Sad Story April 10, 2022, 01:10:04 pm Sad reminder to not put too much faith in GPS directions:https://www.rvtravel.com/tragic-outcome-missing-rvers-indiana-couple-located/https://www.rvtravel.com/gps-blamed-rvers-death-rvt-1047b/
Re: Sad Story Reply #1 – April 10, 2022, 01:22:40 pm This is a similar story to the German family that was led astray by their GPS in Death Valley, in the summer of 2006.Their bodies were not found until 2016. Afterward, Google maps started removing many back roads from their map database.Death Valley Germans - WikipediaLarry
Re: Sad Story Reply #2 – April 10, 2022, 01:32:53 pm GETTING LOSTI am the Master of Getting Lost and fully intend to pony up for the Garmin InReach before striking out again. Any words of wisdom from the group on this unit - or any others? Virtual hugs, Judie <-- Sierra Vista, Arizona Adventures of Dorrie Anne | Photographing the West Today: Breakfast **********
Re: Sad Story Reply #3 – April 10, 2022, 03:45:21 pm Thanks for posting those links to more detailed information on the Indiana couple. I hate to sound as if I'm blaming the victims, but blindly following their GPS was only the first of many mistakes they made:"Neither Ronnie nor Bev was in particularly good health. Ronnie was a cancer survivor, and both he and Bev were diabetics. They hadn’t thought to take blankets nor food or water with them when they left the motorhome. With temperatures in the 20s by night, it didn’t take long for Ronnie to fall seriously ill."Please, people, make sure your toad is equipped with basics like blankets, water, food (I carry Clif bars), a first aid kit, medications, a folding shovel, and so on. Anybody can get stuck, but you don't have to die because of it. 6 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #4 – April 10, 2022, 03:58:36 pm I followed the sad tale of this couple. My hope was that they had not been hijacked. What transpired was at least as tragic. While I often use my “Google Maps” app to travel the freeway systems, I always have hard copy maps on hand.Our travels are to well traveled locations, however, Google Maps is not very accurate. It has led me astray in a simple trip from home to a local restaurant. Getting lost going down an unfamiliar road or turning down a dark alley can spell certain disaster. Carful out there.Kent 1 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #5 – April 10, 2022, 04:36:16 pm Just before Morro Bay this year, my car popped a tire on a gravel road in Death Valley, about a mile off the paved road.Barely had signal, about one in six calls would go through. So contacting AAA was an ordeal, and further complicated by California AAA having jurisdiction yet Nevada was a closer tow, not to mention that the nearest set of tires were a hundred miles away. Ended up having my wife back in California hire a tow truck to extract me because AAA dropped the ball.Was never in any danger, wasn’t hot yet, had more than a week of food and water in the car, and folks were occasionally driving by if needed. But I can see how the area is unforgiving had I been just a bit further out there.
Re: Sad Story Reply #6 – April 10, 2022, 04:39:39 pm We have the In-Reach since before Garmin took them over, cost more now but definitely worth the peace of mind. We first got one for our younger son who is a mountain adventurer and goes out in all kinds of weather. He would let us or someone know where he was when he was on trips. We told him it does not work unless you keep the batteries charged. We got one for us since it has and emergency SOS button to send out a SOS signal. It has worked well. Karen~Liam 98 ~ MB NinA
Re: Sad Story Reply #7 – April 10, 2022, 06:12:54 pm Quote from: Dave Katleman - April 10, 2022, 04:36:16 pmJust before Morro Bay this year, my car popped a tire on a gravel road in Death Valley, about a mile off the paved road. Ended up having my wife back in California hire a tow truck to extract me because AAA dropped the ball.AAA is about the worse towing coverage you can have, their policies vary from state to state.We have had good experiences with Coach-Net.BTW, many towing insurance policies will not recover if you are not on a paved road. Not sure how official gravel roads are covered.If you want to explore back roads, carrying a full-size spare tire is advisable.Larry 1 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #8 – April 10, 2022, 07:09:22 pm I have the small Garmin Satellite and love it. My 2 sons always have my exact longitude and latitude and well occasionally send me a text with a screen shot from their cell phone. Emergency alert with 1 push if the red button with limited outgoing text. Only $15/month. 1 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #9 – April 10, 2022, 07:20:20 pm Well just two days ago we were looking for a boondocking site in North Central Arizona. We had both a named location and coordinates. The GPS tried to take use down very bad and washed out roads. We declined. I agree one most never follow any mapping device blindly.Glen 2 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #10 – April 12, 2022, 08:40:56 pm An interesting but sad book is The Leisure Van, about an elderly couple with health problems who take off for a last journey in their beloved RV. It's a novel, but still good for a few tears.
