50 Hours and counting…

Stephen and I went out for a few hours earlier today to help join the search team.  Its been cold and rainy and its sooooo wet and muddy out there.  To give you an idea of where he is, we are talking THOUSANDS of acres of dense woods.  There are several hunting leases in the area, so there are a few deer stands and camps scattered about.  In fact, in one of his phone calls the day he went missing he mentioned passing a deer stand.  Stephen and I found one today but he wasnt there.  They have narrowed the area down to about a 5 mile radius but that was the area where his cell phone was last traced back to, which went dead sometime between 9:45 and 1 am the night he went missing.  He could have moved far out of that area since then.  Stephen has spent the rest of the afternoon at the command post around the corner.  There are 3 command posts set up and people are moving into the woods in 3 different directions.  They are now saying this is more likely a recovery mission as it has been cold and rainy.  When he left it was 80 degrees so he was in his usual attire, jeans, hat, tshirt, and boots.  Not dressed for 40 degree wet weather.  Not to mention he has not had his medication in 2 days either.  Sorry, my brain is so scattered and full of so many thoughts, like I was saying…..Stephen has been at the command center, there are reports that a deer stand has been found with foot prints inside and a trail leading from it.  Perhaps he crawled in there, or it could just be the prints of a searcher.  Although, I dont know why a searcher would actually crawl in, all you have to do is open the door and look in.  Anyways, hopefully he did crawl in there to seek shelter and hopefully they find him safe not too far from there.  Why would he crawl out though?  Who knows!!  No one knows whats going through his mind right now.  His family says he has the mental capacity of a 9 year old, I agree, although sometimes I think its lower.  Anyways, take that into consideration, his disorentiation, and not being on his meds and you can quickly realize hes not functioning properly.  He probably doesnt understand that he should just stay put.  He probably crawled out thinking hed try again to get out of the woods.  There are hundreds of people out there combing the woods for him, several police and fire departments, along with the US Coast Guard and all those kind folks.  Theyve brought out search dogs/blood hounds from the prision and they have started out into the woods but have lost the trail due to all the water and rain.  It truly is amazing to see the community coming together and to hear and see 4 wheelers going by all day.  I have to admit that our small little community does really come together in times like these.  There have unfortunately been some bad times over the years and we always band together.  Anyways, its dusk now and they are ending some of the searches for the night.  The people who live in this community and that have known Dennis for years have been out there around the clock and arent stopping til they find him.  Even if he has passed, I hope it was peaceful for him, I hope he wasnt too frightened, and I hope that we are able to bring him home to his family.  Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers.