HCW

On the "great writer thing'??? Maybe its "God Breathed" like PFAL. :)--> :D--> --> LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Hope. I think there was only one or two people that didn't make the trip back on the plane. Don't know ho long they stayed.

Hellooo Out There! Thanks. Apology accepted. I've grown up some too. You're getting a little ahead on the story... but. Since you ask. After 10 years of chiropractic treatments I've regained more than an inch of my former height. However. I have been in pain every day of my life since then. So much so that I don't remember what it is like to not feel pain anywhere. BUT. You may remember that prior to the crash I was into martial arts. "Coincidentally..." the church I attend has a world class, multiple WORLD champion black belt in Kuk Sool Won as a member. He runs a class there at the church that I'm currently taking with my two sons. I will be ready to test for my Black Belt, at the same time my sons do, probably by this time next year.

GRRRRR......... Almost forgot the growl.

GRRRRR......... Almost forgot the growl.

On the bus to the airport we all dove into our sack lunches (again the SACK lunch!) at least these were better than your average WC sack lunch, and Craig led some singing of more of these wierd songs. He told some of his jokes too. He manages to come up with some new ones regularly; I don't know WHERE he he gets such stupid stuff. Some of it is actually clever though. At first I thought it was great the way he made sure we were occupied so that we didn't see the crash site as we drove by it. I wanted to see it though. I felt a little leery of the first part of the bus ride. So I'm wondering if it was probably not the best idea to see the site of the crash. I still wanted to though; I wanted to see it. I felt I NEEDED to see it to add a measure of reality to the waves of images that keep crashing into my mind. By now, days later, it seems more like a nightmare, a horror movie of an experience, than an actual thing that really happened. We had stayed at the lodge until getting the OK for some of the more critically injured to get the release to travel back. Most hospitalized were treated and released from emergency rooms. We didn't get to see the ones who were really hurt bad, we didn't get to visit them in the hospital. I was having trouble processing the whole thing without seeing stuff. It was exciting for us all that Craig brought Ambassador One to fly us back to Emporia. The thought of hitchhiking back actually crossed my mind at one point.......NAW! They better NOT do that to us! It was exciting & all that. It was kinda cool to be able to say we spent some time w/ Craig, but I really wanted, needed to go back to the site. I wanted to look at it. See the truck, touch it, climb around on it. I wanted to mourn the injuries THERE at the spot where it happened. More importantly. I wanted to stand there at the spot where we crashed and PRAY. Pray to God for quick recoveries, restored wholeness to fallen friends, mental soundness. I wanted to see that ravine that swallowed up our lives that day & spit us out so violently. I wanted to stand there, on the very spot and claim the VICTORY my buddy Gl@n spoke of. I was SO glad that Donnie told us what "they" thought of us. It was SO great that Kevin and he and the others ran LEAD 104 (Grrrr... "Growl when you say that buddy.") with an in your FACE!!!! attitude. I wanted to stand. On the VERY SPOT where the devil tried to KILL me; and my friends and SCREAM, at the TOP of my lungs, scream at the devil, all of us - - together, with attitude now: My arms, and my legs are like STEEL. My hands are like vice grips. My feet are like Hind's feet, And my mind is like CHRIST'S. I CAN do ALL things. LEAD 104!!!!!

