Summertime...We try to spend as much time as possible camping and riding the ATV's. No surprize right? That was our plan for this summer as well. We had several trips planned and ideas for several more. Our first trip, we went with a group of Tom's co workers for just a quick one night trip to Horseshoe Springs. When we got to the location right off the bat....The truck AND trailer got stuck in the mud. Luckily help was there and we were able to get out. Tom turns the truck and trailer around and starts heading the other direction...yup got stuck again! In all the years that we have camped, we have NEVER gotten stuck before. This trip twice.
Second trip - Memorial Day weekend, Hub, Ellen, Tom and I are going to go somewhere but had no definite plans as to where as the weather was going to be questionable. So Friday afternoon we take off and head to Knowles. This is a ATV area in the west desert of Utah. It is a little windy but not so bad in the Salt Lake Valley. Get to the Tooele turn off and the signs says, "40 mile per hour winds for the next 40 miles." If you have ever pulled a trailer you know that this isn't a good sign, but westward we go, fighting the wind the entire way. Find our campspot and just hang out in the trailer. Saturday morning we get up and load the ATV's in the trucks and head to the Silver Island Mountains. We had a wonderful day riding in an area we had never been before. Once we got back to the trailers, Tom and Hub decide to go for another ride to check out different camping locations. They hadn't been gone all that long and Hub returns to tell me that Tom had been hurt. I jump on the back of Hub's ATV and off we go. I see Tom sitting in the sand and the ATV is off to one side. Somehow, he rolled the ATV. Luckily, two very kind men saw the rollover and raced to the rescue. They realized that one of the tires was on Tom's head and got the ATV off as quickly as possible. Hub was able to flag down a forest ranger, who called for the EMT's. From our location, the closest EMT's had to come from Wendover which was 40 miles away. Upon their arrival, it was determined that he needed more help than they could offer, so Life Flight was called. Long story short. Tom ended up with 8 broker ribs, a broken Scapula, a mild concussion, and very bruised lung. Once at the hospital, he had two surgeries, one to put metal brackets on 4 of the 8 ribs, the second to drain and clean out the lung. Tom spent 12 days in the hospital (2 in ICU), but is now home and doing GREAT!!!!
I can not express how grateful we are to the two total strangers who got the bike off of him, to all the medical personal who have worked on and with him, to our wonderful family and friends who have kept us in their thoughts and prayers through this situation. We are VERY, VERY blessed.
We are still planning on a trip to the Oregon Coast (yes we are taking the ATV's) and possibly a trip to Yellowstone in the fall.
