1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,120 So you were kayaking, this is out of your yard like you have 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,040 access to a river or how did this work? 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:11,000 So our house sits up high on a hill and we have a dry Creek bed 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,360 that wraps around the property like that. 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,360 Normally it's dry, it's just rock. 6 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:18,680 But when it rains, it gets water in it. 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,720 So, you know, usually the water is like, I don't know, like 8 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:27,520 that. But that particular day, we had 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,760 been out there exploring with our son. 10 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,920 He had these little boats that they, the kids had made and they 11 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:35,680 were floating them down the Creek bed. 12 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:38,920 And as we came down and around, the water got higher. 13 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,520 And I was like, I bet I could put a kayak in that because 14 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:47,640 growing up with my dad, we would kayak the Kinneconnek River 15 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,160 during snow runoff. So it was kind of borderline 16 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:54,640 whitewater kayaking, and so I was comfortable with that. 17 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,120 So when I saw the water up like that, I was like, oh, I bet I 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,960 could put the kayak in and go down a little ways. 19 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:07,280 This Creek bed behind our house, there's an area that's widens 20 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,360 and it always has water in it. We call it the pool because we 21 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,720 would like the kids would play in it, throw rocks in it, that 22 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:15,480 kind of thing. It always had one. 3-4 feet 23 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:17,680 deep. So we made a trail from our 24 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:22,240 house to the pool. And so I was thinking I could 25 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,560 put the kayak in up here, maybe go a quarter mile and pull out 26 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,040 of the pool because then there's a trail that goes up to our 27 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,640 house. But it was very impulsive. 28 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,680 Usually I think after the fact, we realized when I did it with 29 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:38,960 my dad, he would always go out and check the. 30 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:40,600 Route. So you've done this before. 31 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:42,080 This isn't? Done at our house. 32 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,560 OK, All right. Growing up as a kid, I would go 33 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:46,760 on a Creek kind of similar to that. 34 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,560 But you know, when you're a kid, you don't realize the things 35 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:51,880 that your parents do in the background. 36 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,320 So dad probably always checked to make sure that there was no 37 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,440 trees that were down and that the, that the, the route was 38 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,800 clear. And so that day it was a whim. 39 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,240 It was like, oh, I could probably run the kayak down this 40 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:07,240 Creek bed. Normally we take the kayaks out 41 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:15,640 on like local lakes and stuff. And so we he didn't, he didn't 42 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:17,720 think it was a very good idea. He's like, I don't think it's a 43 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:19,080 good idea. I was like, oh, come on, I'll be 44 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,000 fine. And so I was pretty much I'm 45 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,160 pretty strong willed. I was going to do it so you're. 46 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:29,160 Like, pretty much, yeah. Yeah, I'm not going to argue 47 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:30,280 with you, right? Yeah, yeah. 48 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,200 So we went and got the kayak and brought it down. 49 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,280 And again, I was thinking in my mind that he would just meet me 50 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:39,800 about 1/4 mile way down, just going to be a quick little zip 51 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,200 and then go back and do it kind of like sledding, go down the 52 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:47,280 hill, get back out, do it again. And so we got the kayak all 53 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,240 lined up and I pretty much hopped in and I was gone before 54 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,960 he could say, hey, are are you for sure going to get out at the 55 00:02:53,960 --> 00:03:00,160 trail at the pool? So I got in and and the water 56 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:04,080 was it was going pretty good at this point it was probably 5 57 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:05,840 feet deep baby. Yeah. 58 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,520 And and going. You took a video of her, right? 59 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,080 So I saw. That she, she just kind of 60 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,880 hopped in and sat down and I thought she was going to say, 61 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:15,880 OK, I'm going to go here and but she didn't. 62 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,000 She just hopped in and was like woo Hoo, it just went off. 63 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,120 And kind of just. Pulled me in too, like it was 64 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,160 just he was kind of messing with his phone and going to get his 65 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,320 video and I was. Like, I think I already, yeah, 66 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,040 you were gone. I already had it out on video. 67 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:28,800 And so I was like, well, shoot, I'm just going to go ahead and 68 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,760 and capture a video of it. And it turned out to be a good 69 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,120 retrospectively because then I knew exactly when she left. 70 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:36,160 Oh. Wow, you know. 71 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:37,720 I had, I had. I wasn't thinking about that at 72 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:42,080 the time, but yeah. So yeah, it kind of just sucked 73 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,440 me and I'm like, all right, I'm going as I'm going along it. 74 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:47,920 This happened very, very quickly. 75 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:52,480 I came around a corner and because I hadn't checked the 76 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,520 route ahead of time, I didn't know that a tree had just fallen 77 00:03:55,600 --> 00:04:00,920 across the Creek. And so, and normally you can 78 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,760 navigate around that stuff. So I, I started to go a sharp 79 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,920 turn to the right and I just missed the tree and it caught 80 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,200 the back of my kayak, the branches and flipped it. 81 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,720 And again, normally that's OK. I mean, that's what happens. 82 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,160 You roll a kayak and you kind of go and you get back in. 83 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,120 But that's when I realized how fast the water really was going, 84 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:28,520 maybe like an undercurrent because the water kind of I 85 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,080 wasn't when I came up and I had a life jacket on, I wasn't able 86 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,520 to grab the kayak. It just went to like, it just 87 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,800 jerked out of my hand. And then the water pushed me up 88 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:42,240 a, a small sapling, maybe like that big had kind of gone like 89 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,600 that in the water. And so the water pushed me up 90 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,600 into it. So now I'm sitting in a tree and 91 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,400 my kayak's gone. And I'm like, OK, well, Steve 92 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:53,520 Will. When I, when I don't come out 93 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:55,640 where the path is, it goes down to the water. 94 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,360 He'll come back along the shoreline and he'll see me. 95 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,720 I was yelling for him, but the water was pretty loud. 96 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:07,000 It was, you know, roaring. And so he after, after the fact, 97 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,320 we realized he couldn't hear me. He couldn't hear me. 98 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,160 Yeah, I couldn't see, I couldn't see her, 'cause she'd gone 99 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,440 around a bend, so. Was the water higher than 100 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,080 normal? Did it rained quite a bit? 101 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,200 Yeah, so that that weekend we had gotten a lot of rain. 102 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,760 And I do we see what the total amount was. 103 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,640 It was like in a matter of two days. 104 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,160 I think we had like 12 inches. It was a crazy amount, but this 105 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,160 was kind of the beginning. So I had rained all night and 106 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,160 all morning. And so the water was up normally 107 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:37,520 again. It's a dry Creek bread. 108 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,480 Then when we kind of play in it and the kids playing it, it's 109 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,800 maybe ankle deep. That day it was probably when I 110 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,560 got in, it was probably 4 to 5 feet deep. 111 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,600 If you send anytime in the Backcountry you know how quickly 112 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,480 things can change. And that's exactly why I use the 113 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,400 navigation a Onyx Backcountry. Onyx Backcountry is built on one 114 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,480 simle idea, better maps, and it really shows. 115 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,720 You can download maps before you head out so even when you lose 116 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,520 service you still know exactly where you are, where you're 117 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,240 going, and what's around you. I also love the dispersed 118 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,760 camping layer. It makes it easy to find legal 119 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,120 low key spots to camp without second guessing land boundaries, 120 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,280 and the trail data is super intuitive. 