Lost Wedding Ring in Sandy Wash - Banning CA, Found and returned

On Sunday 8/31, Sanro contacted me about his lost white gold wedding ring.

The previous Friday, he and his family were heading back from Palm Springs CA, with his wife, 6-Month-old and 3-1/2 year old, when an 18-Wheeler overturned on the 10 Fwy near Banning, causing total freeway closure. Google Maps re-routed him through ranch/farm roads around the accident through what he thought was a road, however it was a « Trail » which was really a sandy wash! Their family car made it about halfway until he decided it was just too deep and decided to turn around. His car dug into the soft sand and was buried in. He spent quite a bit of time digging out the tires by hand, and in the process his ring slipped off somewhere.

He returned the next morning with a Metal Detector bought at Walmart to try and find the ring, with no luck.
He then had a friend google search and found TheRingFinders.com, and reached out to the closet member, as this was a very remote location, there was only one, but about 50 miles away. When he contacted them, unfortunately they were out with back strain, so Sanro reached out to the next closest member, who was me. He provided great photos of the area, and even him with the detector searching and google maps pinpointing the location.

I messaged him and told him I would try to help, and I decided to head out the next morning, Labor Day, early before it reached 100 degrees as was the temperature for that day by noon. I arrived about 8:00AM after an 86-mile drive and found the access road extremely rocky and difficult even in my F-150 Truck! Arriving at the wash, I got out and walked it and felt a high likelihood that I would also get stuck even in my truck, so I parked on the rocky hill and decided to walk the 1/2 mile down the way to the location. I sun screened up, put on a layer of Deet Bug Repellent, and headed out with two thermoses of water.

I arrived at the pinned location and started searching among the tire tracks in grid pattern, but so many tracks and dig spots from others, I was not sure I was in the right spot. Thankfully, his photo he sent was a help, as I saw a blue plastic piece of a car in his photo and remembered passing it about 100 yards back, so now I knew the exact location. 15 Minutes and I had his ring in my sand scoop! I immediately sent him a photo, and he said I made his day! It was already 88 Degrees, so I got a quick move on, so I could beat the heat and holiday traffic back home to Long Beach.
I agreed to mail the ring to him, which I did overnight, and it is now on his hand where it belongs.
An incredible journey for him and his family to take that road, dig out his car, and lose his ring, but now I am glad to be a part of his story as well.