Runaway walker

Having sold our old van, Earl and I had rented a big travel van for our family vacation.  We needed room for his bike, my trike, Skeeter, our youngest grand daughter's bike, my walker, food for an army, and minimal luggage.  I can't believe how much stuff we lugged for five days.  Fortunately, Earl and I are used to packing light, the weather was going to be warm the whole week, and I didn't need to pack my hiking gear.

Returning late on Sunday, I needed to return the van by 10 Monday morning.  I knew the rental place wasn't far and it was close to Sandie's home.  I could meet her there and she could drive me home.   No problem.  So, I go out to the van with my Winnie walker, setting it aside while I open the van and decide where best to put it. 

I remembered how important it was to set the brakes, having learned that lesson, the hard way, a while ago.  I had been checking the mail in Maui when my walker rolled to the other side of the parking lot, leaving me stranded.  Now, just as the van power door opened, I heard the unmistakable sound of my walker rolling down the driveway.  It finally came to a stop when it tipped over about 50 feet away.  

"Gee, Tam", I thought.  "How smart was that?  Figure this one out." Skeeter?–out of reach.  The other walker?–out of reach.  In Maui, there had been people out and available to retrieve the walker.  They may have thought I was an idiot, but didn't say so.  At home, I had the numbers of neighbors on my mobile phone in case of just such an emergency.  However, the phone was in my walker—50 feet away!

The good news is that no one was around to see me drive the van down to the tipped–over walker, slowly get out (yes, I set the parking brake), hang on to the van for stability, and finally upright and awkwardly put the walker in the van.  Once my heart rate was normal again, I was off and the remainder of the rental return was uneventful.

Earl emailed me later that day to check if everything had gone smoothly and no traffic accident had occurred.  He didn't ask, but I knew he wanted some assurance.  I thought he'd get a chuckle out of the incident, so I told him about the Adventure of the Runaway Walker.  

Handle brakes–duh

"I hope there's nothing wrong with the handle brakes," he said.
"Nope—user error," I confessed.  "They would have worked fine if I had just used them."

The lesson:  Set the freakin' brakes!