121 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,480 Whether you're hiking, backpacking, or exploring new 122 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,320 zones, you can see routes, terrain details, and plan with 123 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,880 way more confidence. It's basically like having a 124 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,480 local expert in your pocket, all powered by better maps. 125 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,400 Check out Onyx Backcountry and start planning your next trip 126 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,320 today. Use code Dan 30 for 30% off your 127 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,200 subscription and be sure to mention my name in the checkout 128 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,200 survey. So I'm sitting in this tree and 129 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:46,200 I'm waiting for him. I'm thinking it'll probably take 130 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,280 him about 10 minutes to get me a row open, throw it in. 131 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:51,880 I'd grab it. When I was in the tree, I looked 132 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:56,200 across and it was maybe 10 feet to the shore. 133 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:00,000 But I was just like, as fast as my kayak went away from me, I 134 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,080 was like, I'm not even going to try to get into the water and 135 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,800 swim to that shore over there, even though it was only maybe 10 136 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:07,160 feet. Wow. 137 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,720 So I just sat there kind of perched in that tree and I 138 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:14,880 wasn't nervous yet. I was like, well, this kind of 139 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,000 sucks. I guess I'll wait for him to get 140 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,080 me a rope and he's probably going to be mad at me. 141 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:21,480 And because he didn't want me to go really. 142 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:27,200 When all of a sudden I heard like a, a rumbling and I looked 143 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:33,800 up and water was had come around the corner and it was it's kind 144 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:38,400 of like a maybe a dam had broken loose way up above the hill. 145 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,080 And it, the water was just like coming like this at me. 146 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:45,280 And I was like what? And like full grown, like trees 147 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,920 on the side of the Creek were like going down like this, like 148 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,560 we're being sucked in and coming at me logs and everything. 149 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,760 And I just watched it coming and it was just going like that and 150 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:59,520 it just went right over me. How long from the point you 151 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,360 stopped there to the point you saw that? 152 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:02,720 How long was that? Maybe 5 minutes? 153 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,280 So if you had put your kayak in the water, waited 5 minutes, you 154 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:07,880 would have known. Not a good idea. 155 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,720 Yeah, because we would have seen all the debris and there was no 156 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,240 debris in the water. It was just the water was moving 157 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:17,360 along at A at a good clip for whitewater kayaking. 158 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:22,800 But it was not like like a flash flood, like this was a flash 159 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,880 flood. And we've never seen the Creek 160 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,400 run like that again. Something was probably clogging 161 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,120 it up uphill and it broke loose because we're talking logs and 162 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:37,240 everything. So I was like one second and I 163 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,559 was just sitting there and then it was like, no, no, no, no. 164 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:42,480 I just remember like, no. And it just went over me. 165 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,440 So that began my journey down the Creek. 166 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:49,840 I don't know if you want to tell. 167 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:52,240 Kind of what? So, so, yeah, in the meantime, 168 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:55,120 Blaine loves to be outside with this. 169 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:59,640 So he was kind of had come with us just to see her head out and, 170 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:04,000 and, and all that. And so we, so after she left, I 171 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:05,560 was like, this is, this is not good. 172 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:06,880 Like I don't, we didn't talk about it. 173 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,000 Is the water's up high. Normally we kind of go along to 174 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,640 a little bit farther down 'cause we had brought the, we had 175 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,240 brought the kayak down to a part where it has a more gentle slope 176 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:20,200 down to where the Creek is. And then and which is like she 177 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,760 just on the side of the property and then it's running this way. 178 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,280 And so we have like, there's kind of like a Cliff that had 179 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:27,880 like a four feet part of Rockwall that we'd climb up and 180 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,000 our trail kind of went there, but it's closer to where the 181 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,680 pool was. But I knew the, the part that 182 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:36,640 was what would have been above water most of the time was now 183 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,680 below water and I couldn't be taking him forward. 184 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:41,240 And I just knew that I had to backtrack. 185 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,080 So we backtracked and I was like, well, shoot, I'm, I'm 186 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,320 going to drop him off the house and then see if she needs some 187 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:48,240 help because I didn't want to be dragging him along. 188 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,120 But the backtracking that just, I mean, that took me like 10 189 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:53,240 minutes to get him back up to the house and then run down the 190 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,200 trail to find her. When I got there, I'd like, I 191 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:57,920 didn't see her anywhere. I couldn't even see where the 192 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,720 the pool, as we call it, was. It was just like waiting. 193 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:04,120 Yeah, by that point he saw I. Just I figured, you know, if she 194 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,320 got in trouble, she may have pulled her boat to the side, but 195 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,920 there wasn't any side. So my first thought was, well, I 196 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:12,240 know that she's pretty capable. Let me just go further down. 197 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:14,640 She if she pulled off somewhere off down the road. 198 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,360 So I just kind of started running through the woods kind 199 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:19,920 of on the, because it, it's kind of raised up about, I don't 200 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,800 know, 15 feet or so at that. From my vantage point, I could 201 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:24,560 see the water. So I was running into our 202 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:28,560 neighbor's property as far as I could and just dodging trees 203 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:30,240 and, and try not to slip on stuff. 204 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:32,800 And finally made it to a point where the river kind of wrapped 205 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:34,240 around. We could wrapped around and then 206 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,520 went straight in front of me for a couple football field lengths 207 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,000 and I could just see that. I couldn't see her at all and I 208 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:42,520 didn't see any place on the side where she. 209 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:44,520 There was no embankments. There was no embankments. 210 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,600 Everything had the water had raised up and it was just more 211 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,960 like rock on this side, rock on that side, and there's just no 212 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:52,600 place for her to grab a hold. And I was like, well. 213 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:57,120 But did you know that the water was raging in your mind, or was 214 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,000 it just did that not? No, I think I did. 215 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,360 I missed seeing that surge 'cause I was probably up to the 216 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:02,760 house dropping her off when that happened. 217 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:05,040 So I come down, I didn't notice any. 218 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,160 I didn't notice big tree limbs at that point. 219 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,720 I noticed the water was just super high, but I knew that she 220 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,680 was pretty capable. So my my next thought was, well, 221 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:15,680 I know there is about a mile down the Creek, there's a bridge 222 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:18,800 that crosses. And so she would collect herself 223 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:20,360 and then try to pull off at that bridge. 224 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:22,120 I'd probably just get out of the bridge, right? 225 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,280 So that was my thinking. So I ran back to the house, 226 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:27,960 jumped in my car and then I I drove the bridge. 227 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,000 But of course there's no direct route 'cause we we had the go 228 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,200 down our Rd. down the County Road, get on the highway. 229 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,080 So it's about 20 minute drive get all the way back takes. 