To refresh your memories, Jason Pede took a so called “shortcut” through the mountains of central Colorado in early February.  He was trying to cut off over 200 miles of driving to get to Aspen, CO, to pick up an animal for delivery elsewhere in the country.  He used a route suggested by the GPS on his Verizon phone and confirmed by a local.  That route suggested that he take some mountain roads for the shortest distance to his destination.  That road nearly led to disaster.  Jason found himself trapped about seven miles off any paved highway for four days in snowpacked mountains northwest of Saguache, CO.  After he ran out of fuel on the fourth day of his ordeal, Jason saved himself by walking out of the woods on foot.  Fortunately, he suffered no injuries whatsoever.

Jason is blessed to be alive.  A series of events could have led to his death.  First of all, his phone GPS picked some bizarre route that took him off a paved highway and then would have brought him out of the mountains back onto that same highway.  Had Jason projected out his route before making that turn, he might have realized that.  Secondly, Jason did speak to a local rancher when he stopped at a convenience store in Saquache, CO, before heading up into the mountains.   The local told Jason that if he had four wheel drive, he could drive the suggested route.

 Armed with that endorsement, Jason took the suggested route.  It was a road that would have forced me to turn around after only a quarter of a mile.  Being a persistent and confident guy, Jason “hammered down” for nearly seven miles before the snow drifts were coming over the hood of his four wheel drive Lincoln Navigator.  As he tried to back out, he got off the road and stuck for four days.

During that time, Jason said he could hear truck drivers on I-70 (which was about 70 miles away),on his CB radio but he could not talk to them.  Later, we learned that the microphone on his CB radio was defective.  The second apparent technical problem was that Jason had not paid Verizon for a special service they provide that offers accurate phone tracking.  Because his phone didn’t have the appropriate software, the best Verizon could do was to report the last known contact with his cellphone within a hundred mile radius.  Law enforcement authorities told me that was not enough information for them to call out search and rescue teams to look for him.

In reviewing his situation, Jason mentioned that there should be an “emergency” button on his phone and on his laptop GPS system that sends out a coded emergency message.  Such a system could have led to a much faster rescue and possibly prevented a tragic death.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Hindsight is almost always 20-20.  First, let’s address the entire concept of going off a perfectly good paved road to get onto a snowpacked mountain road.  It just doesn’t make sense!  I have driven in the general area where Jason was and my GPS also suggested traveling along some mountain roads.  I am a big chicken…and when I saw the road the GPS was proposing I take, I chose not to go that way.  Even if I HAD gotten off the paved road, I would have turned around at the earliest opportunity after seeing the road that Jason took.

The idea of having some kind of “uplink” capability for his GPS or an emergency button on his cellphone is a good one, but there may be some technical challenges that we are unaware of.  It may take years to build in that type of capability in either his laptop GPS or his cell phone.  Here are a couple of practical things that might have made a difference.  First of all, if Jason had carried an extra microphone and had the presence of mind to change microphones, he might have been able to contact someone who could call for help. 

Secondly, if Jason had notified someone of his exact route, it would have made searching for him exponentially easier.  He was so far off the road in a completely unpredictable location that we never would have found him until it was much too late.  I propose that one should put their exact route into an email or Facebook message so that more than one person can see the route one plans to take.  There are some other possible solutions that I will suggest in the next couple of days.  Please tune in.

Jason was transporting a rescue dog from southern California to its new home in Pueblo, CO.  He was going to pick up another animal for transport in Aspen, CO, while en route.  He was using two different GPS programs:  DeLorme Street Atlas on his laptop, and Verizon GPS on his cell phone.  Verizon’s GPS told him that if he took a shortcut down several county roads, he could save about 200 miles.  Jason stopped at a convenience store in Saguache, Colorado, and talked to a local who assured him he could travel those roads with his four wheel drive vehicle.

Jason Pede digging his Lincoln Navigator out of a snow drift.

