Family of 6 missing -- two theories
Kris Baker
they're snowed in somewhere in the RV (Mrs Stivers on CBS This Morning
today)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/16/earlyshow/main1413052.shtml
Missing Family Baffles Police
NEW YORK, March 16, 2006
CBS) Police in Oregon are baffled by the disappearance of an entire family.
Peter Stivers, his wife Marlo, their two children and his parents have been
missing for 12 days. The family left Ashland, Ore., on March 4, headed for
the coast in a motor home, and hasn't been heard from since.
Rose Hill is Marlo's mother and Lori Mock is her sister. Both women joined
The Early Show Thursday to talk about this troubling case.
The family had intended to be gone for just one day, and Hill told co-anchor
Rene Syler that her daughter had been very excited about the trip. "She's
never seen the ocean before," she said. "We all were raised and born in
Arizona. And she was just so excited to be able to go see the ocean."
Hill reported the family missing on March 8, three days after they had been
expected home and says that so far, the police are stumped. "They know
nothing," she told Syler. "We all think it's just bizarre. It's just like
they vanished. We have no information since their disappearance."
One important piece of information is that there has been no activity in the
family's bank accounts, which leads police to think this is not a case of
foul play. "They are concentrating on a search and rescue at this point,"
said Mock.
"At this point, I am afraid that they are stranded or snowed in," she said.
"So we're afraid they are out there cold and hungry."
The family was traveling in a 35-foot mobile home. Police ask anyone with
information about the case to call the Ashland Police Department at (541)
482-5211.
Bo Raxo
"Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
news:tWkSf.4121$at5....@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> Theory 1:
> they're snowed in somewhere in the RV (Mrs Stivers on CBS This Morning
> today)
>
And what is theory two?
I'll give you a theory: they drove off the side of the road, and the
vehicle isn't visible from the highway. Remember that film director or
producer who disappeared, and they found his body in his car, over a year
later?
RVs are just about the worst handling thing on the road. Running wide on a
curve and plunging off the side seems plausible to me, or doing so as the
result of a tire blowout, swerving to avoid hitting an animal, etc.
Bo Raxo
Kris Baker
LE suspects foul play;family resisting it.
Oregon Family Vanishes; Police Suspect Foul Play
POSTED: 2:14 pm EST March 16, 2006
UPDATED: 2:30 pm EST March 16, 2006
ASHLAND, Ore. -- There is still no sign of an Oregon family that left home
12 days ago for what was supposed to be an overnight trip.
Peter Stivers, wife Marlo-Hill Stivers, their two children and the father's
two parents haven't been seen since.
Police said the circumstances of their disappearance are suspicious.
Marlo-Hill Stivers' sister, Lori Mock, said police have no reason to suspect
foul play, and added that she and other family members are still focused on
search and rescue.
She told CBS there has been no activity on the family's bank account, and
said they couldn't be traveling about without spending money.
Marlo-Hill Stivers' mother, Rose Hill, said the family was headed to the
Oregon coast, which her daughter was very excited about. She told CBS that
Marlo Hill-Stivers was anxious to take pictures and bring them back for
everyone to see.
Kris Baker
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=84203
March 16, 2006
Aerial search fails to find missing Ashland family
ASHLAND, Ore. - An aerial search has failed to find an Ashland family of
four and two in-laws from Arizona who have been missing since March 4.
Peter Stivers and Marlo Hill-Stivers left for what was expected to be an
overnight trip.
Police say tips from across the country have been pouring in on the Stivers
foursome and two in-laws, but none have panned out.
The children are ages 9 and 8. The older couple is Peter Stivers' parents,
Albert and Becky Higgenbothem.
Police say the families were headed toward Brookings. They traveled in the
Higgenbothems 35-foot, brown and white Dolphin motorhome with Arizona
plates.
Police have confirmed that no bank accounts linked to the family have been
accessed since March fourth.