On the bus to the airport we all dove into our sack lunches (again the SACK lunch!) at least these were better than your average WC sack lunch, and Craig led some singing of more of these wierd songs. He told some of his jokes too. He manages to come up with some new ones regularly; I don't know WHERE he he gets such stupid stuff. Some of it is actually clever though. At first I thought it was great the way he made sure we were occupied so that we didn't see the crash site as we drove by it. I wanted to see it though. I felt a little leery of the first part of the bus ride. So I'm wondering if it was probably not the best idea to see the site of the crash. I still wanted to though; I wanted to see it. I felt I NEEDED to see it to add a measure of reality to the waves of images that keep crashing into my mind. By now, days later, it seems more like a nightmare, a horror movie of an experience, than an actual thing that really happened. We had stayed at the lodge until getting the OK for some of the more critically injured to get the release to travel back. Most hospitalized were treated and released from emergency rooms. We didn't get to see the ones who were really hurt bad, we didn't get to visit them in the hospital. I was having trouble processing the whole thing without seeing stuff. It was exciting for us all that Craig brought Ambassador One to fly us back to Emporia. The thought of hitchhiking back actually crossed my mind at one point.......NAW! They better NOT do that to us! It was exciting & all that. It was kinda cool to be able to say we spent some time w/ Craig, but I really wanted, needed to go back to the site. I wanted to look at it. See the truck, touch it, climb around on it. I wanted to mourn the injuries THERE at the spot where it happened. More importantly. I wanted to stand there at the spot where we crashed and PRAY. Pray to God for quick recoveries, restored wholeness to fallen friends, mental soundness. I wanted to see that ravine that swallowed up our lives that day & spit us out so violently. I wanted to stand there, on the very spot and claim the VICTORY my buddy Gl@n spoke of. I was SO glad that Donnie told us what "they" thought of us. It was SO great that Kevin and he and the others ran LEAD 104 (Grrrr... "Growl when you say that buddy.") with an in your FACE!!!! attitude. I wanted to stand. On the VERY SPOT where the devil tried to KILL me; and my friends and SCREAM, at the TOP of my lungs, scream at the devil, all of us - - together, with attitude now: My arms, and my legs are like STEEL. My hands are like vice grips. My feet are like Hind's feet, And my mind is like CHRIST'S. I CAN do ALL things. LEAD 104!!!!!

In the morning we awoke to breakfast of granola & hot apple cider with people scurrying around for the trip home. We still didn't have all the details but it was something about Craig Martindale coming from HQ to bring us home. They told us to be ready to start the process of leaving at 7:am. My "invalids and other sick folk" as I called them were sitting around the table when Craig walked in and sat - directly accross the table from me. He was doing som miscellaneous stuff when W@yne S@ars (The full extent of W#yne's injuries was about four stitches on one of his fingers. He told me of how, right at the point of impact somebody had just hit the punchline of some really funny joke. He said, "One second I was busting out laughing, the next I was flying through the air like Superman. I saw the ground coming up at my face and said, OH, SH!T!!!! Closed my eyes & felt myself flip over, hit the ground and roll and land on my feet! My FINGER was bleeding, but I dunno how!) ...asked him (LCM) a question. That got him started. Many words and minutes flew by, there he was Pres. of TWI sitting with us "sharing" all this stuff. I wondered, thinking, he has found his "richest prize, Eyes that open and hearts that ask." At the time I felt "privileged" that he was spending time with us. He went on and on about "principle" and having it ingrained in a man's life and some detail of how to see it. This turned into an expose on "whats happening" around the campuses, tings like the Govenor of Kansas' visit to Emporia and the Kansas Board of Regents visting the campus. He said how impressed they were with our campus, etc. and their comments about it. This, that & the other thing. He droned on and on. Eventually he spoke of how Don Wierwille's educational philosophy is as unique to the world of Education as Dr.VPW's is to the world of Biblical research. It was like this beautiful music was playing then the record scratched.......>werereetpbt!" At that point he lost my attention, probably everyone else's too cause he wrapped up soon after that, excused himself & said he was gonna go eat a breakfast that, "could choke a horse."

