A Florida couple in an RV got stuck on a frozen mountain. Not your typical AAA call
Wayne May didn’t want his wife to know how scared he was.
Their RV was stuck on the side of a mountain in Todd, North Carolina, after sliding backward about 80 feet on a road that was “frozen solid.”
“As we’re sliding backwards, I felt the panic setting in,” Shirley Ann May said. “I was petrified. My nightmares were coming true.”
It was 8 p.m., 16 degrees and windy. They only had half a tank of gas. And no one would answer their calls for help.
The newlywed couple from the Jacksonville area was told they’d have to wait about six hours until the morning for someone to rescue them.
Then they remembered they had AAA Auto Club membership.
Operator Kelvin Rivers went to work trying to get a technician that could help them. After a couple of hours, he found Jason Miller, an AAA service provider with Hampton’s Body Shop in North Carolina. It was 1:24 a.m. when Miller showed up with his wrecker on Longhope Road.
“When we saw those headlights, that was honestly the first time I was able to take a deep breath,” said Shirley Ann, 62.
This week, Rivers and Miller each were given AAA’s Hero Award and a $500 gift card for helping the Mays get off the mountain.
“We’re so grateful for the bravery and perseverance of people like Jason Miller and Kelvin Rivers, who help AAA deliver on our promise to be there when our members need us most,” Scott VerBracken, vice president of automotive services, said in a statement..
Their honeymoon
The Mays, who got married May 28, 2020, couldn’t wait to take their first trip together in the RV to see snow.
Wayne May, 69, grew up in Miami and has had RVs for decades. He said he bought the 32-foot Damon Daybreak in 2019 and they were waiting to take a trip because of the pandemic.
It was January and the weather seemed favorable, so they headed out early in the morning and drove straight through. May said they got to the area just before 8 p.m. He said his GPS indicated they were about a mile away. He had no idea that the graveled road was iced over.
When the RV started to slide, May knew they were in trouble. They called four towing companies and 911. He heard the same thing from all of them. It was unsafe to send anybody.
Then May, who has been a member of AAA for 34 years, figured he’d give them a try.
“We’re trapped in the motor home,” Wayne May said to Rivers, who called to let them know he was trying to get someone out there, in a recorded call. “My wife is crying now. “
Rivers later said that he just wanted to exhaust every option he had.
Miller said when he got the call he “didn’t want to leave anyone stranded.”
“So I was going to try to make it happen,” he said. “The roads were pretty treacherous all the way. It was a pretty rough night.”
Miller said the couple’s situation was particularly “tricky” because they were in a steep area and there were three to four inches of ice. He said they were lucky that when the RV slid about 80 feet it got stuck on the embankment side of the road. A 20- to 30-foot ravine was on the other side.
“They were pretty excited to actually see somebody,” Miller said.
As soon as the Mays’ RV was running again — and he backed it up about a mile to get off the road — the couple immediately headed back to South Florida.
They now plan to honeymoon in Key West.
