Ok, one more...
About a year after the Nevada trip, my boss and I went out to the desert in California to scout out a new test location. It was supposed to be a quick trip. We just needed to hike around and look for some specific terrain features, then get some GPS waypoints so we could find them again when we brought the robot with us in a few weeks. We had a rental 4wd SUV, and we met up with some local marines who knew the area. The marines had borrowed a hybrid electric SUV from a 1-star general (this is important).
After hiking around at one site, my boss, who was a salty old Vietnam veteran, decided we should all hop in the hybrid and ride together to another place we wanted to look at. We went several miles before the car completely died. It was late afternoon, and we were not prepared to spend the night out there.
So there we were, in the middle of the Mojave Desert with the general’s personal vehicle broken down dozens of miles from anything resembling civilization. It was getting dark... and cold. My boss decides that we should split up (Isn’t this how most horror movies start?). He was going to walk to our rental SUV with the client who was paying for the trip. One of the local marines was going to stay with the general’s vehicle and try to get it running again. I was supposed to go the complete opposite direction with the other local marine, and we were supposed to try to make it down to the highway where we might have a better chance of getting a cell signal. That’s right... we didn’t just split up, we split 3 ways, and left one guy alone in a broken-down vehicle!
But it gets better: I had a camelbak backpack with plenty of water, but my boss, the experienced marine veteran, had left his water in the other vehicle... so he took mine and sent me hiking into the desert... the opposite direction from where all our supplies were!
I didn’t have water, but I wasn’t completely unprepared. Because it was getting dark, I left a trail of chemical lights along the path so we could see how to get back to the broken-down vehicle again in the dark. (A wrong turn could drive you right off a cliff or into a ditch). My boss hiked to the rental car, came down the highway, and picked us up. Miraculously, the escape plan was working. We just needed to get the one marine who was now taking a nap in the general’s car after failing to diagnose the problem with the vehicle.
We all hopped into the rental SUV and followed my trail of glowing lights to rescue the last guy. By this time, the sun had set and it was pitch black. With five people in the vehicle, we started back towards the highway. The “highway” was still in the middle of nowhere, mind you. A car might not drive past for hours, but it was less remote than being on the side of a mountain several miles into the wilderness.
We were a few hundred yards from the highway (and hopes of a hot meal) when we suddenly heard a loud “BANG” underneath the vehicle. We were backtracking the same dirt road we had just driven, but with the extra weight of one more marine, the undercarriage was just low enough to slam into the top of a rock. The driver had sped up because the path looked clear, and we were all anxious to get back to town, since we were not planning to be out after dark.
That night, I learned that the lowest point on a 2006 Dodge Durango just happens to be the radiator... a radiator that was now spewing coolant all over the desert floor.
The rest of the story is pretty uneventful. We eventually got a cellphone to work and called for help. I actually got to see the stars this time, and we made it back to the hotel around 2AM.
The general’s 4wd hybrid SUV was fine. It was never designed for off-roading. It had run out of gas and the batteries died because we were driving up and down steep hills in rugged terrain. The small engine couldn’t keep the batteries charged under sustained rugged driving conditions, but when we topped off the tank the next day, we drove it right out of there.
I did learn quite a bit about desert survival though. If you’re not prepared, it’s usually not one thing that causes trouble. It’s a whole bunch of little things adding up that’ll get you to start making stupid mistakes... like listening to your boss and letting him walk in the opposite direction with YOUR water! Good times
I like to make fun of him for stealing my water, but my boss actually did a pretty good job getting us out of there overall. He loved his checklists, and even though it was supposed to just be a day hike, we were actually pretty well prepared for contingencies. For example, I never would have thought to put chem lights in my pack if he hadn’t put it on my checklist. We had plenty of food and water and layered clothing. We would have been ok even if we had spent the night out there.