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Hungry potato chip trucker lost in wilderness for 4 days refuses to eat any chips

A truck driver transporting potato chips got lost in the wilderness for four days — and didn't eat one chip
A truck driver transporting potato chips got lost in the wilderness for four days — and didn’t eat one chip. (Photo: Getty Images)

A truck driver carrying a load of potato chips got lost in the snowy wilderness for four days without food or water and walked 14 miles to safety — yet he refused to eat even one chip.

According to the Associated Press, Jacob Cartwright, 22, a driver for Little Trees Transportation in La Grande, Ore., got lost on Tuesday after typing an incorrect address on his GPS while en route from Portland to the town of Nyssa.

At one point, according to an Oregon State Police report, Cartwright’s truck got stuck in the woods and began sliding toward a snowy embankment. Facing 30-degree weather at night and limited cellphone coverage, he decided to abandon his truck and walk to find help.

Over the course of four days, Cartwright walked 14 miles across snow-filled terrain until he reached Interstate 84 on Saturday and flagged down a driver who drove him home. He’s currently being treated at Grande Ronde Hospital.

“He looks to be pretty good,” nursing supervisor Danita Thamert told local news station CBS Pittsburgh. “He’s a big boy. He kept moving and stayed warm enough. So it doesn’t look like he’s going to have too many injuries.”

Cartwright’s boss, Roy Henry, who did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment, told CBS, “He told me the last night, he wedged himself under a log and the ground to stay warm and stay out of the elements.” He added, “He was so dehydrated that his kidneys stopped functioning.”

Henry was puzzled as to why his employee didn’t break open any of the bags of potato chips in order to keep his energy up and to avoid malnutrition, a process that occurs after two to three days without food or water and involves the body breaking down fat to use as brain fuel.

“That’s the way he was raised,” says Henry, “that stuff’s not yours, you don’t touch it.”

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