We all put our heads together and thought about how we could better prepare in case this ever happened again.  A cell phone didn't seem practical because he doesn't willingly talk or answer a phone, aware that his speech is often hard to understand.  My Dad saw a possibility in text messaging, but we had to create motivation for him to use it.  The answer was a phone with an MP3 player - something that Andy will gladly keep on him at all times - with a keyboard for easy text messaging.  He loves to listen to CD read-alongs (like Pirates of the Caribbean) that I load in for him, and with headphones he can play any part as many times over as he wants.  Now that we knew he would have a phone, we and his habilitators started training Andy to use text messaging.  First he had to learn that when the phone beeps, he needs to read the message and reply.  We texted questions such as Where are you? and What are you doing?  Sometimes his habilitators had him text them to request a snack; other times they'd surprise him with a rewarding text during homework, such as, Time to watch TV!
 
Now it is a year later.  Last month we went to San Diego and were eating lunch at a bayside restaurant, when sure enough Andy bolts out and we lose him in the crowd.  Panic set in all over again.  An hour later Andy was still nowhere to be found, and my parents were handing out copies of his ID cards to the San Diego police department while we all frantically looked around.  Suddenly it occurred to me to call him, knowing there was a slim chance that he would actually answer.  Not to my surprise, he did not.
 
But seconds after I hung up, I got a text message from Andy!  It said, on my way.  Those were the best three words I could have heard!  We still had no idea where he was, but I texted him back to see if he was OK and he replied with yes and that he wanted to go back to hotel.  I texted him back, saying if he wanted to go to the hotel he should go to the car.  His sense of direction is awesome, like a built in GPS, and 20 minutes later he showed up at the car.  What happened in those 20 minutes is still a mystery, but the relief we shared over having a means of emergency communication with him was amazing.  When he came back, we didn't know whether to hug him or give him a good "what for" because he took off.  Both made sense I guess, but mostly we cheered him on for texting his sister!