Ashland police say weather permitting, a Jackson County Sheriff's helicopter
will take a closer look from a helicopter on Thursday.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
eartha...@yahoo.com
Bo Raxo wrote:
> "Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
> news:tWkSf.4121$at5....@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> > Theory 1:
> > they're snowed in somewhere in the RV (Mrs Stivers on CBS This Morning
> > today)
> >
>
> And what is theory two?
>
> I'll give you a theory: they drove off the side of the road, and the
> vehicle isn't visible from the highway. Remember that film director or
> producer who disappeared, and they found his body in his car, over a year
> later?
There was another story that happened in Oregon back in the 1990s where
it started snowing on a road and a man traveling alone (on business I
think)
turned into a park road thinking it would soon stop. The roads were
not plowed
and were closed, and he was found dead in his vehicle several months
later when
the roads were opened. During the time he was alive he wrote love
letters to his
wife. Anyone remember that one?
eartha...@yahoo.com
March 16, 2006
Search heats up
Snowy roads to Coast focus of effort to locate missing family
By Jennifer Squires
Ashland Daily Tidings
Search and rescue crews have started looking for an Ashland family that
has been missing for 12 days, the Ashland Police Department reported
this morning.
The Stivers family - Marlo Hill-Stivers, Peter Stivers, their two
children Sabastyan, age 10, and Gabrayell, 9, and Stivers' mom, Becky
Higgenbothum and her husband Elbert Higgenbothum - were last heard
from on the evening of March 4, according to Hill-Stivers' mother,
Rose Hill. The family was leaving for an overnight trip to the coast.
Today, law enforcement officials set up a base camp on Highway 199,
which winds along a river canyon from Grants Pass to the coast,
according to Jensen. Crews from Del Norte (Calif.), Curry, Josephine
and Jackson counties have been put on alert and, on Wednesday, the
Josephine County Sheriff's Department modified a planned search and
rescue training to look for the family. Deputies combed a section of
Bear Camp Road. The road connects Merlin - a town just northwest of
Grants Pass - to Agness, which is over the Coast Range and about 25
miles from the Oregon Coast.
The road, considered scenic in the summer, is covered with nine feet of
snow in some areas. However, police think the family, who was new to
the area, might have taken the route.
"That's one of our theories," Jensen said. "On a map, it looks
like a shorter route."
Hill first reported her daughter missing on March 8, according to the
Ashland Police Department, and a bulletin was sent out to law
enforcement agencies nationwide. A second notice was sent on March 12
to include all six family members.
The family was traveling in a 35-foot Dolphin motor home with Arizona
plates, where the Higgenbothums are from. They have not answered calls
to their cellular phones and the bank accounts of all four adults have
not been touched since March 4, according to APD Master Sgt. Bob Smith.
Also on Wednesday, APD requested the Oregon State Police and the
sheriff use their aerial equipment to help with the search. The OSP
plane flew over the Bear Creek Road area and Hwy. 199 between Grants
Pass and Brookings, on the coast, but didn't spot any trace of the
family, according to Jensen. The sheriff's department helicopter may
add to search efforts today if weather permits.
Photos of the Higgenbothums and an RV similar to the one the family was
reportedly driving were released Wednesday and the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children has faxed fliers to 5,000 businesses in
Grants Pass, along Hwy. 199 and on the coast.
The national media has also taken interest in the story. Good Morning
America, the Today show and the Nancy Grace Show on CNN covered the
story today. Fox News plans to report on it this weekend.
"We do a lot of stories about missing persons," said Kim Lurie,
with the Nancy Grace Show. "We picked this story up because it's
not often you have a entire family missing. ... It's so
unbelievable."
The national attention has generated hundreds of tips. Jensen estimated
the department is receiving a tip every 10 minutes during daylight
hours, and information is coming in from as far away as Georgia and New
York state.
"It lots of tips. That's very time-consuming," Jensen said,
explaining two APD employees are working full-time to compile the
information.
