Traveling is something that my family and I have been doing since
2008 full time. This article addresses
some of the major dangers that my family and I have encountered on our trip.
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| Smith Family camper and van |
Author: Naomi Smith, twelve years old at time of publishing
Aug 25, 2014
Here are some tips for traveling safely.
Make sure to be careful not to leave food out through the
night that will attract unwanted animals. For example, there was a man
and son at a campground we went to and one night they decided to make bacon.
They put away and washed everything that was associated with the bacon.
But, that night, when they were in their tent, they heard a bear sniffing
around their campsite. The bear smelled the bacon scent on the man’s
hands and clothes. The bear continued to sniff around as they called 911.
When the police car came it scared it off.
When you go walking or just go outside make sure to look for
snakes at the side of the road, ditches, and leaves. We tend to try to
walk in the middle of trails, when possible, because of snakes liking to hide
in leaves or ditches at the side of the trail.
We always look up in trees, up on rock ledges, behind us,
and in front for mountain lions whenever we go somewhere. The person in
the back of the group is the one that tends to be the first to get attacked by
one. Because of this I would not recommend having your young children in
the back of the group. Whoever is in the back should look behind them
often.
I have an article on our website that is just about mountain
lions. Here is the link- http://explore.smithpromagazine.com/2014/08/mountain-lions.html
We also keep an eye out for bears. They can be just
about anywhere. Some things you can do to keep them away is to carry bear
bells, supposedly the noise keeps them away. There is controversy about
it though; some people say that it just attracts them to you. I would
look up the subject if you are thinking about getting them. You can also
carry bear spray. This is very handy. It is a bottle filled with a mist
like thing that will, most of the time, keep the bears from attacking you. We
have had some experiences with bears before. We were at a campground in
Colorado and this place had a bear with two cubs and then there was another bear
with two cubs that would come and walk right around and in the
campground. One-time Cody was taking some garbage to the garbage can and
when he put the lid down right behind it was a bear on its hind legs!
Cody slowly backed away from the garbage all the way to our camper, which was
maybe 30ft away, down a hill. My Mother
has an article about bears that is on our website, this is the link-http://thelemonadedigest.com/issue/the-lemonade-digest/article/cooking-in-bear-country
One other thing to keep in mind is that when in an area with
alligators or crocodiles keep your eye out! They are animals that will
stalk you. Make sure to look over the play grounds that you go too; if
alligators are in area there is a possibility that there is one in it. If
you would like more info on alligators and crocodiles, you can look at an
article my older sister Hanna put on our website about them. Here is the
link-
If we stay at a campground for a long time, we tend to spray
around our camper for insects and bugs. My older brother Cody wrote an article
about insects on our website, here is the link
One thing that helps keep them away is to make sure
that the things in and outside your camper are kept nice and neat. This helps
because then they won’t have many places to hide. Always remember that a
camper is not totally sealed, so bugs can still get in, even when it seems like
it is.
Another insect and bug nuisance are flies, hornets, and wasps. One thing that will help with keeping away flies is checking to see if there are horses and cows around the campground. Wasps and hornets like to hang around water. One time when we were at a campground in Missouri there was a drip on the air conditioner that attracted wasps and hornets. There was nothing that we could do about it though; there was no way that we would turn the air conditioner off, because we were in Missouri, in the summer, with humidity.
When we go to campgrounds we tend to check if there are dog
play areas. We do this so Gabriel, Josie, and Tytus don’t go and roll in
dog poo. It’s also a good idea, for your own safety, to keep your dog on
a leash. If the dog is just running around, it’s practically screaming
“Hey mountain lions and bears, come and get me!”
In places like South Dakota and North Dakota, there are bison.
These animals are sometimes called buffalo, but the proper name is
bison. Though they don't normally attack people they will and can if they
want to. If they are angered, the person or people can be
It is good to remember, whenever you camp by someone, is
that you, a lot of times, don’t know the camper beside you. There are
some weirdoes out there. Be on your guard at all times and make sure to
lock your doors.
We make sure to pay close attention to rivers and streams
when we’re by them, because of flash floods. We were at a river one time and suddenly
it started to rise very fast! We quick ran back up to our van and got out
of there.
There are so many other dangers in traveling I could make
this article go on for a long time, but a few other ones are-
Tornados
Ice Storms
High winds
Tires blowing out
Sharks
Happy traveling!
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