Stuck SUV Saves Hiker Stranded in New Mexico Snow

The Gallup Independent has a strange tale about a lost hiker whose life was saved because the keys were in an SUV stuck in a 5′ New Mexico snowdrift. Chuck Whitney got stuck on County Route 50 and so he and his girlfriend camped out while they waited for help the next day. In the middle of the night they heard a car door slam and the engine start but didn’t investigate because they thought the region was too remote for anybody else to be there. The next morning he found foot prints and saw somebody had been in the car although they had left. Whitney found out later after reading a newspaper report that the person in the car was Mike Miller who had spent 23 hours lost in a snowstorm and was subject of a statewide search. After drying his clothes Miller walked further down the road where he was picked up by a passing motorist.