Once…and, by coincidence, it was the one time in my life the airline pilot had to do a touch-and-go-and-land-again (the plane which landed before us hadn’t quite gotten onto the taxiway in time).
All worked out well – and I was only “gone” for three days – but it did occur to me that things might have been a bit weird for my loved ones (besides the usual grief) if the plane had crashed with no survivors.
Looks like Bruce might have been contemplating doing such a thing.
“Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going.”
My wife had a great uncle (or great-great-uncle or something) who disappeared from south St. Louis County in the early 20th century. He was presumed dead; it was a time and place where you could easily die in the wilderness while hunting or fishing and never be found. Twelve years later he wrote a letter to his brothers that said “California’s great! Just writing to see how everyone is.”
He had no idea no one knew where he went.
Kind of, depending on who you ask…
When I was 18 (still living with my parents) I took off for a weekend to visit my friend in college about 80 miles away. I am sure that I told my brother where I was going, but he told my parents that I left without saying anything. When I got home that Sunday evening I got a not-so-pleasant welcome home. As far as mom and dad were concerned I had been AWOL for 36 hours and almost reported as missing.
When someone just disappears in circumstances like that, wouldn’t they search first aboard the Boston MTA, or possibly in the Everglades?
ETA: Okay, I guess anyone who gets the references is just showing his age.
Well, Charlie’s wife at least knew where he was, since she always brought a sandwich down to Sculley Square station at a quarter to two and handed it to Charlie through the window. Why she didn’t just hand him a nickel is one of life’s great unaswerables.
Never did it while I’ve had people I was responsible to. But back in my single days I did a few all-day through almost all-week trips with no plan, no particular destination, just a vague goal to go see & do whatever was out there.
Yes - back when we didn’t have any pets or farm animals depending on me, and mrAru was out to sea, if I had a few days with nothing to do I would occasionally haul up stakes and head off to visit a friend somewhere.
My first wife did that game 3 times, before I assured her that if she did it again I and the kids would move while she was gone.
He was born and raised around Jacksonville;
A nice young man, not the kind to kill…
Where a man can hide and never be found,
and have no fear of the bayin’ hound.
But he’d better keep moving and not stand still;
If the 'squeeters don’t get him, then the 'gators will.
That Everglades?
This may not count, but it will give you-all the idea. When I was 12 or so, I would tell my parents that I was going camping with some friends, and then go camping by myself in the forest that surrounded our town.
The night I graduated from high school, I told my brother that I would write him in a month or so. Before dawn of the next day, I was in a different state. I had packed my car and filled the tank before the ceremony. I had no plans, no itinerary, and no wish to go to college or return to my parents house. I just wanted to see if I could survive on my own. I figured that if I could live “on my own” for one year, I would know that I was truly independent.
I had neglected to tell my folks about my plans, for reasons that I will not go into here. They learned about them from my brother. He did not tell them right away for reasons of his own. IIRC, they were in the dark for over a week. I was 18 & graduated from high school, so there was nothing that they could do.
I wrote my brother about two months later. I did not tell him where I was, nor where I had been. I even mailed it from a different state then the one I was living in. I Just said that I was fine and having fun.
Four years later, I showed up at the “old farmstead” on Thanksgiving day. I had even brought some homemade pumpkin pie. My Dad was angry and wanted to throw me out, but my mom told him, “If 48 leaves, I will not be far behind him”, I stayed for dinner. A good time was had by all, except maybe good old dad. We got caught up on what everyone was doing and where they had been. I did not tell them where I was currently living.
During those four years, I had moved around a lot. I had many jobs and I took lots of time off. I would work at a job until it ended, or until I got bored with it. I lived cheap, and saved my $$. Thus, when I was out of work, I did not need to get a new job right away. I once hitchhiked Highway 101 from B.C. to just below San Fransisco. That trip took me about ten weeks, fun times.