All of this took place on Thursday, Feb. 4th.  Jason took Colorado 114 northwest out of Saguache that morning and traveled about 27 miles before turning into the mountains for his “shortcut”.  He drove about seven miles before reaching snow so deep that it was going over the hood of his four wheel drive 2000 Lincoln Navigator.  He decided he should turn around, but the road was so narrow that he would need to back down the mountain for quite a distance.  Less than 100 yards later, the left front wheel ran off the edge of the narrow road…and Jason was stuck.  For those of you are are interested, the rough coordinates of his “stranded” location is 38.194N 106.490W.

Jason survived three full days and nights by scrounging in his vehicle for food and drinks.  He found some soft drinks left by his children and some sugar free cookies left by his wife.  When the drinks ran out, he attempted to melt snow and ice by putting it in a soft drink can and melting it by putting the can on the exhaust manifold of the engine.  He also ate ice.

During the day, he stayed warm by burning some bamboo chairs that he also was transporting.  His fire was located mere feet from the right side of his vehicle.  At one point, he realized the plastic moulding on the vehicle was warping and the paint on the right rear passenger door was blistering.  He told me about frantically trying to throw snow on the fire to cool it down, yet not put it out.  During the night, Jason ran the engine in his vehicle for warmth and put on several layers of clothes, and snuggled with the dog.

Throughout all of this, Jason could hear truckers talking with each other on I-70, which was roughly 90 miles away.  He attempted to use his Galaxy 88 radio to reach them, but no one responded, much to his frustration.  Later, as he and I were heading eastward toward Walsenburg, we discovered that his microphone didn’t work.  Jason was stunned to realize that he might have been able to contact someone much earlier if his mike had been working.  He monitored news channels on his XM radio in the hopes that he would learn that we were looking for him.  Although it didn’t happen in time for him to hear it, Linda Ramos (LinRon Pilot Cars) and Kaye Greene-Smith (Pilotcarz4U) had partnered together and were working the phones, contacting news media in Denver and Colorado Springs, as well as churches in the area.

On Jason’s third evening (Saturday, Feb 6) in the wilderness, he decided that he would need to walk out of the woods on his own the following morning.  Part of the reason he had delayed making this decision was that the only shoes he had with him were some walking shoes that got soaked in the snow.  In addition, he was concerned about large predators that might be in the woods.   On Sunday morning, the fuel finally ran out for the vehicle, so Jason’s decision was made for him.  He put on all the layers of clothing he could wear, covered the dog with blankets and his leather coat, and struck out.  Before leaving the vehicle, he wrote two letters:  one for anyone who might find him; and the other for his wife.

Jason had carefully looked at his GPS, so he knew that he needed to walk almost 7 miles back to Colorado 114.  He set some goals for himself.  For example, a particular fork in the road represented the halfway point.  Jason said there were many times when he would stop to catch his breath.  His body kept telling him that he needed to stop and rest, but his mind kept telling him to keep going.  Jason said he thought of his wife and children when he was so tired and out of breath that he wanted to stop.  He said he knew that if he did that, it was entirely possible he would fall asleep and never wake up.

It took only an estimated 2 hours for Jason to make his way back to the paved road.  When he got there, he looked one way down the road and saw no vehicles.  To his relief, when he looked the other way there were two or three vehicles coming his way.  He waved at them with his flashlight and basically collapsed on the road.  The first vehicle that got to him was a van of skiers from a church in Amarillo, TX.  They were doubtful about his story, and asked him if they could search him for weapons before they took him onboard.  All they found was a small pocket knife, so they transported Jason to the Sheriff’s Office in Saguache, CO.

MEANWHILE

I had heard about Jason’s plight Friday evening while enroute home from Houston where I had dropped a load.  When I got in at about 3:00 AM, I resolved to follow up on the latest news Saturday, and considered heading to Colorado to help in the search.  My plan was to try to organize pilot car operators from the area to actually drive a couple of hundred yards, stop and go to the edge of the road and look down the slopes for any sign of a vehicle having gone off the road.

