Chasing the Mysterious Wild Goose...

Well, it's only taken me about six years to finally write about it, but here is the story of my adventures in Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park.

A few months ago there was an Amber Alert issued for a little girl who was kidnapped up in Central Nevada. Over the scanners there was a report that a car matching the description was found abandoned at the entrance to Valley of Fire.

Valley of Fire is about 45 minutes from Las Vegas, depending on traffic and how fast you drive. Well I was dispatched up there at around 6:15 AM, so traffic was a BITCH! I spent twenty minutes trying to get from the station, near Sahara and Las Vegas Blvd. to the Craig exit on I-15 where traffic finally starts to thin out. That's like 8 miles, for the record.

Once I got out of traffic it was another twenty miles to the Valley of Fire exit, then about ten more miles from the exit to the entrance. I finally arrived at the entrance some time around 7:30. I looked around and couldn't find the grey Kia I'd been sent to find. I grumbled. It was becoming obvious that the car they found wasn't the Kia in question, since that would have made it a crime scene and METRO would have been processing it for hours.

I look at a map of Valley of Fire and find out that there is ANOTHER entrance on the east side of the park. I grab my Nextel to call my producer to find out if he knew whether or not it was the east or west entrance. My Nextel just stared at me with the ever so familiar 'NO SERVICE' message. Piece of crap. I try the 2-way, and get no response. So I'm like, 'fuck it, I'll go check it out.'

I begin to cruise through the park, and I have to be honest with you, I could have driven past the Kia 10 times and wouldn't have noticed it. The rock formations in this park were some of the coolest things I have ever seen. I simply slowly drove through, gasping at the sun enhanced colors that were reflecting off the rocks and cliffs.

I reach the east entrance and find no Kia. I roll up the road towards Overton a few miles and couldn't find anything, and then went back down towards Lake Mead a few miles and couldn't find anything there either. I needed to go back through the park to get back to I-15, so I figured I would do a better job of looking around for the Kia on the way back.

Near Lake Mead my Nextel beeped at me, advising me that I had service. I quickly pulled over and called Daniel, informing him of my results. He told me 'good job' and not to worry about it, since it was apparently not the car they were looking for. I agreed and headed back.

On the way back I did pay more attention to the road, looking for the car, just in case, but I also took it upon myself to stop and take some pictures, since I had no idea when the next time I would be able to come up here would be. I stopped, took pictures, ahem, relieved myself, and continued back to the interstate.

Not only did I not find the Kia, but I did not see a single car since I got through the Indian Reservation that sits between VoF and the interstate. It was pretty early, and was a weekday, but it amazed me that such a beautiful place wouldn't be packed. Everyone must have been boating down on Lake Mead.

Click here to see some more pictures of VoF.

So you know, the abductor was found in Mexico with the little girl. She was safe and sound. I have no idea where and if the Kia was ever found.

And interesting side note, once I got back on the interstate and my phone service resumed again, my Nextel chirped at me. I looked at it and it said 'ALERT: NEWS DESK'. I answer and hear my assignment editor say, "I need you to head to the airport (McCarran). There is a plane coming in with a possible hydraulic failure."

I ask "What's the ETA?"

He says "Ten minutes."

I've never laughed at anyone like that before in my life.

"You're aware that I am at VoF, right?"

"Uh..."

"It's going to take me an hour to get to McCarran."

"Uh..."

"Yeah, I'll see you when I get back."

"10-4."

The plane landed without incident. I love the day crew.