Visit our Popular Forums

safari57 · 11-30-2008, 12:57 PM

A friend just called to let us know that his mother passed away this morning.

He mentioned that his brother is touring around California in a vintage Volkswagen bus, a trip he did (or wanted to do? way back "when") and is out of touch with the family. They are hoping that he will check in as they do not have a contact place for him as he does his California dreaming. I understand the motivator for taking this trip now was the passing of the father about a month ago. At time of departure mom was doing fine.

I tried without success to find a Travelers Alert system that we could contact (CHIP does not show anything on their website) on the net and wondered if there is such a program in California? I believe that in some States and Provinces one can contact the Highway Patrol/RCMP and they will keep an eye out for the individual. I'm sure many folks have a similar situation where a family emergency occurs while a member is out of touch.

Does anyone have a suggestion I can pass along?

Thanks for helping if you can.

This does raise a thought - if you are one of those who are out in the world wandering about in your Airstream it would make sense that at least someone in your family has a means to contact you should something like this arise.

Barry

overlander64 · 11-30-2008, 01:15 PM

Greetings Barry!

I don't know whether this number will help, but the clearinghouse for information regarding locating missing adults in California that I found is:

1 (800) 222-FIND

Kevin

Happycampers · 11-30-2008, 01:18 PM

Hello ... So sorry to hear the news. Does your friend have the license plate number of his brother? If not try RCMP and explain the situation and how to procede.

overlander64 · 11-30-2008, 01:38 PM

Barry:

Another possibility if the person is staying in California State Parks would be to contact the agency overseeing California State Parks:

Public Information Inquiries
TEL 800-777-0369
916-653-6995
TTY relay service

I know that we used this process several years ago when we had a family member touring Virginia State Parks and needed to locate him quickly for a similar message.

Kevin

Gene · 11-30-2008, 01:39 PM

Sorry to hear this news. State police will take the information, but in many places nothing more will happen. I don't know what the situation is in Cal., but don't rely on the police to spot anyone unless there's a crime involved. By all means get the plate number and the color (any decorations?) and age of the Microbus, and the name of the person in the bus and maybe someone on the Forum will spot it. A longshot, but those old bus's stand out.

Gene

safari57 · 11-30-2008, 02:14 PM

Thanks for all your help folks.

I've cut and paste your suggestions into an email and passed them on to the family. I do believe they have the license plate number and a very good description of the vehicle to pass on.

I will let you know which, if any, of the services they try turns into a favorable solution. The larger hope is that he will check in with one of the family in the next day or two.

Again, your help is always and much appreciated.

Barry

overlander64 · 11-30-2008, 02:37 PM

Barry:

Another thought occurred to me. If the family knows of the campground preference of the person that is to be located, contacting the toll free reservation number for that variety of commercial campground may yield a means of getting an emergency message to member campgrounds in the tour area.

KOA:
Telephone: (888) 562-0000 Fax: (406) 255-7402

Good Sam:

Emergency Assistance Plus (EA+): 1-800-782-7267

Kevin

Melody Ranch · 11-30-2008, 04:05 PM

Put an ad and notification on the SAMBA Web site. Any VW owner in Calif knows about, uses it, it and is always looking out for another VW Bud. Sort of like Airstreams. This Grassroot approach should do a good job.

centennialman · 12-01-2008, 07:36 AM

A few years ago we had a similar situation in our family when my grandfather passed away. My parents were somewhere in South Dakota at a campground....where?.....I didn't know.

I called the highway patrol and they found my parents within a few hours and we were able to let them know so they could head home.

Good luck in your search and my prayers go to the family suffering two losses in such a short time.

safari57 · 12-01-2008, 09:40 AM

Interesting how things work out sometimes. It turns out the local VW guys would be prepared to do a phone blitz to their counterparts in CA if he wasn't located by this morning (GREAT suggestion, many thanks).

Out of the blue yesterday morning he apparently had the urge to head home. No reason, just felt the tug of home, so started the long drive up to BC and rather than take the back roads as he'd thought he would he just decided to come up I-5. Late last night he called from northern CA to let folks know he'd decided to head home early and got the sad news.

Thanks again everyone.

Barry

InsideOut · 12-01-2008, 11:30 AM

Glad to hear he was found...it's amazing he had a sense it was time to return. Wow.

Shari

safari57 · 12-01-2008, 08:00 PM

You are right Shari, it is a tad scary. Intuition perhaps, who knows. I've had a time or two in my life where I have suddenly determined that I should contact someone and found out through that action that some significant had just occurred. Blind luck most likely though.

Take care,
Barry