MINDEN, NEV. — Leave it to a Gardnerville math professor and his 9-year-old son to track down a car in the wilderness within 16 hours of seeing it on a TV commercial.

“We do a lot of geocaching, and Matthew joins me. We go hiking all the time and know the area pretty well. That’s what led us to find it. We recognized the landmarks,” said Bruce Armbrust, a 38-year-old Gardnerville resident who teaches math at Lake Tahoe Community College.

On Sept. 10, Bruce and his son Matthew, a fifth-grader, found a Dodge Journey that had been hidden in Hope Valley as part of the car company’s national marketing campaign, “Search engine for the real world.”

Offering clues in both TV spots and YouTube video, as well as live feed from the remote location, Dodge promised a free Journey, which retails at nearly $19,000, to the first consumer with enough wherewithal to follow the clues and find the vehicle.

Enter the Armbrust family: Bruce, Matthew, Laurel, and Daniel. Laurel is the Internet-savvy mother, and Daniel is a high school senior, likewise savvy, but who unfortunately had band practice that day.