How about a traveling story?

I will surely have more than this one.

After we were married and my husband graduated from the U. of Nebr. the only place he could get an engineering position was Boeing, Seattle. I was very afraid of trains but we had no choice. This would have been Feb. 1949. There was a huge storm coming in. We had to leave from the Omaha depot. We barely made it out of town before the storm hit really bad. (Lots of stories about that too.) WE hadn't gone very far and learned there had been a really bad train wreck in American Falls, ID. We were delayed 25 hours. So, the train kept stopping and twice was at meal time. I guess there was a rule that if the train was stopped they had to give you your meals free. We were excited about that . After that they started moving very slowly every meal time. We weren't familiar with all the fancy silver coffee & syrup carafes, etc. so it was interesting. My husband picked the wrong one and poured coffee all over his pancakes. He ate them anyway - couldn't afford to order more - and said you know they weren't half bad that way. We never had a problem with the kids not wanting to go on vacation with us when they started getting older. I asked them why and they said because we always have exciting things happen on our trips.
I have some pretty good ones I can relate when I have more time.

Don't know why not many have looked at this one but I will forge ahead anyway.

1965, kids are 15, 13, 11, and 5. Head out for Yellowstone park. We have camper on pickup, small teardrop trailer, & tent. We get to the sand dunes in Colorado (I think, ) There's a little stream of water on the way and the kids and I took off our shoes but my husband keeps on his cowboy boots which the kids think is hilarious. When we get back to the pickup the door is locked and can't get in. There was something about that pickup that if you forget and turn the handle a certain way the key won't unlock it. Someone had a coat hanger and it took quite a while but managed to get in. In New Mex. went on that mountain with all the piggybacks just above Red River. (the road is no longer there) It had been raining and snowing. There was one car with young men that was passing everyone and going really fast. There was no way they could see far enough ahead to know there wasn't a car coming on that really narrow road. On the way down the gravel road the cars ahead had stopped. We waited a while and since it was noon decided to go back and make sandwiches. When we got back there the kids said "Did you see what happened?". No. The road above had collapsed and fallen onto the road ahead of us and now it was only one lane. A bunch of guys had shovels and were digging the road out so we could get through. You could see the road graders below and they just sat there and didn't even try to come help. (Of course, every time we had been in New Mex. the only people we saw working on the roads were the ones that were stealing stuff.)
The guys that had passed everyone knew they had time to get across before the road came tumbling down but for some reason didn't. They were the only ones brave enough to gun through and make a path for everyone else. All the women and children got out and walked across. Luckily nothing happened. I don't think they ever used that road again. We got to the campground and waited to see if it would quit raining but it didn't so had to put up the tent in the rain. When we arrived at Yellowstone we got the last camping spot. While we were parking this guy came out and said "Hi, Kenny". He was a Boeing engineer too. They had a 15 year old boy and we had a 15 year old girl. Like dogs in heat!! One evening we were going fishing and asked him along. He said "Sure". He had to eat first, his mother wouldn't let him go until he ate. When he came over and got in the camper with the kids he had no pole. Asked and he said he gave up fishing years ago. Now for the fishing experience. We went to Yellowstone river. You could see all those little fish all over the place but not a one of them bit. The river was very shallow so we let the kids go out on the fallen tree to fish. One by one most of them went in feet first. Janet had on her little red tennies and when I sat her on the bank she said "I think there's fishies in my shoes". There weren't. But then 11 year old Mary went full fledged and was really soaked. That water was really cold. She will never forgive me for what happened next. When we got in the camper, just her and me, I made her take all her clothes off and wrapped her in a blanket. Of course, then all the kids had to get in the camper and she was so embarrassed. You couldn't see anything. When we were climbing back up the hill to leave I traipsed right through where some rv had dumped their gray water. yuk At least it wasn't the black water.

I went on my dream vacation when I was about 12. I had always wanted to take a Caribbean cruise and my parents finally relented. The first 2 days were brilliant and we had the best time. I came down with the worst flu/virus I have ever had on the 2nd night. But, the next day the ship stopped on a private island and I made my mother take me so that I could frolick on the beach and live out my "Cocktail" dream sequence. LOL....I ended up yacking behind a beach hut for the rest of the day!

I hear you about the snakes. I am so afraid I can't even stand to look at a picture. My hubby usually got up before me and if there was a picture of one in the paper, he cut it out before I saw it. There was one in my flower bed last summer and I drove to the mailbox and to get the paper. I am still reluctant to go on that side of the house. I have someone coming Monday to tend to my flower bed. At least it's not in front of the house.

Okay, this happened when I was a young girl, about 12 years of age. My parents sent me to a Catholic summer camp for one week. It was up in the mountains and the cabins were just a few yards from a lake. Our cabin was selected to go on an overnight hike (there were fifteen girls per cabin plus one counselor). We had to be trucked up to a place that had a small stream and a lovely mountain meadow. We had our sleeping bags spread out in the meadow when down from the mountains came a thundering herd of black angus bulls. You never saw such a commotion of screaming and running girls. We made it to safety, but our sleeping bags were trampled and you can imagine what else.........needless to say we were trucked back down to our base camp and snug, safe little cabins.............42

I have two...

first in 8th grade Mr. Summer took his class of 90(with the 2 other teachers on the "team") to Hope for some gold panning... it was fun... and then on the way back he raced one of the other vans on the road to the highway... dangerous but fun (we went no more than 50 but it was so funny)


second, not as odd or dangerous. Mr. Summer is a big Mt. hiker/climber and his weekends are almost always spent up on one Mt. or another... and whenever Erin and I go up to Anchorage or Seward we look for his car... when spotted we park next to it and I leave a message on his windshield...

Some stories that I will briefly mention - I was nearly arrested at the Austrian/Slovakian border because my friend didn't have car insurance. (a huge no-no in Europe...)

Bofrost 2002 - 105 hours in Germany, 10 hours of sleep. Enough said...

On the train to Prague,1992, one of the fancy high tech trains, in July. Air conditioner failed, windows didn't open. I thought I was going to die...

The hotel in Prague. We were on the 24th floor, and the elevator was this tiny box, and probably hadn't been serviced in 20 years. Once again, I thought I was going to die...

Winding up in Interlaken, Switzerland (1996) at 1 in the morning, the nice people at Balmer's Auberge picked us up at the train station and let us sleep in a giant open air tent for the equivalent of $3.

I highly recommend that everyone get a back pack and head to Europe. Take the trains, and then you will have many stories to post here. (many of my stories begin with, "We had to run for our train..." because for some reason I am incapable of getting to a train with any time to spare...)

Laura

I wish I had known when I was younger of a way to get rid of that phobia. Luckily, my little brothers knew better than to chase me. I think the fact that they would have to deal with the razor strop had a lot to do with that because they were always teasing me about something. And I was always crying. Snakes didn't bother my mother at all. She would be over at the garden picking cucumbers and pick up a snake and just throw it aside. Her father was like me. One time someone had a hat with a snakeskin band and hung it on the doorknob in the kitchen and he wouldn't use that door. People just don't understand how it affects your whole life to be afraid every time you step outside. They think it's funny and it's not. Most everyone I know thinks it's stupid. Guess I should have lived in Ireland.