Saturday afternoon, I called the Sheriff’s Office dispatcher in Saguache County, Colorado.  He assured me that there was an active search ongoing for Jason.  However, as he talked, I began to realize that their “active search” was being conducted from the windshields of the cruisers.  They would not call out search and rescue crews until they had a targeted location for where to search.  Mr. Pede had told his wife that he was heading from Dulce, NM, to Aspen, CO, but never gave her his route.  We had two clues to work with.  The first was that Jason mentioned that he was using the GPS on his cellphone for navigation.  The second was that Verizon reported that the last contact their system had with his phone was on a tower located in Center, CO, at about 2:30 PM on Thursday, the day he disappeared.

Since we didn’t have Jason’s cell phone, I tried to estimate his route based upon my own laptop GPS programs.  Both the Streets and Trips and the DeLorme Street Atlas routed me from Dulce to Pagosa Springs eastward to Del Norte, then north on US 285 to Colorad 82 west to Aspen.  Jason’s wife Amanda had used internet mapping resources such as Google and Mapquest, and they suggested the very same route.  Since the cell tower in Center was located east of Wolf Creek Pass, I figured that he either was between Wolf Creek Pass and South Fork, CO, or north of Poncho Pass on US 285.  My thinking was that the roads from South Fork to Poncho Pass were relatively flat and someone would have spotted Jason’s vehicle by now.  By Saturday evening, I headed to Center, CO.

Before I ever left, John Boykin from San Antonio (CIS Safety Cars) called to offer to come along with me to assist in the search and with the driving.   Since John had lived in that general area, he would have a special knowledge and insight to the area.  In addition, he had some political connections that he might be able to use to generate an active search by authorities.  Unfortunately, he was almost 500 miles further away than I was.  I didn’t want to wait for him because I knew a new winter storm was coming into SW Colorado.  I felt that time was of the essence if we were going to be able to save Jason’s life.  Reluctantly, we decided that I needed to head out without waiting for John.  During this same time, Kaye Greene-Smith (Pilotcarz4U) offered financial support for the search.  Later, Steve Komlosi of Hudson Valley Pilot Cars in New York State, William Edwards of Diamond Flag Cars in NC, and Steve Barnes of Barney’s Pilot Car Equipment in Portland, OR, offered financial help with fuel and lodging costs.

Along the way, Kaye continued to communicate with me.  Linda Ramos also called several times late into the early hours of the morning.  Apparently Kaye and Linda partnered up.  Linda was contacting the news media in Denver and Colorado Springs.  Kaye was calling churches in the area.  Throughout this, they would ask me to forward information to the various TV stations.  Kaye asked me to talk to a Church of Christ minister headquartered in Pagosa Springs on the west side of Wolf Creek Pass.  I spoke with Brother Dorman Daller, who promised he would search from the top of Wolf Creek Pass to South Fork the following morning, weather permitting.  That allowed me to concentrate on the northern part of the route.

I got to Center, CO, at about 9:15 AM on Sunday after stopping by the State Highway Patrol office in Alamosa to drop off a flyer.  To my amazement, they did not have a flyer that Amanda Pede had prepared.  At about 9:15 AM, I stopped by a convenience store near Center to drop off a flyer.  They already had one.  As I got back into my truck, Amanda Pede called to tell me that Jason had been found alive and was being taken to the Sheriff’s Office in Saguache, CO.  I was just 23 miles from there!  I rushed there and found Jason still being checked out by paramedics and interviewed by deputies.

About an hour after I arrived there, we got a report that the Forest Service Law Enforcement officer had found Jason’s Lincoln Navigator, rescued the dog and handed it off to a Colorado State Trooper who transported the animal to her personal vet in Monte Vista.  Jason and I picked up the dog the following day (Monday) and headed our separate ways.

In my next post, I will examine what went wrong with this situation, how technology went wrong, and how technology could prevent something like this in the future.

Actually, if  you’ve already done all that, you are putting the cart before the horse!  I mean to say that there are other things you need to consider before all the expense of equipping your vehicle.  After you read this, you may not want to get into this business.

