We read about these situations every day on this website. People go on vacation to have fun, often leaving common sense at home. From the beginning, I've struggled to understand why the van had plates from another province. Would Lucas and Chynna insure and register a vehicle in another state with the wrong address in their own countries? Not likely, but that seems to be what they did as tourists in a foreign country - apparently overlooking the obvious fact that the wrong insurance is the same as no insurance.
I've also struggled to understand why, if they were stranded at 3:30PM on Sunday, they did not do anything to solve the problem. If they were at home, would they just sit on the side of a highway, 4 hours from the nearest populated area, and hope the van miraculously started working again?
I did read in one article or another that an Alberta estate had sold the van with the plates at auction and it was resold again to Lucas. I believe it was said the cattle ranch he worked at sold/gave it to him. Lucas may not have been aware that he needed to purchase insurance and registration and thought the plate on the van was sufficient but I'm surprised that someone wouldn't have explained the details of our insurance and registration laws at the time.
Being caught driving with no valid insurance and registration are pretty steep fines and the van would have been impounded, leaving the couple on foot in pretty harsh country.
It has been said in numerous articles that the van had a tendency to flood and they were waiting for that to clear up. Young people have a tendency to believe things have a way of working out and they seem to have been set up to camp so I would guess if they found that the van wouldn't start, somebody else would come along and offer assistance. They likely didn't want to spend their vacation money on a tow truck or hotel unless they absolutely had to.
It always surprises me at this time of year when I see young people travelling from other provinces in vehicles that would not pass a mechanical safety inspection, sputtering and coughing up the highway.