A paraplegic man stranded in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair dragged himself about 6.5 kilometres down a dirt road over three days before a motorist stopped to help him. Tattered and dirty, Ricky Gilmore's blue jeans tell part of the story. His body tells the rest - the skin on his left leg and buttocks is shredded, his wrist is sprained and his kidneys are in bad shape from lack of food and water. "Ah man, I'm just a big mess. I ache and I'm just in the first stages of healing," he said on Tuesday from his hospital bed at the Northern Navajo Medical Centre in Shiprock, New Mexico. Gilmore, 49, is being treated for acute kidney failure from dehydration, a sprained wrist and a blood infection. He spent two days in intensive care and it could be at least another week before he can go home. Gilmore, who lost the use of his legs in a car crash years ago, was found along a seldom-travelled road on the Navajo Nation about 16 kilometres from his home in Newcomb. He said he was dropped in the desert by a couple in a white truck whom he had met while hitchhiking. Gilmore, who lives alone, had invited them home for steak and they later went for what he thought was going to be a joyride. But when he declined to share his alcohol with them, Gilmore said the man grabbed him by his feet and threw him out of the truck while parked along the desolate road. It was early evening and he had nothing - no wheelchair, food, water or coat - to help him endure the flat desert scrubland. "It was dark and I was shivering and the wind was blowing so I just crawled to a bush and dug in right there. It was cold that night," he said. With the sunrise, survival mode kicked in. "I started dragging myself. I did the same thing all day and I only got about two miles [three kilometres]," said Gilmore. Two people passed by in their vehicles, Gilmore said. He tried flagging them down but they only honked and kept going. After spending a second night at the side of the road, Gilmore said he woke up sore and thirsty and did not want to move. "I could have easily given up … but I said I'm not going to freeze out here," he said. On the third afternoon, a man in a blue pickup truck stopped and called for help. Gilmore said doctors told him his body temperature had dropped to 34.5 degrees Celsius when he was found. "I don't think I would have made it another night," he said. The Daily Times reported that Gilmore filed a report with the Shiprock Police Department. There were no officials at the department after hours on Tuesday who could confirm details of the report. Gilmore said he was currently bandaged up "big time" and morphine was helping with the pain. Still, he had a nightmare on Monday night in which he found himself sitting at the edge of a freeway waving his hands at the passing traffic, but no one looked at him.