According parent of one of Sabastyan Stivers' classmates, the boy
mentioned going to Disneyland to his son. Lori Mock, Hill's oldest
sister, said the grandparents had just talked about taking the family
to Southern California and had not made those plans.
"But this trip was just supposed to be an overnight trip to the
coast," said Mock, who is in town from Portland while her family
waits for news.
At Walker Elementary School, where both students attended, there is an
anxious tone to the air.
"You can imagine that there is great concern for the children and the
family," Walker Principal Michelle Zundel said. "In the absence of
information, there is worry. ... We just hope that one day they'll
come walking through the door with a story of an incredible adventure.
People with information about the family are asked contact the Ashland
Police Department at 482-5211 or their local law enforcement agency.
Bo Raxo
<eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142546317....@j52g2000cwj.googlegroups.com...
>
> Bo Raxo wrote:
> > "Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
> > news:tWkSf.4121$at5....@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> > > Theory 1:
> > > they're snowed in somewhere in the RV (Mrs Stivers on CBS This
Morning
> > > today)
> > >
> >
> > And what is theory two?
> >
> > I'll give you a theory: they drove off the side of the road, and the
> > vehicle isn't visible from the highway. Remember that film director or
> > producer who disappeared, and they found his body in his car, over a
year
> > later?
>
> There was another story that happened in Oregon back in the 1990s where
> it started snowing on a road and a man traveling alone (on business I
> think)
> turned into a park road thinking it would soon stop. The roads were
> not plowed
> and were closed, and he was found dead in his vehicle several months
> later when
> the roads were opened. During the time he was alive he wrote love
> letters to his
> wife. Anyone remember that one?
>
I do! He survived for months, eventually starving to death, if we're
thinking of the same case.
That's why you never should travel in isolated areas alone: think "Donner
Party" ;]
JonesieCat
> Lots of pictures here, including the RV (14 years old, worn)
>
> http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=84203
So apparently all their cell phones were turned off? Otherwise they could
track them vis a vis Littlejohn case in NYC? Or maybe no cell phone
accessability where they were driving. Sad.
JC
tiny dancer
> > "Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
> > news:tWkSf.4121$at5....@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> > > Theory 1:
> > > they're snowed in somewhere in the RV (Mrs Stivers on CBS This
Morning
> > > today)
> > >
> >
> > And what is theory two?
> >
> > I'll give you a theory: they drove off the side of the road, and the
> > vehicle isn't visible from the highway. Remember that film director or
> > producer who disappeared, and they found his body in his car, over a
year
> > later?
>
> There was another story that happened in Oregon back in the 1990s where
> it started snowing on a road and a man traveling alone (on business I
> think)
> turned into a park road thinking it would soon stop. The roads were
> not plowed
> and were closed, and he was found dead in his vehicle several months
> later when
> the roads were opened. During the time he was alive he wrote love
> letters to his
> wife. Anyone remember that one?
Yes, I remember that one, and also the one where the couple with the infant
got stuck and eventually the husband walked for help.
td
egb
<eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Anyone remember that one?
Hell that happens every year in Washington and Oregon in the
Cascades. There was a lady along the coast road that crashed last
month into a gully and climbed her way out, otherwise she would have
died.
I'm thinking they went off a steep cliff since no one has surfaced
like they would from a less severe accident. We have also had people
along the coast on a sand bar get caught in high tide and die from
drowning, but usually the car stays at the spot they parked.
Bo Raxo
"egb" <e...@egb.egb> wrote in message news:dvco0...@news3.newsguy.com...
Oh sure, blame the victim
LOL
eartha...@yahoo.com
That's the one.
http://newsoftheweird.com
1995 -- In May, some teen-agers discovered the body of traveling
salesman DeWitt Finley, 56, in a truck on a back road in the Klamath
Mountains in Oregon. He had starved to death over a nine-week period in
which he was stranded in heavy snow, despite the fact that the road was
clear several hundred yards beyond the truck. Diary entries indicated
that Finley had failed to venture out of his truck because he was
certain God would provide for his rescue.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3775/is_200012/ai_n8905959
Excerpt from Sports Afield:
THE IDEA, HE WROTE LATER, was to take a more scenic route home. He
chose a paved-but-narrow national forest road that headed due east from
the Oregon shore, paralleling the Rogue River before cutting sharply up
the Coast Range. After that, he would follow a series of connecting
forest roads to Grants Pass, and then out to a major highway. That, at
least, was the plan.
