Trucker stranded on Manitoba highway gets coffee delivery on horseback

A Winnipeg truck driver is thanking a woman who jumped on her horse and brought him coffee and a hot meal while he was stranded on Highway 10 south of Brandon during this week’s nasty storm in Manitoba. (Photo: steve/Flickr)

BRANDON, Man.—A Winnipeg truck driver is thanking a woman who jumped on her horse and brought him coffee and a hot meal while he was stranded on Highway 10 south of Brandon during this week’s nasty storm in Manitoba.

Peter Douglas was on his way to Brandon from Boissevain on Monday afternoon when he got stuck in his semi on highway 10 in the Souris Valley, which he told CTV Winnipeg was “one sheet of ice.”

“With all my brakes on, I still started sliding backwards.”

While Douglas was alone on the highway, he knew his truck was parked in view of one of the province’s highway cameras.

“My family, my bosses and it seems everyone on Facebook knew exactly where I was.”

He slept in his truck Monday night. The next morning, he got a pleasant surprise.

“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,” Douglas said. “She brought me coffee.

“She had to walk that horse half a mile up that hill and half a mile down because it was so icy. Blew me away. She said she saw me on the camera. Her and her family were watching.”

Douglas was surprised when Eagle Bears came back a second time with water and a thermos of stew and potatoes.

In all, he spent 28 hours on the highway before a tow truck arrived to haul him out.

“He was really happy to know someone came,” Eagle Bears said.

She said she just wanted to help; she didn’t think her horseback delivery would garner so much attention.

“I just thought I should do something,” she said.