Lost truckie survives 60km wilderness trek

LA GRANDE: A truckie who went missing for four days in a snowcovered part of Oregon after his GPS device sent him up the wrong road has emerged safely from the remote, rugged region.

Jacob Cartwright (22) showed up yesterday near the town of La Grande, where an intensive search involving aircraft had been taking place since he went missing on Wednesday.

Cartwright was being evaluated in an emergency room but appeared well, said nursing supervisor Danita Thamert at Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande, in eastern Oregon.

Cartwright’s boss, Roy Henry of Little Trees Transportation, said Cartwright was driving a truckload of potato chips but the tractortrailer got stuck after he took the wrong turn, in an area with limited mobile phone coverage.

The trucker started walking away from where he had come from — without any food or water — just after midnight on Wednesday, wading 60km through snow. He did not stop until yesterday when he neared La Grande, where he lived, Henry said. From there, the trucker got a ride from a passing driver to his home.

Cartwright’s wife returned home from a meeting with local officials about the search for her husband only to find him in their house.

Henry asked Cartwright why he did not take some potato chips with him for his journey.

‘‘That’s the load I was hauling and I didn’t want to damage the property,’’ the truckie responded. —AP