[Rick Lee]

That was a decent read. I have to wonder what the author does for a living, since he seemed to have a ton of personal time to devote to the mystery/adventure.

I struck up a conversation (in German) with some German tourists in a saloon in Page, AZ shortly after that woman and her son got stuck out in DV, as mentioned in the article. It was big news here. The Germans told me they were headed to Vegas and then DV. Having been to DV in July and several times since, I told them about that recent tragedy and how remote the place was. They didn't seem to grasp it, but assured me they'd bring lots of water.

The last time I used a pay phone and the first time I had done so in about 10 yrs. was at the ranger station in DV three yrs. ago. I had decided I was gonna make it to Mammoth Lakes that night on my bike and so I needed to cancel my hotel reservation in Lone Pine by 4pm. The park ranger told me the next cell reception area was 150 miles that way and pointed northwest. So I broke a dollar bill to get coins for the pay phone.