It looked like such a straightforward hike. Who would have guessed that I'd end up lost, and spend the night curled up in the fetal position under a tree, with a garbage bag as my shelter?
It had been 8 1/2 hours since anyone had seen Diane. The SAR folks arrived around 11 p.m. amidst an armada of rescue vehicles and clouds of dust. They quickly set up a communications network and dispatched their members out into the field to look for Diane. As quickly as they had arrived, they had all departed and a heavy silence descended upon the camp. I attempted to sleep in the front seat of my vehicle but my concern for Diane’s safety kept me awake. At approximately 3:00 a.m. I heard a strange “thunking” noise and looked out to see a military helicopter swoop past, two red lights glowing from the front of the fuselage. I later learned that they had forward-looking infrared radar equipment which can be used to detect heat sources. By the time daylight arrived, the “cavalry” had returned from the field empty handed.
~~~
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| Found - Charlie blows Diane's emergency whistle as she enjoys some food after her 23 hour "disappearance" |
We'll be sharing some short vignettes, excerpts from books, and other mini-epics under the category "So there I was...". We hope you find them interesting, entertaining, amusing, or simply odd.
