First published through The Paris News on March 31, 2017. The article can be found on their website at http://theparisnews.com/opinion/article_0bea4e46-1626-11e7-83c2-136844806a0d.html

Sometimes when driving around a new area or town, we tend to take a wrong turn and become lost. I’ve been lost a time or two myself.

The scariest part of taking a wrong turn doesn’t have to do with the movie series “Wrong Turn.” But, seeing the movie can make it worse — at least your imagination will run wild.

The movies aren’t too terribly bad. Don’t get me wrong, the movies definitely aren’t great. But, the idea of being trapped in some woods in a remote location is terrifying.

The movies are about being trapped in the woods, trying to get away from crazed, “cannibalistic mountain men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding.” Of course, being stuck in the woods may not seem that scary, because it’s just a movie. However, when it comes to reality, the idea of being stuck because you took a wrong turn, in general, is terrifying in itself.

According to New York Daily News, an 85-year-old Colorado woman ended up taking a wrong turn and was stuck for five days on a freezing road. Her phone was dead, and shortly after so was her car. After visiting with her granddaughter and four great-grandkids, Ruby Stein missed her turn and was then stuck on an empty road due to a snowstorm. She wasn’t completely alone; she had her cat with her, too. Luckily, she was able to keep warm with the clothes she had laying around in her car. Also, according to Dan Higbee, the man who rescued her, she had a Rice Krispy bar she was trying to save, as well as eating snow to stay hydrated. The end of the story is rather heart-warming when Granny Stein was reunited with her family.

I know here in North Texas, we don’t experience as much snow as Colorado, but the idea of taking the wrong turn and coming across an area that’s unfamiliar is scary. The main thing we have to worry about this time of the year is getting stuck in some mud in the middle of nowhere.

My cellphone has saved me more times than not when I’ve been lost or in a sticky situation. What I did when I got lost was easy — I pulled out my phone and used the GPS.

Though I was only in the Cub Scouts growing up, I’m surrounded by scouts. Two of my best friends are Eagle Scouts and Scout Leaders, so I’ve learned the Scout motto is “Be Prepared.” In other words, be prepared for whatever may happen.

Robert Baden-Powell said “The meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.”

In the case of Stein getting stuck, she wasn’t prepared, but I’m sure it was nice to have the extra clothes in the car to keep warm while she was stuck. So, when you go out to do whatever it is you plan to, consider Murphy’s law and plan accordingly.