Yesterday, Dec 14th, was our "good deed" day. It started on Monday when I drove from Kalispell to Hamilton MT and picked up two dogs for the English Springer Spaniel Rescue group (one springer, one clumber) and returned home with them. After a short night with two strange dogs in the house that wanted out every couple hours we got up at 5 AM to take them on to another foster home in Spokane WA.
An hour into the trip all the dogs were expressing a need to be out, so we stopped on top of the pass near Hot Springs MT and let them play in the snow for a few minutes before loading up and moving on... about 45 min later one of the dogs again wanted out so we stopped at a wide spot along the Clarks Fork and took the one rescue out on a leash... putting her back in, the clumber jumped/ fell out of the Suburban and took off down the parking spot... Lucky for us she did come back with only a bit of calling, begging and very little swearing.
Getting back in I knew I would not want my coat on for the rest of the trip to Spokane so removed it before getting back in (it will be important to know that later-trust me.)
Arriving in Spokane Valley, we stopped at the rest area in Post Falls to walk our own dogs knowing they would not get out at the foster care house. We drove to the foster care home for these dogs for the next two days and had a delightful conversation with the man (Bill Murphy) we met there. A retired military man, he had just recently got into the rescuing of dogs and was having a blast!
We left his house to start our Christmas shopping at Harbor Freight where when I got out, I discovered that I didn't have a phone on my belt anymore... retrace steps to Bill's house, but no phone there. If it had fallen out at the rest area we could only hope it would be picked up by an honest person that would turn it in to the police and we would get it back.
Giving up on any thoughts of bad things, we continued our shopping at Woodworkers Supply, Cabela's, etc.. and headed home. Stopping at the turn out we had walked the dogs and I had taken off my coat, there was my phone, inches from our tracks (I missed it) and a foot from a set of semi-truck tracks.. WHEW! The cold had drained the battery and it died while I was listening to my messages.
Happy that we had found the phone, we headed on toward home. A few miles on down the road we made the right turn at Plains MT and headed for Flathead Lake. A couple miles up the hill a man is standing in the middle of the road (it is now Very dark) and flagging down cars. The pickup in front of us nearly hit him but went on when he saw us stop.
The man told us that his pickup had slid off his driveway and there were two women in it that were hurt, could we call 911? Well, no our phone is dead... obviously upset he headed down the road toward the nearest house.. we told him we would return to Plains and call for help.
From the Subway store Lynn called 911 and we headed back to the scene. Once there we saw another car on the side with the man talking to them. Now Very upset he wants to go to the women and help them. We give him our blankets from our emergency kit and my flashlight and he heads across a field that we know ends at the base of a steep hill.. Thinking "NO WAY" I pulled the Suburban into the driveway of the house (no one home) and shined my lights on the hill.. sure enough, there were tracks down the hill/ cliff!!!He had slid off the road, got the pickup to stop for a second and told them to bail out as he jumped out the driver's door, they did not make it out.. this is a good 1/4 mile hill and too steep to even walk up in the snow on the ground. Had it rolled instead of coming straight down the outcome would not have been as good!
I had just gotten out and was digging out our mag light from the concole when the first ambulance drove by on the highway.. Waving them down with the light I had them drive through the field to the crash sight and left Lynn there to direct the rest of the crews to us..
The two women were out of the pickup by the time I walked over.. one Very serious, one hurt , but not as bad.. Soon there were EMT's and volunteer firemen all over.. we worked fast and furious for a few minute to get the women on back boards and in the ambulance. The first one to be flown out by Life Flight once she was stable and at the hospital. They were SO lucky that the pickup did not roll...
After the two women and the man had left for the hospital we reclaimed our flashlights from the crew and headed on our way with good deed number two done for the day!
Before going the last few blocks to home we stopped to buy lottery tickets, figuring if we had ever gained enough Brownie points for some good luck on our part, this was the day!
If I find out how the women are doing I'll let everyone know.. nothing on the news last night or this morning and nothing in the local paper...