Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been up unpaved "mountain" roads before but that was because we had to go up there for a work project. And we knew what to expect. 4-wheel drive heavy duty trucks etc.
IDK but in a previous post I mentioned what happened to me. The difference is that I always carry emergency supplies. I don't want to but I could "hoof" it out with my back pack that holds 3 weeks of survival supplies. Honestly my biggest worry would be running out of gas.
I think someone already posted this but they probably couldn't get turned around. Which is why they unloaded and took their car to try and get some help.
looks like they spent the night in Dyer Nevada. They could have stayed on that road and then hit 266 to get to 95 and on to at least Las Vegas. But even those roads look pretty desolate.
I really think it's bad advice to tell people not to change their VM. You should use any and all methods to increase your odds of being rescued.
Hmm. If Aunt Martha calls you (everybody else texts), she'll have to listen to your outgoing message instead of hanging up (especially if you return missed calls without listening to messages), figure out what to do with the information, and accurately relay it to someone who can help. That someone will wonder if Aunt Martha is a crank--why didn't her niece just call 911? I smell a lot of IF coming off this plan.
Any known cases of this working?
Last edited by sheerbliss; 04-11-2022 at 08:40 PM..
It's not entirely clear how a map would have been more helpful in this situation. It's just a reality that in many rural areas what is marked as a road on any map - digital or paper - is a dirt road that will not be passable in wet weather without having an appropriate vehicle for it. It's not like a paper map has a 'highway only' setting.
Highways and minor roads are depicted differently on maps. Some maps also depict terrain, or you can infer it from a windy road.
Had they looked up Google maps before ending up on the goat trial, they could have seen all of that, plus a satellite view, plus the fact that the road wasn't even available on street view and didn't look like a through road.
Hmm. If Aunt Martha calls you (everybody else texts), she'll have to listen to your outgoing message instead of hanging up (especially if you return missed calls without listening to messages), figure out what to do with the information, and accurately relay it to someone who can help. That someone will wonder if Aunt Martha is a crank--why didn't her niece just call 911? I smell a lot of IF coming off this plan.
Any known cases of this working?
Why couldn't you text 911 AND change the voicemail message, too? That way you've got two messages out there that could potentially be received.
I text my family but if I don't hear back from them within a reasonable time frame I will absolutely call their phones and leave a message.
looks like they spent the night in Dyer Nevada. They could have stayed on that road and then hit 266 to get to 95 and on to at least Las Vegas. But even those roads look pretty desolate.
I'll admit I really don't know that area by ground. I've only flown into Las Vegas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheerbliss
Hmm. If Aunt Martha calls you (everybody else texts), she'll have to listen to your outgoing message instead of hanging up (especially if you return missed calls without listening to messages), figure out what to do with the information, and accurately relay it to someone who can help. That someone will wonder if Aunt Martha is a crank--why didn't her niece just call 911?
Any known cases of this working?
Well I don't know any Martha's but I have people who would know my itinerary so yes they would know to listen to my voicemail if they couldn't reach me. They would also know something was wrong if I didn't check in.
Why wouldn't you use every possible means to get help?
Well I don't know any Martha's but I have people who would know my itinerary so yes they would know to listen to my voicemail if they couldn't reach me. They would also know something was wrong if I didn't check in.
Why wouldn't you use every possible means to get help?
Because as people have explained repeatedly, (1) if you can change your outgoing message, you can call or text 911 and (2) it will use up limited power on your cell phone. You may need the power to use your phone as a light or to talk to rescuers. There's no way of knowing how long the power needs to last. If you had unlimited power (e.g., a solar charger in a sunny place), betting on this long shot would be harmless at best.
Tell me about a case where this has worked in real life and I'll change my mind.
Highways and minor roads are depicted differently on maps. Some maps also depict terrain, or you can infer it from a windy road.
Had they looked up Google maps before ending up on the goat trial, they could have seen all of that, plus a satellite view, plus the fact that the road wasn't even available on street view and didn't look like a through road.
They're depicted differently on *every* GPS system as they're all based on digital maps. In other words, if they had half paid attention it would have been very obvious to them that they're going to be driving on very minor roads.
And as a driver, you obviously notice you're starting to drive on a dirt road just from the way the ride feels and the sound of the tires hitting the surface.
I think the GPS is just the scapegoat here for their stubbornness/lack of awareness. The guy almost definitely knew he's on a remote dirt road and just didn't think of the strong possibility his RV wouldn't make it on that road.
Maybe the road didn't turn into dirt until they were already a good ways in - turning around such a long vehicle on a dirt mountain road would have been difficult if not impossible and backing that camper all the way back down the road would have been no piece of cake, either.
Adding - I haven't really gotten a look at the road they were on. A video of the route they took would be helpful to understanding why they chose to go on that road in the first place. My guess is that it wasn't obvious that the road was so rustic until they had already committed to being on it.
Maybe the road didn't turn into dirt until they were already a good ways in - turning around such a long vehicle on a dirt mountain road would have been difficult if not impossible and backing that camper all the way back down the road would have been no piece of cake, either.
Adding - I haven't really gotten a look at the road they were on. A video of the route they took would be helpful to understanding why they chose to go on that road in the first place. My guess is that it wasn't obvious that the road was so rustic until they had already committed to being on it.
Well, there is no Google Street View of any of the minor roads in that area - almost certainly because those Google vehicles won't go on dirt roads, and it's a barely settled, remote and quite frankly pretty irrelevant area anyway.
If you look at the roads in the vicinity that we do have Google Street View footage of, which are pretty much just the main roads you need to take to even get there - not only is the desolation of the area entirely obvious at first sight, but all the roads leading away from those 'main roads' are unpaved dirt roads.
Interestingly, if you search for a route on Google Maps from Albany, OR to Tucson, AZ the first option it will give you will take you to Reno then from there to Vegas and then past Phoenix to Tucson. It's not all Interstate, but mostly state or U.S. highways. That's the default option, and it would not have taken them to this area at all.
But if I choose as an option to avoid highways, then it will actually take you on the route they probably took - on U.S. Route 95 which will bypass the Reno metro and take you to Tonopah and then from there to Vegas.
There's a bunch of dirt roads leading off U.S. 95 in the vicinity of where they were stranded, but only one paved road - NV-265 - which leads to the tiny town of Silver Peak which is basically just a bunch of trailers based around a lithium mine. It's highly likely they took this road for one reason or another, and it's also highly likely they never made it to Silver Peak. That means they must have taken one of the dirt roads off NV-265 into those hills. Again, there's just no way to mistake that for anything other than what it is. Perhaps the initially flat terrain made them think the RV can handle it, perhaps the surface was dry and hard initially and only turned muddy as they progressed further into the hills. Either way, it's questionable judgment and awareness. That whole area looks like a mix of Mad Max and the moon and makes me feel uncomfortably isolated just from looking at it on Google Maps.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
