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Published: October 18th 2008
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Ladies and gentlemen, friends, family and fellow travelers,
We have received many questions via e-mail and messages about being safe during our travels. Furthermore, many of you have expressed concern for our safety when we talk to you on the phone. Although we reassure everyone that we are being safe, some of you still have some doubts.
First, we genuinely appreciate the concern for our well being—it means a lot to us.
This post is to let everyone know that we have a new travel companion who is following us around the world. No, I’m not talking about Marco—you guys already knew that he has been with us the whole trip.
Let me tell you how this all started. Early in the trip, I began to notice this character showing up everywhere we went. We decided to keep our itinerary a secret and not plan our next leg too far in advance, but he kept showing up. As we progressed on the trip, I began to get a little concerned. I knew this guy was following us. This guy was popping up everywhere. We couldn’t go anywhere without seeing this guy. I began to get a little
paranoid. I’ll have to admit, one night I even woke up in a cold sweat worried about this guy. This guy was living inside my head and I had to do something about it.
I flashed back to my force protection and anti-terrorism training and thought about how to handle this situation. I mean if this guy was following us, I had to figure out a new game plan. I thought about going to the local police station, but every time I tried to cross the street at a traffic light, this sneaky little bugger was at every major intersection. Sometimes he would just sit on the pole and appear to be green, other times he would change his appearance and be red. This guy was pretty crafty, but he is also a master of disguise. I figured he was following me real close now so I couldn’t make my move to the safe haven. I started to panic. What the heck was I going to do?
That’s when it hit me. This guy wasn’t out to cause us any harm—this guy was here to keep us safe. Imagine that, I totally read this guy wrong. As it
turns out, Safety Dude has volunteered his services to join us on this journey to help us make it home safe and sound. And you talk about selfless service; this guy is doing it all for free. That’s right folks—who said there ain’t no free lunch?
Sure many of us have seen Safety Dude over the years. Perhaps one of his relatives is following you now. I’m sure if you look around you; you will see one of his relatives and smile knowing that someone is looking after you as well.
As you will see from the photos, Safety Dude takes on many different forms and poses just to get his message across. Sometimes he refuses to make a public appearance and only leaves written messages for us. I haven’t figured out the reason behind this yet. I’m sure this too will be revealed to me when the time is right.
Although Safety Dude is the most recognized person in the world, he refuses to accept celebrity status, live in huge mansions or drive expensive European sports cars. He does this because he feels this is his duty to do the right thing. He does this out
of concern. He does this out of the goodness of his heart.
My good friend Rachel and I have debated the need for safety signs. In the past, I thought signs (much like warning labels) were for stupid people and lawyers. In fact, I have kidded Rachel on this blog in previous posts.
Rachel, I will now accept defeat on this matter. We will now need to find something much more interesting to debate. Safety Dude has taught me a new way of thinking. I now have respect for Safety Dude and all he stands for.
Ok, folks, so here is your mission. Take your digital camera and go seek out Safety Dude’s relatives. When you find a great sign or message, take a photo and e-mail it to me. I will add it to this post and give you credit for it. Please be sure to state where you took the image and I will include it with the photo as well.
Safety Dude Rocks!!!
If you like this type of feature, let me know. I'll work on a few more as time permits.
Be sure to view each of the photo
pages.
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