230 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,400 A while. Yeah, so then they get off the 231 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:41,360 highway and they go all the way down to the Creek on the other 232 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:45,000 side while I was driving. I have a a friend of mine who 233 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,480 lived a lot closer where that bridge was a little South of us. 234 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:50,880 So I asked him to meet me there and see if he could see. 235 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,360 So. And, and it was a little bit, 236 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:59,800 you know, angry at her for, for doing this and just praying that 237 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:03,400 God would keep her safe in in the midst of all this. 238 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,960 Yeah, because again, I think when we first set out doing 239 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,600 this, I just thought it would be like kind of like, again, 240 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,120 sledding, you know, you just go down the hill and then go back 241 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:17,080 and do it again, not realizing something would happen suddenly 242 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:18,920 like a flash flood. You know, Who would have 243 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:21,040 thought? We're kind of going on like 244 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,480 parallel timelines. We're not really sure at what 245 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,280 point was I sitting in the tree and he and my son were walking 246 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:31,760 along the shoreline when he realized I, we kind of think 247 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:36,200 that he missed that part where all that debris went by because 248 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:41,000 he went back up to the house to bring my son back up there, then 249 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:42,960 came back down. And when he came back down, he 250 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,040 realized the water was significantly higher and he 251 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:47,800 couldn't see the embankments anymore. 252 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,840 And I think that's when he realized I'm going to go down to 253 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,880 the bridge and see if she pulled out there 'cause that's kind of 254 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,800 what you do. You know, you pull off when you 255 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:58,880 can. That would be the next logical 256 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,280 place to pull out the kayak would be at the bridge. 257 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:04,480 But when he got there, the bridge, the waters already up to 258 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:05,800 the. Bottom of the bridge, yeah. 259 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:07,360 The bottom of the. The bottom of the bridge, yeah, 260 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:09,440 I mean, it was a low bridge. It was, it was, it was a short 261 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,760 bridge 'cause it went down and then past that bridge was a a 262 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:15,640 kind of like a floodplain area. And it was actually lower than 263 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:17,000 the embankment of the normal river. 264 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,040 So it had all flooded past the bridge anyway. 265 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,480 So we're now talking that the water was probably about 15 feet 266 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,480 from, I mean, it was up in the trees. 267 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,280 It was 15 feet higher than it normally was. 268 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,000 Because it's up in the tree line. 269 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,600 Well, maybe. 15 feet total. I don't know 'cause it's. 270 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,080 So yeah, I don't, I don't really know. 271 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:41,560 So basically when the water washed me out of the tree, the 272 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:44,280 flash flood came. It washed me. 273 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,400 What were you holding on to? Were you holding on to something 274 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:48,760 there or you just kind of? Like when the, when all the 275 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,760 debris and stuff crashed into me, I mean, I, I, it was so 276 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,120 powerful. It was before I was just kind of 277 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,560 sitting in the tree, you know, hanging on branches and stuff, 278 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,760 just kind of perched on there. When it hit me, it was like 279 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,200 getting hit by, I mean, I just feel like someone just shoved me 280 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,840 and I got washed a mile and a half down the Creek. 281 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:10,840 The Creek kind of meanders all through Mark Twain National 282 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,880 Forest and eventually empties out in the Missouri River. 283 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:19,400 So what was happening was when that all crashed over me, it was 284 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,400 just like all bubbles. And I mean, it was just total 285 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,480 chaos. And I, I didn't even know what 286 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,360 to think at first 'cause I, I couldn't even surface. 287 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:33,840 I was caught in everything. I finally came up and I was just 288 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,720 trying to grab at tree trunks that were all around me, like 289 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:39,880 big branches and stuff that were were in the water. 290 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,480 But when I would grab at one it would just RIP out of my arms 291 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:45,360 like it was so powerful. I could not. 292 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:47,480 I couldn't believe how powerful the water was. 293 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,640 And then I would bump up against another tree trunk and I'm like, 294 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,640 if I can just get my arms over it and float on it, but then 295 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,920 another tree trunk would smash me in between the two and it 296 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,360 would knock my wind out. Luckily I was wearing a life 297 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,920 jacket so I realized I can't hang on to anything and I'm 298 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,440 going over rocks and boulders. And I mean, I didn't realize at 299 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:11,120 the time I was getting just beat up if. 300 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:12,920 You hadn't had that life jacket on. 301 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:18,520 What would that have? Been Oh, I'd be gone like I 302 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,080 think you. Probably could have hit your 303 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:21,680 head on a rock under the water or something. 304 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:22,960 Right. I mean, who knows? 305 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,800 I mean, I could be one of my big injuries was as I was going 306 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,560 along, there was a another tree that had fallen across the Creek 307 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,320 and there was about this much gap between the water and the 308 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,800 tree trunk and I saw it coming. They said the water was going 309 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,720 about 15 miles an hour and you know, if you got a life jacket 310 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,240 on, you're not going to be able to duck on it. 311 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,200 So I just kind of held onto my life jacket and I was like, this 312 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,440 is going to hurt. And this went right into the 313 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:55,400 tree and when I hit, it sounded like something squishing, kind 314 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,640 of like if you were to cut a frozen chicken breast with a 315 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:00,640 knife. It's like a sound. 316 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:04,040 And it hit me right here. And then I came out the other 317 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:08,280 side and I was like, I wonder if I'm bleeding 'cause I knew it. 318 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:10,760 It got me good. That right there should have 319 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,440 knocked me out like that should have knocked me out and that 320 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:15,720 should have been the end right there. 321 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,840 Like I don't know how that didn't as hard as I hit that 322 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:24,360 tree. So but I kept on going and at 323 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,920 one point I got sucked into because again, we're probably up 324 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,160 in the middle of the tree line at this point. 325 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:36,880 I was about about that high and I got sucked into branches 326 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:39,200 underwater. It just pulled me down 327 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:43,920 underneath and I was like just thrashing, trying to get the out 328 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:45,720 of the branches. And I just remember seeing 329 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:50,400 bubbles and I didn't know if I was upside down right side up. 330 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,920 It was just complete. I was completely disoriented 331 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:59,960 underwater and things just started to almost like be in 332 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:01,520 slow motion. I was just going to ask you that 333 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,920 everything was in slow motion. It was like I was thinking all 334 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:09,839 of these things. I was like, I just felt so sad, 335 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,640 so sad that my kids weren't going to have a mom and that he 336 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:15,240 was going to have to raise them without me. 337 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:17,760 I knew I was going to die. Like at that point I was like, 338 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,440 this is how I go. I'm going to drown. 339 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:24,280 And then I started to think about, well, how do you drown? 340 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:29,080 Like, like this is literally how slow your, your thinking goes. 341 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,800 But I was like, well, I guess when my lungs are burning so 342 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,440 much I can't stand it. I just take a breath and that's 343 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:38,880 it. I was like literally thinking 344 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,760 like, what is this process? And I got to that point where I 345 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,960 was about ready to to take a take in the water and I popped 346 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:48,040 right back up. Wow. 347 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,560 Popped up and I was like, all right, here we go, let's keep 348 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,600 going. And I was coughing and 349 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:57,040 sputtering and, and at that point I was like, I just need to 350 00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,920 relax. I need to quit fighting so hard. 351 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:04,240 And so I grabbed my life jacket and just pulled it down and just 352 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,720 tried to get my keep my head above the water and take some 353 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:09,760 slow, deep breaths. And then I would cough hard 354 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:11,200 'cause I was trying to get that water out. 355 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:13,920 Were you hitting rocks too? Olders every day. 356 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,960 Yeah, and I didn't realize how bad at the time, 'cause I wasn't 357 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,560 really feeling anything. I think it's like adrenaline. 358 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:21,680 I wasn't feeling any pain. Even when I smashed into that 359 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,040 tree, I didn't feel it. Plus the coldness of the water, 360 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:25,520 probably. Yeah, it was. 361 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:30,760 The water was pretty cold, so I got a hold of my life jacket and 362 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,320 I just kind of like looked up in the sky and it wasn't raining at 363 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,560 that moment. Had been just pouring before and 364 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:42,320 I saw this bird just kind of slowly hovering or like soaring. 365 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:48,520 And I just I was like, I felt so small in that moment. 366 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,880 I just felt so small and insignificant, like I'm just 367 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,680 this small human in this vast world. 368 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,120 Like that's my thought process at the time. 369 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:02,440 I just felt small and I still didn't think I was going to make 370 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,440 it because I didn't see a way out of this. 371 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,120 The water was so powerful. There was still a ton of debris 372 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:09,760 around me. I was going around bends and 373 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:14,760 curves, so I was just like, I just need to relax and try to 374 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:21,560 keep my feet down downriver. So once I relax, I kind of 375 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,640 started going over the rocks and stuff more easily. 376 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:31,280 And yeah, I saw that bird and I just was like, wow, this is I'm 377 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,560 just going to die out here in the middle of nowhere and you 378 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,640 know, life's going to go on all around me and the birds are 379 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,920 going to fly around and it. I mean, that's my thought 380 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:45,520 process was so strange, but so I'm going along and now that I'm 381 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,640 facing, I can see my feet above the water and I'm watching where 382 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,760 I'm going. All of a sudden I see this sheer 383 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:52,320 rock Cliff. Oh man. 384 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:57,320 And the water hit it and turned at like 90°. 385 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:03,360 And so when it hit that rock Cliff, half the water went up on 386 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:05,600 this embankment and half of it kept going. 387 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,720 I didn't have time to think about, you know, what I was 388 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:10,960 going to do. I wasn't going to. 389 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,240 You know, I was like, well, here we go, let's see what happens. 390 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:19,200 And I hit it and my body decided to go on the half of the water 391 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,640 that went up on the embankment. So all of a sudden, like in a 392 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,560 split second, I hit that wall and I was on my hands and knees 393 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:27,720 on on ground, on ground. What? 394 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,000 And I was just like, OK, I'm alive. 395 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,880 I got to get out of here. So I start crawling. 396 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:36,360 I again, I wasn't feeling pain yet. 397 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:40,040 I was were. You checking yourself like for 398 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,080 injuries or you're. Just like I was just like in 399 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,400 full blown panic mode, like now I was screaming. 400 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,360 And again, I was out in the middle of Mark Twain National 401 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:50,200 Forest because our house kind of borders it. 402 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,840 And that's just a huge forest wildlife area. 403 00:20:54,600 --> 00:21:00,560 And so I didn't really know if I was going to find anyone, but I 404 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,560 was like, I just, I just started screaming for anyone. 405 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:08,960 And I, I was kind of going through the wilderness and I 406 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,600 found a barbed wire fence. And I was like, OK, if I follow 407 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,000 this barbed wire fence, I'm going to find a house. 408 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,760 So I'm going along and I see a big open pasture. 409 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:23,800 There's no more trees. So I'm like, OK, if I cross the 410 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:25,480 pasture, I'm going to find a house. 411 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:32,200 So I go underneath the barbed wire fence and right as I stood 412 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,040 up, I, the ground started rumbling, like vibrating. 413 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,480 And I was like, and all of a sudden these black Angus cows 414 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,920 come running up over the hill. I'm like, great, I survived 415 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,840 this, this flash flood and now I'm going to get trampled by 416 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:53,560 cows like this is how I go now. And so I just start. 417 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,200 The first way was way cooler and. 418 00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:58,800 I know nothing about it. So I'm just like screaming wave 419 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,800 my arms, like go away. And they kind of were just like 420 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:03,880 looking at me and went down the hill. 421 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,120 But I thought that was a good sign at least maybe there's 422 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:11,400 someone out here, a house or something. 423 00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:17,160 And so by now I'm shivering like the temperature started to drop 424 00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:20,840 and it was now in the mid 40s. How much time had passed, you 425 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:26,320 know? We think maybe 15 minutes. 426 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:33,920 From when you got swept away or? Well, got in the Creek and I was 427 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,800 in that tree within 5 minutes and I probably sat in that tree 428 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:42,120 for another 5-10 minutes and that water washing me down a 429 00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:48,280 mile and a half maybe it lasted maybe 5 minutes like it it was. 430 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:49,920 That's a long time to be. Right. 431 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,080 Yeah, but it goes so much faster than it feels like at the time. 432 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,320 So we're talking 1520 minutes. I was probably. 433 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,160 So now I'm in the middle of a pasture, we're probably talking 434 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,960 20-30 minutes, but the rain starts coming and it's driving 435 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:09,360 rain like torrential downpour. And I'm shivering so hard, 436 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:14,680 probably adrenaline and still wasn't feeling any pain yet, but 437 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:18,800 I could still walk. And so I, I crossed the pasture, 438 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,520 come up over a hill and I see this barn like it's almost like 439 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,520 a shack. It's just a tiny little barn, 440 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:27,240 metal siding. And no, I think like wood, wood 441 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,880 siding and a metal roof. And I was like, I just got to 442 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,240 get out of the rain and collect myself to figure out what I'm 443 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,120 doing here. I got to get warm and freezing 444 00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:39,440 cold. And so the the barn door was 445 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:41,080 kind of open to crack. So I was able to get in. 446 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:46,800 And when I got in there, there was like a tractor or something. 447 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:51,760 And I mean, it was dirt floor. It was really just some kind of 448 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,520 tool shed probably. But there was a tarp in there. 449 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:57,040 And I was like, oh, OK, here we go. 450 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,480 So I wrapped that around me and I was like, I just got to get 451 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:01,480 warm. I'm just going to rest for a 452 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,600 little bit and try to warm up and then I'll go, I'll keep 453 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,440 going. So I got into a ball on the dirt 454 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,320 floor and had the trying to keep some like of my heat in there. 455 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,200 And that's the last thing I remember for 4 1/2 hours. 456 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,400 You were there for 4 1/2 hours. I I I finally was unconscious 457 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:24,640 for 4 1/2 hours. I. 458 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,000 Just you just passed out like, Oh my gosh. 459 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:28,760 Well, I remember it was like I was just going to rest. 460 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:33,600 I was like, I'm really tired. I'm I need to warm up. 461 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,600 So I'm going to just get in a ball and try to conserve my heat 462 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,640 and keep my heat trapped in here and try to dry off a little bit. 463 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,800 And then I was out. Let's go on. 464 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,320 I don't remember anything. I, I was shocked later when I 465 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,120 found out it was 4 1/2. I couldn't believe it. 466 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:50,880 So what's the next thing you remember? 