In the morning we awoke to breakfast of granola & hot apple cider with people scurrying around for the trip home. We still didn't have all the details but it was something about Craig Martindale coming from HQ to bring us home. They told us to be ready to start the process of leaving at 7:am. My "invalids and other sick folk" as I called them were sitting around the table when Craig walked in and sat - directly accross the table from me. He was doing som miscellaneous stuff when W@yne S@ars (The full extent of W#yne's injuries was about four stitches on one of his fingers. He told me of how, right at the point of impact somebody had just hit the punchline of some really funny joke. He said, "One second I was busting out laughing, the next I was flying through the air like Superman. I saw the ground coming up at my face and said, OH, SH!T!!!! Closed my eyes & felt myself flip over, hit the ground and roll and land on my feet! My FINGER was bleeding, but I dunno how!) ...asked him (LCM) a question. That got him started. Many words and minutes flew by, there he was Pres. of TWI sitting with us "sharing" all this stuff. I wondered, thinking, he has found his "richest prize, Eyes that open and hearts that ask." At the time I felt "privileged" that he was spending time with us. He went on and on about "principle" and having it ingrained in a man's life and some detail of how to see it. This turned into an expose on "whats happening" around the campuses, tings like the Govenor of Kansas' visit to Emporia and the Kansas Board of Regents visting the campus. He said how impressed they were with our campus, etc. and their comments about it. This, that & the other thing. He droned on and on. Eventually he spoke of how Don Wierwille's educational philosophy is as unique to the world of Education as Dr.VPW's is to the world of Biblical research. It was like this beautiful music was playing then the record scratched.......>werereetpbt!" At that point he lost my attention, probably everyone else's too cause he wrapped up soon after that, excused himself & said he was gonna go eat a breakfast that, "could choke a horse."

Art and Ell!e both walked with me to a quiet room away from everything. They both offered their continued prayers for me and, "whatever help I can be to you...." They both had a very great look of concern on their faces, it really melted me. I assurred them, however that, "I'm more upset about what happened than injured ..." They gave me a sincere bit of a pet talk and the last thing Ell!e sad to me was, "...and don't be afraid to cry." She walked out and I burst in to tears. I lay down and soon fell off into a pretty restful sleep. Later Ell!e came in to check on me. She sat down and asked me what kinds of things was I thinking about. I told her of how I felt kinda responsible for what had happened. She immediately almost snapped it at me but firmly said, "But you're not." "I know that, but I've still had to fight those thoughts." I said. "Well." said she, "You've had quite a shock to your system. It hurts the mind a lot to see so many people you love hurt so badly." It did. It hurt terribly. Again the images from the scene. Flashbacks, Spielberg's bloody smile, Rochelle's hands moving revealing her skull, the sounds; it all crashed into my head in waves like at the ocean. I nodded my head in agreement. Then more tears streamed down my face as my head hung low. Through the sniffles I told her how I knew inside that I wasn't responsible, really, and the rest I was getting was helping me to deal with it & put the right thoughts into my mind. "Good." she said. Then after asking me if I felt I was ready to talk about some serious stuff. When I agreed she went into telling me some things she felt she knew about me, my life spiritually and how I had some sort of "special" call of God on me. She said she "felt" it when she got here about all of us involved in the wreck. "Satan wanted to snuff you out, as many of you as he could." I was like whoa. Pull up. She said she could "just feel it" that there was more to this particular accident than meets the eye. She asked me about the session, if there was anything wierd or whatever about it. I told her about the "weaker link" crap. "You're not ready to be Corps," BS that was said & how the LEAD staff was told to push us & break us & how this session was supposed to me "make it or break it" time for those of us on the session. Ell!e was the one who slapped me with this logic. "WHO are 'they' to say the YOU are not ready to go BACK to a job you've already done and excelled in. Think about that." she said. I know you I know what you're capable of. I knw what you've already done for God. If I was the devil, I'd try to kill you too. We need people like you around HQ. I don't know all of the kids in that truck but its a really good bet that most if not all of you are not the weakest of the Corps, I'd bet you're among the strongest. I agreed with that. When we were back at the campfire on Day One of the session & Donnie said something similar, I looked around at the group. I wish I had written all of their names in my journal, honestly, none of them would have made my "weakest link" list. Certainly not me!

