Last week, Oregon’s record-breaking storms left an entire Amtrak train stranded on the snowed-over tracks, trapping 182 people inside for two nights with nothing but prepackaged train food and a teen with a ukelele to keep them from going full Donner Party. But it turns out that their ukelele-heavy experience was nothing compared to another guy who got stuck in the same snowstorm and suffered a much more dangerous—and significantly spicier—fate.
A Central Oregon man spent five entire days stranded with his dog inside his snowbound car—with only Taco Bell hot sauce packages to eat, the Oregonian reports.
Videos by VICE
Jeremy Taylor was driving on a US Forest Service road near Sunriver, Oregon, on Sunday, February 26, when his car got stuck in the snow. According to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Taylor figured he would sleep in his car in hopes that the situation would be better in the morning. But when he woke up, his car was buried even worse—the snow was so deep that he couldn’t even hike out on foot.
So Taylor and his dog, Ally, hunkered down inside his Toyota 4Runner and waited for help, sucking down leftover Taco Bell fire sauce Taylor unearthed in his car and periodically running the engine to keep warm. And that’s how they stayed until Friday, when rescuers on snowmobiles finally came across them.
“Jeremy and Ally were found to be in good condition,” the Sheriff’s Department wrote in a Facebook post following the rescue, “but hungry after being stuck in the snow for five days.”
Taylor posted his own note on Facebook letting his friends and family know that he and Ally are safe, thanking everyone for their help and support. He also heaped necessary praise on that Taco Bell hot sauce—that sweet, fiery nectar that gave him life and a presumably consistent mouth burn during those long days.
“Taco Bell fire sauce saves lives,” he wrote in a comment to a friend.
Taylor is now taking some time to recover from what was undoubtedly a harrowing and terrifying week, but when he’s ready, it looks like he might be able to swing some kind of Taco Bell sponsorship out of the whole ordeal. A rep for the company already hit him up “to talk” and send him and Ally a “care package”—but who knows if the guy will ever be able to enjoy another packet of goddamn Taco Bell hot sauce again.
Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.
