How a cyclist "out of nowhere" saved a pensioner who died in the desert

2023 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 13:10

Such stories usually only appear in films, and viewers at the same time say that in real life this certainly cannot happen. However, both of its members survived and told the journalists about the incident. It all started when 73-year-old Gregory Randolph decided to take a ride with his two dogs across the uninhabited territory of America.

It happened in July of this year, when the heat was in full swing. Gregory took his two dogs, put them in his car and went with them to explore new territories. He set off towards the desolate plains in Oregon. At some point, his car got stuck in a narrow canyon, where there weren't even roads. For many kilometers around there was not a single living soul. No water, no shadow, no people, nothing.

We are talking about Lake County, where the population density is less than one person per square kilometer. This is due to the fact that most of this district is made up of wastelands, where people do not enter even by accident - there simply is no one there. Later, when the district authorities found Gregory's jeep, he was 64 kilometers from the nearest town.

The first night, Gregory decided to wait out in the car - what if someone did appear. Without waiting for anyone, in the morning he decided to take his dogs - Cruella and Buddy - and risk going to look for people. Cellular communications in the area were completely useless. At some point, Buddy broke free and ran away - Gregory decided that he returned to the muddy puddle they were passing.

The pensioner walked with his dog for four whole days before he passed out - dehydrated, exhausted, hungry, burned out under the scorching rays of the sun. And at that moment a cyclist appeared out of nowhere. It turned out to be Thomas Quinones, who lives in a completely different state - in Portland. Thomas rode alone through the canyon with exactly the same purpose - to explore uninhabited territory, but unlike Gregory, he was much better equipped.

“At first I thought it was a dead animal, some strange cow. And then I drove closer and saw that it was a man. " Gregory was alive, but he was so weak that he could not even sit up, and he even had a hard time taking a sip of water. “It was difficult for him to focus on me, his eyes were constantly rolling. It was clear that the man was in great trouble."

By that time, Thomas had been without communication for two days - in this region it was not, but he had everything for survival - food, tent, water, clothes, and most importantly - a GPS device with which it was possible to send a signal disasters via satellite. So Thomas pitched the tent, dragged the emaciated and weakened pensioner inside, and called for help.

All this time, Cruella - a small dog of the Shih Tsu breed - was next to her master. Thomas treated the dog to peanut butter while waiting for help. An hour later, an ambulance drove up to the tent and took Gregory to the hospital. The sheriff's deputy also arrived at the scene and took the dog with him. And Thomas himself continued his journey.

Thomas saw Gregory's tracks and started following them, but at some point the tracks disappeared and Thomas could not find the car and the second dog. Instead, the police did it - they found the car two days later, and next to it and the second dog. The animal was alive, but had to be hospitalized.

“The car is still there. And, probably, it will stay there forever. I don’t understand at all how he could have gone so far,”Deputy Sheriff Buck Maganzini commented on the situation.

Gregory was taken to the hospital in critical condition - he was able to recover and sit down only three days later. Later it was found out that from the car to the place where Thomas found him, Gregory walked 22 kilometers across the desert. And yet it was a real miracle that in the middle of the desert at this very time, exactly in this place, he met a lonely traveler, who had the opportunity to call for help.

In our article "Friends forever" we tell the story of how a Scotsman tracked down a dog who ran a marathon alongside him across the Gobi Desert.