Art and Ell!e both walked with me to a quiet room away from everything. They both offered their continued prayers for me and, "whatever help I can be to you...." They both had a very great look of concern on their faces, it really melted me. I assurred them, however that, "I'm more upset about what happened than injured ..." They gave me a sincere bit of a pet talk and the last thing Ell!e sad to me was, "...and don't be afraid to cry." She walked out and I burst in to tears. I lay down and soon fell off into a pretty restful sleep. Later Ell!e came in to check on me. She sat down and asked me what kinds of things was I thinking about. I told her of how I felt kinda responsible for what had happened. She immediately almost snapped it at me but firmly said, "But you're not." "I know that, but I've still had to fight those thoughts." I said. "Well." said she, "You've had quite a shock to your system. It hurts the mind a lot to see so many people you love hurt so badly." It did. It hurt terribly. Again the images from the scene. Flashbacks, Spielberg's bloody smile, Rochelle's hands moving revealing her skull, the sounds; it all crashed into my head in waves like at the ocean. I nodded my head in agreement. Then more tears streamed down my face as my head hung low. Through the sniffles I told her how I knew inside that I wasn't responsible, really, and the rest I was getting was helping me to deal with it & put the right thoughts into my mind. "Good." she said. Then after asking me if I felt I was ready to talk about some serious stuff. When I agreed she went into telling me some things she felt she knew about me, my life spiritually and how I had some sort of "special" call of God on me. She said she "felt" it when she got here about all of us involved in the wreck. "Satan wanted to snuff you out, as many of you as he could." I was like whoa. Pull up. She said she could "just feel it" that there was more to this particular accident than meets the eye. She asked me about the session, if there was anything wierd or whatever about it. I told her about the "weaker link" crap. "You're not ready to be Corps," BS that was said & how the LEAD staff was told to push us & break us & how this session was supposed to me "make it or break it" time for those of us on the session. Ell!e was the one who slapped me with this logic. "WHO are 'they' to say the YOU are not ready to go BACK to a job you've already done and excelled in. Think about that." she said. I know you I know what you're capable of. I knw what you've already done for God. If I was the devil, I'd try to kill you too. We need people like you around HQ. I don't know all of the kids in that truck but its a really good bet that most if not all of you are not the weakest of the Corps, I'd bet you're among the strongest. I agreed with that. When we were back at the campfire on Day One of the session & Donnie said something similar, I looked around at the group. I wish I had written all of their names in my journal, honestly, none of them would have made my "weakest link" list. Certainly not me!

Wondering. Yes. I'm gonna post what happened to Rochelle. Another friend of ours spent some time yesterday filling me in on some gaps that I had in the rest of her story. There's a chronological spot in the whole mix where it fits. I'll put it in there. BTW. I remember when you LEAD 105 guys arrived. It felt, to me, a LOT like an old cowboy movie when the calvary rides over the mountain. GOD, it was great to see you guys. Right now, though I gotta go. My youngest son is being honored at his school for perfect attendance and being on the Honor Roll. Actually, the Mayor of Dayton will be there too. Gotta go bye, see ya.

We were 'straight up' coping. At one point I was sanding to the beat of whatever stupid song (we had a stupid blast singing those stupid songs in residence). We embraced them and made em sound as stupid as we could. Anyways, I felt really weak, weaker and weaker as time passed. This wasn't more than an hour or so after the crash. ANd my sanding slowed, slower & slower & slower. I started feeling overwhelmed by responsibility. It hurt. My whole countenance wound down like a wind up toy slows. I was fighting tears... losing. They would overflow my eyes and drip drop onto the deck. All of life started slowing down, the noise faded into a soft, slow amalgamated murmur. I watched the tears I could wipe away fast enough fall, all the way to the deck as if from a rooftop all the way to the ground. Plop! They would splash, I could hear them hitting the deck, wiping my eyes, my face; sniffling. Pushing this stupid piece of sandpaper wrapped around this wood. Gl@nn Edm#nson walked up & kneeled next to me. "Maybe you should lay down for a while man..." He said. Laying down was the LAST thing I wanted to do. When I wasn't concentrating all those images; the blood puddles, the crying, et al. overwhelmed me. I didn't want to be by myself. My mind kept flashing back to the scene of the blood & the bodies strewn all over. I wouldn't go lay down, refused to. After a little more sanding with an almost hapless amount of strength. Art P@ling "ordered" me to lay down. He went and found a place for me to go. When he came back I pushed back. I didn't want to GO. I didn't want to CRY. I wanted to keep it together and stay together w/ my Corps Brothers & sisters. I felt I HAD to! I felt THEY needed me. My mind kept telling me stuff like that. Art insisted I go and lay down. "If they need you, you need to take some time for yourself, to get yourself put back together, so you can have some of yourself left over to give them." he said. I excused myself from the work crew. Art extended his hand, helped to get up and walked with me to where I laid down.