But it was mid-November, 1995, and Dewitt Finley, who had spent most of
his 56 years in the Los Angeles area, was not accustomed to late-season
driving in the northern mountains; nor, for that matter, did he know
much about the outdoors or about crossing wild terrain in winter. The
steeply climbing road turned icy, and even with four-wheeldrive Finley
could not keep his pickup-- camper from sliding onto the graveled
shoulder. He decided to camp there for the night and make a fresh start
in the morning.
Once again, he had not reckoned on the extreme possibilities of winter.
That night a storm whipped over the mountains; it blew and raged for
three days, stranding the pickup in six feet of snow. Finley's ordeal
had begun, and now there were crucial, literally life-or-death
decisions to be made.
eartha...@yahoo.com
http://byamerican.com/cgi-bin/archiveast/config.cgi?read=4336
Kris Baker
"Bo Raxo" <fore...@earthcorp.removethistoreply.com> wrote in message
news:w_kSf.4894$sL2...@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
> news:tWkSf.4121$at5....@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
>> Theory 1:
>> they're snowed in somewhere in the RV (Mrs Stivers on CBS This Morning
>> today)
>>
>
> And what is theory two?
>
> I'll give you a theory: they drove off the side of the road, and the
> vehicle isn't visible from the highway. Remember that film director or
> producer who disappeared, and they found his body in his car, over a year
> later?
Yup. He fell asleep, and his car ran right through this one little space
where it could fall into the canal.
>
> RVs are just about the worst handling thing on the road. Running wide on
> a
> curve and plunging off the side seems plausible to me, or doing so as the
> result of a tire blowout, swerving to avoid hitting an animal, etc.
>
>
> Bo Raxo
Fourteen years old, and with a steering problem that the old guy
was apparently going to fix by himself.
Right now, I'm leaning towards murder-suicide. They'll find the
RV in the woods, under a large tree. Bodies inside.
Kris
Poe
He didn't get out and walk back to the road he must have recalled
pulling in from because he figured God would save him? I don't even have
an emoticon to express this level of FUCKING DUH!!!
Kris Baker
<eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142546683....@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> http://www.dailytidings.com/2006/Mar%202006/0316/031606n2.shtml
>
> March 16, 2006
> Search heats up
> Snowy roads to Coast focus of effort to locate missing family
> By Jennifer Squires
> Ashland Daily Tidings
>
> Search and rescue crews have started looking for an Ashland family that
> has been missing for 12 days, the Ashland Police Department reported
> this morning.
>
> The Stivers family - Marlo Hill-Stivers, Peter Stivers, their two
> children Sabastyan, age 10, and Gabrayell, 9, and Stivers' mom, Becky
> Higgenbothum and her husband Elbert Higgenbothum - were last heard
> from on the evening of March 4, according to Hill-Stivers' mother,
> Rose Hill. The family was leaving for an overnight trip to the coast.
>
> Today, law enforcement officials set up a base camp on Highway 199,
Stuck in the deep snow, turned on the motorhome's furnace, due
to the snow it couldn't vent properly....and they died in their sleep
of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Kris
#2 theory of the day
Bo Raxo
Motor homes have heating systems? I would think the vent on such a thing
would have a little cap to prevent it from being blocked by snowfall.
Otherwise, every winter people in their homes would be dropping like flies.
I'm sticking with the theory that they ran off the road and are dead in some
ravine. Most motor homes are white, which means it would be very hard to
spot from the air in all that snow. They'll find the crashed vehicle, but
it might not be until the spring thaw.