467 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,640 Well, well, I I'm going to interject my part because. 468 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:59,560 Cause a lot happened in 4 1/2. Hours so so after that you know 469 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:02,880 you know I got down to the river with my friend Derek and we saw 470 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,720 that the the water was just way higher and this like this is you 471 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,400 know it was very evident this is way out of my control. 472 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:14,320 I can't manage this anywhere I need to call 911 so so I just I 473 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,840 left him there and I didn't have any signal down there by the by 474 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,640 the Creek so I had to drive back up to the edge of the highway 475 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,160 called 911. They directed me to the the 476 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,360 rescue services people and and finally got hold of the the guy 477 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,320 who's gonna kind of manage the rescue operation and so he do 478 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:33,520 you remember his name? No, OK, so he told me to, you 479 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,240 know, got my information to what happened, what time she left. 480 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:42,080 And then he told me just go home and he would come to me and kind 481 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,160 of run the thing from there. So I can, you know, drove back 482 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,480 home and kind of got in some some dry clothes and he he got 483 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,000 there first. He kind of reminds me of the 484 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,320 actor Neil McDonough. And I don't know, he's, he's the 485 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:00,760 very stoic guy, bleach blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, plays 486 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,800 a good villain. Anyway, so he, he showed up, he 487 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,000 asked, he sent me his phone number, asked if I could add any 488 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,880 recent photo of her. And so I sent him a picture and 489 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,680 I'll send him the the video which had the timestamp when she 490 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,520 left. Is it like 114 or something? 491 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:22,960 Something like that, Yeah. So then I said OK, we're going 492 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,520 to get things coordinated. He asked me if there was a 493 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:27,880 access to the Creek and there was a road kind of about 1/2 494 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:29,760 mile from her house that went down to it. 495 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,520 They can get a boat in and so then as I'm seeing there, 496 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,120 there's a couple of the rescuers show up. 497 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,400 I think a fire truck was there and a couple other trucks. 498 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:40,720 And so it was just a lot of waiting around. 499 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,760 You know, I called some people to pray and, and my mom was 500 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:45,760 actually staying with her 'cause she just had her knee replaced 501 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,480 like 2 days before. So she's hanging out, which is 502 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,040 great to have someone to watch the kids while I was out doing 503 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,440 what I had to do. But but yeah, it's just a lot of 504 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,280 just worrying and trying to figure out, you know, what's 505 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:02,600 happening. And, and I was kind of surprised 506 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,920 how fast time passed during that time because, you know, you're 507 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,280 just waiting. And so it seems like it takes 508 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:08,920 forever. But in retrospect, it didn't 509 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,640 seem like it was that long. But my friend Derek called me. 510 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,680 He actually had volunteered to help the searchers and they're 511 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,120 going up and down the river. And he told me they had found 512 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:20,240 her kayak washed down like 2 miles down or something like 513 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:21,320 that. What was that like for you when 514 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,360 you got that call? It was. 515 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:25,680 It was weird. I hadn't. 516 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,800 Hadn't they ever given up hope quite yet? 517 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:33,480 I mean, I was still though I was, I was still like maybe 25%. 518 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:35,960 She's going to make it. She could make it. 75% probably 519 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,080 not, you know, As for. Optimistic person Yeah, I'm a. 520 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,560 Glass half of a person. She's a kind of a glass half 521 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,760 empty. So yeah, they're going to, you 522 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:45,760 know, I'm not going to know till I know, but tell. 523 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:47,280 Them what you heard in the garage though? 524 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:51,920 Oh, so one of the times when he called me out to the, the truck, 525 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,920 he and he was like at the foot of our drive, but he was just in 526 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,040 his truck mansion, everything. So I went out there and he had 527 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,640 asked a couple questions. When I come back in, there's two 528 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,160 of the volunteer people. 1 was like a young pimple face guy and 529 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,240 a very young, very young. And then another girl was a 530 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:07,720 little bit older, maybe in her 20s. 531 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:11,040 And I heard him say to her, it's like, yeah, they're switching 532 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,520 this from a rescue to a body recovery. 533 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,480 And so and then like, she saw me walk in, was like, what are you 534 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:21,280 doing, 'cause he, 'cause he didn't see me. 535 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:22,520 He. Didn't see him and so he 536 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,160 basically said they. Just kind of stopped and didn't 537 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,600 say anything, just kind of walked past them and so that's I 538 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:28,600 was getting more. Worried. 539 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:30,280 Was that like the first time you really? 540 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,040 Really. No, I was, I was worried that, 541 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,920 you know, just having them say it out loud was like made it 542 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,080 more serious and. 'Cause once they found my kayak 543 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:43,120 and I wasn't in it and so much time had gone by, they had 544 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,360 switched the status from a rescue to recovery at that 545 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,800 point. And so then and then finally 546 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,200 maybe an hour or so later, the guy text me and but the the way 547 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,280 he texted me, he was kind of ambiguous. 548 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:03,360 He said we found your wife, come outside and like. 549 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,160 Wait, what? Yeah, and I was like you. 550 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:11,560 Want me to tell my part now? Well, so yeah, so. 551 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:13,720 So then I have to get out there, You know, I had basically had to 552 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,240 square my shoulders. Like, this is it? 553 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:17,760 This is the bad news like. Oh, you, you're thinking we 554 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:18,800 found your dead. Wife. 555 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:20,480 Yeah, we found her. They just didn't. 556 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,240 She didn't say her condition. He just said we found her. 557 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:24,880 Found your wife. Come outside. 558 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,880 So I so I square my shoulders like I'm preparing for bad news. 559 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:29,960 And I come out there and he's like, we found your wife. 560 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,240 She's OK, She's hypothermic. She's an ambulance. 561 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:33,520 We're taking her to the hospital. 562 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:35,560 I don't know. I'm thinking like, but she's 563 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,160 alive like. How many hours is this now? 564 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:39,960 So this was 4 1/2. Hours. 565 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:46,560 So back to the barn, I there was there was a loud boom of Thunder 566 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,680 that startled me awake. So I was out and I just startled 567 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:54,600 awake and the rain was just driving on the top that metal 568 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,200 roof. It was so loud and, and I was 569 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,160 shivering so hard it, it felt like my bones were breaking, 570 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:03,680 like I've never, ever shivered that hard. 571 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:10,120 And I, I just started sobbing like I don't know what to do. 572 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,080 I don't know where to go, I don't know where I'm at. 573 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:15,280 The thought of going out in that torrential downpour with as cold 574 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,400 as I am, I'm starting to hurt a little bit. 575 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:22,360 Like I hadn't stood up yet. So I didn't really know and I 576 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:27,320 just all of a sudden just clear as day, like you and I talking, 577 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,280 I hear get up and walk. If you don't walk, you won't 578 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,000 walk again. Like clear as day, just all 579 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,560 around me. It was a man's voice and I'm a a 580 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,400 woman of faith. So I just immediately recognize 581 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,840 that's God. And I wasn't surprised by it. 582 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:46,160 Nothing. I just started talking. 