We were 'straight up' coping. At one point I was sanding to the beat of whatever stupid song (we had a stupid blast singing those stupid songs in residence). We embraced them and made em sound as stupid as we could. Anyways, I felt really weak, weaker and weaker as time passed. This wasn't more than an hour or so after the crash. ANd my sanding slowed, slower & slower & slower. I started feeling overwhelmed by responsibility. It hurt. My whole countenance wound down like a wind up toy slows. I was fighting tears... losing. They would overflow my eyes and drip drop onto the deck. All of life started slowing down, the noise faded into a soft, slow amalgamated murmur. I watched the tears I could wipe away fast enough fall, all the way to the deck as if from a rooftop all the way to the ground. Plop! They would splash, I could hear them hitting the deck, wiping my eyes, my face; sniffling. Pushing this stupid piece of sandpaper wrapped around this wood. Gl@nn Edm#nson walked up & kneeled next to me. "Maybe you should lay down for a while man..." He said. Laying down was the LAST thing I wanted to do. When I wasn't concentrating all those images; the blood puddles, the crying, et al. overwhelmed me. I didn't want to be by myself. My mind kept flashing back to the scene of the blood & the bodies strewn all over. I wouldn't go lay down, refused to. After a little more sanding with an almost hapless amount of strength. Art P@ling "ordered" me to lay down. He went and found a place for me to go. When he came back I pushed back. I didn't want to GO. I didn't want to CRY. I wanted to keep it together and stay together w/ my Corps Brothers & sisters. I felt I HAD to! I felt THEY needed me. My mind kept telling me stuff like that. Art insisted I go and lay down. "If they need you, you need to take some time for yourself, to get yourself put back together, so you can have some of yourself left over to give them." he said. I excused myself from the work crew. Art extended his hand, helped to get up and walked with me to where I laid down.

The ride in the truck was pretty solumn. Gl@nn Edm%nson was sitting across from me. He looked me right in the eye and said with his slightly southern accent, "This will be a great victory for us." I nodded. Hee reached out his hand & I took it with a firm 'CLAP' as our hands met. He took J@ne C*ssab@n's hand and I took my hitchin' partner Esth@r Cabr@rra's. We just held hands for a few seconds that seemed like 'forever.' We, together, felt a few moments of unity and "the peace of God." There wasn't a whole lot that could be said, we didn't say much. I felt that since I was in the center of the accident, that I should step up and "be there" for everybody else whether they were in the truck that wrecked or not. When we got back to the lodge, "coincidentally," Art P@ling and Ell!e W!lson were there. They had some ministry related reason for being there, Art was head of Way Builders and Ell!e was deep into health and nutrition stuff. I figured why the were there had to have something to do with that but, didn't care. I was happy to see THEM of all people. Art is a big, soft spoken, teddy bear kinda guy & Ell!e was a good friend. I'd spent a lot of time w/ Ell!e & husband J.Fr@d at their home in New Knoxville. It was comforting to see them in particular because I knew they wouldn't "beat us down" w/ "believing" BS like so many would do in situations like this. Art gently but firmly took control of the entire situation. We went to work, doing miscellaneous things & stuff around the lodge. "Might as well" Art said, "Sittin' around here looking at each other helplessly isn't gonna help anybody." We 11th, really felt we had to keep it together, for each other, for the 13th, and especially for our "walking wounded" and those in the hospitals. We prayed and went to work trying our best to be our normal, wild a$$ selves. Anybody who knows the 11th knows we were a really roudy, racous bunch. We'd be LOUD, out of control (in a fun way) but pull it together when it mattered. It REALLY mattered now. We felt that we could give the finger to Satan by returning to how we really were, now in the midst of this tragedy. I was working on a crew sanding the deck outside the lodge. We were singing and laughing and joking almost like we'd normally do but there was definitely a tension in the air.

