Okay, I decided it's time for me to come up with something different.
Maybe Dylan woke up that morning and walked down to the campground to waste some time until Mark got back. If he was as tired of the hostility between his parents as a lot of people would be, he may not have been in the best of moods; especially if Mark was actually grilling him about the new house, the new "family", new school, etc., and if Elaine had made a lot of comments (which many of us do) about hoping his dad didn't forget, isn't late, is sober, etc.
It's been said that there are many homeless people who live at the campgrounds; maybe one was a slightly older boy who had run away himself and made life on the road sound better than his current life seemed at that moment. They could have walked back to the house so Dylan could grab his backpack (and maybe even a fishing pole!), and then took off to try hitching a ride to a warmer state with a camping area they could use since Colorado would be getting a bit frigid for outdoor living soon. If his phone battery was dead, he wouldn't be able to charge it anywhere along the road, and pay phones are almost impossible to find these days if he had any money for calling. I'm also not sure how many kids his age have ever had to make a collect call, so it's hard to say if finding a payphone would even be that helpful.
Once on the road, they could have gotten a ride from a less than helpful person, or they may have actually gotten a ride far enough away to be out of the state before he was reported missing. Two young teens who haven't bathed in weeks/months hanging out somewhere 1000 miles away might not draw a lot of attention even if there are people looking for one of them. I know I'm really grasping at straws with this one, but somebody has to try to give Seajay some hope. MOO
Maybe Dylan woke up that morning and walked down to the campground to waste some time until Mark got back. If he was as tired of the hostility between his parents as a lot of people would be, he may not have been in the best of moods; especially if Mark was actually grilling him about the new house, the new "family", new school, etc., and if Elaine had made a lot of comments (which many of us do) about hoping his dad didn't forget, isn't late, is sober, etc.
It's been said that there are many homeless people who live at the campgrounds; maybe one was a slightly older boy who had run away himself and made life on the road sound better than his current life seemed at that moment. They could have walked back to the house so Dylan could grab his backpack (and maybe even a fishing pole!), and then took off to try hitching a ride to a warmer state with a camping area they could use since Colorado would be getting a bit frigid for outdoor living soon. If his phone battery was dead, he wouldn't be able to charge it anywhere along the road, and pay phones are almost impossible to find these days if he had any money for calling. I'm also not sure how many kids his age have ever had to make a collect call, so it's hard to say if finding a payphone would even be that helpful.
Once on the road, they could have gotten a ride from a less than helpful person, or they may have actually gotten a ride far enough away to be out of the state before he was reported missing. Two young teens who haven't bathed in weeks/months hanging out somewhere 1000 miles away might not draw a lot of attention even if there are people looking for one of them. I know I'm really grasping at straws with this one, but somebody has to try to give Seajay some hope. MOO