My 3rd Gen Friends
All of the loose ends were tied. I replaced my PIAA 510 bulbs, installed my wireless remote on the Winch, cleaned the MAF, replaced the air filter, gave it a bath with a bit of polish and just finished installing my two "patches".
This year, my plan was to meet up in Coos Bay on July 4th with a colleague and friend of mine along with some members of our T4R community to do the OBDR. [MENTION=132734]MeefZah[/MENTION] [MENTION=89794]BackOff[/MENTION] [MENTION=63700]Rcastle[/MENTION] [MENTION=166847]K7CWJ[/MENTION] Needless to say, we were all extremely excited. This is such an amazing group and would have been a fantastic trip.
I had just finished putting photos of my family among my patch collection when I decided to turn my phone on and take a picture. You see, I've never been on a vacation without my family since my kiddos were born and last year when I did the WABDR I had my boys and my wife with me. I wanted to see them each and every mile of the way as a constant reminder to me as to what I truly live for - my family.
Court and I are postponing our trip for a later date, hopefully with this amazing team and perhaps others from our community. Court and I received a heartbreaking text this morning and needless to say, we are ridden with grief as we lost a friend and colleague of more than 15 years in a car accident last night.
Life is so fragile my friends, please cherish those you love with every waking breath you have. Wishing you a wonderful 4th of July with your friends and family.
Our journey was to take us from Hauser (Coos Bay) across Oregon and up to Walla Walla. We planned on doing it in 8 days. We had chainsaws ready to go and Court painstakingly added this route along with all possible bypasses in the event of snow.
The back of 4Runner was exceptionally well prepared for this journey. Four Wolfpack boxes. One with spare fluids and 3 qts of Stihl pre-mixed fuel. A second with recovery gear, a third with my dry goods and what not, and a final every day box with utensils, small burner etc. Since my MOAB trip I installed a slide for the 63qt fridge.
I had just rearranged my patches so I could put my family at the forefront. I wanted to be reminded of how important they are to me and that my decisions effect them as well as the team. I wanted them along with me on this trip at least in my sights.
This was my final photo for the day as I begin to break everything down and try to come to terms with the loss of our friend.
Not the text you ever want to see.
