When bad things happen to good travel

I was thinking about what sometimes happens when you go with your kids to see something, and there’s an accident or other sobering event.

Do you wonder if you made a mistake to take them there in the first place?

I was covering the NHRA Fall Nationals drag race just south of Dallas this past weekend, both to finish up a Texas drag racing story that I’m writing for Texas Highways, and to cover the event for the Fast Machines motorsports blog.

Unfortunately, one of the lions of the sport, John Force, had a terrible accident during Funny Car eliminations. He’s going to be OK (here’s an interview with his daughter Ashley Force, who also drives a Funny Car on her dad’s team) but the whole episode was pretty scary. Here’s a link to the ESPN report and video.

You couldn’t see much from the stands, just a lot of pieces and parts and smoke (because the incident occurred at the very end of the drag strip after the run) but there were lots of families at the race that day.

How do you explain to a child that one of the most popular drivers in the sport might have died right there in front of you?

How do you explain to a child what has happened when there is a crash at an air show?

You’re probably not going to take your 10-year-old son to see the bulls run at Pamplona in Spain, but this is something to think about when it comes to doing even something as innocuous as a rodeo at your local county fair.

There are risks and danger, even in family travel….do you try to avoid seeing any risky events with your kids?

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, John Force