Bo Raxo
eartha...@yahoo.com
I remember the snowbound couple, the Stolpas, when it was happening.
Everyone in this area were clued to their tvs, like when Jessica
McClure
fell down the well, wondering what had happened to them. Such
happiness
when Jim Stolpa was found, then led them to wife Jennifer and baby
Clayton
in the cave.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20051114/ai_n15852605
>From the Oakland Tribune 11/14/05:
The Discovery Channel's "I Shouldn't Be Alive" series featured an
episode on Castro Valley's Jim and Jennifer Stolpa, and their infant
son, Clayton.
The trio were rescued in January 1993 from an icy Nevada wilderness
after Jimtrudged through miles of snow fields in search of help while
Jennifer protected her 5-month-old baby in a makeshift cave.
Jim, then 21, and Jennifer Stolpa, then 20, met at San Lorenzo High
School, married, and were en route with baby Clayton to a family
funeral in Idaho on Dec. 29, 1992, when they took a wrong turn and
their truck became stuck near Hell Creek Canyon in northwestern Nevada.
The eight-day odyssey included staying in the truck, then hiking
through thigh-high snow to a cave, where Jim Stolpa told his wife and
baby he loved them and would return with help. Three days later, with
ice caking his high-topped sneakers and coyotes trailing him, Stolpa
came upon a Washoe County road department employee who summoned other
rescuers, who found Jennifer and Clayton.
While his parents' care protected Clayton from injuries, Jim and
Jennifer lost portions of both feet to frostbite. Jim Stolpa's Army
career ended on a medical discharge. They lived in a modest Castro
Valley apartment even after a year of national attention culminated in
December 1993 with the made-for-television movie, "Snowbound: The Jim
and Jennifer Stolpa Story" starring Neil Patrick Harris ("Doogie
Howser").
The couple moved to Wisconsin to get out of the limelight. They had
another child, a daughter, then divorced. Both Jim Stolpa and Jennifer
Stolpa Repetti were interviewed in "I Shouldn't Be Alive," in which
actors recreated their heroic battle to survive.
Poe
There are multiple vents in RVs, and the air comes in from the outside
and vents to the outside, so there would need to be a leak for this to
occur. In this case being an older RV, it may not have a carbon monoxide
detector... our has both heat and a detector. And no leak in the heating
system to begin with :)
My vote on this is they went off a cliff somewhere and may be under
water or otherwise obstructed from view. It doesn't SOUND like they were
the victims of a crime, but it is so impossible to predict random crime,
so it is obviously possible.
Kris Baker
Sure, they have propane furnaces,. Many have an electric furnace
*and* a propane one....and there's always the engine, too. Leave
it running, let the snow build up, and fumes can come back inside.
Read up sometime on carbon monoxide deaths by houseboat and
motorboat users. It's astounding.
Trivia: One motorboat ("ski boat" size) puts out more pollution
than 168 well-maintained modern cars.
Kris
tiny dancer
<eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142550294.1...@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
Yeah, I saw that program too. I was disappointed to see they'd divorced
though. Kind of put a big dent in the whole 'love story' part of the
original event, for me anyway.
td
>
Kris Baker
<eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142550294.1...@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> I remember the snowbound couple, the Stolpas, when it was happening.
> Everyone in this area were clued to their tvs, like when Jessica
> McClure
> fell down the well, wondering what had happened to them. Such
> happiness
> when Jim Stolpa was found, then led them to wife Jennifer and baby
> Clayton
> in the cave.
>
> http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20051114/ai_n15852605
It was that long ago? 1993? Wow. The Stolpas.
I remember talking about it with my sister and BIL, who had
just driven through that area...where people were calling them
"The Stupids".
