18. October 2009 by [JP].

I’m in El Paso with family now.
Zach and I went to the canyon so he could see some cactus. He’s in a cactus phase at the moment. He can even identify like 5 or 6 types.
I’m definitely post-symptomatic… i have the stupid bumps on my elbows and knees. Probably a good indicator that my med level has to get changed again, since i didnt actually crash, and i’ve been mostly remembering to take it… i think.
I’ve got an overwhelming update to grab a burger and a drink and head out to the desert, duno if i’ll ask anyone to come or not.
Got a site survey tomorrow AM in Cruces for Care Media, then going to Starbucks with Julia and her girlfriend, then headed back to Albuquerque.
Going to be a quick trip home only. Have some paperwork to do, got to pick up a crapload of police reports from the last few years for my (and my parents) lawyer to go thru. Also need to check up on someone, but thats for a later entry.
Coming back to El Paso wed night.
Family is driving to Odessa on Thursday.
My sister is playing in Odessa saturday, so we’re meeting her up there and coming back Sat night.
I’ll probably end up driving both ways, because nobody else can seem to handle long distance driving, and if my dad isnt driving, he’ll sleep thru it, and generally not be himself.
Plus i LIKE long distance driving.
Plus I can pick where we stop.
Like every small town DQ between here and there for a chili dog. (and ice cream for Zachy)
And, thats about it for now.

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4. October 2009 by [JP].

Went on a Search and Rescue yesterday. It was originally planned for the entire weekend, but that got changed.
Originally, it was supposed to be informal, by the family of the missing subject, but none of them showed up. However, since the state police decided to try one more day with the professionals, we went up anyway. I ended up sticking around the command center and getting to observe their ICS most of the day.. First thing they had me do was drive the jeep about 2 miles up the road to the peak with the radio tower, and see which cell phone service I could make a functional call on. Turns out my nextel worked the best, and my t-mobile was functional, none of the verizon phones the state had worked well at all… came back to base, and my nextel was still good, so it was used as required.

No luck at all, and the state officially suspended the search. Now its purely a criminal investigation. The guy has been missing for over 3 weeks now. There was a MAJOR storm 3 days after he went missing, and theres almost no chance he survived the storm.
We had a K9 team from Colorado assisting our in-state people. We had about 4 scent dogs on scene, and they were alerting in the same area that they were alerting before, however, no precise fix.
The main theory is, that in the storm, he tried to find shelter under something, and probably died of exposure, but his body is probably well hidden, and very likely been scavanged by animals, so we’re just not finding anything. The secondary theory was that he died in the open, and the animals quickly stripped his body, and theres nothing left for the dogs to fix on.
Of course, theres always the possibility that he’s not out there at all, that he left on his own… theres information to back that up, and the state police are considering it an option.

Its my understanding that the family has hope still that he’s out there, but they’re clinging onto nothingness. They’re asking the goverment to send a heat sensing helicopter, but thats worthless. Theres no heat to detect, if he’s out there. Theres no possibility at all that he’s still alive, if the storm didnt get him, then someone with no survival experiance could not possibly survive this long out in those extreme conditions.
They thought last week that since the dogs were picking up scent, theres a possibility… i dont think that they understand that the dogs being used are cadaver dogs, and any scent they’re alerting on is coming from a dead, decaying body.

Most of my afternoon was spent playing fetch with one of the dogs. He LOVES fetch… when his team was coming in, he trotted into command with a stick in his mouth… 15 minutes before his team got there. He would just drop it in front of anyone around and give puppy dog eyes until you threw it.

My neck was sunburned, and so was my scalp… i guess i didnt realize how short my hair was. good thing I was wearing a hat during the afternoon. I had put sunblock on my arms and hands, but forgot my neck.
Dispite the fact that i was over 11,000 feet, i was in a t-shirt during most of it. It was about 70 degrees in the sun, and about 40 in the shade.

I’m pretty impressed overall by how well NM does SAR. Unlike what i’m used to back home, its coordinated at the state level up here. Dispite the fact that I know the family criticized the handling of this case, i saw nothing but complete professionalism and dedication from the volunteers, some of them being up on this mission for the 3rd or 4th time.
I’m very satisfied that all was done to locate this particular subject.

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