Mick Ohman is lucky to be alive after spending 48 hours lost in the Arizona desert, and beer and crackers might have helped save his life.
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Ohman’s Honda CRV broke down on the side of the road seven miles away from his destination, King Crown, reports ABC15 Arizona. He was taking a back road under the direction of Google Maps. He hadn’t told anyone where he was going, and no one knew he was lost. He couldn’t get a signal even after searching for hours. He picked up a phone and began to record.
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“If you find this phone and I didn’t do so well, please tell my sisters how much I love them,” Ohman said in what he believed could be his final message.
Walking back to his SUV, Ohman found a half-full bottle of water, a few beers, a sandwich that was spoiled, and crackers. He relied on them for survival, along with other methods he probably hadn’t considered before his car broke down.
“I’ve really never felt that thirsty before. When I tried to swallow I couldn’t. My throat stuck together. I had to urinate and I did […] and I was surprised it wasn’t as obnoxious as I thought it would be. The temperature was what got me, as warm as it was,” he recalled.
Ohman also said that he found and drank from a small stream — “It couldn’t have been more than four inches.”
His initial attempts to find rescue failed. He tried shooting in Morse code, building an “H” out of small boulders and lighting a fire — though the fire would not light.
Ohman finally found hope when a dirt biker named Troy appeared “up over the horizon.”
Troy drove Ohman on an hour-ride back to Lake Pleasant, saving his life.
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“I’m screaming in his ear the whole way, ‘You know, today you can say you saved a life.'”