The Storm
Canada is famous for having kind-hearted people who look after others without expecting anything in return. That’s why, during bad weather conditions, some like to monitor local traffic cams. Fortunately for Peter, a Winnipeg truck driver, Eileen and her mother were watching over the live footage when they discovered Peter’s truck trapped in the middle of the highway.
Peter described the scenario as:
“A sheet of ice… I couldn’t pull the whole thing. I was trapped.”
He was confined to that icy road until weather conditions improved. The problem was that he had little supplies with him and no prospect of the weather changing any time soon.
Comfort
Even though the situation was far from being perfect, the truck driver found some comfort in knowing that his stranded truck had become stuck directly in view of a highway camera.
“My family, my bosses, and it seems everyone on Facebook knew exactly where I was,” Peter commented.
At that time, Peter didn’t know that, apart from his family and friends, two total strangers were also monitoring him. Eileen and her mom happened to be at their home, which was only 30 minutes south of Brandon, Manitoba. As the good citizens they are, both Eileen and her mom were moved by the circumstances and decided to lend a hand to the driver even when that meant facing the chilly storm.
Eileen And Heather
First, let’s learn a little about Eileen and Heather, her mother. They live on a farm in the Souris River Valley, in a small community named Minto, located in Manitoba, Canada. Eileen, who always loved horses, received her first equine when she was only eight years old. This episode triggered one of Eileen’s biggest passions in motion: horse-riding.
Since then, Eileen has owned over 20 horses and she has participated in several horse-riding competitions. It’s easy to see how passionate she is about horses and how grand her love for these animals is as she shares many pics of them on Facebook. Even though Eileen is fascinated by horses, she is a young humanitarian, ready to take action whenever another soul needs help.
Icy Roads
On March 6, 2017, something completely unrelated to horses caught Eileen’s attention. That day, a snowstorm was sweeping over Manitoba. This terrible weather made all the roads and highways extremely dangerous to travel. Drivers who were out on the road had to suddenly stop and became stranded. This was the situation with Peter, our truck driver.
Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Peter was traveling towards the city of Brandon, Manitoba, when the blizzard storm closed in. In spite of keeping up with the weather forecasts in his truck, the truck driver couldn’t foresee anything that was about to happen to him.
Can you guess what happened to Peter?
Trapped
“The Souris Valley was one sheet of ice and I couldn’t pull the whole thing,” the truck driver recalled. “I was trapped. With all my brakes on, I still started sliding backwards,” he also commented.
Being an experienced truck driver, Peter knew he had to be brave and remain in his truck to avoid any problems.
Knowing that his truck was positioned near a traffic camera, Peter felt comforted even when he was in a tough situation. His family and friends could monitor his position for as long as he was stranded there, and, if he needed any assistance, he knew he could count on them to protect him.
Stroke Of Luck
Little did Peter know that two guardian angels, who also happened to live nearby, were checking his status through the traffic cams installed on the highway. This meant that two additional sets of eyes were also keeping an eye on him. What a stroke of luck!
As Winnipeg’s residents, Eileen and her mother knew about the terrible blizzard conditions and how the storm was progressing. They both also knew about the dilemma others may find themselves into and, with this in mind, they wanted to monitor the roads.
The Plan
“[On] Monday night, my mom and I were watching the Manitoba 511 road cams,” Eileen stated. “And we noticed that a truck driver had been stuck on the north side of the number ten highway.”
Soon after seeing Peter and his truck stranded on the road in the dreadful weather, Eileen conceived a plan.
However, it was already late at night and Eileen knew she could not put it into practice that same night. If she had implemented her idea at that moment, Eileen wouldn’t have been able to reach her destination. What’s more, she would have found herself in danger and all her efforts would have gone to waste. Because of this, she had to wait until the next morning.
Tuesday Morning
“I thought that maybe I should help [Douglas],” Eileen recalled. “It was too late that night, so I went to bed thinking that I should do something. When I woke up, I checked the cams first thing and he was still there,” the teenager added.
Isn’t she a considerate young girl?
Unfortunately, because of the hostile weather conditions, the truck driver had to spend Monday night inside his truck waiting for the snow to clear up. Peter had some supplies but he didn’t know how long he was going to be trapped in the blizzard. Little could he have imagined that help was on the way and that he would awake on Tuesday morning to an unexpected surprise.
Mr. Smudge
On Tuesday morning, Eileen began to gather some supplies before selecting an exceptional form of transport to reach the troubled driver.
“I got together some coffee and I got on my horse,” she said. “And [then we]went to go see [Douglas].”
Eileen’s horse was a Welsh-Arabian breed named Mr. Smudge. This horse breed is known for its refinement, hardiness, and spirit as well as its good movement. Because of this, said the cross is popular among riders competing in hunter and jumper classes. No wonder Eileen chose Mr. Smudge to help her travel up the hill where Peter had been stranded for hours.
