Wow I wonder what made him stop his vehicle and start walking then. I mean even if your stuck at least you have warmth and could be found when daylight came. But it’s reasons like this why I brought this up. There was a story a friend told me about when he broke down between Van Horn, Tx and El Paso. This was a very long time ago I don’t know all the details ether. He told me he got off the highway to take a nap it was middle of the night. I’m assuming this was before cellphones. Anyway he somehow broke a driveshaft and was out of visual sight of the highway traffic. He said he started walking and was about 6 miles from his vehicle before he was picked up. He said that the next day when he returned to his vehicle it had been ticketed and also broken into. Personally I think that if he had stayed with the vehicle he would’ve been able to receive help from officer who obviously came by shortly after his departure and I think he could’ve prevented the theft and damage to his vehicle had he stayed.
When you're talking about up in that neck of the woods, you can see everything there is to see, and there isn't anything to get in your way of seeing it. A farm house light can be seen for miles. They think that the guy felt he could walk there. But Sub zero temp, not dressed properly, after a mile he was pretty cold and crawled in to the car for shelter. But when it's 20° below you really need a source of heat. Not uncommon to be driving along and experience a white out and be stranded for a day or two. Once the weather settles down choppers can be deployed to perform rescue/recovery along the highways. Brutal country up there in the winter. The one day of summer each year is strikingly beautiful!
That's my childhood neck of the woods. Further south in the snow belt..... 120" a year or so lake effect. Cold wind too and I thought I knew cold until I got to North Dakota. My winters at home were like summer compared to ND. Brutal.
I was once offered shore duty orders to a reserve center in Watertown, NY. I asked the Detailer what there was to do up there, and he replied.......shovel lots of snow. I promptly turned the orders down.
Yeah, Watertown is quite a way further north close to the Canadian border. You didn't miss out on anything. Some cold followed by more cold! How long a tour would it have been?
Probably two years. I opted for a different set of orders and remained in Chasn.
Some of my family found Superior Wisconsin a place to settle down..... Ok!
West Texas, New Mexico and n. AZ wouldn't be too bad, but s. AZ a whole different ball game. I do live in the west Texas area and it's not hard to find shelter or a house in need. Back roads or not there are farmers everywhere! What happened too me one time is that I had a blowout on rt66 in the winter. This is about 6:30am Monday morning and had too walk 1.5 -2 miles for the next house (a farmers house that is} for a jack, 4 way wrench and/or 2x6". The problem arose due to the jack not being tall enough and the new nuts were larger and he offered a ride back to my p/u. This was '84 and I did mention he was a farmer. A good suggestion on knocking/door bell ringing is that after, 1) back away from the door and 2) let them see your hands which makes you less threat looking. This person was grateful about my actions and welcomed me in.
Hmmmmm..... Hurricane season up there too! Kidding, couldn't resist.....