Encourage them to stay in touch, by whatever tools work for your family: daily phone calls, blogs, social media (my family has settled on Facebook after cycling through some earlier systems like MySpace). But also to manage their privacy, choosing who they keep informed.
At 68 and widowed, my daughters expect me to check in regularly (FB and texting for me, while my late wife was a talker on the phone). If I don't, I start seeing "have you heard from Dad yet today?" traffic going between them. Doesn't matter much whether I am at home, on the road, or halfway around the world.
Travel doesn't really add that much risk, most of the bad things happen to us old folks at home. That's where we are most of the time. That's also where we tend to neglect communication, as it is easier to remember to check in, put up a photograph, when you are seeing new places you want to tell about. We don't always remember when we are at home and what we are doing is not particularly interesting.
I used to plan road trips in detail, my wife was more comfortable about going somewhere if I gave here an itinerary to follow. But usually after a couple days I'd start deviating from the plan, just winging it toward a destination. Now I just start out winging it, unless I have a very specific time budget or particular places I want to be.
I know people in their late 80s and early 90s still out there cross country road tripping. They go at the pace they find comfortable, and they do just fine. And they use social media to stay in touch with kids, grandkids, great grandkids. Good tool for staying in touch, easing peoples' minds.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