583 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,520 So I just I remember I just tears streaming down. 584 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,080 I said, God, what do I do? What do I do? 585 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,080 And right then on the metal roof, I don't know if you've 586 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,440 ever been in a building with metal roof when it rained so 587 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,720 loud. So it was like, and it just 588 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:02,520 stopped. It just stopped. 589 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:07,680 It didn't slow down. It just was like, and so I 590 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,280 almost kind of started laughing. I was like, OK, I, I guess I'm 591 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,400 going to walk like I got it. I hear you loud and clear. 592 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:18,760 I'm walking. So it was just wild. 593 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:24,640 And so I go out the barn and I stagger maybe 30 steps out of 594 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:29,120 the barn and I'm up a hill and I can see the Creek down below 595 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,760 flooded. And there's a rescuer all 596 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,320 dressed in red going along the shoreline because they were 597 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,720 looking in the shoreline. And I start just screaming for 598 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:40,040 him, but he couldn't hear me because it was so loud. 599 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:41,200 The the. Water. 600 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,080 Yeah, and right then he tripped and fell. 601 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:50,200 And as he went to get up, his gaze went up the hill and he saw 602 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,360 me. But if he hadn't tripped right 603 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:56,080 then, he would not. He he told me later, there's no 604 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:57,920 way he would have gone and looked in the barn 'cause they 605 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,040 were, they were looking in the shoreline. 606 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:03,440 Kayaker found in barn right? Right. 607 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:08,480 Quarter mile up a hill, right? And so if I hadn't gotten up and 608 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:13,520 walked like that voice told me to do right then I would. 609 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,480 His name was Brandon. I Brandon would have missed me. 610 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:21,800 And if he hadn't tripped right then and looked up, he would 611 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,200 have kept going and I couldn't have gotten to him. 612 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:29,360 So he comes running up the hill and I'm just hysterical at this 613 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:35,560 point and I'm just so relieved that someone found me and I was 614 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:38,840 shivering cold. So I again, I can't reiterate 615 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,200 enough how bad I was shivering. I'm cold right now and I feel 616 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:44,400 shivery. But that was that was some 617 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:48,040 intense cold. And so he had a walkie-talkie 618 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:53,720 and he radioed someone who is also out on the Creek and he 619 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,280 came up and it was just kind of a flurry of activity at that 620 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,480 point. They got, I feel like it was 621 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:05,800 like a four Wheeler 1st to Get Me Out to the road and then they 622 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,760 moved me to a truck. And in the truck they were 623 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,480 trying to get all my clothes off and get a blanket on me to start 624 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:18,880 trying to warm me up. And those first responders were 625 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:23,000 on either side of me and they were putting Ivs in both arms. 626 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,440 They were trying to get an IV in the truck in the truck. 627 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,400 As we're going down these gravel roads, we found out later some 628 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,520 of those gravel roads were kind of flooded. 629 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,880 So it was a big truck and they were trying to Get Me Out to the 630 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:37,920 main road where an ambulance could get to me because again, 631 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,560 the bridge was flooded, the gravel roads were flooded. 632 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,400 And so they eventually, I was kind of in and out of it at that 633 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,640 point. I just know there's just so much 634 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:53,040 activity, people carrying me from one vehicle to another. 635 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,320 And then I get in the ambulance and they start putting heated IV 636 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,920 fluids in me. And at that point I was just 637 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:06,760 like, OK, I'm safe now. I'm exhausted, I'm tired now I 638 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,159 can just sleep. I, I just, I could not stay 639 00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:11,639 awake. Like my eyes felt so heavy. 640 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,639 And so I was going off to sleep and I could hear them. 641 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,440 They were slapping my face. Like, don't fall asleep. 642 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:21,159 Yeah. Nicole, stay with us. 643 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,320 It's the worst thing you can do. They were like, stay with us, 644 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,280 stay with us, Nicole. And I'm thinking, well, I'm not 645 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,000 dead. I'm, I'm right here. 646 00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:30,920 But when then I heard someone say we're losing her, we're 647 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:35,239 losing her stop, stop that bag. And later on I, I found out that 648 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,920 they were warming me up too fast, which was actually putting 649 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:43,800 me into shock because if they rewarm you too quick, it can it 650 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:47,679 puts your body into shock. And so they had two bags of 651 00:34:47,679 --> 00:34:49,639 heated fluids going in. So what they were saying was 652 00:34:49,639 --> 00:34:53,480 stop one of those bags of heated fluids, but they sounded 653 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:55,719 frantic. And I and I again, I could hear 654 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:57,320 everything. I just couldn't open my eyes. 655 00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:58,840 And I was like, wow, they think I'm dying. 656 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,960 I got to get my eyes open, but I was trying so hard and I was 657 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:05,520 getting really annoyed because they kept slapping my face and 658 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:09,480 like jostling me and I, I was like, quit slapping my face. 659 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,080 I'm right here. And so I was like, well, they'll 660 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,600 quit slapping me if you can just get your eyes open. 661 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,880 And so I was able to kind of get my eyes open and they were 662 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:23,240 asking me questions and I didn't really get scared until I heard 663 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:27,000 them say we're losing her 'cause it was, it was just so surreal. 664 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:32,680 I was there, but I wasn't. And so they get me to the 665 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,120 hospital and again, it was just another flurry of activity and 666 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,680 they were rolling me side to side kind of assessing like my 667 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:44,200 injuries. And I ended up, it's an absolute 668 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,760 miracle. There basically wasn't an inch 669 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:51,080 of my body that wasn't bruised. I looked like I had been, you 670 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:52,880 know? I saw the pictures, it's pretty 671 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:57,080 incredible. I broke my nose when I hit the 672 00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:01,720 tree and then I had a pretty bad concussion. 673 00:36:01,720 --> 00:36:04,000 Like the concussion was bad enough that it affected my 674 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:09,000 speech for a good two months. I didn't, I didn't go back to 675 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,920 work because I couldn't talk. So what I would do was it would 676 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:17,600 almost be like. Just certain words like we had 677 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,840 to let the the dag outside and sit with the dog and certain 678 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,360 things like that and. It would come out completely 679 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:25,360 wrong. And to this day still, if I'm 680 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,200 tired, my speech will be affected. 681 00:36:28,240 --> 00:36:33,360 Like I'll say like vowels will change or I won't be able to 682 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:36,440 think of the word. So my speech was really 683 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:38,720 affected. My vision was affected for a 684 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:42,360 couple months, like bright lights, like I couldn't, I was 685 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:48,080 really light sensitive. My calf had kind of like 686 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,760 compartment syndrome. It wasn't full blown. 687 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,200 They were keeping an eye on it, but it was basically it's a 688 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,520 crush injury. So a rock or something crushed 689 00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:58,360 my calf. Oh. 690 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:02,600 My. Gosh, at the hospital, I think 691 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:08,800 we they wanted to keep me, but I was, I was leaving AMA and I was 692 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:12,720 there for several hours, but I had to get home to my kids. 693 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:17,000 I knew that this had to have been really hard on them and. 694 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:20,640 Did you spend the night in the hospital? 695 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,920 No, like I was like a man again. I'm very I'm very hard headed, 696 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,120 strong willed. Sounds like it will. 697 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,240 They say healthcare workers make the worst patients. 698 00:37:30,240 --> 00:37:31,720 Yeah. We really do 'cause I I was 699 00:37:31,720 --> 00:37:33,480 trying to. You're assessing yourself and to 700 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:35,800 made the critical decision to get up and walk out. 701 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:38,080 And I was trying to rationalize with the doctor. 