15 hours in 10 degrees

  On the afternoon of February 1st 2008, my girlfriend and I were on our way to pick up my son from his mother in rural California.  A little town called Cedarville, close to Nevada and Oregon.  We stopped to get gas in the small town of Gerlach Nevada on Highway 447.  About one mile outside of town Highway 447 veers to the left, but the sign to let you know is a 1/4 mile after you make the left. Needless to say, we missed the left and continued straight thinking that we were heading in the right direction.  About one hour later, after driving higher and higher into to Black Rock Desert Mountains, we found ourselves stuck in a 24 inch snow drift.  We hit the drift that was much deeper than it appeared and my front wheel drive Buick was not able to handle so much snow.

   Around 3:30 Friday, we were a little taken aback that we were suddenly stuck in the wilderness and had not seen another vehicle for several hours already.  We got out of the car to see how bad it was, and it was bad.  We looked in the trunk and the only thing I had was an old car tag that was personalized.  We used the tag to try and dig out of the snow drift as darkness was coming on us really fast.  By 5 O'Clock, an hour and a half later, the wind had started blowing and it was snowing again.  By 5:30 it was almost dark and the wind was blowing the snow horizontally.  We realized by 6:00 that we were gonna be stuck overnight.  We had 2 bottles of water, a pack of snack crackers and a small bag of Pistachios with us.  As it got later, the temperature continued to drop fast and by some devine coincidence, my son had left his heavy winter jacket in the back seat of my car, which was very fortunate as my girlfriend only had a light jean jacket and no gloves. 

  I had two large brown paper bags from Wal-Mart, the kind that you use to put yard debris in in the trunk, and a large piece of construction grade plastic.  We used the black plastic to help block the wind coming through the cracks around my doors and the lawn bags as sleeping bags to try and stay warm.  We were about 40 miles from where we had stopped to get gas, and trying to get out of the snow bank had used almost half a tank.  So  every hour we decided to turn the car off for an hour to save fuel.  Midnight came around and the wind was blowing very hard.  I got out of the car to see if I could do anything and thought I heard some noises like Coyotes, so I quickly got back in the car and locked the doors.  We huddled together as the heater in my car was failing.  It was approximately 10 degrees and the wind had to be blowing 50 to 60 miles an hour. Although the snow stopped falling around 1 a.m. the wind kept blowing the snow around my car.

  We rationed our water and crackers through out the night and tried to sleep, but it was just too cold.  At least twice we thought we saw other vehicles only to be let down.  I had turned my car off around 6 a.m. and around 6:45 in the morning in a half asleep- half awake daze, I spotted headlights aimed at us.  I quickly started my car and flashed my headlights.  More than 15 hours after we were stranded in a very isolated and desolate area of the Nevada High Desert, we met our rescuer.  Mr. Steve Harmon of Reno Nevada, who was on a hunting trip had come up over the ridge where we were in his 4x4 pickup.  Steve almost didn't make it to where we were, but managed to turn his truck around and make it out of the deep snow.  He walked back down to our car with a shovel and tried to help dig us out, but it was almost impossible. 

  Steve offered to drive us back to the town of Gerlach.  The area in which we were lost and stranded has virtually no cell phone service. We had tried all night to call family and 911 with no results.  Once back in Gerlach, where some 17 hours earlier we had stopped to gas up, we were safe but still had no cell service and we were unable to contact family members.  At this time Mr. Steve Harmon decided to drive us all the way back to Reno so we could rent a vehicle and continue on to pick up my son.  Steve went far and away above and beyond any of his responsibilities to help us out.  He not only rescued us, but drove us over 150 miles back to Reno.  He adamantly refused any money or reward from me.  I did finally manage to talk him into allowing me to fuel his truck with gas.  With out Steve Harmon taking a hunting trip February 2nd 2008, I most likely would not be writing this story. 

  We prayed several times that night that God would let us see my son Marshall again.  Our prayers were answered by Mr. Steve Harmon.  It reaffirmed my belief that I live in the best country in the world, and that total strangers can sometimes be Angels among us.  Thank you Steve for what you gave back to me and my girlfriend, faith, hope and of course more tomorrow's.   Bryan Hightower and Rosie Giambastiani. 

Share This Story With Others:

 

Discuss this Article