A woman from Atascadero is recovering at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo Wednesday night after spending three nights stranded hundreds of feet down a cliff.
Debbie Lopez was driving along Highway 1 just south of Ragged Point when she says she lost control of her pickup truck when she went to put out a cigarette. The truck flipped over the side of the cliff.
"And I knew at that point that I had to get myself out, I had to see my husband and my family," Lopez told sister station KSBY in San Luis Obispo. "I wanted to go home."
Stranded for days, the 57-year-old found herself upside down in her pick-up Saturday night on a cliff near Ragged Point after loosing control on the windy and wet road.
"The truck just flew over and I could just feel myself flying down and hitting things I don't know what I hit, and when I landed, I didn't know I was upside down," says Lopez.
After releasing her seat belt, Lopez realized she had damaged ribs, cuts, and bruises. By Monday, Lopez says, she finally got the strength and courage to climb out of her windshield.
"I made it, and maybe I'm halfway home," says Lopez.
California
That was just the beginning.
"And then it took a day and a half to figure out how I'm going to get out," says Lopez.
The only way up, was up.
"I know when I climbed out and I looked it was straight down," says Lopez. "I was yelling out help but no one could hear me, I was so far down."
A full 24 hours of fighting, crawling up incredibly steep terrain.
"I finally and cars were right there, and I got up and for a moment there were no cars and I leaned down and I kissed the road," says Lopez. "And I said that I am going home."
Putting Lopez back in her family's arms.
"I just have a new lease on life, and there is a God and he listens," says Lopez.
Once Lopez reached the road, she says a family from Louisiana stopped and called help for her.
Lopez should be released from the hospital on Thursday. Atascadero Police say her truck is still stuck on the cliff and that it is so far down they had a difficult time seeing it Tuesday night. There is no guardrail on that portion of the road.
Watch the entire raw and uncut interview on the KSBY website.
