To a certain extent I can understand how they did that. There are parts of this state where you can go miles without seeing any sign of humanity (or water), not to mention you'll often times run into very rough difficult terrain before encountering habitation when traveling in a randomly selected direction. What I don't understand is why they didn't just turn around and go back the way they came when they realized they were lost. Ending up by a creek was a stroke of luck. In the 19th century it was pretty common for people and animals to perish in the desert east of what is now Fernley along the current I80 corridor.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.