Hi friends,
We'd like to share this pretty unbelievable story about a recent and unfortunate occurrence that happened to our dear friend Jeff. One that gives you every type of emotion. After borrowing my truck many years ago (6 to be exact) during the infamous Stullogan wedding-weekend, Jeff was in love. He wanted that truck. After promising him my Toyota Tacoma all that time ago, I was finally ready to sell it to him. He and Mike had been discussing the possibilities of the road trip that would follow the sale for years, and it was finally coming true. They had planned their dream road trip from San Diego to Bend down to every crumb they would eat and every drop they would drink. They were so pumped! Jeff booked his ticket and it was set. The week before Jeff arrived, mine and Mike's baby girl (cattle dog) Khya tore several ligaments in her knee, and had to have an emergency surgery. After a few days of caring for her, it was apparent that she required 24-hour care and constant supervision, leading us to the unfortunate decision that they had to cancel their big adventure.

   Jeff still flew down on Monday April 23rd and we got to spend some quality time together eating and drinking of course. He stocked up on all sorts of things since he had space to take whatever he wanted back to with him to Bend. Khya had taken a good turn and with the help of our amazing dog walker, Mike was able to go up with Jeff for one night to eat and explore in LA. From there Jeff took on the rest of the trip alone. He stopped in Big Sur for a night, then San Fran where he got to see and hang with a good friend Chris Franck. He was on cloud 9, new truck, awesome trip up the coast, and couldn't be more excited to get home to his love Maura. 

   At the tip of California, about 2 & 1/2 hours from Bend, an intense hail storm started, and the truck hydroplaned at 60 mph thru oncoming traffic and went off the road into an embankment where it then flipped 6 times. Miraculously Jeff remained conscious, and crawled out of the passenger side window,  in an attempt to distance himself from the vehicle in case of an explosion or fire. He managed to walk away with only a minor concussion and some bumps and bruises. There was an amazing couple behind him that witnessed the entirety of his horrific accident and pulled off the road to help our friend. They comforted Jeff, called 911, and waited with him while the tow truck came. As luck would have it, they just happened to be on their way to Bend too, and offered to take him home to his anxiously awaiting Mars. The truck however, was completely totaled would not be making its way back to its new home.

  Jeff called us while this was all happening, and the emotions surrounding it were all over the place. We were so happy he was ok! That he was alive!, and getting help, but so sad that after years of waiting to make this trip to get his new car, that it wouldn't even make it home. The idea that life is just crazy, and fragile, and sometimes heart-breaking. It is such an unbelievable and unimaginable scenario. We are so happy beyond belief that our friend is alive, yet we are so sad that this was the outcome. What are the odds? The only way we have been able to make any "positive" sense of this is that it had to happen like this to possibly prevent something worse from happening. What if it happened a mile further down the road, or if Mike had made the trip? What if Mars and his babies Billy and Nori were with him, or in the winter in Bend when the roads are icy...? No other scenario would have everyone walking away. I cry even thinking of any other outcome, but try to find comfort that it was meant to happen, and that that truck SAVED his life.  It's the only way to make sense of it all.

With that all being said, our buddy's insurance did not cover the accident. The sad aftermath now leaves Jeff with nothing but time and money lost, but no new car. To add insult to injury he's also liable for towing and storage for his new totaled truck. We put this together to try to recover some of the loss for our buddy. We all know Jeff, we all know he will hate the idea of this, but it's the only thing we could think of that could help our friend. This money will cover the loss of the truck purchased and hopefully help in getting our friend a new one.

We are hoping we can lift his spirits a little bit. Please pass this along to any friends and family of interest. THANK YOU!