OK, now my thoughts on the subject (not just on cell phone battery discharge).
I believe in the "never leave your wing man" thing. Maybe it's from scuba diving years ago, or from years of ski mountaineering in the back country. If you're riding together, unless it's stated otherwise to begin with, you're the lifeline for the other rider if anything bad should happen.
If I'm leading, I'm regularly looking in my mirrors and counting headlights. I can't always be sure everyone knows the route, so sometimes it's just the desire not to leave someone baffled and stranded at that signalized intersection we all made a left from. If that number drops below what we started with, I first slow down and give the missing headlights a chance to come into view. If they don't show up soon, I stop and wait. If the rider still doesn't show up, I go back and do exactly as you did, Don. In fact, that's exactly what happened when madmike2 did his KLR get-off into the guard rail post in Aug. '07. I was leading, Bluestreek was 2d, Mike was 3d . . . until he stopped showing up in my mirrors. We slowed, stopped and then went back to find the worst -- the very thing you don't want to find as you hope he just stopped to take pics somewhere. If I'm leading and someone's headlights disappear, the first thing I'm doing is trying to recall exactly where I last saw them, because it's between THAT point and where I stopped that they will be found if the worst - a crash - occurred.
If I'm sweep, and someone drops off in front of me, I pull up and check with him that everything is ok before going on. Beyond that, from the back of the pack, I try to be aware that the leader may be counting headlights, and I try not to be the rider who dawdles so long somewhere that I end up coming upon the whole pack stopped or coming back to find me. If I got lost or stuck in traffic, however, I appreciate them doing that. I recall (on a Yosemite trip in June '07) when FJRob and the cell phone lady were kind enough to wait for me and my GF getting under way after lunch on the way down -- I didn't know the route from there and would've lost the pack if Rob and Terri hadn't waited just ahead.
I don't ever want to have someone ruin their own ride having to watch out for me, nor am I necessarily going to ride like an old lady when I lead. If you wanna rip the twisties or take the engine to redline, do it. But let the rest of us catch up a reasonable distance ahead before you dash off again. I'm always reminded of how lucky OM was to have flown his first FJR off a steep embankment in that remote area and have bokerfork (that was who it was?) close enough in front to have immediately noticed his disappearance and gone back to find him. Given the road he was on and the terrain, he could have been there for days without being found. That kind of assistance is especially important on a trip a long way from home where maybe none of you has ever even ridden the road before. If someone is missing, you need to have the best possible intelligence on the area in which to look (and within a reasonable time). It could be fatal if a crashed rider isn't found soon. I think we all remember last summer's Wing rider that crashed on 93 in Idaho near Salmon and his body and bike weren't found for over a week. He was alone, and that's one of the risks of riding alone. But if we ride together, I assume that part of the reason for that is to minimize that risk. That isn't accomplished if you simply dash off ahead and never look back until you get to the motel.
Don, you did what you could about a situation created by less than perfect communication, but we all do that on occasion and trying to learn from it is the only intelligent response. I think your suggestions were as good a lesson as could be taken from it. You're thinking and concerned, and that's the kind of riding partner I like to ride with. Good on ya for that, and for such a good discussion topic.
