man, 84, talks about being stranded in desert for 5 days

http://bit.ly/e7CnLL

"I want to drive again, but those guys want to take my car away," Morello said. "They've got another thing coming."

That's the kind of spunk that kept him going. A pretty resourceful guy for someone who's 84 and has some dementia.

Interesting that it took 5 days to find him. Cave Creek is pretty close to northern Phoenix as I recall. Not exactly remote country. Maybe they didn't have a good idea of where to look?

HJ

He is very fortunate this happened during the winter with significantly more reasonable temperatures than at other seasons of the year. In the summer, his chances of survival would have been significantly less. I am glad he made it.

I must say I am surprised that he did not carry water in his vehicle. In desert country, water is a must item for a vehicle...

Amazing story!

Among other things (water, gear etc), it is a pretty strong case for having a 12v charger for your phone in your car:



It doesn't take long to recharge enough to make that call.

Lucky man. Don't think I would of ever thought of drinking windshield washer fluid...

I am curious though on how his car battery went dead and how his cell phone battery ran down before he could make a call for help.

I Hope he played the Powerball Lotto while his luck was still Valid,& He was diabetic,No Less!I Hope he becomes an Advocate of Preparedness,amongst his Friends,etc.He Definitely had the Will to Survive!

Glad he made it out. Interesting to note how it's often a bunch of small things going wrong that add up to a serious problem.

One big caveat: if you drink windshield washer fluid in northern climes, you are dead.

One more thing:

If you drink properly maintained washer fluid anywhere, you are at least blind for a few hours to days. The blind part is relieved usually by a miserable death if there is no medical attention. . .

Some people, to be frugal, just put water in. If he's been doing this for a few years there may only be traces of the actual cleaner left.

I've carried antifreeze before and would use an empty antifreeze jug to carry water in to make the 50/50 mix, if the jug is rinsed out a few times it would probably be safe to drive from. But now they have those pre-mixed jugs so the last one or two I've bought have been those. Might be better to go back to mixing it myself at least I'd have extra water if needed. I helped a lady and her son in a rest area, the boy was running a paper cup up to the water fountain and running back and pouring in the radiator but I think it was running out as fast as he could fill it. There was a tiny line, one of the little hoses that circulates water around the intake for emissions that was rotten and leaking. I had a scrap piece of fuel line in my toolbox that fit so I replaced it and gave them my containers to refill.

I'm guessing this is where the whole "dementia" problem came into play. It's too bad that this old coot sounds like he has alot of fight left in him but someone, for pete's sake, please take this man's license away before he accidentally tries to kill himself again or he mistakes a store entrance for the freeway entrance and kills someone else.