Stranded family reunites

GLENDALE, Ore. – Six family members who disappeared more than two weeks ago after setting out on an overnight trip were found Tuesday in a mountainous area of southwestern Oregon, surviving in their snowbound recreational vehicle on snow, dehydrated food and other provisions.

Two parents were found first on Tuesday after they had left their stranded recreational vehicle on Monday to seek help. Rescuers then located the RV and the four others, including two children.

All six were reunited Tuesday afternoon in this southern Oregon community.

Peter Stivers and Marlo Hill-Stivers ran up to a van as it pulled into town with the two children and with Stivers’ mother and stepfather.

The reunion was carried live on KGW-TV.

Peter Stivers rested his hands on the shoulders of his 9-year-old son, Sabastyan.

“He had fun. They enjoyed it,” Peter Stivers said. “They didn’t know we was in trouble.”

Still, for the adults it clearly had been an ordeal.

The six left Ashland on March 4 to go to the coast, a trip that normally takes a couple of hours across the mountains.

But they got lost, and ultimately they got stuck in up to 4 feet of snow at about 3,800 feet.

“Every time we took a corner, it seemed like we took a wrong corner,” said Elbert Higginbotham

At one point, the RV slid off the road. The family tried to hand-dig the RV out but could not, he said.

They had enough propane to keep the RV heated.