Miles lay between us, and more miles between us and home. No phones, no lights, no motorcars; not a single luxury. The rendezvous plan had eroded away with the trail in front of me. How would we connect?
When trouble comes, your people may be elsewhere. You’ll want to connect with them. Does everyone know how to make that happen? In this prepper case, you can think through how your family would have handled it. We’ll share our story and some ideas.
The situation
The sun shone on a beautiful Saturday, perfect for a bike ride on the trail. I was up for a long ride. Salty’s rehab plan limited his miles. He’d drop me off at a trail head, drive a fair way down the trail, take a shorter ride and some photos, and we’d meet there. Nice plan, right?
Until I came to the spot where the trail had fallen into the river. The sheer bluffs on one side and fast river on the other made portaging a No. I had no way to get to the rendezvous.
So I pulled out the cell phone, of course. Limestone bluffs block cell phone reception like champions, I find. Not enough daylight remained to get back to where we’d parted ways.
Your Connect Quiz
Ok, imagine yourself in a similar situation. Many people don’t groove on bike trails; maybe your spouse or kid attends a conference while you spend the day exploring the city you’re visiting. The situation features you needing to connect with your people when Plan A becomes impossible and you can’t just phone/text. What do you do? Also important, what do *they* do?
After you play this little game, ask your family members. Sometimes their answers surprise.
How did Salty and I connect?
I just pedaled back up-trail for a bit, then took a small side spur. Before I even reached the parking lot, there was Salty pedaling my way, getting his own ride in.
Sorry (not sorry) for the un-dramatic conclusion. There are times when drama is bad.
The river had undercut Plan A, meet down the trail. River bluffs blocked Plan B, call and talk it over. Plan C worked great.
There was also a Plan D, return to place we last saw each other. It would have been dark and I’d’ve been tired, but other than that it should’ve worked. Plan E, seek outside help, would only be used if it seemed that someone was incapable of making meetings– perhaps an accident.
Here’s a podcast we put together on the subject for whenever you want to listen to it:
The key to making contact
The main point of this story? Being able to connect with your people is key. Sometimes perfectly good plans fail, so have several. Check to make sure your partners have the same plans, in the same order.
Flourishes
We both carried pencil and paper. If I didn’t find him at the spur trailhead and felt it was time to move on, I had the means to let him know we were on to Plan D. He carried the same, for the same reason. Knowing when to move on to the next plan is actually one of the tricky parts.
Then there’s self-rescue. We both carried more food and water than we ought to need. We could have handled minor mechanical problems or accidents.
Are we just going to connect with our inner paranoia with all these plans?
It doesn’t take much to get you on to Plan C or D, as happened with us. You go to pick up your person after the conference and can’t find a stinking place to put the stupid car! Grrrr. And your phone charger turns out to not be working. These minor dramas have hit Salty and I several times in the past — it wasn’t inborn wisdom that got us to make all those plans this time after all.
And it’s not a big deal. It didn’t take more than thirty seconds for Salty and I to be sure each knew the plan. It would have taken a bit longer if we hadn’t known the routes; but that’s what maps are for. We confirmed it right before we parted ways. That gave me considerable peace of mind when I saw that eroded trail, and no bars on the phone. I didn’t have to wonder how the heck we could get around this problem.
Turned out we both had a beautiful ride on a lovely Saturday afternoon on the Katy Trail. (Linked here because it’s a great trail!) Not much stress due to the mishap. That alone was worth having the plans.
Kids, don’t try this at home… this is why God made audiobooks.
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