This is NOT an easy life!  First of all, if you are the homebody type, you really need to think seriously about the pilot car industry.  There are some people who can stay at home and take short day runs or maybe one or two day runs, and make a decent living.  In my experience, those folks are in the minority.  On the other hand, if you like to travel, this might just be your special place.  Just don’t get the idea that this is a way to pay for a vacation.  If you want to earn a living, you must stay busy-always lining up a follow on load and then rushing to get there in time for the load to move.

If you want to make a good living, you’re gonna have to live like a truck driver-only without the sleeper.  Do the math:  let’s assume that your rate is $1.50 per mile.  Your actual out of pocket expenses (not counting vehicle payment, insurance, payment to yourself, etc.) is going to be about 40% of what you get paid.  In round numbers, that leaves you about $0.90/per mile in gross profit (that’s what you have left BEFORE you start paying your other expenses.  You’re gonna have to pay all those hidden expenses out of what is left.  That figure varies by person, based upon their credit rating, where they live, and lots of other variables.  You can figure that your cost per mile, counting all related expenses, to be in the range of $0.80-$0.90 per mile, leaving you with about $0.60 per mile as net profit.  So, you’ve got to decide how much net profit you want to make over a one year period.  If you want to earn $60,000 in net profit, then you are going to have to drive about 100 thousand miles a year.  That’s about what long haul truck drivers put in each year.  The point is that if you have a family at home that needs you nearby, this is not the business for you. 

If you are the kind of person who needs 8 hours of sleep, this is not the business for you.  Here’s why:  In most states, oversize loads can move from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset.  In the summertime, that means the load can be moving for 15 hours per day.  If you have breakfast before the load and dinner afterwards, you only have about 7 hours of the day left and you haven’t even gotten to your motel room.  What happens if you travel all day and then get to an area where you have to move at night…the SAME night?  The winter hours are shorter, of course.

If you need to go “potty” every hour, or stop to get a fresh drink and a snack every couple of hours, this isn’t the life for you.  It is not uncommon for the load to stop only for refueling during the day.  Many drivers will consider your needs, but you cannot plan on it.  What’s more, if the load has to stop often, you will get a bad reputation and no one will want to hire you to escort their loads.  Most drivers are like us, they make their money by putting on the miles.  Every time that load has to stop, it is the equivalent of cutting about 45 minutes out of the day (about 45 miles), according to some truck drivers.

If you are a timid or courteous driver, or sensitive to other four wheel drivers cursing you or flashing one fingered signals at you, you should reconsider getting into this business.  That was the hardest thing for me to change about myself.  When I got started in this business, when my driver said he needed the left lane, I would wait until there was a gap in traffic.  Sometimes the driver couldn’t wait for that, so I had to learn to be an assertive driver and claim that left lane almost immediately.  If the load needs to weave through railroad crossarms, or traffic signals, sometimes the escort must put themselves into the oncoming traffic to provide a safe avenue for the load.  It is a frightening and dangerous experience and very stressful.  So, you need to consider all of these things before you choose to enter this career field.

Now, let’s talk about training.  I know some people who just flagged up and went forth and escorted and did a fine job.  They have been successful in this business for years.  Those people are the exception, not the rule.  I’ve never asked them, but I would venture to say that they would not advise doing what they did.  Your best bet is to find someone near you who already has been in this business several years and is willing to let you ride with them.  I have trained a couple of people, and I required them to travel about 1000 PAID miles with me.  For the first several hundred miles, they sat in the right seat and observed and listened.  When I felt they had the general concepts in mind, I put them in the driver’s seat and I observed and made recommendations and suggestions.  All of this training only qualified them to lead or chase a “normal” oversized load.  It did not qualify them to operate with a high pole, perform route surveys, or escort “superloads”.  Those things require many many more miles before I would recommend a new person take on one of those loads.  Just how long varies from person to person.  There are some people who never will qualify for anything more than lead/chase for the smaller oversize loads.  I know others who have been capable of running high pole, superloads, and route surveys after only about three months on the road.  Even truck drivers who want to get into this business need to have at least SOME training.  They do have the advantage of having that “road sense” that is so important in this business, but it is an entirely different thing to “intimidate” other four wheelers with a big truck or another four wheeler with lights and flags.  When I trained other people, we shared motel rooms and they paid for their own meals.  It varies from person to person, but I don’t personally know of anyone who has paid a trainee during this time.

