“You’re havin’ a laugh..”

No, not at all. The size was appropriate, the color wasn’t, but for reasons I won’t divulge here, the subject of Hannibal crossing the Alps with his elephants was raised during my motorcycle trip, and the connection was made… Honestly, I have no control over my synapses, they have a mind of their own and function at a level of mischief that leaves the small part of my brain that desperately attempts to maintain a modicum of dignity, in a constant state of panic.

I digress.

At some point in The Adventure I came across a small stuffed elephant, similar in color, which promptly became Hannibals alter ego, and has accompanied me on many subsequent adventures (epic and otherwise), for want of a better description. I know this to be true because an adventure is only an adventure when it’s over – during the adventure itself my sanity is frequently called into question and adventure is a wildly inappropriate description of the potential nightmares that always seem to haunt me but somehow never seem manifest themselves. It’s like watching the Weather Channel – rest assured, it’s never going to be as bad as Jim Cantore says it’s going to be.

Hannibal has witnessed many miles of I-40, I-70, I-80 and I-90 in the several motorhomes I have driven out west and back, staring happily through the windshield as the mile markers click first up, then down.

He sat in the right seat of Sid, a 1946 Stinson 108 Adventurer as we bounced along at 1,000 feet over the flatlands to Oshkosh, WI for ‘The Worlds Biggest Airshow’. He shared the seat with my father, who like me flew in the RAF for many years but there was plenty of room for both as he had passed away some ten years earlier. Neither were great conversationalists but still great company.

Rougher than a stucco bathtub……

He’s sat next to me now (Hannibal that is) supervising as I stuff mounted prints into cellophane wrappers, little does he know what’s in store for him…

Come to that, neither do I…

“What..? Again..?”

FFS…