In all my trips and travels, I have had a few falls and slips— but never anything fatal.
Probably my most serious injuries came when I tripped and fell flat on my face while walking along a narrow backwoods trail in Canada.
Good grief, I fractured bones in both my neck and my back. I was carried to a limited medical facility and then airlifted back to Texas and a hospital. Luckily, I had trip insurance, since the flight cost some $25,000.
While I survived that experience, another close brush with death came not long after when I lived in Missouri. I enjoyed a small 5-acre lake in my backyard.
One day, I decided to see if I could swim across the lake at its narrowest point. All went well until I got tired and attempted to rest by floating in place. But I soon had trouble keeping enough air in my lungs to maintain my buoyancy. I was sinking feet first.
Then, hurrah, hurrah – my feet touched bottom and I was able to walk and collapse on the shore, exhausted but alive.
One final close call came on a whitewater rafting trip in Brazil.
I was seated on the rear left corner of the raft, and when it bumped into a submerged rock, I was sent flying off into the rushing stream.
Luckily, the water was only cool, not frigid, and even more luckily, I flipped onto my back, pointed my feet toward the raft, and – miracle of miracles— caught up with the raft and was able to be pulled aboard.
Adventure travel has its dangers and even backyard lakes can be deadly.
Good luck on always making it across the lake and catching up with the raft!
Image sourced from MetroCreative
