An Oklahoma couple survived a stranding deep in the Mojave Desert after their vehicle became mired in soft dirt, say San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials.

Authorities learned of the emergency at 10:20 a.m. Sunday, June 7, after 24-year-old Cody Raynor walked out of the desert near the Calico Lakes community in the Barstow-area town of Yermo.

Callers reported that Raynor was confused, distraught and hallucinating.

Suffering from severe dehydration, Raynor was taken to Barstow Community Hospital.

“While being treated, he stated he and his girlfriend, Adeila Walters, were traveling and became struck in soft dirt in the Mojave River bed,” sheriff’s officials said in a written statement.

A ground and air search turned up Raynor’s stranded vehicle near Minneola and Coventry Roads, about 2-1/4 miles south of Interstate 15.

The vehicle was found abandoned. But shoe prints showed the direction that 27-year-old Walters had apparently traveled.

By 7:50 p.m., a Barstow search-and-rescue team had tracked her to Yermo.

And about 10 p.m., sheriff’s dispatchers learned that the California Highway Patrol had found her along the freeway and taken her to medical treatment.

Sheriff’s officials cited the incident as a warning of the dangers of venturing off paved roads, especially for people unfamiliar with the area.

Daytime temperatures, they emphsized, car soar well over 100 degrees in the deset and quickly incapacitate anyone without water and adequate supplies.