Dear fellow adventures,
I have a sad story to share and the length of this post will do it no justice. At the end I will ask for advice or possibly even for a good ol' fashioned helping hand. So here it is...
Years ago one of my friends promised to introduce me to her boyfriend as soon as he got back to the mainland. Jimmy was a Merchant Marine, and sailed the seas 3 months at a time. She told me, "Jimmy is going to be your new best friend!"--and he was.
Jimmy was an adventure extraordinaire, extreme skier; I remember the first time I saw him huck a back flip off a cornice...it was epic, and yet no biggie. He loved mountain biking, and cyclocross, traveling, and most of all his wife and son. If you didn't have a beer in your hand (poured in a frost mug from Jimmy's home grown kegerator) within 2 minutes of walking through their door then the house was probably on fire or more than likely he was filling someone glass who beat you there. You see there was always someone there, because once you met Jimmy you were best friends, at least that is how he made you feel.
When I bought my FourWheel camper we talked endlessly about the restoration I was doing and he dreamed of finding an Alaskan Camper and then the conversations turned to the adventures we would have, the ski slopes we would visit, the Baja trip and on and on and on....Jimmy finally got his camper last fall...we never made it on any of those adventures.
This could go on and on but let us fast forward to March 22, 2012. Jimmy and 3 friends were doing a very normal night ski at Ski Bowl, something that he and thousands of us have done countless times, when in the blink of an eye our lives forever changed...Jimmy struck a tree, fell in the tree well, was buried in the snow and lost his life on the slopes. He was 38.
The story is more tragic still. When Jimmy died his wife was 8 months pregnant with their second boy. She gave birth to James William Jr. on May 3rd. He is perfect.
Two weeks prior to his death Jimmy and I were starting to talk about summer plans for getting out in the campers. Our wives (who are very close as well) were excited at the prospect of camping in relative comfort.
So here we are entering September and my good friend wants to make use of her camper and get her boys out camping but is overwhelmed at the idea of having to learn how to load and use the camper. Though I have seen their Alaskan and been in it I have no experience in loading and securing it to the truck. My FourWheel is old and secures through the floor and so I'm out of my element. My wife and I are going to do everything in our power to help her carry on Jimmy's spirit of adventure.
We all unexpectedly have this coming weekend free and so I am reaching out to the WTW community for help. I am open to reply's on the forum, phone calls (PM me for my number is interested), and if there is one among you that has a spare couple of hours to help me get this loaded....well, there will be a frosty cold one poured from the kegerator for ya. The camper is located in the Mount Tabor area a Portland.
Cheers
RIP Jimmy
I have a sad story to share and the length of this post will do it no justice. At the end I will ask for advice or possibly even for a good ol' fashioned helping hand. So here it is...
Years ago one of my friends promised to introduce me to her boyfriend as soon as he got back to the mainland. Jimmy was a Merchant Marine, and sailed the seas 3 months at a time. She told me, "Jimmy is going to be your new best friend!"--and he was.
Jimmy was an adventure extraordinaire, extreme skier; I remember the first time I saw him huck a back flip off a cornice...it was epic, and yet no biggie. He loved mountain biking, and cyclocross, traveling, and most of all his wife and son. If you didn't have a beer in your hand (poured in a frost mug from Jimmy's home grown kegerator) within 2 minutes of walking through their door then the house was probably on fire or more than likely he was filling someone glass who beat you there. You see there was always someone there, because once you met Jimmy you were best friends, at least that is how he made you feel.
When I bought my FourWheel camper we talked endlessly about the restoration I was doing and he dreamed of finding an Alaskan Camper and then the conversations turned to the adventures we would have, the ski slopes we would visit, the Baja trip and on and on and on....Jimmy finally got his camper last fall...we never made it on any of those adventures.
This could go on and on but let us fast forward to March 22, 2012. Jimmy and 3 friends were doing a very normal night ski at Ski Bowl, something that he and thousands of us have done countless times, when in the blink of an eye our lives forever changed...Jimmy struck a tree, fell in the tree well, was buried in the snow and lost his life on the slopes. He was 38.
The story is more tragic still. When Jimmy died his wife was 8 months pregnant with their second boy. She gave birth to James William Jr. on May 3rd. He is perfect.
Two weeks prior to his death Jimmy and I were starting to talk about summer plans for getting out in the campers. Our wives (who are very close as well) were excited at the prospect of camping in relative comfort.
So here we are entering September and my good friend wants to make use of her camper and get her boys out camping but is overwhelmed at the idea of having to learn how to load and use the camper. Though I have seen their Alaskan and been in it I have no experience in loading and securing it to the truck. My FourWheel is old and secures through the floor and so I'm out of my element. My wife and I are going to do everything in our power to help her carry on Jimmy's spirit of adventure.
We all unexpectedly have this coming weekend free and so I am reaching out to the WTW community for help. I am open to reply's on the forum, phone calls (PM me for my number is interested), and if there is one among you that has a spare couple of hours to help me get this loaded....well, there will be a frosty cold one poured from the kegerator for ya. The camper is located in the Mount Tabor area a Portland.
Cheers
RIP Jimmy
