A spontaneous road trip is fun. Spending some time on the road while talking about anything that comes into mind sounds exciting. For couple Tracy Eckhardt and Elton Hood, "road trip" found a whole new definition.
Earlier this July, they spent more than 27 hours on the road for a very unplanned road trip.
Tracy and Elton helped an elderly man get home.
It was a spontaneous road trip because they only met the 79-year-old Marine veteran, Dennis Milentz, at a gas station in Illinois. Millentz was traveling to Wisconsin from Arizona and has been lost multiple times along the way until the couple chose to help him get home.
The couple shared their journey on TikTok, and their video gained attention with now more than 3 million views.
@hoodsforgood I got a good one....his ️ amazes me. ##fyp ##foryoupage ##stillgoodintheworld ##elderly ##elderlylove ##armyvet ##dontletthisflop ##bethelight ##marinevet ♬ If The World Was Ending - JP Saxe ft. Julia Michaels
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Jumping into an adventure
When Tracy and Elton first met the elderly man in a gas station, they learned that Milentz was off to see his son. The Marine veteran has not seen his son for almost 20 years. Hence, the trip was really important to him.
In an interview with WMTV, Milentz said that he kept getting lost until he met the couple.
Elton wrote down directions for the elderly man and programmed his GPS. Elton even spoke to Milentz's son on the phone to update him on the situation.
However, after only fifteen minutes, Milentz called the couple because he got a little confused.
That is when Elton and Tracy decided to jump into an adventure going to Wisconsin. They went on an unexpected road trip.
Milentz was carefully following the couple going to Wisconsin. They took stops for meals and bathroom breaks.
Another 27-hour drive to Arizona
Because of certain circumstances, Dennis' family cannot drive him back to his home in Arizona. His family informed Elton and Tracy that they would be driving him to Madison, Wisconsin, and write down directions again.
The couple who initially helped the elderly man said that it was something that they could not let go. They decided to jump into another adventure, to another road trip. They drove Milentz back to Arizona in a 27-hour drive.
Tracy said, "If you start something, you finish it. So we started it by getting him to his son, and it was the right thing to do to finish getting him home."
When they reached Arizona, the couple was ready to drive back home to Illinois, but a good samaritan heard their story and paid for plane tickets going back home.
It was an amazing experience for the couple.
Right now, Elton and Tracy are planning to put up a nonprofit that aims to continue helping those who are in need.
