Man survives weeklong ordeal by dining on Taco Bell packets

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 23, 2002

CHARLESTON, W.VA. -- Is your car littered with packets of condiments from fast-food places you visit far too often?

Robert Ward's was -- and he is glad it was, too.

According to an Associated Press report, Ward recently was trapped in his car for nearly a week earlier this month after he crashed into a 150-foot ravine. After an extensive search of the area, his friend, local fire department captain Terry Likens, rescued him.

Likens told the AP that Ward, who suffered a broken hip in the accident and frostbite during the long ordeal, survived by burning paper and using the lining of his car roof to keep warm and by subsisting on snow and sauce packets from Taco Bell.

"It's a bachelor vehicle," Likens said. "It has a little bit of everything."