Re: Sad Story Reply #11 – April 13, 2022, 06:17:57 pm Quote from: Dave Katleman - April 10, 2022, 04:36:16 pmJust before Morro Bay this year, my car popped a tire on a gravel road in Death Valley, about a mile off the paved road.Barely had signal, about one in six calls would go through. So contacting AAA was an ordeal, and further complicated by California AAA having jurisdiction yet Nevada was a closer tow, not to mention that the nearest set of tires were a hundred miles away. Ended up having my wife back in California hire a tow truck to extract me because AAA dropped the ball.Was never in any danger, wasn’t hot yet, had more than a week of food and water in the car, and folks were occasionally driving by if needed. But I can see how the area is unforgiving had I been just a bit further out there.Was this the road to Fall and Titus canyons? If so, I have seen it in even rougher condition. The ranger station highly recommends high clearance vehicles WITH off-road tires for most dirt roads in DV. Conditions can deteriorate drastically, especially after significant rain.
Re: Sad Story Reply #12 – April 14, 2022, 07:57:47 am Quote from: YHung - April 13, 2022, 06:17:57 pmWas this the road to Fall and Titus canyons?That’s the road.Didn’t look any worse than a typical gravel road I would drive in Nebraska growing up.
Re: Sad Story Reply #13 – April 14, 2022, 09:56:24 am Quote from: Dave Katleman - April 14, 2022, 07:57:47 amThat’s the road.Didn’t look any worse than a typical gravel road I would drive in Nebraska growing up. No wonder your tire gave out, Death Valley's sharp rocks killed many street tires and quite a few off-road tires.Flats caused by old nails and hardware have been our experience, even with heavy-duty tiresDV LoverLarry 1 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #14 – April 15, 2022, 11:12:57 am Quote from: Larry W - April 14, 2022, 09:56:24 am No wonder your tire gave out, Death Valley's sharp rocks killed many street tires and quite a few off-road tires.Flats caused by old nails and hardware have been our experience, even with heavy-duty tiresDV LoverLarry You mean like this? Stuck in the sidewall somewhere in Palm Springs! New tire from America’s Tire…..
Re: Sad Story Reply #15 – April 15, 2022, 12:13:08 pm Yikes, that looks like someone did it intentionally!?
Re: Sad Story Reply #16 – April 15, 2022, 01:14:17 pm Quote from: LazDazGuy - April 15, 2022, 11:12:57 am You mean like this? Stuck in the sidewall somewhere in Palm Springs! New tire from America’s Tire….. Palm Spring’s roads are treacherous.See you at Lake Cachuma.Larry
Re: Sad Story Reply #17 – April 16, 2022, 10:55:30 am Quote from: winnie114 - April 10, 2022, 07:09:22 pmI have the small Garmin Satellite and love it. My 2 sons always have my exact longitude and latitude and well occasionally send me a text with a screen shot from their cell phone. Emergency alert with 1 push if the red button with limited outgoing text. Only $15/month.Speaking of satellite communications:https://www.rvtravel.com/rvers-death-prevented-satellite-messenger-dont-happen-rvt-1048/
Re: Sad Story Reply #18 – April 16, 2022, 11:27:32 pm Quote from: Ted H. - April 12, 2022, 08:40:56 pmAn interesting but sad book is The Leisure Van, about an elderly couple with health problems who take off for a last journey in their beloved RV. It's a novel, but still good for a few tears. The book is The Leisure Seeker, which I have not read, but I can highly recommend the movie based on it, also titled The Leisure Seeker, and it's one of the few movies we've watched twice.