The ride in the truck was pretty solumn. Gl@nn Edm%nson was sitting across from me. He looked me right in the eye and said with his slightly southern accent, "This will be a great victory for us." I nodded. Hee reached out his hand & I took it with a firm 'CLAP' as our hands met. He took J@ne C*ssab@n's hand and I took my hitchin' partner Esth@r Cabr@rra's. We just held hands for a few seconds that seemed like 'forever.' We, together, felt a few moments of unity and "the peace of God." There wasn't a whole lot that could be said, we didn't say much. I felt that since I was in the center of the accident, that I should step up and "be there" for everybody else whether they were in the truck that wrecked or not. When we got back to the lodge, "coincidentally," Art P@ling and Ell!e W!lson were there. They had some ministry related reason for being there, Art was head of Way Builders and Ell!e was deep into health and nutrition stuff. I figured why the were there had to have something to do with that but, didn't care. I was happy to see THEM of all people. Art is a big, soft spoken, teddy bear kinda guy & Ell!e was a good friend. I'd spent a lot of time w/ Ell!e & husband J.Fr@d at their home in New Knoxville. It was comforting to see them in particular because I knew they wouldn't "beat us down" w/ "believing" BS like so many would do in situations like this. Art gently but firmly took control of the entire situation. We went to work, doing miscellaneous things & stuff around the lodge. "Might as well" Art said, "Sittin' around here looking at each other helplessly isn't gonna help anybody." We 11th, really felt we had to keep it together, for each other, for the 13th, and especially for our "walking wounded" and those in the hospitals. We prayed and went to work trying our best to be our normal, wild a$$ selves. Anybody who knows the 11th knows we were a really roudy, racous bunch. We'd be LOUD, out of control (in a fun way) but pull it together when it mattered. It REALLY mattered now. We felt that we could give the finger to Satan by returning to how we really were, now in the midst of this tragedy. I was working on a crew sanding the deck outside the lodge. We were singing and laughing and joking almost like we'd normally do but there was definitely a tension in the air.

I really thought that this thread would be a short one, maybe a page or two or three. I'm kinda blown away at the response. It was surprising to me that I needed to take yesterday to recoup. I wanted to write this stuff in a way that would help people connect with the experience. What's happened is that this has become a sort of "In Memorial" kinda type thing not only for our friend Rochelle but for all of the "Rochelle's" out there. I'm thinking we should "let it all hang out." Today I feel like a toilet must feel after a good flush, if you catch my drift.

Before I continue. Thank you for your support. I really appreciate it. Don't worry. My skin is as thick as the armor on an M1-A1 battle tank. ___________________________ I answer to some questions. I actually DID "speak up" against what we were doing concerning the evaluation. Donnie S. & I were acquaintences, I knew who he was, respected him & I think vice versa. Kevin & I became pretty close, pretty quickly during 104 (Grrrr...). He was my twig coordinator, so we kinda lived together in the wilderness for about 10 days. Under the circumstances it was pretty easy to bond. It was our friendship that caused him/them to feel comfortable to ask me to go last in the evals. Kevin also said we needed to have some time to talk about "some things" about me, positive things. Our plan was to do the eval before leaving and have the conversation in the truck. When we were driving and he was holding the paper across the steering wheel I asked him if I could hold it for him. I conspicuously stared at the paper, he noticed me looking at the speedometer, then right in his eyes & kinda nodded at the seat. He shook his head, like "Yeah, this isn't smart." and put the paper on the seat. It was then that the accident happened. The whole thing was a few seconds. It was so quick, swerving a little, bouncing, sliding, Crash! That quick. Yes. I DID feel guilty. If I hadn't agreed to do the thing. If I had said, "This is crazy, we can't do this." If only I had...ANYTHING, maybe we wouldn't be trapped in a real life episode of the "Twilight Zone." If that huge crack in the ground hadn't been right there we would have pulled safely off the side of the road. A slit second earlier or later, we'd have missed it.

