Photo of the Day: Safety of the Family

Camera: Canon 5D | Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Setting: f/4, 1/50th sec, ISO 100

Say hi to Wil and Wendy's Toyota Tacoma.  Hi.  They own Sierra Expeditions.

On the first trip I did with Wil and Wendy, we kicked logs into a late night campfire discussing the merits of a truck snorkel because Wil was trying to talk Wendy into letting him get one for his Tacoma.  His truck looked nothing like this back then, by the way.  A snorkel is that thing sticking up next to the passenger door. For the sake of brevity, just understand that it serves some purpose.  That purpose is up for debate.

I digress.  Wendy wanted to know why they should spend $300 on one of these things.  And Wil was fishing.  Fishing for a rescue.  "It's for the safety of our family.  You want us to be safe if we have to drive through a deep river, don't you?"

"Yeah," Wendy replied, "I want us to be safe.  That's why if we were on a trail that had that much water we'd TURN AROUND AND GO HOME YOU IDIOT.  That would be safe."

Somebody must have said something that won the battle for Wil because, as you can see, his Tacoma sports a nice ARB Safari Snorkel now.

Safety, safety, safety.  Notice that tent sticking up in the air? It's got heavy canvas sides, a solid bottom, and a cushy foam mattress inside to help you sleep like a baby when you're camping.  Yes, we all cite some kind of "family safety" when it comes to owning a roof top tent.  It's the serious answer.  In mixed company the serious answer paves a smooth, safe path.  The truth, though, is far funnier.

We just think this crap looks cool.

The irony of this scene: that tent is perched nearly 10 feet in the air, a stones-throw from the edge of the Grand Canyon.  The winds approached 40 miles-per-hour this night which made for a bed-wetting experience, one in which we all believed the wind was going to pick us up, trucks and all, and send us into the canyon.

Moral: just because we own things that we justify by calling them a "safety feature for the family" doesn't mean we don't try like mad to outsmart the safety factor.