I woke up this morning to the lights turning on in the hotel room instead of my alarm. Somehow, I think we all slept a little later than we expected, but after rotating around each other trying to brush our teeth and get into the bathroom, in no time we were all dressed and on time getting out of the door.
After breakfast at the hotel, we made one last quick stop to the room to get our field bags, and water for the day, we realized just how well the fridge in our room worked as our water packs were just about frozen solid! With our semi-frozen water bladders out of the fridge, we had time to check the weather before hopping into the truck (74°F and a bit cloudy all day). Loading up for the drive, we split into two four wheel drive vehicles, and we were off to our first location.
I was in the truck with Deputy Don White and other team members were with Paramedic Ray Gregory. On our drive, Don told us stories of his previous experiences in South Texas and told us about the history of some of the ranches in the area, and the history of game hunting in South Texas. Don then made a comment about how he should have topped off his fuel tank… Time to stop for gas!
After arriving at our destination on one of the ranches in south Texas, we got ready to begin searching the area. We were looking for someone who was reported to have been left in an area of the ranch with two ponds, a windmill and under a tree in a field. We were searching in areas of the property based on that information of his last known whereabouts, but because the information was vague, we searched in different areas on the property where Don thought it might be best to look.
We conducted line searches in the long stretches of fields, and searched within tree lines and through thick foliage. In multiple areas we searched, there was a remnant mix of old and new items left, indicating a previous pathway. Don then noticed an active amount of vultures flying and landing overhead so we shifted our search towards them. While searching, we also found multiple sites indicating that people had been there recently. Many of these sites were in areas under the shade of trees and surrounded by thick brush and cacti, hiding them away. We found empty bottles and food cans that were not rusted, as well as a pair of abandoned boots and some other articles of clothing. But we did not find the missing person.
We encountered various wildlife including spiders and other insects as well as some javelina crossing our path from the truck. After lunch, Ray made sure all of us were still staying hydrated and were ready to continue our search. We got back in the trucks and moved to another area of the ranch to search. We conducted more line searches through the field. But again we did not find him. Don narrowed the search area to an eight mile stretch on this ranch, a large area impossible to search in one day. Uncertain coordinates and vague descriptions are not uncommon, and it shows some of the challenges faced in finding missing people in the Texas Borderlands. But we left knowing we had at least cleared the areas we searched today.
Late afternoon we started our drive back towards town. As I stared out the car window on our way back (with socks laying in my lap) I couldn’t stop thinking about how much walking and searching we had done, and how we searched such a small area compared to the vast amount of land just this one ranch had. Most of the landscape to the novice eye looks exactly the same. I know without the help from everyone on the Beyond Borders team, I would have gotten turned around in minutes. I could not imagine how overwhelming it would be to try to navigate out here alone, while being tired, hungry and thirsty. It’s only the first day, and we can’t wait to get back out tomorrow to continue our search.
On the drive back, we took a different route, and went through the checkpoint. We stoped for an amazing dinner at the Taqueria Jalisco, and we ended the night with a debriefing meeting where we discussed our progress from the day and assigned new daily roles for tomorrow.
Today, we successfully cleared two separate areas on the ranch as the start of our search. As a team, we feel good about our first day and are ready for whatever comes our way tomorrow!