My favorite lost-in-the-snow story is the couple that went to the party,
had meth, drove around, called 911, didn't know where they are but
heard voices that weren't speaking English. Because the
other people were .......well, you just gotta read it:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Health/story?id=1062446&page=1
Kris
A.
eartha...@yahoo.com wrote:
> http://www.dailytidings.com/2006/Mar%202006/0316/031606n2.shtml
>
> March 16, 2006
> Search heats up
> Snowy roads to Coast focus of effort to locate missing family
> By Jennifer Squires
> Ashland Daily Tidings
>
>
> Today, law enforcement officials set up a base camp on Highway 199,
> which winds along a river canyon from Grants Pass to the coast,
> according to Jensen. Crews from Del Norte (Calif.), Curry, Josephine
> and Jackson counties have been put on alert and, on Wednesday, the
> Josephine County Sheriff's Department modified a planned search and
> rescue training to look for the family. Deputies combed a section of
> Bear Camp Road. The road connects Merlin - a town just northwest of
> Grants Pass - to Agness, which is over the Coast Range and about 25
> miles from the Oregon Coast.
>
> The road, considered scenic in the summer, is covered with nine feet of
> snow in some areas. However, police think the family, who was new to
> the area, might have taken the route.
>
> "That's one of our theories," Jensen said. "On a map, it looks
> like a shorter route."
I know this area. As a former California driver, I twice made mistakes
in the snow - once it was up in the area where this family disappeared.
A big storm came through during the time they went missing. I don't
know much about snow, but I know some snow is wet and heavy and other
snow isn't (I know some of you are laughing at me right now - you're
entitled). Anyway, the snow in Oregon/NorCal is often wet and heavy.
This is a surprising thing to find out, if you're not used to snow, as
it turns out that VERY QUICKLY a car can GET STUCK - and furthermore -
you may not be able to open the car door. Real snow does not always
behave like the styrofoam flakes you're accustomed to, in other words.
And, snow out on the Mojave, or even places like Arizona and New Mexico
is often light and dry - a lot like styrofoam. Up until I met
NorCal/Oregon snow, I had never met anything that wasn't more like
soapflakes. I had been to resorts after plowing - I had no idea what
snow was like.
I can easily see how they unwisely decided to stop because of icey
roads or not being able to see, got covered up - and that's the end of
them. Well, in that situation, hopefully someone would come up with
the notion of digging themselves up and out - but we all know that
people sometimes don't. I don't know what the temperatures were up
there, seems to me it would be hard to outright freeze to death up
there in a motorhome, at least, it doesn't seem like you would freeze
all that quickly. It's not like it's subzero temps in Oregon.
But, since I'm on the topic, and I know people can fall asleep and
freeze to death - how cold would it have to be for that? It may have
seemed reasonable to them to wait until morning to dig out, but that
would be like sleeping in a freezer. We have sleeping bags in our car
at all times now (rated to minus 20, actually, but I wouldn't trust
them for that), but how would people fare with ordinary blankets or
sleeping bags rated to 20-30F, as most of them are?
Digging out would be interesting. They'd have to roll down a window
and what then? Dig the snow and put the snow into the RV's tub?
Wouldn't have to dig too far if it's 9-10 feet of snow, as stated.
Still, a logistical problem that many would find daunting.
But frankly, given one of my own stupid experiences, which involved a
very airtight tent, and very cold weather, my very first concern,
stopping in snow like that, would have been the amount of air
available. You'd want to stay awake and keep that air tunnel open out
the window in the first place - and you'd want to make sure you had
some type of propane heater/lantern to make this possible. An ice
chimney, in other words. I've read survival stories where people used
ski poles or other long objects, sometimes tied together, to point up
into the snow, so people could find them, and so that they could ream
out the hole and get air. For the inexperienced, it is so hard to
remember that frozen water can come down sort of fluffy but later turn
into...ice. As in hard ice, making even reaming with metal difficult.
It's never Everest-like conditions in Oregon or NorCal - but still, it
can get below 32F and, well, that's all it really takes in some
conditions.
And half the Oregonians I know are exactly like Californians. Or are
Californians, for all intents and purposes.
A.
-who always checks satellite weather and every other weather report and
never goes out when it's about to precipitate in winter, where she
lives now...
