Teec Nos Pos

We got stuck there. Altell didn't cut it. We hiked over barb wire fence for a phone but that failed. The hogon had no phone. But we got the car going and made it back down to Teec Nos Pos from which we called a tow truck to get the van and some friends to get us.


Allen and Camille were the friends. They drove a good hour to an hour and a half to get to us and took us into their home. My parents lent us their van and Gina's brother Ben drove it down and we all drove up to Gina's home.

It's given me the opportunity to think a little about security and about self-reliance. We accepted a lot of help when the van let us down. I was grateful for it. I am grateful for it. And I can't help but think how valuable it was to have friends and family who we know and trust and who were willing to go out of their way to help us when the chips were down.

Self-reliance is a fiction. An important fiction, but a fiction. We weren't born self-reliant and we won't die self-reliant and in between there is never a time when we are self-reliant.

But we try. We think we might have to stop taking Sarah, our 230000 mile 93 Ford Aerostar, on long trips. Perhaps by changing vehicles we can at least lower the chance of something like that happening again. Anyway, given that real self reliance is a fiction, what should we try to achieve?

I don't know. But I have two partial answers. One, try to give more than you take. Two, try not to put yourself in helpless positions. Rather try to put yourself in helpful positions.


Report: this week I learned a bit about Pygames.