Trust
Before journeying, Eileen first wrapped Mr. Smudge with a brown tartan blanket. Then she proceeded to the highway where the truck driver was stuck, over two miles away from her home. Knowing about the treacherous conditions, Heather didn’t stand in her daughter’s way: she knew Eileen could handle herself out on the road and she was taking Mr. Smudge with her.
“I trust [Eileen],” Heather revealed. “I just told her she had to be safe and I was keeping an eye on the time to see how long she was gone.”
Regarding her journey, Eileen talked about the challenges she and Mr. Smudge faced while making her way to where Peter was stuck.
Can you imagine what Eileen experienced? Keep reading to find out!
Eileen’s Journey
“It wasn’t too cold, but the wind made it very cold,” Eileen commented. “The roads were covered in ice from all the rain that we had got, and there were quite a few drifts.”
Despite the difficult conditions and the journey ahead, the teenager departed with Mr. Smudge, her remarkable companion.
“[Mr. Smudge] was great,” Eileen went on to add. “I had to get off [him]and walk about half of the way, [though], because the wind was too strong. The wind was blowing us around, and with the ice on the road, it could’ve been bad.”
Eileen and Mr. Smudge had to navigate through the wintry hurdles, but they were able to arrive at where Peter’s truck was.
Surprise
Once Eileen saw the truck, she found the driver sleeping inside the vehicle, which urged her to knock on his door.
“Lo and behold, first thing in the morning, I look out my window and there was a horse and a young lady by the name of Eileen Eagle Bears,” Peter Douglas told. “She brought me coffee.”
The truck driver was awestruck at Eileen and Mr. Smudge for making it to where he was stranded and for facing such dreadful weather just to get to him.
“She had to walk that horse half a mile up that hill and half a mile down because it was so icy,” he stated. “[It] blew me away. She said she saw me on the camera. She and her family were watching.”
The Promise
Soon after arriving, Eileen noticed the truck driver’s condition was not bad. However, the teenager realized Peter could face a terrible problem: he was short on food supply.
“He was doing okay,” she said. “He still had lots of diesel in his truck [and]he was still warm, but he was running out of food.”
True to herself, Eileen made Peter a vow to bring him food.
“I promised him that if he was still [there], I would make him some hot supper and bring it back to him,” she stated.
Once she handed over the hot coffee to the driver, Eileen and Mr. Smudge went back home.
Don’t forget to check our favorite slide!
Fulfilling The Promise
A few hours later, Eileen and her horse returned home, however, she couldn’t forget the vow she had made. Eileen and her mother kept checking on Peter and, later that day, the teenager followed through on her promise. Before going back to where Peter was, the young girl cooked some food for the driver. She then proceeded to ride Mr. Smudge a second time through the icy roads.
The teenager and her companion reached the stranded vehicle again.
“[I brought Douglas some] hamburger stew with potatoes,” Eileen recalled of that second journey. “I also brought him more coffee. He was very appreciative that someone was out there and that they cared.”
The Reliable Mr. Smudge And The End Of The Ordeal
Eileen and Mr. Smudge covered just under ten miles across the freezing roads. When asked, Eileen explained why she picked Mr. Smudge over the other horses at the farm.
“I have a lot of trust in this horse,” she affirmed. “I knew that if I took him [out to find Douglas], I would get there and back safely.”
On Tuesday night, Peter Douglas was finally rescued by a tow truck, after spending over 24 hours trapped in the freezing weather. At last, the truck driver reached Brandon, putting an end to his ordeal. However, Peter isn’t the first and won’t be the last person to be trapped in extreme weather conditions, as people have had to cope with similar problems in the past.
Travelers In The Past
Peter Douglas was fortunate enough to be traveling in a vehicle where he could stay and keep warm. Moreover, he was stranded near a place where traffic cameras could watch over him. In contrast, travelers from ancient times weren’t able to enjoy those advantages. For example, travelers attempting to cross the Western Alps’ Great St. Bernard Pass met incredible difficulties reaching their destination.
In a similar way for travelers back then, help often came in the form of an animal. Just as Douglas received Eileen and Mr. Smudge’s assistance, people adventuring through the Alps received help from St. Bernard dogs. In 1050, the monk St. Bernard de Menthon opened up a hospice in the past. Before dogs arrived, the structure aided struggling travelers.
St. Bernard Dogs
St. Bernard dogs were introduced to the Alps around 1650 by the monks working at the Great St Bernard Hospice. Still, these giant dogs had to wait some years before they were able to show what they could do in severe winter conditions. It was the start of the 1700s when a group of servants began to assist travelers to cross the Alps.
Around 50 years later, St. Bernard dogs joined them in their task, where the canines were able to prove how useful they could be. Thanks to their impressive sense of smell and large bodies, St. Bernard dogs were able to find travelers entombed by the snow. Having proved how good they were to locate buried people, these dogs were later entrusted with the task of finding people lost in the area.