>
A.
Yep - I'm going with that same theory, when all is said and done. I
didn't want to go all the way to the level of stupidity required to
turn on that furnace in a snowstorm without monitoring
airflow/ventilation constantly - but yeah, I think that's what they
probably did.
Turning on the furnace is something I've always known not to do (we had
RV's growing up and there are many ways ventilation can be
compromised). Still, just breathing can be a problem if you're under
water.
A.
A.
LOL. That little cap won't do a single bit of good in ten feet of snow
- not with this type of motorhome. It's probably about 8 feet at its
peak, that little cap is five inches or so above that. Nine feet max.
Ten feet of very heavy wet snow will block that little vent really
really fast. I've been in cabins in the Sierras where snow got up over
the chimney, but the chimneys were heavy iron, and the heat from the
fire melted the snow away. Those RV furnaces are like what you'd have
in your home - the heat goes out into the living space and only the
"fumes" go up the chimney - little or no heat.
I'm not laughing at you, Bo - I have no idea how people in those
trailers survive in other places, but where I see them do it, they have
big ole pipes sticking up on top - sometimes very ad hoc. And if my
dad hadn't drilled it into me about heaters/chimneys/fumes/RV's/ cabins
as a kid, I'd have never thought about the problem when I was younger.
After a couple of close calls of my own, I became obsessed with
survival stories and literature, though. It's really helped. I
remember standing in the snow in New Mexico, after my car had gone off
the road into a not-very-deep ditch, but the snow was already up to the
bumper from the instant the car skidded off the road. Within a very
short time, it was up to the hood because the snow was blowing from up
ahead of me. I should have turned around when I saw the storm ahead -
and should have known which way the wind was blowing and thought about
what snow can do, etc. But nope. Fortunately, it stopped snowing and
you could still easily get in and out of the car through the window.
But it was freakin' cold that evening. If some people hadn't rescued
me (some extraordinarily kind people), I have no idea exactly what
would have happened to me. I couldn't keep the car running for heat,
because the entire radiator was packed with snow and the car engine
would overheat immediately (which at the time seemed really crazy to
me).
>
> I'm sticking with the theory that they ran off the road and are dead in some
> ravine. Most motor homes are white, which means it would be very hard to
> spot from the air in all that snow. They'll find the crashed vehicle, but
> it might not be until the spring thaw.
Another good theory.
A.
JonesieCat
Read the first page, can't read anymore. What a waste. JC
Sherman
> Theory 1:
> they're snowed in somewhere in the RV (Mrs Stivers on CBS This Morning
> today)
>
Along their probable route, there is treacherous "black ice". You can't see
it. Under normal conditions, the drive takes less than 3 hours. This is
not a pretty picture. Not a road for someone from Arizona to try to drive
in a motorhome in the winter, let alone one that had a known steering
problem. With the best of vehicles, hitting a patch of that ice may render
a driver pretty helpless. Been there, still here.
I'm going with the plunging over a cliff theory...
Sherman.
Bo Raxo
"Sherman" <Sher...@adelphia.com> wrote in message
news:2dCdnTA07cOGEYfZ...@adelphia.com...
We recently had a black ice accident here, on 101 just north of a tunnel
that is just past the north end (in Marin) of the Golden Gate Bridge. 2:30
in the morning, 28 cars piled up. The road was closed for 12 hours.
The owner of my favorite restaurant in town (The Brazen Head) was in it. He
wasn't hurt, fortunately, but two of the three occupants of the first car in
the pileup were killed.
> I'm going with the plunging over a cliff theory...
>
Yup. Does anybody know if the motor home is white? Seems like most of them
are, and that would be hard to spot against snow.
Bo Raxo
Sherman
I think it was reported to be a Dolphin, 35'. It appears that they are
white indeed - with graphics &
There are numerous canyons along the way to their reported destination.
Depending upon the actual trip planned, they may have passed by rivers.
Still not a pretty picture,
Sherman.