When Publishers Clearing House notifies a sweepstakes winner, they generally drive right up to the house, knock on the door and present the winner with an oversized check. But things didn't work out that way for "prize patrol deputies" who ventured into rural Northern New Mexico this week to give out a $10,000 prize.

Brenna Solop and Danielle Bertellotti had to track down Arturo Chavez of El Llano, whose contest entry listed only a post office box.

"For me, personally ... it was the most difficult (prize awarding) I've ever had," Solop said. When the two realized they only had a post office box number to work with, they were stumped. "We said, 'How are we going to do this?' "

Their original game plan was to go to the Chimayó post office and see if they could track down Chavez. By law, postal workers can't give out information about a customer, and they didn't have a phone number for him. But they said Chavez checked his mail a few times a day.

Solop and Bertellotti decided to start searching. "My partner and I were driving around town to ask if (people) knew him," Solop said, but they didn't have any luck. After waiting for a good chunk of the day at the post office for Chavez to check his mail, they finally decided to pack it in and drive back to the Albuquerque airport. Luckily, they hadn't gotten too far when Chavez showed up at the post office and the prize presenters were called back.

"We did a quick U-turn on Highway 76 and came back to the post office," Solop said, "and there he was."

After they told him he was a winner, Solop said, Chavez put his hands on his head and "spinned around" while saying, "Oh my God, I don't believe this."

"He said that he had been a (Publishers Clearing House) customer for six years and never thought it was real," Solop said of the annual sweepstakes promotion to help lure magazine subscribers. "Now he's a believer."

Margaret Crossan, senior manager of consumer affairs for Publishers Clearing House, said Chavez was one of 101 winners who each are receiving $10,000 this week as part of a "promotional blitz."

"(Chavez) actually received one of our promotional mailings" about the contest, Crossan said, and sent back his entry.

Chimayó resident Chellis Glendinning was on her way to check her mail when she caught sight of the action. She saw the Publishers Clearing House van but she said it was so surreal, she didn't initially "make meaning of it."

"I could see (the van). I read it, and it made no sense to me," Glendinning said. "Everything from there was a complete and total surprise. ... They were just handing him this gigantic, 3-foot-long check and they had balloons and a big bouquet of red roses.

"It makes me so happy that he won. It was just a thrill, an absolute thrill. I went around telling people in Chimayó. I just couldn't contain myself. Everyone is excited."

Chavez himself declined to make a statement.

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.