Rita Chretien survived on tiny amounts of trail mix, hard candy, beef jerky, melted snow and prayer for seven weeks after she was stranded in the remote mountains of Nevada, reports CTV News in Canada.
By Crystal Lindell
Associate Editor
A Canadian woman has gone above and beyond to prove just how important it is to pack snacks for your summer road trips.
Rita Chretien survived on tiny amounts of trail mix, hard candy, beef jerky, melted snow and prayer for seven weeks after she was stranded in the remote mountains of Nevada, reports CTV News in Canada.
The 57-year-old was found Mother’s Day weekend and is now doing well. Unfortunately, her husband, Albert Chretien, is still missing after he left the van to try to find help.
The couple had been traveling from British Columbia to Las Vegas, when they “found themselves on an old logging road and their van got stuck in the mud,” CTV says.
Rita’s success is inspiring. Period. But, as a writer for a candy magazine, I of course have to point out that it was road trip snack food that saved her life.
A road trip junkie myself, I can tell you that my favorite part is creating meals by relying only on foods I find at remote gas stations scattered across the fly-over states - so named because coastal Americans only ever bother to “fly over” them. There’s something about a King Size Snicker’s, a bag of Fritos and a Coke that screams “Breakfast of Champions.”
Maybe you’re worried about the insane gas prices though, or about getting stuck in the mud like Rita, and you’re planning to shun the road trip this year. Allow me urge you to reconsider.
Road trips are to people what caramel is to candy bars - they have a sweet way of making everything stick together.
The most obvious of example of this I have in my own life is a trip I took last summer. As a youth leader, I somehow convinced a group of 19 teens to trek 20 hours away to Florida for a mission trip.
It was hot, and teenage boys smell funny, and choosing gas station bathrooms can be like Russian Roulette. Plus, after just two hours everyone in the 15-passenger van that didn’t have air conditioning in the back two rows was a little cranky.
But something wonderful happened on that journey. Amidst the empty Doritos’ bags, and the Starburst wrappers, and the Gatorade bottles that meant extra pit stops, each of us was reduced to our lowest common denominator.
Rita Chretien survived on tiny amounts of trail mix, hard candy, beef jerky, melted snow and prayer for seven weeks after she was stranded in the remote mountains of Nevada, reports CTV News in Canada.
The 57-year-old was found Mother’s Day weekend and is now doing well. Unfortunately, her husband, Albert Chretien, is still missing after he left the van to try to find help.
The couple had been traveling from British Columbia to Las Vegas, when they “found themselves on an old logging road and their van got stuck in the mud,” CTV says.
Rita’s success is inspiring. Period. But, as a writer for a candy magazine, I of course have to point out that it was road trip snack food that saved her life.
A road trip junkie myself, I can tell you that my favorite part is creating meals by relying only on foods I find at remote gas stations scattered across the fly-over states - so named because coastal Americans only ever bother to “fly over” them. There’s something about a King Size Snicker’s, a bag of Fritos and a Coke that screams “Breakfast of Champions.”
Maybe you’re worried about the insane gas prices though, or about getting stuck in the mud like Rita, and you’re planning to shun the road trip this year. Allow me urge you to reconsider.
Road trips are to people what caramel is to candy bars - they have a sweet way of making everything stick together.
The most obvious of example of this I have in my own life is a trip I took last summer. As a youth leader, I somehow convinced a group of 19 teens to trek 20 hours away to Florida for a mission trip.
It was hot, and teenage boys smell funny, and choosing gas station bathrooms can be like Russian Roulette. Plus, after just two hours everyone in the 15-passenger van that didn’t have air conditioning in the back two rows was a little cranky.
But something wonderful happened on that journey. Amidst the empty Doritos’ bags, and the Starburst wrappers, and the Gatorade bottles that meant extra pit stops, each of us was reduced to our lowest common denominator.
Nobody can really be better than anybody else when they need to pee and the closest rest area is 51 miles away, or when you’re so hungry for chocolate that you eat the melted Raisinettes.
Once we all realized how very equal each of us are at our core, we were able to bond in that magical way that only people who’ve gone on 20-hour road trips can understand. It was wonderful.
I’m so happy that Rita was able to make it back to her family alive, and I’m sure she has quite the tale of survival to tell when she fully recovers. I only pray her husband grabbed an extra Ziplock bag of trail mix before he headed out for help and that he’ll be found safe and sound, sustained by road-trip snacks.