Barry, The St. Bernard
Ever since then, St. Bernard dogs have fulfilled their brave role in the Alps rescuing over 2,000 travelers lost in the area. The most renowned St. Bernard to rescue people at the Alps pass was Barry (sometimes spelled Berry), who supposedly saved somewhere between 40 and 100 people. Thanks to his achievements, Barry was preserved after he died and his body can be found in the Natural History Museum in Berne, Switzerland.
St. Bernard dogs are no longer used for Alpine rescues. The last recorded St. Bernard rescue took place in 1897 when one of the dogs discovered a young boy lost in the Alps. However, the last documented case of dog service was in 1955. Still, the Great St Bernard Hospice retained 18 of the dogs for reasons of tradition and sentiment. They have become a tourist attraction, and a number of the dogs are temporarily relocated from Martigny to the Hospice in the summer months.
Sharing Eileen’s Story On Facebook
St. Bernards’ story and circumstances were completely different from Eileen’s, yet, they have one point in common: the will to help people in need. Mom Heather was utterly impressed by Eileen’s actions that she knew she had to share her daughter’s amazing story. So, later that day, Heather posted an account of what had happened on Facebook.
What we can see is the screen capture that Heather took from the traffic camera footage. This is the image that the
Minto resident posted, where Eileen and Mr. Smudge are standing next to Peter’s truck. Of course, Heather also posted a message along with the pic.
Keep reading to know what Heather posted!
The Message On Facebook
“Highway camera on number ten caught a [picture]of Eileen Eagle Bears delivering coffee on horseback to a stranded trucker in the storm. She rode [around]three miles each way to check on him,” Heather wrote on Facebook.
Heather proceeded to leave a second message in the comments section, praising her daughter’s heroic deed.
“[Eileen’s] a good rider and took Mr. Smudge,” Heather commented on the social media website.
“She rode where drifts were smaller and [she]knows the road. For those that don’t know, Eileen Eagle Bears is just 18 years old. Showing maturity beyond her years.”
Neither mom nor daughter could predict what was about to happen next.
Social Media Success And Support
It goes without saying that Heather’s post on Facebook turned out to be a big success, where family, friends and online users showed their appreciation to Eileen and Mr. Smudge. The post earned near 3,000 likes and over 1,500 shares on Facebook. Furthermore, thanks to the post they received more than 400 comments, most of which were positive.
“God bless Ms. Eagle Bears,” commented Douglas Martin. “Her act of kindness to one driver is felt throughout all the drivers, nationwide, in both great nations. Thank you from an Oregon State driver,” Douglas added.
The praise went on and on and another grateful trucker commented on Eileen’s good deed.
More Support And Praise
“That was a very caring gesture you did,” wrote Facebook user Jon Gudorf. “[I] wish more people would follow your example. I [have been]a truck driver [for the]last 29 years, and [it’s] great to see someone with COMMON SENSE. We are all in life together under God, wish more people realized that.”
These truck driver’s words could not be truer.
Even though Eileen and Mr. Smudge received most of the compliments for their actions, Heather also got some of the praises.
“You should be so proud to have raised such a caring and compassionate human being! Wish this world had more individuals like your daughter!,” James Colquhoun wrote.
Don’t miss our favorite slide up next!
Overwhelming Response
As we can see, the response the post got was overwhelming. And Kathy McNally’s comment sums up Eileen’s action and the effect it had on Peter Douglas:
“This is one of the most heartwarming stories I’ve read on Facebook in a long time. Three miles doesn’t sound like a [long]ride until you hit bitter winds and icy conditions.”
“I commend you for continuing on and checking on that trucker,” Kathy added to her comment on the social media website. “I bet that was the best coffee that man has ever had in his life!”
Eileen was certainly taken aback with the positive replies the post received. Her good actions traveled the world fast.
Role Model
“I am overwhelmed at how much attention this story has got,” Eileen commented. “It was a surprise to me when I got back, because my mom had posted it on Facebook and it had just totally blown up. Everyone has seen it on Facebook now, and it’s just overwhelming.”
When asked if her remarkable and altruistic feat might inspire others to act similarly in the future, Eileen’s response mirrored some of the comments her video received on Facebook.
“I sure hope so. The world needs more kindness.”
What an amazing teenager!
Proud Mom And Promise
After her heroic deed became public, Eileen was astounded by the praise she received. However, Heather confirmed that she deserved it and more. The proud mother thought that everyone was able to get a good look at the amazing person Eileen was and how great her horse-riding skills were. Hadn’t Heather taken to Facebook, we would’ve missed this wonderful story.
“I’m thoroughly enjoying seeing [Eileen] get the recognition she deserves for being such a good person,” Heather gushed. “I’m very proud of her, always have been. She’s an excellent little horsewoman.”
Douglas promised to pay a visit to Eileen and her mom to return the thermos flask back to them.