Re: Sad Story Reply #19 – April 18, 2022, 10:30:15 am Quote from: Larry W - April 10, 2022, 01:22:40 pmThis is a similar story to the German family that was led astray by their GPS in Death Valley, in the summer of 2006.Their bodies were not found until 2016. Afterward, Google maps started removing many back roads from their map database.Death Valley Germans - WikipediaHere's the story of the Death Valley Germans from one of the people who found their remains: The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans 2 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #20 – April 19, 2022, 12:03:05 am If anybody's interested, here's a very interesting half-hour video by the people who recovered the Indiana couple's Sunseeker motorhome, dolly, and Kia Soul. You get a very good idea of the terrain they got stuck in. The guy who led the recovery team summed it up: "They weren't prepared for this." 2 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #21 – April 20, 2022, 09:35:23 pm And inspired by the sad story of this couple, I just bought a Garmin InReach Mini 2 satellite communicator. If I get into trouble where there's no cell phone signal, it will let me call for rescue with one button press, as well as letting me send short text messages, get weather forecasts, and other useful features. It uses the Iridium satellite network, and will work from anyplace on Earth where you can see the sky--no cell network required. Seemed like good insurance. :-) 2 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #23 – April 21, 2022, 02:48:09 am Hi Greg. Andy's link shows subscription plans. An annual plan for emergency response and text looks like $50.00 per year. Or maybe $50 per month. Hard to tell. From Garmin: "With inReach satellite technology from Garmin and an active satellite subscription1, you can stay in touch globally. You can send and receive messages, navigate your route, track and share your journey and, if necessary, trigger an SOS to a 24/7 staffed global emergency response coordination center via the 100% global Iridium® satellite network." Consumer expedition, Annual plan at $49.99 per month. inReach® Consumer Subscription Plans | Garmin There are more fees such as per text, initiation of coverage, federal taxes and other usage/ annual enrollment and state fees. inReach® Consumer Subscription Plans | Garmin RonB 2 Likes
Re: Sad Story Reply #24 – April 21, 2022, 03:35:34 am Thanks for the info, Ron. Garmin offers a number of plans, either paid monthly (good for vacationers who only need coverage for a couple of months) or annually (less expensive for full-timers). For what it's worth, I chose the "Consumer Safety" annual plan, which costs $11.95 a month plus a $29.95 initial setup fee. This is what I got:Unlimited SOS10 text messages/month (freeform messages sent from the InReach, or from a smartphone linked to it)Unlimited preset messages ("canned" messages such as "Checking in--I'm fine" or "I'll be late"; these can be customized on the Garmin website)Tracking points: $0.10 USD for each point (you can have these displayed on a map on Garmin's website, so that friends can follow your progress)Plus weather forecasts, GPS location, compass (that doesn't require you to be moving, unlike a GPS compass), "trackback" to let you retrace your steps, etc.I also signed up for a $29.95/year medevac plan--I forget the details, but it pays up to $50,000 per incident. Helicopter evacuations can be very expensive, so this seemed worthwhile.I should point out that there's a wide range of these devices. At the $200 price point, there are devices such as Zoleo or Bivy Stick that have no display, so anything beyond SOS requires pairing with a smartphone. And at $500-$800, there are larger devices that have a color screen, built-in topographic maps, and other features that make them more useful and easier to use than the InReach Mini 2.I chose the Mini 2 as the best compromise for me: it can be used standalone, so even if my iPhone is broken or lost, I can still read and send messages, get weather forecasts, see GPS coordinates, use a compass, etc. If not paired with a phone, sending messages other than predefined ones is quite awkward, since you have to choose a letter at a time from a scrolling list... but it can be done. If, for example, I were to send an SOS, I could then communicate with rescuers to let them know my situation. On the other hand, I expect that in most cases I would be pairing it with my iPhone, so I'd have the advantage of a large color screen without paying for a second one on the InReach.It's all a matter of how you plan to use the device. If you think you'll always have a working smartphone on you, then one of the "faceless" devices such as Bivy Stick would cost half as much (although the service fees would be the same). If you want topo maps on a color screen in a standalone unit, then something like Garmin's inReach Explorer+ might be more to your liking. For me, the InReach Mini 2 hit the sweet spot.But there's also the original Mini, which is missing a few features but costs $50 less. Here's a Garmin comparison page. The original Mini might be all you need. 6 Likes
Topic: Sad Story (Read 912 times)
previous topic - next topic
Topic: Sad Story (Read 912 times)
previous topic - next topic