Well, it sure has been a long weekend. Our friend Tom Jurach (from Far-N-Gone) rolled his Sami coming off a ledge going down the Slabs and we had to evacuate him to a hospital.

I didn't see the actual roll, but he went ass over nose coming off a ledge that we have all done dozens of times. After the intial roll, the Sami rolled again on to its side. Let me just say that the worst thing you can hear over your CB is that a friend of yours just rolled and he was hurt badly. We had someone (I don't know who this person was, but a BIG THANKS) with prior EMT training around and my first glipse as Tom's head was a scary one. Lot's of visible bone and his right ear and scalp was pretty much pealed off his head. I knew that we had to haul ass down to Placerville. Gary Evans followed me all the way out of the Gatekeeper ( I heard that you hammered your bumper pretty good coming out Gary) and he and Shannon followed us all the way to Marshall hospital. Tom had Xrays and IV and painkiller, but Marshall was ill-equipped to handle the tissue reconstruction so he had to be transferred to Kaiser in Sac. Once I knew he was going to be OK, I drove home to Sac (up for 24 hours at this point) and slept for 3 or 4 hours.

Tom had over 300 stitches and had to have a plastic surgeon completely recontruct his ear canal and reattach everything where it was supposed to be. I was amazed by the relatively small amount of blood loss, considering most head injuries have a lot of blood involved. We figured out his speaker that is mounted on the center of the b-pillar roll bar was the culprit for the lacerations. I told tom he has until this coming weekend to remove it before I BFH that evil SOB

Saturday afternoon I recruited a friend to drive from Sacramento and retrieve Tom's Sami and tow rig from the Loon spillway. The problem was the we didn't know where the keys were. Actually we knew his keys were in his backpack, we just didn;t know where his backpack was. We assumed the Far-N-Gone guys had it and they were at Spider. So we hiked in to spider and when we got there, we were told that, no, the Far-N-Gone group was a Buck Island. We finally borrowed a strong CB and called for someone to bring us a back pack and were delivered the backpack at Little Sluice just after sunset on Sat. We borrowed a maglite (no moon) and hiked out. We got the sami loaded onto the trailer and I drove tom's tow rig and my friend drove my Tundra home. We got home at 2:30 AM.

So, I am really glad to have good friends in the wheeling community. Gary, you saved our bacon (for the second time) and we are so appreciative of you and Shannons help. Yes, we didn;t get very far into the Rubicon but we took a couple of bad situations and made the best of them.

One of the things that comes to mind in the back country is how to get EMT help and evacuation when something life-threatening happens. I will be investing into some HAM equipment and liceninsing and learning how to get in touch with proper authorities when things go wrong (and they do).

http://home.attbi.com/~6mach9/rolled_Sami.jpg

hmmm, glad everythign is safe. wierd though cuz keith and i left teh sluice at sun down and drove all teh way out and saw no one untill we got to teh spillway where we saw some peopel putting a tent up.

another scary roll in teh box by a EB going off the turn out in teh wrong spot. they were fine though, just a little shacken up. jiMMy

WOW that is one hell of a story. I hope your friend is doing well. You are very rite about being far away from help when some one gets hurt. It is a very scary thing!!! But it sounds like you guys and gals handled it very well and your freind is alive because of it!!! Good job and some one should pat you on the back and get you a beer!!!

Originally posted by The Jerk
hmmm, glad everythign is safe. wierd though cuz keith and i left teh sluice at sun down and drove all teh way out and saw no one untill we got to teh spillway where we saw some peopel putting a tent up.

another scary roll in teh box by a EB going off the turn out in teh wrong spot. they were fine though, just a little shacken up. jiMMy

Jimmy, we saw that EB go over, HARD! It kinda of scared me considering everything that we dealt with the previous night. I think we were walking behind you leaving the con. We were hoping to catch someone and get a ride out. Usually I can walk faster than I can drive and I kept following the sound of a healthy V8 hoping we would catch them. If that was you, you sure were making good time ;)

SeanP

Wearing helmets while fully gettin it is starting to look like a real good idea ;)

Glad everybody came out relitively OK;)

Originally posted by Mustard Dog
Wearing helmets while fully gettin it is starting to look like a real good idea ;)

Glad everybody came out relitively OK;)

I have been thinkin the same thing.... I really worry about my 5 year old and am begining to think that helmets of some sort is a good idea.

Originally posted by SeanP


Jimmy, we saw that EB go over, HARD! It kinda of scared me considering everything that we dealt with the previous night. I think we were walking behind you leaving the con. We were hoping to catch someone and get a ride out. Usually I can walk faster than I can drive and I kept following the sound of a healthy V8 hoping we would catch them. If that was you, you sure were making good time ;)

SeanP yeah we were in keiths jeep, just did a day run(blue cj winching teh bko up) we hauled ass out and had room for you too, sorry, but i bet teh walk out was romantic, lol, j/k jiMMy

what color was the bronco?

Originally posted by Mustard Dog
Wearing helmets while fully gettin it is starting to look like a real good idea ;)

Glad everybody came out relitively OK;)

I do believe Lance started up a thread a while back stating the
same thing. If you're "gettin it", wear a helmet.

Sean, sorry to hear bout your Bro. Glad he'll be ok.

Some 1st aid training and proper equipment is a must in the backcountry and on the trail. It's an issue all wheelers should be concious of.

Originally posted by SeanP


Saturday afternoon I recruited a friend to drive from Sacramento and retrieve Tom's Sami and tow rig from the Loon spillway. The problem was the we didn't know where the keys were. Actually we knew his keys were in his backpack, we just didn;t know where his backpack was. We assumed the Far-N-Gone guys had it and they were at Spider. So we hiked in to spider and when we got there, we were told that, no, the Far-N-Gone group was a Buck Island. We finally borrowed a strong CB and called for someone to bring us a back pack and were delivered the backpack at Little Sluice just after sunset on Sat.


