Adventures in Paradise Volme 2 #16

Kia ora! Our excellent adventure continues with some thoughts on staying the course. It is tricky traveling to Gisborne and surrounding towns. The whole Gisborne district is situated in a series of small valleys and the only way of accessing these hamlets is by traveling on winding, narrow one-lane roads. This travel is not for the faint of heart or the timid driver. In most areas, the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour, which roughly translates to about 60 miles per hour. It’s not a speed that we are particularly comfortable with, especially given the fact that there are logging trucks sharing our road and impatient drivers who seem to always be in a rush. As we are preparing to make yet another trip up the coast this afternoon, the harried and dangerous nature of that drive has been on my mind.

We have watched countless times in admiration and with a certain amount of foreboding, as one logging truck passed another, each going in the opposite direction at 100 km. Sometimes those same trucks pass us, coming up behind  so closely that all we can see is the truck grill in our rear-view mirror! We have marveled as we have realized that there is no margin for error. To say that there is most probably less than two feet separating these trucks as they encounter each other on those narrow roads, may be a miscalculation on our parts. It could easily be less than two feet and that is entirely too close for comfort for us. Ward once asked his friend, Tom, about these trucks and how it was that there are so few accidents. Toms’ answer was both simple and profound. He replied simply that each driver  knows where he  need to be and he stays there. 

 



What a profound statement! That could easily be a metaphor for life. The best way to keep out of trouble is to stay in your own lane. I have been pondering on this thought for a few months since someone very dear to me has decided to sever our relationship. This person feels that we are not only traveling in different lanes, but in different directions. My road seems not to be compatible with theirs and for that reason, the person that I have loved forever has chosen to no longer be part of my life. It has been a painful process for me and as I have thought about it, I have come to realize that as hurt as I am, my pain would increase substantially if I were to change lanes as it were. Changing my direction or the road that I have chosen to travel would not make me hurt any less. On the contrary, I would hurt even more. Having decided what is important to me in respect to the road I have chosen, were I to forgo that journey in hopes of making someone else happy, I would lose more than I already have. I would lose my own way and my direction.

Those enormous logging trucks would encounter almost certain disaster if they were to veer even a foot. A change of two feet could have deadly consequences for the truck drivers as well as the other vehicles traveling that same stretch of highway. It wouldn’t take a complete lane change for there to be a dangerous situation. A movement of only a few inches could be catastrophic, so great care is taken to stay on the correct and safe side of the road. So this afternoon, on yet another drive on curving roads with impatient drivers and massive trucks, I will remember how important it is to decide what lane to choose and then to stay in it. It’s equally important to know where you want to go and then to make a plan on how to get there. That roadmap can serve as the guide we need when the road gets bumpy. It will remind us that even if it looks like the road is under construction, or there is no one else on it, this is still the way that we personally should be going. Sometimes we just need to pull off to the side and let the logging trucks and impatient drivers pass us so that we aren’t tempted to go faster than we are comfortable just to make other drivers happy. That driver will forget all about us a few miles down the road, but we will still be safe traveling in our own lane. We will still know where we are going and how we are to get there. I also am aware that roads often have ways of converging; that on some occasions one road will loop back and eventually merge with the original. You never know, but when traveling on life’s highway, it’s always a good idea to watch for merging traffic. Someone may choose to follow you because they are aware that you know where you are going.

As always, we are happy and trying to work hard. We acknowledge and appreciate all of you and the roads that you choose to travel. Your roads merge with ours on many occasions and we are glad to have the company of fellow travelers.

 

Love, Ward and Susan     Elder and Sister Belliston, serving in Gisborne, New Zealand

 

 

It's a frightening sight to see one of these trucks pass on the right!

 

 

We always worry that another truck will be coming around the curve at the same time.

 

 

At least on this part of the road there is a little maneuvering room.

 

 



The same cannot be said this time

The message for the day: Pay attention and always know where you are going!