702 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,440 I'm like, I know what to look for if, you know, my head injury 703 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,160 gets worse, you know, if I start getting confused and. 704 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:46,200 I think they did actually check out your leg a second time and 705 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:48,120 then they said OK you can go. Home. 706 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:52,960 Make you be AMA technically. And, and being a, an 707 00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:55,400 occupational therapist, I know like what compartment syndrome 708 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,800 is. And I was like, I know when to 709 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,520 come back. I basically told them my 710 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:04,480 rationale was there's nothing you can do for me here that we 711 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:09,120 can't do at home. And so I just wanted to get home 712 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:14,120 and so you can talk about when you got to the hospital or. 713 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,920 Yeah, since it's the hospital I work at and I had my badge in my 714 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,320 car, so I tried to, like, sneak into the ER just to try to find 715 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:21,040 her. But one of the nurses 716 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:22,480 intercepted me. And it's like, hey, Sir, can I 717 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:23,920 help you? And it's like, Dang it. 718 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,640 So he scored me back to the waiting room until they finished 719 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:28,200 assessing her in the drinking room and. 720 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:30,720 He thought he could get to me sooner than having to wait for. 721 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,800 A long I'd had my scrubs on, I probably could have pulled it 722 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,720 off, but I didn't. Just had street clothes so oh 723 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:37,680 man. So that was a huge relief just 724 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,840 seeing him come in and I kind of like, I think there's a picture. 725 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:41,920 I was like giving him a thumbs up. 726 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:45,800 I just, I wanted him to know. I knew I didn't know, but I 727 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:47,960 figured he'd be mad at me. I was like, please don't be mad 728 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:49,280 at me. I know I should have listened to 729 00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:50,760 you. I shouldn't have gone in and. 730 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:55,120 Definitely being happy and angry at the same time, but I was, I 731 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,040 guess, more relieved that she was still alive. 732 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,960 Yeah, for sure. It's like happy, happy 733 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:01,160 anniversary. You're still alive. 734 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:03,240 Yeah, 'cause our anniversary was like the next. 735 00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:04,440 The next day. What? 736 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:06,680 Yeah, it was like 2 days before our anniversary that that night 737 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,240 it was like the 29th and our May 1st is our anniversary. 738 00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,360 Oh man, yeah. So that was a good, that was a 739 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,520 good reunion. It was just, you know, I and I 740 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:19,400 had a lot of guilt. I know when I was caught under 741 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:23,880 that tree, just thinking about my husband having to raise our 742 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:26,640 kids without me and my kids not having a mom. 743 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:31,400 And so I, I dealt with a lot of guilt also afterwards, just, you 744 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,840 know, putting them all through that, you know, for four, half, 745 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:39,680 five hours. You know, we always think of 746 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,200 what we we should have, could have, would have done. 747 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:47,200 And my thinking at the time was I haven't whitewater raft since 748 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:48,920 I was in high school. This looks great. 749 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,160 You know, my dad has passed away. 750 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,800 And so I was just feeling nostalgic and I, the water 751 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:59,320 looked familiar to me. I, I figured I would just pull 752 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:02,240 in at where the trail comes from our house down to the Creek. 753 00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:05,200 All that stuff seemed irrational to me at the time. 754 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:09,440 And but it wasn't, it wasn't planned out. 755 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,440 I didn't check the route. And so I was beating myself up 756 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,920 about all the dumb things I did and how irrational it was and. 757 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,240 Well, have you, had you ever seen the water do that before 758 00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:18,880 from there? Yeah. 759 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:19,960 I mean, how would you have known, right? 760 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:22,400 And that's just it. When I looked at the water, it 761 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:24,640 was totally doable. Like you just for sure. 762 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:26,280 You know I mean. It's definitely rained that hard 763 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:28,320 before, but usually we don't get down into the Creek when that's 764 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:29,720 happening. Yeah, we didn't really know, 765 00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:30,720 like what? What? 766 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:32,680 It was right? And, and again, yeah, I was, 767 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,560 even when I was stuck in that tree, I was like, oh darn it, 768 00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:36,760 he's going to have to get a rope. 769 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:40,440 And I was totally calm because it was just like, I just didn't 770 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,000 think it was smart to go the eight to 10 feet across with the 771 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,560 water going. It's it's the current was a 772 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:48,920 strong underneath. And when my kayak tipped and I 773 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,560 realized how much it was, how fast it was going. 774 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:54,840 So even in the tree, I wasn't, I was just like waiting. 775 00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:59,520 And I wasn't thinking the worst. Yet it wasn't until I saw that 776 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:01,880 water coming at me. You hadn't broken any bones 777 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,280 other than your nose. You broke your nose, right? 778 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:08,640 You mean ever in my? Life no no it from this event. 779 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,240 Oh yeah, yeah, I broke my nose. So back up to when you hit that 780 00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:13,560 log, you said you heard a squish. 781 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:15,360 Was that your nose? It was like the car was 782 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,600 squishing down and I, I had a laceration and they're like, 783 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:21,360 well, we're not going to stitch it 'cause that skin is so thin 784 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:22,240 right there. And. 785 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:24,920 It's like a butterfly thing on it. 786 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:27,480 Right. But my mother-in-law again, was 787 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:29,880 staying at our house because she had her knee replaced two days 788 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:32,160 earlier. And the home health nurses that 789 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:35,600 were coming and and working with her were actually the company I 790 00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:37,080 work for. Oh my gosh. 791 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:41,600 And so the day after it happened, or two days after the 792 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:45,120 nurses came to work with my mother-in-law, and that 793 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,360 laceration just kept splitting open. 794 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,560 I'm like, this is never going to because you can't put a stitch 795 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,920 in it. So she actually put some glue 796 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:54,680 and, like, glued it and put a butterfly bandage on it. 797 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,560 But yeah, that squish sound was just my nose. 798 00:41:58,120 --> 00:41:59,760 Wasn't it she? Could make it click. 799 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:01,560 Yeah, For a while, for months, it would click. 800 00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:04,080 Like if I sneeze or something, my it would click. 801 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:11,480 And so we've over the months after this happened and even the 802 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:17,320 years our family has processed through this together, and we 803 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:20,800 really see that day in those events as like a metaphor for my 804 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:25,280 life. Up until that point, my life had 805 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:29,640 been kind of chaotic. I dealt with depression, was 806 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:32,360 going through some pretty heavy episodes of depression leading 807 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:39,080 up to it, and I had lost my father and to suicide. 808 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:41,200 And so that was a big trauma in my life. 809 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:46,520 And so to deal with all of that, I was like trying to do self 810 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:49,840 help books and, you know, depression medication and 811 00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,320 counselors and nothing was really working. 812 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:56,240 I felt like I was just kind of spiraling and the Creek almost 813 00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:59,080 seems like a metaphor. My life, you know, you go down 814 00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:03,720 life like a stream, ups and downs and twists and turns and 815 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,800 the debris in the water was kind of like the life lines I was 816 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:11,120 grabbing for like the tree trunks and the branches and 817 00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,000 everything was getting ripped away from me. 818 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,240 Nothing was saving me. I was trying so hard to save 819 00:43:15,240 --> 00:43:17,720 myself, but I couldn't save myself. 