I was in the group that you borrowed the cb from.. I think it was Mike D's cb you used, hes on the board, just not as a member. Its always hard to hear a fellow wheeler being hurt. Im glad he will be alright tho

So what happened exactly?? Did something come loose in the rig and hit him??

My buddy rolled his jeep a few years back and his ammo can came up and gave him an ever lasting empression. SCARY!!

Glad to hear he will be OK. :D

Originally posted by SanDiegoCJ


I do believe Lance started up a thread a while back stating the
same thing. If you're "gettin it", wear a helmet.

I remember that thread Gary, I also remember alot of people blowing off the idea like "Yeah sure, whatever". I think this is a good example of what can happen. I've already tossed the halfshell I used to use on my Harley in the back of the rig. It's really no different than a hat.;)

There were so many times when I've been on those slabs, clenchin cheeks!! Some of those ledges are ruthless, not to mention wheeling them at night. Its so easy to misjudge the steepness. I'm not sure I could wear a helmet for 6-10 hours straight wheelin but I think its extremely important to have all your sh!t strapped down and secure. I'm glad your buddy is ok!! :D

I was in the group of EB's. The EB that rolled going into the little sluice was dark blue. Too bad. He has several EB's but that was his cleanest one. It was damn near perfect about 2 months ago. Even had bondo over the welds to smooth them out. It's a trail rig now!

-Jack

On behalf of myself and the rest of Far-n-Gone members, we want to thank Gilligan and his friend once again for helping patch up our buddy Tom.:beer: :beer: :beer:

Originally posted by Albino Man
On behalf of myself and the rest of Far-n-Gone members, we want to thank Gilligan and his friend once again for helping patch up our buddy Tom.:beer: :beer: :beer:

That's right, it was Gilligan. Anyone know his real name or rig or anything? Be nice to post a pic and give him some kudos.

Sean

It was a real downer to hear what happened. I know we were all looking forward to seeing him. Another downer was how excited he was to get the Zuk back out now that he has all new running gear and how hard he worked to get it ready to go just to get the smakdown like that. I know everyone is pulling for him and a speedy recovery and would like to thank all those who helped out my good friend Tom.

Oh yeah, if anybody "found" the blue cooler pictured above at the camp ground just before Little Sluice, it would be cool if Tom got it back. You can keep the beers :)

Sorry your buddy got hurt, You would have seen me at this event, but I was working Medical at Sierra Trek. My best wishes to him.

All please re-read my posting.....


http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=62168&referrerid=1535


Hope this link works never tried it like this


SAR_Sammy
Mike
El Dorado County Search & Rescue

Originally posted by SeanP


That's right, it was Gilligan. Anyone know his real name or rig or anything? Be nice to post a pic and give him some kudos.

Sean his name is kenny, lives in citrus hieghts i belive. cool cat indeed. i have his number if youd like to call and thank him or something, he doesnt have a puter! jiMMy

Glad to hear that he's going to be alright. I ran into you getting up to the spillway on my way out. Unfortunately my CB wasn't able to get out that far.

Glad to see your bro is doing better. Maybe for some of us that aren't going to wear a helmet you should at least look inside the cab of your rig and find and remove or soften what will tear you up. You said the radio speaker is what ripped his head up right?

I also have been thinking the helmet route when doing it....I am glad you pal is doing well...the whole going over is scary as hell...I hope that this coming up (Malrin Roundup) and all other outings are eventless in injuries....

Sorry to hear about your friend. We've wheeled over the slabs many a time, however, we always take the high side. Am I a whoosh? Well yeah, I just can't get the idea through my head that I should drive 4 hours to the trail head, make it through the gatekeeper, then watch my rig roll down the slabs for some stupid mistake. I have witnessed several roll-overs on the slabs--problem with the slabs are, there isn't anything there to stop you when you do roll.

I take the high road and you take the low road, and I'll meet you some where inbetween.

Hope your friend recovers....

theres only 1 way to thank gilligan,:beer: :beer: :beer:

oh yeah and i found that he likes tri tip as well :D

Hey, gang,

Thanks for the support. I am fine.. getting better, every day. Can't wait to get back on the rocks.. this weekend on Fordyce. I can't wait.

One thing for sure.. I cherish every day and am glad I don't have a 6000 pound Jeep (I am not Jeep bashing). The 2500 pound Sammy nearly crushed me. The extra 3500 pounds woudl have most likely sent me 6 feet under.

Gilligan, Thanks for stufing my ear back in my head. The plastic surgeon had everythign she needed to make me one, again. I hope to never repay the favor (for obvious reasons), but I owe you big time.

Thank you for the quick reaction and teamwork of all involved. Had it not been for all of those around me, the situation would have inevitably been worse.

I am forever grateful,

Tom

PS I don't think "This will never hapen to me." anymore. It did. My .02.... always be aware rocks or roads. Your life can dramatically change in a matter of a few seconds.

Originally posted by TommyJ
.................

Gilligan, Thanks for stufing my ear back in my head...................
................iky!!........Good to hear you are ok, don't know if you remember me, I have the black sammy with the 4.3 and toy axles, I saw ya at the bottom of walker a few months ago, stoped and talked, you had fubared the front leafs, think that was you:confused: :flipoff2: ...............I think I know where you rolled, I started down, and my passenger said you will "endo I'm getting out!" so I backed out and went around:eek:

Tom, good to hear you're doing better. You looked a little(understatement!) swollen when I met you at SeanP's place the other weekend.
Take care.

Jes