Diane and I are in Gillette Wyoming at Big Daddy’s Garage. We have had an intense morning.
Before you read this please know we are fine, just as bit shaken up.
We left Casper around 4:30 am trying to get to Deadwood early. When we got about 65 miles from nowhere we hit a buck.
When I pulled over to assess the damage, which was considerable, we noticed a small flame in the engine compartment. I had a first extinguisher and got most of it out, but with the wind blowing it was acting as a bellows. No matter what I did I simply could not dampen the flames.
At some point we decided to abandon ship, luckily as it worked out. We were able to get all the essential items out of the car before it was completely engulfed in flames.
I was even able to detach the trailer from the the Range Rover and push it far enough away so that we didn’t lose that and the Healey too.
While I was getting the big stuff out of the car Diane miraculously got off a 911 call. That was the only time we had decent cell reception.
As a city dweller I could not believe how dark and far away we were from absolutely everything. It took the fire fighters over an hour to get there and the wrecker three hours.
When I was wrestling the trailer off the Range Rover a young fella stopped and gave me a hand getting the trailer further away which probably saved the car and trailer.
Another young man, Benjamin Moore, stopped and waited with us until the wrecker came and towed our Healey and trailer away. This gave us shelter from the winds of the High Plains.
Our friends Lon Bender, and Louis and Bonnie Fisher came down from Deadwood in Lon’s rented Ram Pickup, The other Healey folks already arranged for transporting the Healey home.
The wife of the tow truck driver took me to Walmart where I bought towing apparatus to outfit Lon’s renta Ram.
There is no putting lip stick on this pig, but the kindness of so many people have brought us such comfort.
Cowboys, Canyons and Cars 
Hi Jeff and Diane –
WOW ! I’m certainly happy to read that you’re OK. This is hard to believe – even seeing your photo. It’s also hard to believe that you’re so matter-of-fact about it. I think that I would be much more shaken. At the least, you guys are a shoo-in for this Conclave’s Hard Luck award. And, things can only get better from here on. Can we assume that you had BBQ’d venison for lunch?
Well, enjoy the good parts of this adventure and be safe.
Bill
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Oh my gosh, how incredibly frightening! I am so relieved to hear that there were no injuries & that the Healey & trailer survived. What happened to the buck? Your photograph really captures how intense the fire was, there is just a pile of ash remaining. R.I.P. Range Rover.
Love Always
PS. Steve knows that stretch of highway from when they lived in Wyoming. Shannon was born in Douglas.
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Yes. We were lucky. Right before we hit him the buck put his rack down and faced us. He destroyed the right front of the car and flipped off the right front fender. Thank God he didn’t go through the windshield.
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OMG! We haven’t been able to get the blog until Katie sent them tonight. So thankful you both are ok, Will read the rest to see how it turned out but what stories you can tell, Randy
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