Connie and I headed down Friday, got the boat out of storage, gassed up and ready to go out Sat. morning. The weather was beautiful, nice breeze, never even turned on the AC all weekend. Made a bunch of bait Sat. morning and headed to the 51. Connie landed a nice white seabass on her first drop with a live mack. We picked up a few goldspots, some whitefish, but overall the fishing was fairly slow. Hit the 53, only scorpionfish, not the usual 2 at a time hawg goldspots. Stopped at Witch's Hat coming back in, a couple more goldspot, but that was it.
Had dinner at La Curva both nights and it was great to see a fair crowd and our "familia" there. They cooked up the scorpionfish for us (butter garlic) and whitefish fillets (breaded). Yummy nom-noms!!
We left RP about 9:30 Sunday, border no hassle at all, headed up the road from there. We usually take the back route from Gila Bend on 238 over to Maricopa. It's a pretty drive, but definitely a more dangerous road, as was proven again yesterday. As we rounded the last series of curves before coming to Mobile, I saw what I thought was a huge dust devil and then black smoke in it, about 1/2 mile ahead. I'm still trying to forget the image of coming up on the scene.
A young guy, maybe late 20's named Michael (from Peoria), had veered off the road, traveled several hundred yards along the gully, taking out fence posts and barbwire, then came back onto the road and apparently lost it. The truck had flipped and thrown him out and was on fire, he was laying in the middle of the road. As we were approaching, a small pug dog came running up the road towards us - his dog. We tried to grab it, but it jumped into the car of the people that pulled up behind us. It was singed from the fire.
I'm not sure what it is, but suspect so many years in the Navy flips a switch in me when encountering something like this. I immediately ran over to the guy, someone else was walking away from him as the fire from the truck was intensifying. He was only about 10 yards from the truck. Is there anybody else in the truck? No. Is he still alive? Barely breathing, no movement. Ran back to my truck, Connie, gimme a blanket out of the back seat (always have two Mexican blankets in the back seat). Ran back to Michael. By now, more guys had arrived on the scene. You, you, and you, get over here. Help me get him on the blanket and get him away from this truck before it blows. I know you should never move someone that's injured, but I wasn't about to watch him fry in the middle of the highway. We picked him up in the blanket and got him a safe distance from the truck, which was now a raging fire, popping and exploding. One of the guys was an off-duty EMT. Another guy went and got a canvas tarp from his truck and several people held it up for shade. Michael was in pretty bad shape. A burn on the arm with blackened skin peeling off. Cut to the back of the head. Bloody saliva from mouth and nose. We held his head to keep him from moving it and same with his legs. He seemed to be slipping in and out, but was occasionally responsive when we talked to him.
This is a bad place to be in a wreck. You are far away from any kind of help. We did the best we could until emergency crews arrived and took over. They got him stabilized and sedated, then the Life Flight chopper arrived. I have to say, the two Life Flight doctors were two of the most professional I've ever seen in action. They got him stabilized and aboard the chopper very quickly. The sheriff said the road would be shut for several hours - the fatality team was on it's way to do an investigation. We turned around and drove back to Gila Bend, then came to Phoenix on I-8.
Today, the whole thing is still haunting me. I don't know if Michael made it or not and I have no way of finding out. He is in my prayers.
People, please. Slow down and be very careful out there.
Had dinner at La Curva both nights and it was great to see a fair crowd and our "familia" there. They cooked up the scorpionfish for us (butter garlic) and whitefish fillets (breaded). Yummy nom-noms!!
We left RP about 9:30 Sunday, border no hassle at all, headed up the road from there. We usually take the back route from Gila Bend on 238 over to Maricopa. It's a pretty drive, but definitely a more dangerous road, as was proven again yesterday. As we rounded the last series of curves before coming to Mobile, I saw what I thought was a huge dust devil and then black smoke in it, about 1/2 mile ahead. I'm still trying to forget the image of coming up on the scene.
A young guy, maybe late 20's named Michael (from Peoria), had veered off the road, traveled several hundred yards along the gully, taking out fence posts and barbwire, then came back onto the road and apparently lost it. The truck had flipped and thrown him out and was on fire, he was laying in the middle of the road. As we were approaching, a small pug dog came running up the road towards us - his dog. We tried to grab it, but it jumped into the car of the people that pulled up behind us. It was singed from the fire.
I'm not sure what it is, but suspect so many years in the Navy flips a switch in me when encountering something like this. I immediately ran over to the guy, someone else was walking away from him as the fire from the truck was intensifying. He was only about 10 yards from the truck. Is there anybody else in the truck? No. Is he still alive? Barely breathing, no movement. Ran back to my truck, Connie, gimme a blanket out of the back seat (always have two Mexican blankets in the back seat). Ran back to Michael. By now, more guys had arrived on the scene. You, you, and you, get over here. Help me get him on the blanket and get him away from this truck before it blows. I know you should never move someone that's injured, but I wasn't about to watch him fry in the middle of the highway. We picked him up in the blanket and got him a safe distance from the truck, which was now a raging fire, popping and exploding. One of the guys was an off-duty EMT. Another guy went and got a canvas tarp from his truck and several people held it up for shade. Michael was in pretty bad shape. A burn on the arm with blackened skin peeling off. Cut to the back of the head. Bloody saliva from mouth and nose. We held his head to keep him from moving it and same with his legs. He seemed to be slipping in and out, but was occasionally responsive when we talked to him.
This is a bad place to be in a wreck. You are far away from any kind of help. We did the best we could until emergency crews arrived and took over. They got him stabilized and sedated, then the Life Flight chopper arrived. I have to say, the two Life Flight doctors were two of the most professional I've ever seen in action. They got him stabilized and aboard the chopper very quickly. The sheriff said the road would be shut for several hours - the fatality team was on it's way to do an investigation. We turned around and drove back to Gila Bend, then came to Phoenix on I-8.
Today, the whole thing is still haunting me. I don't know if Michael made it or not and I have no way of finding out. He is in my prayers.
People, please. Slow down and be very careful out there.
