Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 22:03:19 -0600 From: "Charles Stoyer" <cstoyernospamrpex.com> Subject: Re: Don't let this happen to you
Were you in or near White Sands, NM? "Everett M. Greene" <mojavegnospamsp.com> wrote in message news:20040504.79D6428.811Anospamveg.iwvisp.com... > There are numerous petroglyphs in the local area but some > of the best-preserved are in a remote area of a military > installation. This last weekend, I was one of the "escorts" > for a tour and when one of the people making the tour wanted > to return to the parking area before the rest of the people > making the tour, the rules are that someone has to escort > the person. I volunteered to return since I've seen the > petroglyphs ten or more times. Another escort with whom > I'd ridden to the site offered me the "keys" to his car > so that I could get to some of the things I'd brought with > me and had left in the car. > > The "key" was an after-market remote control device that > unlocks the doors and allows starting the engine. Instead > of handing me the remote, the guy tosses it to me while > we're in the (very rocky) canyon. Unfortunately, the guy's > throwing ability was off and the remote sailed about three > feet over my head and found a rock upon which to land. No > obvious damage resulted other than the battery and its cover > going directions different from where the main body landed. > We found all the pieces and reassembled the unit. A quick > test indicated it was working... > > Upon getting to the parking area, I found the remote wouldn't > unlock the doors. Being unfamiliar with the mechanism, I > didn't worry much about the situation and the returning > tourer and I found a shady spot in which to wait for the > everyone else to return. > > An hour or so later when everyone returned, I reported the > situation to the car owner and inquired if he had a real > key with him. Nope. He confirmed that the remote wouldn't > unlock the doors and we were locked out of the car. Oops. > > We're 45 miles (75 km.) from civilization and could do > nothing but ride back with others and leave the car to be > retrieved later. The guy was lucky in that he was able to > find a locksmith to go back out that day (Sunday). If he > hadn't been able to get it out that day, he might have had > to wait a week or more since the area between the petro- > glyph site and civilization sometimes has the rockets' > red glare and bombs bursting in air during the week and > access to the site might not be granted. It was a bright > yellow car, so it would make an excellent target! :-) > > Moral of the story: If you're going to be away from home > and normally use some fancy electronic gadget to operate > your car, take a real key with you as well.
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