[adastra]

I agree, that's the key to the whole thing right there. It says to me that, if I had to guess, I'd bet he didn't call them and headed out despite the range being short, because he knew he was about to be stranded and have a tantalizing story. And when asked, he could always say he followed their recommendations to the letter.

Also, the amount of weasel words he manages to use on a lot of his other explanations doesn't exactly help his credibility...