Imagine this: You're trapped inside your car as the snow outside is falling heavily onto the frozen ground. You try to make it back to civilization but the snow is too steep and you are too far away from anyone. The only shelter you have is in your vehicle, and your resources are not exactly plentiful. But, thankfully, hope is not yet loss.
Normally, in survival movies with grisly stakes, this is the moment when things take a turn for the worse. This is when drastic measures are necessary. Sure enough, one snowed-in man was left in the cold and he didn't have a lot of options. But he was able to survive throughout this ordeal through an unusual source of substance: Taco Bell sauce packets. Specifically, Taco Bell fire sauce, which kept him and his dog alive for five days while stuck in the snow! Talk about thinking outside the bun.
The man-in-question was Jeremy Taylor, and he was last seen getting gas on February 24th before he found himself being held prisoner by a harsh blizzard. As it was reported by Fox 11, the Oregon man was traveling with his dog, Ally, on an unspecified outdoors trip and they were inside their car that Sunday when they got hit by an onslaught of snow. Hoping to see better weather on Monday, they soon discovered that the conditions got worse, and they had no way of getting to safety.
So, Jeremy Taylor and Ally were forced to fend for themselves in the cold as the snow continued to fall and there was no sure sign of it slowing down anytime soon. With their survival gear limited to what they had in the car, Taylor and Ally didn't have a lot going for them. But they were able to live -- if not mightily -- on Taco Bell fire sauce packets throughout the five days that entailed, along with Taylor only periodically turning on the car to produce heat. Good thing he got gas when he did.
It was undoubtedly a growling week for Ally and Jeremy Taylor, and who knows how many Taco Bell sauce packets were left towards the end of the week. But thankfully, they didn't find their straits to be exceedingly dire as they were thankfully found on Friday by a passing snowmobiler. From there, they were taken out of the woods by a search-and-rescue team member. They were both in good health by the time they were found, but they were also "very hungry," as you probably predicted. But the key is that they survived. And it was all thanks to the miracle of Taco Bell.
Later, Jeremy Taylor wrote a note on Facebook. Here's what the 36-year-old said:
Thank you everyone, I'm safe my Ally dog is safe. I really appreciate all the help. Got lucky, lets never do that again. I'll be in touch with everyone soon.
Taco Bell doesn't always get the nicest reputation. For reasons that are often unjust -- in this writer's opinion, at least. There are many people who dismiss it as a low-tier fast food franchise, believing it's a last resort when options are limited or the place you wind up when you are half-in-the-bag and looking for cheap food at late hours. That might be true in some cases, but it was also a source of salvation for this man. So, the next time you wind up at a local Taco Bell, whenever that might be, pick up a few extra sauce packets. You never know when you might need them.
