--
Although I haven't been doing fieldwork lately, for many years I was
doing it alone during Summer and Fall in Vermont 3,000 miles from
home and my family in California. After a number of years of taking a
chance of just disappearing from sight (this was before the cell
phone days), I finally settled on a satisfactory arrangement with the
local barracks of the Vermont State Police, who were very helpful.
I'd let them know each day that I was going into the field where I'd
be working that day, when I'd check in, and that I'd be sure to check
in with them by that time when I got back from the field. They would
thus know where to look for me if I didn't check in. They also had
the phone number and address of my wife. Of course, the process
became easier with the advent of the cell phone. The biggest problem
was remembering to check in when tired and hungry at the end of the
day. I did make that mistake once and was extremely embarrassed and
apologetic after they had commenced a search! Luckily I caught my
mistake before they had expended too much effort. No-body's perfect!
In my younger years I foolishly did not take such precautions - in
the Swiss Alps the Summer of '63 I worked alone and a lot further
from home! Even then I should have known better as years before one
of my geologist friends had been discovered dead after a long search
propped up against a tree with notebook in hand in the Central
Appalachians, a fitting death perhaps, for a dedicated geologist.
John L. Rosenfeld
Department of Earth & Space Sciences
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California 90095-1567
Phone: 310-825-1505
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: <http://www.ess.ucla.edu/facpages/rosenfel.html>
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