Rochelle survived her injuries from the accident and died in the summer of 83. If you think you're ....ed now....

Rochelle survived her injuries from the accident and died in the summer of 83. If you think you're ....ed now....

This is the FIRST time since the accident that I've shared the whole story with anyone. I actually never read the entire pieces from my journal either. I was up all night posting that stuff. Once I got into the flow I felt I should go with it. It was incredibly painful for me. I spent a good part of the day crying, connecting with the whole thing like that was hard.

This is the FIRST time since the accident that I've shared the whole story with anyone. I actually never read the entire pieces from my journal either. I was up all night posting that stuff. Once I got into the flow I felt I should go with it. It was incredibly painful for me. I spent a good part of the day crying, connecting with the whole thing like that was hard.

There's more. but I'm spent. later.

Paramedics started carting people off into the ambulances then Donnie and people from the LEAD lodge arrived. (This was pre cellphone days.) After a short while we got everybody everybody into ambulances and cleared most of the luggage away then Donnie told us that could walk to go back to the lEAD lodge. I went back to the other truck to get all belongingd, etc. then grabbed some sack suppers & left in the truck. ============================== Of the 16 people in the truck, 14 were riding in the pickup bed. They were having fun cracking jokes & stuff. Someone had just told the punchline of a joke when he hit the ravine. They had just burst into laughter moments before the truck hit the solid wall of earth and went from about 45-50 mph to zero in an instant. The truck went downward, twisting to its left while tipping foreward. This made some people scrunch together in the right front corner of the pickup bed. The trailer flipped up like a slingshot. Up over and foreward. Some people were catapaulted out of the truck, those that weren't scrunched. The trailer missed EVERYONE and hit the back of the cab, exploding on impact. There were people, luggage, backpacks & sack suppers splashed over the area. Fractions of seconds was the difference that saved MANY lives. One guy had actually been thrown from the truck, flipped over in mid air, hit the ground in a foreward roll position and landed on his feet! Some had a few cuts & scratches. others broken bones. We felt it was miraculous that the trailer didn't impact on snybody. Pieces of it cut people flying by them. No one was killed there at the scene.

Paramedics started carting people off into the ambulances then Donnie and people from the LEAD lodge arrived. (This was pre cellphone days.) After a short while we got everybody everybody into ambulances and cleared most of the luggage away then Donnie told us that could walk to go back to the lEAD lodge. I went back to the other truck to get all belongingd, etc. then grabbed some sack suppers & left in the truck. ============================== Of the 16 people in the truck, 14 were riding in the pickup bed. They were having fun cracking jokes & stuff. Someone had just told the punchline of a joke when he hit the ravine. They had just burst into laughter moments before the truck hit the solid wall of earth and went from about 45-50 mph to zero in an instant. The truck went downward, twisting to its left while tipping foreward. This made some people scrunch together in the right front corner of the pickup bed. The trailer flipped up like a slingshot. Up over and foreward. Some people were catapaulted out of the truck, those that weren't scrunched. The trailer missed EVERYONE and hit the back of the cab, exploding on impact. There were people, luggage, backpacks & sack suppers splashed over the area. Fractions of seconds was the difference that saved MANY lives. One guy had actually been thrown from the truck, flipped over in mid air, hit the ground in a foreward roll position and landed on his feet! Some had a few cuts & scratches. others broken bones. We felt it was miraculous that the trailer didn't impact on snybody. Pieces of it cut people flying by them. No one was killed there at the scene.