Travel cautions and adventures

American highways are weird. We have more distance between states than Europe has between countries. It's a diverse place with a lot of strange stuff going on.

A lot of it is fun and interesting, but some things should be given a wide berth. We've had a few close encounters, but nothing too serious.

On our very first trip south we were caught in a freak storm in central Pennsylvania. We were in a little over loaded Dodge Neon. Plowing through the heavy snow really hurt our gas mileage and we almost ran out. I had to pour our Coleman camping fuel into the car's fuel tank to make it to the next gas station. Fortunately we soon found an open hotel and sat out the rest of the storm.

We've driven between tornadoes. Once a tornado tore up the road right behind us. It was like something out of a bad movie -the ones where the hero is just one step ahead of disaster. We've avoided floods, citywide protests, hurricanes, and gun shots. It sounds bad but for all the months and miles problems like these are not all that common. After all, one could die in one's bed.

Now I'm keep an eye on the whole Ebola hysteria. It doesn't even matter how severe the situation becomes. The response to Ebola could cause enough concerns all by itself. There could be restrictions on travel. Hospitals could be locked down. Huge areas could be quarantined.

I'm taking some common sense precautions. I'm slowly stocking up the van with more food in case we have to sit it out somewhere. Going to the grocery store when people are in a panic is a bad idea.

There will be enough waste veggie fuel on board the van and trailer to take us at least 2000 miles. There are many things that could disrupt diesel supplies.

Our medical kit will get beefed up. No, I don't expect to treat Ebola myself. What I want is enough medical supplies to avoid going to a hospital. Anyone notice that hospitals are one of the places where people are catching diseases?

There's another possibility. Between now and Christmas there could be travel bans in place. We might not be able to go south for the winter. The house will need a few things if we are to spend the winter in comfort.

-Sixbears