Samsung SCH-B200 Satellite Phone with Digital TV (Released last year):

 

Just wait until the Stratelite comes in to use by Sanswire...

http://www.sanswire.com/

Really cool technology... have a look. Once up and running, there will no longer be sections of the US and world that are off the cell grid.

 

Military grade satellite phone:

 

Ohh, Satellite Phone **** ... that should be in its own thread ... hehe.

 

heres the cheap one $1/min

 

Definitely carry a spare - I had one in the back for the trip, makes for a good piece of mind (and a fine paperweight!)

Glad to hear you made it out of the boonies!

 

I REALLY hope that people Learn from Avery's unfortunate experience. It isn't a joke being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

This ought to be a sticky of some sort as a lesson learned.

Kudos to xsmini!

 

Anyone has a pic of the area where Avery got stranded?

 

Sorry, this is kinda big. Whole lotta nowhere... and only north & south exits.

 

Oh my gosh, we have been on Sanibel Isl, Fl for 2 weeks and I was missing all the chatter of the Mini crowd--this entire "event" had me on the edge of my chair---poor Avery, I am so glad you guys were able to help him...what a horrendous drag---made me think a little back to the movie my husband often quotes--Deliverance---YIKES!!!!
Anyway, I don't really know you guys--but thanks from all of us for being there to help him....better than Mini roadside you are---as Yoda would say!!!
As for the cellphone legend---I live in St L ,MO and there are places there with no service----suffice it to say--I can only imagine where Avery was....
What a great group of folks...
BTW--on Sanibel---1 orange cabrio, 1 HB, 1 EB, 1 LY....I was soooo excited---they thought I was a little off as I was running up to their cars......

 

Yeah that seems to be a pretty remote area to get stuck. Kudos to all involved to help Avery get back home safely.

 

The red star (Lone Pine) is where he made it to. The mishap, (rim bending) happend right about where the death valley national park notation is on the map. The distance from Keeler to Lone Pine is about 15 miles, so he traveled on the runflat for about 60 or so miles, which is the closest town with services. There is no cell reception from about Keeler to oh, Vegas. Glad he made it out ok. There is actually quite a bit of traffic on that route, just not late at night.

Nik

 

WHEW! I made it home safely! Thanks all who gave me a call and handed me some advice! It was a very weird string of events that even led me to find Nik, i'll write it all down and post it on here when I get settled down. Everythings still very dizzy for me right now :P But, i'd like to give a HUUUUUGE thanks to Nik who lent me his tires so I could get home. You all can stop calling me now, unless you're a cute girl with a mini . The journey to get home was quite a bit more extensive and coinicdencal than you think, and i've got pictures to show too! Just give me a few hours because i've got dis-motion sickness right now (sickness from not motoring :P) for driving all day for the past 5 days.

 

Glad you're home safe and sound now!!!

 

Wow. We drove back the same way and there is NOTHING out there. You didn't see trona, but it was almost scary to see a town that desolate. Also, if youre in that area, Cingulair is the way to go. My Verizon was dead the entire time.

 

Avery, glad you made it back

1nf3rn0, you missed the good twisties between Panament and Lone Pine , worth the extra few miles. Poor Avery had to do them at 20mph on a runflat .

Nik

 

So glad to see you post here again, Avery. I was very concerned for you in your predicament. :impatient Good to see you have such a great sense of humor!

 

O, I got my fair share of twisties between Lake Isabella and Delano

 

glad you made it home! Great to be in a community with people who go out of their way to help fellow enthusiasts!

 

US 395 somewhere between Bishop, CA and Lone Pine, CA:



Not exactly a place where I would like to experience a breakdown.

 

Thats about 9 miles south of Big Pine (26 miles south of Bishop). The trees crossing the rode in front of you is Goodale Creek, the rocky canyon to the right is Sawmill, Mt Whitney is right in front of you.... But you can't see it from here.


Damn, I drive that road too much ............ Daily.........

Nik

 

One more comment on the Sat phones, although the rates are in the $1-2 a minute range, all of them currently require you to also have a monthly plan. So it's not as simple as just picking up one for emergencies. I work in Public Safety and we wanted a bunch for disaster planning, but they wouldn't even make a break for us. (despite knowing we would rack up some pretty high bills when we did need to use them and money was no concern).

Speaking of Mini Roadside, in this situation if you happened to have aftermarket rims, would it impact Roadside assistance taking you to a dealership?

 

Nik, you live in a very beautiful area!

It is just scary to think about having a breakdown in that solitude.

 

Globalstar is $50/month for 50 free minutes plus $1/min

Just like cell phones were a few years ago. No biggie.

 

Hey all, I wrote up everything that happened on that trip when I got stuck:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...847#post913847

Thanks all that helped!