Dude, where's my car?

[+markp99]

This story appeared in a local NH paper. It reminded me of SEVERAL occasions where my GPS helped me re-find my car and more often my BIKE after long bushwhacks in the thicks of NH.

 

I've never called the police for help, but I've often imagined getting injured and calling for help (via airlift) using my cuurent GPS coordinates and cell phone to guide my rescuers.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14674108/

N.H. - A high-tech treasure hunt launched by two Massachusetts college students over the holiday weekend turned into a full-scale search and rescue mission spanning two states after police were called to help the women locate their broken-down rental car.

 

"We've just found the car. It's in Porter, Maine," State Police Trooper James Fogarty of Troop E said at midnight Sunday, some nine hours after it was lost by University of Massachusetts-Lowell students Chunyin Liu, 28, and Ying-Chieh Peng, 27, during a geocaching expedition.

 

Geocaching is a hobby in which gamers use a Global Positioning System to hunt for hidden caches containing a log book and small trinkets.

 

After their car broke down, the pair called Alamo to report they needed a replacement rental car.

 

They were told to meet a driver in Ossipee, who would bring them a second car and retrieve the first.

 

Fogarty said the women got a ride from some fellow geocachers who dropped them off in Ossipee to wait for the tow truck driver.

 

Although Liu and Peng didn't know the name of the road or town - or as it turned out, even the state - in which they left the broken car, they did have the GPS coordinates.

 

"I give the tow truck driver a lot of credit. He was a patient man," said Fogarty. "On top of the fact that they weren't sure where they left the car, there was a bit of a language barrier."

 

The driver, Mike Dumont of Tardiff's Towing out of Portland, Maine, spent more than five hours with Liu and Peng, driving through remote towns and back roads, without any luck.

 

Finally Dumont flagged down Fogarty and his partner, Trooper Tyler Shaw, at an intersection in Freedom about 8:30 p.m. Dumont explained the situation, and told the police he could use some help finding the car, which he figured was somewhere in Eaton.

 

Fogarty called Kim Brownell, who was dispatching for Troop E Sunday night. She managed to find a Web site where she could enter the GPS coordinates the women had supplied. That gave police the first clue the car was not in New Hampshire.

 

"Upon further investigation we found out their car was somewhere in Oxford County, Maine, just north of Porter Maine," Fogarty said.

 

Brownell, who is familiar with that area of Maine, said the GPS coordinates didn't provide enough information, most likely because it's a desolate area.

 

"But I could tell it wasn't far over the border," Brownell said.

 

Still not yet sure where the car was, Fogarty brought the two women back to the police barracks. By about 10:30 p.m., still no closer to finding their car, Fogarty arranged for them to spend the night at a hotel in New Hampshire.

 

"They're both nice girls and we needed to take care of them and get them out of the rain," Fogarty said.

 

The geocaching game reminded Fogarty of a land navigation course he took while in the military.

 

"Believe me, I've been lost in places most people have never heard before, so I had a lot of sympathy for these two," he said.

 

Brownell said was gratified by the story's happy ending.

 

"You know, I've been doing this 14 years, and every once in a while you stumble across something like this," the police dispatcher said with a laugh. "It kind of balances out all the other stuff."

[+ThePropers]

And then?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trust me, that's hilarious.

Edited September 5, 2006 by ThePropers

[+chancerider]

And now, you (don't) know the rest of the story

[+markp99]

Trust me, that's hilarious.

Yes it is!

[+Team Perks]

And then?

NO AND THEN!!!!

[+VeryLost]

Brownell, who is familiar with that area of Maine, said the GPS coordinates didn't provide enough information, most likely because it's a desolate area.

 

They should have just plugged the coordinates straight into the search field in Google Maps. Would have saved loads of time

[+ThePropers]

And then?

NO AND THEN!!!!

 

....

 

And then?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, I will stop now.

[+JeepAlaska]

 

I've never called the police for help, but I've often imagined getting injured and calling for help (via airlift) using my cuurent GPS coordinates and cell phone to guide my rescuers.

 

 

A friend had to do just that a couple years ago. He was snowmaching at a popular area, when someone crashed thier machine very badly. He was able to call 911 for help and told them their coord. and the guy was airlifed out.

[+Jhwk]

dude, you have to remember to mark your car too.

 

my biggest fault - like a kid at Disney I run willy-nilly through the woods for caches, forgetting to mark where I came from...

[+markp99]

I've found that "Tracks" on my GPS are a big help when I've forgotten to mark my start point, or where I ditched my bike.

[+Sioneva]

Got lost in the tall grass today for about 45 minutes. My trail of breadcrumbs was worthless. *wander wander where's the blasted bike path?*

 

I was wearing shorts. Never had so many scratches on my legs in my life. I learned my lesson. I'll waypoint my entry point next time!

[+TheManInStripes]

dude, you have to remember to mark your car too.

 

my biggest fault - like a kid at Disney I run willy-nilly through the woods for caches, forgetting to mark where I came from...

We did this just the other night attempting a FTF in a heavily wooded area. We ended up giving up after about 30 minutes of looking, by we had wandered around so much, we couldn't remember for sure the right way back to the car. I looked on the path on the GPS and was able to tell where we had ditched the car cause the path went from a straight line to all the zig zagging, so I marked it and then headed back that way. Worst part was, not only did we not find it, come to find out the owner had mistyped the coords, so the cache was clear on the other side of a river tha would have required a 1 hour drive to get from where we were to the REAL cache spot. Hate that!!