Just saw a story on the news. An elderly couple set out for a 10 minute trip across town to their daughter’s house, but made a wrong turn. 12 hours later, they are found 400 miles away.
WTF? How the hell does that happen? I get that they’re old, but how does anyone drive for 12 hours when the trip was only supposed to last 10 minutes. Wouldn’t you think about minute 20 that something is wrong, I need to call and ask where to go? I mean, double the travel time should be a sign you’ve made some mistake. Okay, be extra conservative, a full 30 minutes.
What, are both of them alzheimer’s patients? “Wait, where are we going? Oh yeah, to our daughter’s house. Wait, where are we going? Oh, yeah, to our daughter’s house. Wait, where are we going?”
It’s possible they just kept getting more and more lost and by the time they realized they needed help, they were pretty far away from any place they knew. I suspect that dementia of some sort has to be a factor here.
They kept driving until the car ran out of gas. And they were thought to be dehydrated. I know from personal experience how dehydration can affect your thinking.
I too suspect some sort of dementia. Otherwise it doesn’t make any sense at all. Why not stop after the first half hour or so to ask for directions? Why not stop for gas instead of just driving the car until it runs out? And I know the story said they were dehydrated, but getting to the point of dehydration in and of itself seems like a sign of underlying issues.
No cites on hand (and since this isn’t GQ I’m not going to go looking but you can) but I’ve read about scenarios like this many times and they’re not uncommon.
I volunteer with elderly people who often have limited capacity for reasoning and memory. And stubborness. And, of course, dementia and other physical complications (for instance, heart disease can cause a confused state due to decreased oxygen to the brain), coupled with stubborness (yes again), and med side effects, and resistance to admitting there’s a deficit and anxiety and desire to retain independence and all sorts of medically- and age-related conditions…
I can totally see this. They were in their 80s. Many people in their 80s are totally competent, and some are as long as they stick with their routine, and some are at risk.
Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold, it’s always summer they’ll never get cold, they’ll never get hungry, they’ll never get old and gray. You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere, they won’t make it home but they really don’t care. They wanted the highway, they’re happier there today.
I threw out some possible answers from my admittedly lay perspective.
People with dementia, Alzheimers, or mental confusion due to any number of reasons do not typically behave rationally. Clearly this couple was behaving irrationally, so…
They could have been behaving very logically – a spiral search for example. Though it would have been a better choice to spiraling outward from where they were instead of heading for the coast and starting spiraling inward.
If they were traveling at relativistic speeds, it’s quite possible that only a half hour passed inside the car, but 12 hours passed for observers. Knowing how old people drive, this is more likely than you might think.
If they started in Redding & drove almost to Portland, that means they just got on I-5 and kept going. Over several mountain passes, including past the shoulder of Mt. Shasta. It’s hard to imagine how anything but dementia could be responsible.
And, of course, dementia and other physical complications (for instance, heart disease can cause a confused state due to decreased oxygen to the brain), coupled with stubborness (yes again), and med side effects, and resistance to admitting there’s a deficit and anxiety and desire to retain independence and all sorts of medically- and age-related conditions…