There was a part of a TV show reinacting the death by starvation of a man (traveling salesman?) in OR, I believe. He had told his wife or someone which route he was taking, but changed his mind at the last minute and took another road. I want to say it was Oct or Nov, & the road was closed almost immediately after he turned onto it. At some point, his truck slid off the road in the snow.

He had a bit of food with him, could eat snow, but basically, he just waited for someone to come and rescue him, despite knowing that no one knew where he was. I think they figured he died about Feb. It was a god-awful long time.

A ranger (?) had reported that he had traveled the road after closing, to make sure that no one was still there. But afterwards, I think he admitted that he had just "assumed" that no one was on the road.

If the program was accurate, he never did anything to help himself. He never started a fire or smoke signal (there had to have been some clear days, even in OR). It turned out that he slid off the road where the snow was the deepest, and never checked ahead or behind him, where the snow was lighter -- they said he should (might?) have been able to make it back to the junction of the main road, which was traveled.

He just sat there until he died, like he was afraid to get out of the truck and get his feet wet.

They knew what he had been doing (& not doing), because he spent most of his time writing letters to his wife, until the starvation affected his sight.

A kind of sicko footnote at the end of the segment: when they found him, his wallet had been stolen from his body.

Long distance traveling, but no food supplies.
Probably a working cigarette lighter, but he made no fire.
Three rear-view mirrors, but never tried to signal.
Not injured, but never tried to look up or down the road to see if there was ANYTHING.

The only thing we can say for him is that he didn't panic and run through the trees, tearing his clothing off and die of hypothermia. (That would have been quicker, though...)

Sue