Tuesday, March 17th, 2026, at 9:04 p.m. (PT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in California. The requester, Borislav Hristov, submitted the following information: “Volkswagen Jetta, stuck on dirt road in mud. Is only a section of 10 yards of mud. / 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 60-mile radius.
From the group of contacted volunteers in this area, we had Chris Stephens taking over this recovery, marking himself as engaging and heading right away toward the incident.
Chris later sent us a quick note and the photos we shared down below.
From Chris
Here are the notes for this recovery with photos.
He was stuck way out on a side road tried pulling him forward at first but it was much worse so ended up trying to pull him backwards but the mud was to deep and slippery so I ended up winching him backwards for about a half a mile his car was so low that it scooped a bunch of mud up into his radiator and blocked his fans so we had to dig all that out so his car would quit overheating finally got him back far enough that he was unsalted ground and was able to turn around and drive back out. Got home around four in the morning.
We want to express our sincere gratitude to Chris for his exceptional work. As always, Chris has been an invaluable asset to our team. His remarkable contributions have been instrumental in several successful recoveries in this area. His unwavering commitment to volunteering is truly commendable.
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