Suddenly soft and fluffy

Wednesday, August 20th, 2025, at 7:44 a.m. (MT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in Arizona. The requester, Bryan Chandler, submitted the following information: “Suddenly soft and fluffy portion of until then pretty solid dirt road. Low clearance Honda civic got stuck. Just need car moved like 20 feet forward to where there is more solid ground I can turn around on and avoid the soft sand on the way back. I ended up here because a road was closed and Google maps sent me this Way in response. Have plenty of food and water, but need to get back to my disabled wife. AAA guy wanted to charge me $250 because it’s not within 50 feet of pavement. I told him no thank you and he left without helping. / I’m with the vehicle / I can help cover the cost of fuel.”

Our administrator, Al Fontan, contacted the requester and verified the contact information provided, GPS location, and current situation before sending the request to local volunteers. In this particular recovery, we contacted volunteers within a 35-mile radius.

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Josh King, one of the local volunteers we contacted, took over the recovery process no more than 10 minutes after the ticket was released. He was about 36 miles away from this request.

Josh, later sent us a detailed report of the recovery. The request was completed by Josh by 9:30 a.m.

Note from Josh

I arrived on site to find the gentleman had simply lost traction in pretty deep moondust on a farm road. Google maps had directed him to take the road in order to get to Interstate 8. Gentleman was smart and stayed with his vehicle. Unfortunately he learned the lesson that GPS services in this area will take rural farm roads as feasible routes without taking into consideration the effects of heavy tractors and the monsoon season washing the roads out. Recovery was a pretty simple pull for about 50 feet with a kinetic rope until we got on the hard packed road. Followed him roughly a mile until we reached the pavement. The individual offered gas money or “a song on the piano” as payment, but I declined both. I did not take any pictures as it was a pretty simple pullout. Time on site was maybe ten minutes. No particular tips or tricks to share other than to keep recovery as simple as possible and to not overthink it. 

We want to thank Josh for such great job, also all other volunteers who responded to the call. Awesome job.

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We are always looking to increase our presence in areas like this one. If you would like to receive a text message when we get a request near you, create your account here: offroadportal.org/signup