If you plan to take long haul oversize loads, you will need to get some certifications.  There is a growing trend among the states to require “best practices guidelines” certification training.  Generally, that entails taking an 8 hour classroom course.  This is not something you can do online.  You actually must physically go to the classes.  Currently the states that require that certification are Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida, and Washington.  At present, only one state-Utah-has traveling classes.  You can check uspilotcar.com to see where they will be and when.  Costs of these classes vary.

Other states require certifications in their states.  For example, New York state has a certification that is good ONLY in that state and they will not accept other state’s certifications.  In that case, you must go to the state of New York physically to take the test.  The only other state that does that is Virginia.  They do accept out of state certifications, but if you live in Virginia, you will need to take their test in person.  A couple of years ago, the VA certification was the “standard” and you could have a local official (teacher, librarian, police chief) administer their test, but it’s not that way anymore.  Kansas requires superload certification.  If you have a CDL it is no problem.  Even if you don’t have a CDL, it is simple to do.  All  you have to do is take the Defensive Driving Course from the National Safety Council and send them proof.  You can take the course online and then fax your certificate to Kansas DOT.  Generally they will fax your superload certification back to you within hours.

New Mexico and Louisiana have so-called certification programs, but they really are vehicle inspection programs.  Nevada and Georgia require amber light permits before you can legally operate amber lights, strobes,  light bars and etc. in those states.  They are inexpensive-maybe $5.00 each.  Nevada just recently has begun allowing you to get your permits online.  As far as I know, you still have to use snail mail for Georgia.

In summary, the REALLY hard part is deciding if you can live up to the lifestyle that this career requires, and then you need to get some training!  Certifications also are an important component of your preparations for this business.

Our load was 27 feet wide.  That means that on a typical two lane road, the load hung over each shoulder.  We ran with four escorts-two up front and two in the back.  The lead escort was out forward about 1/2 mile, while I ran about 200 yards directly in front of the load.  The other two escorts trailed the load, holding off traffic when we were approaching narrow sections, skinny bridges and the like, and advising the driver when traffic got too backed up.

Being the second front escort in a situation like this is VERY stressful.  As vehicles would approach, I weaved into the oncoming lane of traffic to get their attention and then moved back into our lane of travel.  As the vehicles got closer, I waved a bright orange flag out the driver’s door window and waved them to the shoulder.  Some of the bridges we crossed were so tight that there couldn’t have been more than one foot on either side of the load.  In those cases, I raced ahead and then pulled completely into the oncoming lane of traffic and stopped traffic or attempted to do so.

Occasionally, vehicles would go around me but very quickly came to a stop once they saw the load.  In one case, I could see that the woman driver was going to try to go around me, so I inched forward and forced her to stop.  Let’s just say she was QUITE demonstrative in her unhappiness with me, until her daughter pointed out that our load covered the entire bridge.  As I passed her, she was smiling at me and saying “thank you”.

We had one incident in which a little blue haired lady was on her cell phone as she passed me.  She actually drove UNDER the load.  I am not sure she ever saw it.  If her car had been just four inches higher, it would have become and instant convertible.

Then, there are the folks who absolutely hate escorts and oversize loads.  One guy flipped off every escort and the truck driver.  Several miles down the road, we were stopped by a highway patrol officer who said they had reports that our load was travelling without escorts or a permit.  It actually helped us because he provided us with police escort the last 30 miles of the trip and arranged for city/county escort through a couple of small towns along the way.

I picked up a load heading back near my home…supposed to leave today, but didn’t.  Sooo, I got to stay two additional nights here.