I have no regrets. In fact, IMHO, It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I grew up, in other words, I matured. I was not ready for college, debts, nor any serious relationships at the start of this sojourn. The good news was, that I was aware that I had some growing up to do. I Got a lot of that growing up done in those four years. Heck, I am still working on that today!
Another person who lives alone here. I do quite like the odd random drive with no fixed itinerary. On day trips I don’t usually let anyone know where I’m going. If it’s going to be longer, I’ll always let someone know roughly where I’m going and for how long, but in both cases I don’t suppose that if I end up dead in a dumpster somewhere, anyone would know about it for a few days at least.
I had a schizophrenic uncle that took off one time because he thought the “gay mafia” was after him.
When my mother found him, he said he was headed for Tulsa, except my mom found him several miles (A hundred maybe?) in the wrong direction.
It was scary at the time but funny when I look back on it.
If you are going to do a disappearing act, then, like suicide, you need to leave a note. Otherwise, part of the reason you are leaving is to cause pain and suffering for folks who care about you.
I have a niece who decided to disappear. She packed a backpack and she managed to get half way across country and into a hippy colony of squatters in LA where she found ways to support herself. Then she let her folks know where she was and that she’d come home someday to visit.
Just by seeing that she had prepared for the trip as best she could, packing and saving money, her folks were spared some of the anguish of not knowing where their precious child had gone, or why. A note would have been better. When she eventually came home, many years later, it was with a husband and daughter.
In the summer of 1983, I took a 6-week car trip around the country. I was in between semesters of grad school, I had money I’d saved up from working before I started grad school, and I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance to do something like that again.
However, my family knew I was going on this trip, and I checked in every few days from the road. Also, I stayed with relatives for a night or two on at least five occasions along the way. So it was far from a ‘taking off without telling anyone’ situation. But it was an absolutely great trip.
Later in that decade, after I finished grad school and was teaching, I had a lot of free time in the summers, of course. I was single, living a few hours from my parents, and they certainly didn’t know where I was all the time. I could go somewhere for several days without anyone knowing or caring that I was off on a trip, and sometimes did just that.
Without mentioning any one occurrence, here you go…I’m a lot of bit anti-social. Typically I find holiday’s really stressful, the constant people and false (to me anyway) cheer drives me batty. So I will pop off to a hotel for a weekend or drive 700-1000 miles away and drive back. The last two times, either my boss or my best friend knew where I was or how to contact me.
Yeah, I’ve done it a couple of times. A couple of friends took me to a party out of town - like a 2 hour drive. As the evening wore on they both decided they would like to spend the night there and they wouldn’t give me a time when they thought they might be willing to leave the next day. So I left - hitched my way home rather than wait for them to make up their minds when I was allowed to leave. I owed them no more explanation of my own movements than they seemed to feel they owed me.
When I saw this story about the guy walking off from the Denver game, that’s what I thought of. He was probably roped into coming to the city in the first place, then badgered to go to the game, then ignored when he made it plan he didn’t want to be there. So he left. Makes sense to me.
I had wondered if this might be the case. It makes sense to me as well.
NEVER leave a suicide note. A quiet word to a sympathetic ear with a promise of silence.
Also:
If you are going to drive into a tree, leave at least a token skid mark
If you are going to use pills, make sure they never find the body - they leave residue for years
Do not hang yourself or use a gun
The above assume you have a life insurance policy (at least 2 years old, NOT updated) that you would like to have a chance of paying out. The above all scream !Suicide! - and no payout.
And we have dilettante Kingston Trio fans - you know MTA, but not Everglades.
As long as I have living family, I couldn’t just disappear. At the very least, I’d tell someone that I’d be gone for X weeks, and I might send the occasional text saying “I’m alive.” I’d expect that at a very minimum from other family members.
My mother travels a lot with AARP, and I think that’s great. But one time, none of us knew where she was - she hadn’t told any of her 5 children that she’d be away. After that, she sent us all an email with all her future trips listed. That’ll save the sheriff from having to do welfare checks if we don’t hear from her in a while.