Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 6:19 p.m. (MT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in Arizona. The requester, Michael Anthony Rodriguez, submitted the following information: “Stuck in sand between tye road called Powell and cat fish paradise black z71 tahoe just a few feet from hard ground / I’m with the vehicle”
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 45-mile radius.
So, we got this request late at night from some volunteers. Mike Brown offered to help, but he was about 2 hours away. He was driving a silver Jeep Wrangler and started heading towards the person who made the request around 9:30 p.m.
They were on the phone until midnight, trying to find each other. But the GPS the person who made the request shared wasn’t very accurate and probably wasn’t in the right area.
We tried everything we could until past midnight to get Mike to look for the person without any luck. Finally, Mike left after 2+ hours of looking. He said he’d come back the next morning.
Early in the morning, Mike started driving again, and a bit later, he told us he canceled the request because the person who made the request wasn’t answering our calls.
Sometimes, bad GPS coordinates and lack of communication can make it really tough to get recoveries done. But in this case, Mike went above and beyond to help this person.
We really appreciate Mike putting in the extra effort to find the person, especially since the area was not very safe, especially at night. (offroad recovery in Arizona)
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