No, there have been no photos about where he was actually standing. The twitter feed of the SBCS and one SAR organization are the only photos I know of - and that has been really helpful to me in locating where they were (it appears to be the Granite Hills area).
Kelbaker Road and Hidden Hill Road are the staging area and where the 911 dispatcher sent the original responders. You can see the Granite Hills in the distance on google maps, but the recent search photos of course show the searchers closer to those hills (and further from where the RV was apparently parked). There's not much room to pull out there - but it's possible he pulled onto an area on little-used Hidden Hill Road.
My hunch is that he did not want to take the dirt road (Hidden Hill) with the new truck and trailer. It would definitely had been dirty/dusty if he had. And possibly dinged, lots of rocks on the road. It's almost a trail rather than a road.
Kelbaker is a short cut to Las Vegas for many living out that way. I do not believe semi trucks are allowed, but there would be many box trucks and pickups and all manner of people on a Friday afternoon (nothing like steady traffic, but way less desolate than today, on a Monday morning). I keep wondering if she was struck by a car and that person then hid her. Anything is possible at this point.
Where they are searching yesterday and today is a mile or more away from where the RV would have been parked (IMO). The searchers are definitely closer to the place where the photo appears to be taken (but sure, it could be an earlier photo from a similar place - however, I do not think she looks younger in it, it was part of a longer distance photo of the Granite Hills - the hills themselves are at an elevation of about 600', and the road is near sea level). It's a blurry photo. The dogs were let loose yesterday near the hills (I'm sure they've taken them all along the route). If they used the Granite Hills Trail, then they may have walked more than 2 miles round trip.
There have to be some cell towers in the vicinity (this area is not far from the I-40) and Mr Thomas used his phone to call police, IIRC. There aren't a lot out in the middle of the preserve though. So if they were really in Kelso Dunes, probably less cell data.
We don't know how far they were from the road when they separated. If their original plan was to walk 2 miles out, then that gives quite a range of distances. I'm certain the first report I read had him stopping to take a picture of a "lake" which had me puzzled, but he has stated it was a "rock formation." I am now thinking this was a 4 mile round trip hike.
It's possible someone was waiting at their brand new RV when he got back, although apparently no signs of attempted break-in, he doesn't mention them, police don't mention that.
I'm rambling too. I think they have cadaver dogs (as well as other dogs) out there at this point. And if they believe she may have sought shade, then the nearby rocks have to be scaled and searched. "Nearby" could mean a big distance.
If she went on alone to the RV, that tells me she was seeking shelter/shade/toilet. If drinking only beer, she would have been dehydrated but definitely could have needed the restroom. If true that she had no phone of her own, then she was alone and vulnerable if someone pulled up while she was hanging around the RV.
My own husband says he doesn't buy that RT left the key to the truck/RV under a rock. I think that even if Thomas did leave the key under a rock, it's really possible she no longer remembered exactly which rock. We both find it unlikely that there were many/any big rocks. He says the key was still there when he returned, but my DH says he had it in his pocket like any normal man would do - the risk of the truck being stolen is real. Thomas says it was so that either of them could return when they liked, but why not just hand the keys to the person who is returning first? At any rate, no where along Kelbaker are there any fist-sized rocks just hanging out at the side of the road, he must have stuck it further back from the road - hence, making it hard to find.
So she's waiting in the heat, with no water...for how long? That's what I want to know. Woman in bikini hanging out side of Kelbaker Road for...a while...is vulnerable. If she wandered off, wouldn't she wander toward her husband? He makes it sound as if he was just a little bit behind her - but, people lose track of time pretty easily.