I sat all day in the yard with my driver waiting to get him loaded.  The latest word we have is that he will be loaded by about midday on Wednesday.  Then we will head to the OK/CO state line on US 287.

This is a new trailer for this driver.  Normally, he pulls trailers with hydraulic necks.  He forgot that this one didn’t have a hydraulic neck, so we dragged flat bottom right across the road at the intersection.  Fortunately, these two roads are not heavily traveled.  In the three hours we worked to free ourselves, we saw maybe six vehicles.  There is a gravel pulloff at that intersection, so traffic was able to get around us.  Finally, my friend and partner Dave Hibbard went into Del Rio to a hardware store and got some big timber.  With that, we were able to get backed up and approached the road from a different angle.  As bad as today was, tomorrow has GOT to be better!

Next up is the issue of how to get through NM.  We have about three options to get from El Paso to Cortez, CO.  The load actually is going to central California, by way of NM, CO, UT, NV and CA.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to complete this trip.  I have a medical appointment on Thursday in Big Spring, TX.  I will try to get them through the Albuquerque area, providing we can get through there on Tuesday…but I will have to break free after that. It is a shame.  This will wind up being about a 2800 mile trip…PLUS it is going to an area of California where I have never been before.  That’s life!  This is a medical appointment I’ve been waiting for about six weeks for.

We made it to Eldorado, TX.  There is one motel and it certainly is NOT the Fairmont!  We got in too late for the one known restaurant…so I had mystery meat (they called it chicken strips), and some milk.  Now, I’m heading for bed!  We leave at 6:30 AM.

Apparently, Karen was not wearing her seatbelt, and thus was fatally injured when her pickup truck went off the road, possibly near Colorado Springs, CO.

When I have more information I will post it here and on the various pilot car groups.  I also plan to write a brief memorial about Karen.

Please offer up your prayers on Karen’s behalf and for her family and friends.

Apparently this Skyraider is going to be refurbished and put into flying condition again.  Today, we had a man stop by who had been a mechanic on these planes in Phu Bai in Viet Nam in 1968.  It brought him to tears.

The other significant incident was the 48 miles of rough dirt road, one way , that we had to take our load down.  The road was alternately dusty, skinny, muddy, and rough as a cob.  I thought my truck was going to shake apart.  Once we got the load delivered, then we had to drive back over that same 48 miles of dirt road.  What fun!!

Now I am in Wendover, UT.  Tomorrow we have Utah State Police escorts to help us move an airplane from the west side of the state to the east side.  We are en route to Colorado Springs, CO, with this plane.  I can’t tell you what kind of plane it is, because I haven’t seen it yet.  That will change in the morning.

After leaving that load, I came back to Albuquerque to perform a route survey for a 23 foot wide load going into Colorado on US 285.  I thought it would be relatively easy, but I found that several different construction sites in the Santa Fe area that nixed that idea.  So, I’ve had to be creative.  I will finish up that survey tomorrow and then return to Gallup to resume that load.

I’ve been asked to come up with a chase escort for this load to Nevada.  Getting a decent escort for the price they want to pay is not easy.  We all are between a rock and a hard spot.  The big trucking companies set the rates which they will pay, acknowledging that fuel prices have gone up dramatically but they are holding their rates.  It is understandable.  With the economy wilting the way it is, shippers know they can demand cheap rates because the companies need the business.  The same is with us:  the trucking companies know we need the business, so they hold the prices artificially low.  This makes it difficult for small pilot car companies and newly established ones to survive.

The best we can do is to try to minimize our costs, maximize our profits, and do what we can to stay in business at reasonble, profitable rates.  There is a danger in overpricing ourselves out of the market.  One trucking company instructed their pilot car brokers to not hire escorts out of our area because our rates are more than they want to pay.  It is foolish economy.  I know of one load where the high pole escort could not get certified in NM and the chase almost didn’t get certified.  The end results was that the load was delayed for more than four hours until a replacement high pole escort could get to the load…and the load will be a day late, as a result.