HELENA, Mont. — A 67-year-old country musician from Montana who spent four days in his car stuck on a remote mountain road was weak and losing hope when an Idaho couple out for a drive in their four-wheel-drive vehicle came upon his car.

Louis Rogers, of Lakeside, said Tuesday that had written a goodbye letter and was preparing himself for death when Scott and Penny Kalis of Coeur d'Alene stopped to help on Sunday.

"She said, 'Well, what are you doing way up here?"' Rogers said. "I said, 'Dying, and if you don't believe it, here's the proof, and I showed her the letter.'

Rogers — who has played guitar for big names in the country music business, including Merle Haggard and George Jones — left northwestern Montana's Flathead region Thursday to make a trip to Calder, Idaho. He decided to take the remote Gold Creek Road across the Bitterroot Mountains, a route he had taken several times before and which he knew could shave more than an hour off the trip.

After about nine miles and with dusk setting in, the road got too snowy for Rogers' 1996 Cadillac STS, which was loaded with musical equipment, so he decided to turn around — and got stuck in a snowbank. He checked his cell phone — no service.

Rogers has health issues, including diabetes, liver troubles and a history of heart problems, so he decided to wait for help. He melted snow to drink and occasionally turned the car on to run the heater at night.

He slept very little the first night. On Friday morning, Rogers said he looked out the window and saw a silver wolf staring back at him 100 yards away. The wolf moved to within 75 yards of him before bounding down the mountainside.