missing father in Oregon has been found. I've been following this story for days. And I am devastated and saddened beyond belief at the outcome.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that being lost in the wilderness is #2 on my fear-charged list of The Worst Possible Things. My 'what could go wrong' paranoia is likely linked to my childhood passion for the Reader's Digest 'Drama In Real Life' stories.

Still, for a basic city girl I have logged hours in the great outdoors -- not recently. But it's sort of like riding a bike, right? From age two to 17, I spent every summer in The White Mountains in Northern Arizona -- a landscape not much different from the trek James Kim and his family took over Thanksgiving weekend.

My wilderness time served was the FULL summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day) and was not in a cabin with running water and electricity (or laptops, iPods and WiFi), but in a campsite. Trust me, I have mad wilderness skills. In the early years we all slept in one tent. Then my grandparents got a sleeper trailer and my sister and I had free reign to fight over the tent. Then the grandparents got a slightly bigger trailer and I graduated to sleeping in the bed of the pick up with a camper shell ceiling. The pro to sleeping in the truck was that I wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn when my grandmother did. The con was that when I did crawl out in the morning I would be in plain view of the entire campground. (Be still my bed hair.)

(Sidenote: I was a lazy teenager then who didn't understand the concept of burning daylight. Now I have a lazy teenager who burns daylight at such an alarming rate nuclear winter has become a concern. See how this goes? )

The point of my blog is that my lazy teenager has lived his entire life in the city. He may know how to bust an ollie on his skateboard... or forage for fast food with his ATM card. But if he goes off the suburban reservation... he's likely to be Mortuus Bestia (roughly dead meat in Latin)!

And here's where I think we get into trouble. We're mobile, global, teched up and even toned from working out in gyms, running or climbing on pre-fab climbing walls. We have paved four-lane access right up to the turn off to Wilderness. So we just forge right in with little or no preparation or thought. What happened to James Kim was a freak accident, but it's an accident that happens ALL THE TIME. In fact, there was a very similar episode on the Discovery Channel Series I Shouldn't Be Alive. Holiday trip, mom, dad and baby + storm = disaster. In that case everyone survived... but not without some heart pounding drama.

(Sidenote: if you think I'm wrong that this happens all the time, just consider the fact that there are enough of the situations that I Shouldn't Be Alive is in it's third season!!)

My point here is show Mother Nature the respect she deserves. If you're going somewhere by car pack some 'just in case' supplies. One bag won't bog you down, you don't even have to take it out of the car. Have some power bars, food, water... socks and sensible shoes, some of those paper thin thermal blankets. And most importantly let someone know where and when you're going and what route you plan to take. And if your plans change, let someone know that, too. They would have found the Kims a lot faster if they knew their route.

Wouldn't you be happy to take a late night call from a friend or family member telling your their travel plans have changed, than to suddenly find out you don't know where they are... or, is it just me?

RIP James Kim... it will be a long time before I get the image of the photos of you with your beautiful little babies out of my head!