UKIAH – A Pendleton man who was stuck overnight with his wife and daughter in a snow bank Saturday night said they stayed warm by turning the engine on in their vehicle every 20 minutes throughout the night.

They were pulled out Sunday by Morrow County Search and Rescue.

Jack Sweek, 80, said his daughter’s 2004 Jeep Liberty became stuck in a large hole off U.S. Forest Service Road 21 on Saturday, after they’d stopped for lunch at around 2 p.m. in Monument following an outing to Ritter Hot Springs.

Sweek said their cell phones were unable to pick up reception in the rural area near Ukiah, and sound was muffled by about four inches of snow that fell overnight.

“But we were sitting there perfectly warm and had plenty of gas,” Sweek said. “We were open for business all night.”

Sweek said the jeep had survival kits with blankets and that they turned the vehicle’s engine on every 20 minutes or so to keep the SUV warm throughout the night.

Sweek said Morrow County Search and Rescue arrived Sunday morning at about the same time Sweek’s grandson, Corey Stone of Beaverton, who leads the Washington County Search and Rescue Team, arrived with three others on snowmobiles.

“We had quite a nice parade getting out of there,” Sweek said, noting that Morrow County Search and Rescue towed the vehicle out of its rut.

Sweek, his wife Betty, 78, and daughter Teresa Stone, 57, were all in good condition Sunday. Stone’s husband, Eric, of Beaverton contacted Oregon State Police when the three did not show up at a meeting place in Ukiah at 3 p.m. as planned.

“It was not near as scary for us as it was for Eric,” Sweek said.