What do you bring for shelter when you have to travel by air, Montanero? I'm curious because that would seem to be kind of bulky for your one personal item on the plane.

I carry gallons of water in my car. It's just convenient. It's also easy to do. Just drop a case or two of bottled water in the back.

However, on a recent cross country road trip I discovered that my cell phone gets no reception at all in some states. I have enough food and water to last me a few days, and the high way wasn't so deserted. If my car breaks down during the day, I can probably see another car within an hour. But, still, I started thinking carrying a PLB in the car might not be a bad idea. People have driven off the road, gotten trapped in the car for days because nobody could see them or hear them from the highway.

I'm not sure we need to characterize the dead as one way or another. We don't know what they were thinking. Perhaps, as someone pointed out, the French tourists really just didn't know how desolate and dangerous a place they were going to. Maybe they assumed, based on their previous travel experiences with other locations, there would be tons of people to flag down for help if they ran into trouble. Driving in Yellowstone is like that.

I mean, I have water, emergency food, maps, and a 40 lb bag of mechanical tools, medical stuff, and survival equipment in my car. If on this recent trip, my car flipped over and I got injured and trapped in a spot nobody could see from the highway, I'd hate it if people said, "He should have gotten a better cell phone plan! He should have brought a PLB! It's stupid to take a trip when you're so unprepared!"