820 00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:23,040 And it wasn't till I like calm down and just let you know, let 821 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:27,520 it take me that things got better. 822 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:32,280 And then when I was in that barn and I heard God say, it was 823 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:35,920 almost like I had to get laid flat out on my back and have 824 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:42,120 nothing left for me to hear God say, you know, listen to me get 825 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:49,160 up and walk. And so afterwards, like, I 826 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,040 walked around with a dumb grin on my face for weeks afterwards 827 00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:56,560 because I just, everything just seemed so amazing, so awesome, 828 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:59,800 like life was so good because I survived. 829 00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:07,840 And I heard God, you know, I, I heard him and everything seemed 830 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:09,720 lighter. Everything seemed doable. 831 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:12,920 Everything. I didn't need all this. 832 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:14,920 I didn't need a counselor. I didn't need medicine, I didn't 833 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:18,560 need books. And so my faith was renewed. 834 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,080 Steve had always wanted to go on a mission trip with me 'cause he 835 00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:26,480 had gone in high school. And I was like, yeah, but we've 836 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:31,360 got kids and we've got a job and just, you know, oh, things could 837 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:36,000 go wrong on a mission trip. And so, like a month after the 838 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,280 accident, we were in church and they announced a mission trip to 839 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:41,520 Honduras. And I was like, let's go. 840 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:43,720 Like, what do I have to be afraid of? 841 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:46,520 You know, I this Creek almost killed me. 842 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:49,320 So. And Honduras is a very dangerous 843 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:50,840 country. But I was like, let's go. 844 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:52,600 My first mission, mission trip. Let's do it. 845 00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:55,240 And so we did. We went a few months. 846 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,400 Was the next year I. Think was it the next year we 847 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:02,760 decided to go a few months after the accident, I just didn't have 848 00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:06,160 fear for things anymore. Like life didn't seem 849 00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:10,160 overwhelming and I just had this new appreciation for everything 850 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:12,400 in my life. Like I had a pretty good life. 851 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:17,800 And again, I think you have to get into a point where you're 852 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:20,960 you have nothing or you're completely vulnerable. 853 00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:25,120 And maybe that feeling of weakness when I looked up and 854 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:29,640 saw that bird and felt small, I feel like I almost needed all of 855 00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:34,360 that to wake up. In a sense, it's kind of like 856 00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:37,760 what the Thunder did. I woke up and heard God get up 857 00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:39,920 and walk or you won't walk again. 858 00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:45,960 And it was just so profound and surreal and one of the things we 859 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:50,160 wondered. My son was 8 at the time and 860 00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:54,280 they got kind of worried about him because he kept just looking 861 00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:57,880 out the the living room window, out our living room window, kind 862 00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:01,840 of looks down towards the Creek. And my mother-in-law asked him 863 00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:03,680 at one point, are are you OK, Lane? 864 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,960 Are you doing OK? And he just very nonchalantly 865 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,160 was like, yeah, he said, I heard God in the Thunder. 866 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,080 And he said Mom's coming home. And. 867 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:15,000 He wasn't worried at all. He's like, yeah, God told me 868 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:18,280 Mom's coming home. And it wasn't a few minutes 869 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:22,640 later and Steve got that text that said we found your wife. 870 00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:27,400 And we almost wonder if the Thunder that woke, that startled 871 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,800 me awake is maybe what he heard at the same time. 872 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:36,720 Because it was, you know, the timing was kind of in line with 873 00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:39,640 that because they, you know, once they saw me, they radioed 874 00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:43,960 right away that we found. So there was kind of just a 875 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,720 spiritual renewal in our whole house, my kids. 876 00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:51,280 And like Steve, I mean, you prayed a lot during that. 877 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:56,280 Yeah, I remember, I remember just like when I was driving out 878 00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:59,840 to, to that bridge and I was just, you know, I was kind of 879 00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,520 upset, yelling, get hurt and I was just praying to God. 880 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:06,760 And I was just like, God, I know this is, this is out of my 881 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:10,720 control, but I just want you to know that even if things don't 882 00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:14,800 work out and I, I don't get to have her that like my, this is 883 00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:17,840 not going to destroy my faith because my, my faith has to be 884 00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:22,760 solid no matter what happens. So you know that that was like 885 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:26,160 kind of my profound thing in the midst of this, because you know, 886 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:27,680 a lot of people, they would, they would go through that and 887 00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:31,480 they'd just be like, well, how I got them done with you, You let 888 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:35,000 this happen. And you know, and I'm sure God 889 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:39,920 didn't want, doesn't want anyone to die, but life is what it is. 890 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,680 Sometimes it's a key. Key has to get our attention, 891 00:47:42,680 --> 00:47:43,160 though. Yeah. 892 00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:50,120 So, yeah, it, it was a horrific experience and we learned a lot 893 00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:55,080 of lessons, but our family grew in our face together and we 894 00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:56,800 started going to church pretty regularly. 895 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:02,600 And we went on that mission trip and actually I've gone twice 896 00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:04,440 now. I I didn't know that you guys 897 00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,600 were Christians when you came out here, so that's awesome. 898 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:09,120 I'm a Christian. Yeah. 899 00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:10,080 That's great. So. 900 00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:13,480 Yeah, that's awesome. And I think a lot of people say 901 00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:15,360 I'm a Christian. That's kind of how I was. 902 00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,880 You know, we went to church not maybe consistently and kids went 903 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:22,640 to Sunday school, but this was like a profound awakening. 904 00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:26,760 Like God revealed himself and to our family, like not just to 905 00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:31,800 make our entire family. And my daughter during that 906 00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:34,680 time, she was really upset. She would have been, she was 10 907 00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:37,480 and she was really upset and crying. 908 00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:42,800 And she picked up a book that I had called Jesus Calling. 909 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,640 Is that what it's called? And they're like daily prayers 910 00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:48,640 or something. And she sat on the couch and she 911 00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:52,040 started reading it and she said, mom, every page I turned said 912 00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:55,640 that God is with you. He will take care of you and 913 00:48:55,640 --> 00:48:58,200 like every page. And she just started to calm 914 00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:03,120 down and feel OK too. So my 10 year old had felt God's 915 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:05,840 presence that day. My 8 year old felt God's 916 00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:10,960 presence that day. My husband felt him and I heard 917 00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:11,760 him. Wow. 918 00:49:12,240 --> 00:49:18,920 So it was clear that he wanted us to all hear him. 919 00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:20,800 Wow. For. 920 00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:23,520 Yeah. Have you been kayaking since? 921 00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:28,000 About two months later I don't do that kind of kayaking 922 00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:31,520 anymore. We went out on the calmest glass 923 00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:38,440 lake where we live and I have some post traumatic stress. 924 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:44,880 Like I've gone canoeing on some pretty fast water and I get that 925 00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:47,240 feeling of. Well, like the next year we 926 00:49:47,240 --> 00:49:52,480 went, we did a family vacation to Mount Rushmore and we also 927 00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:54,400 did some hiking around there. There was like AI don't know the 928 00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:56,400 name of the trail, but there's a lake at the top and you went 929 00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:58,360 down this gorge and went back around. 930 00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:00,280 I was like an 8 mile loop. So we took our kids 'cause 931 00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:02,000 they're. That was the first time I'd 932 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,200 heard rushing walk. And I kind of stopped and I had 933 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,720 that feeling in my stomach like, I'm going to be sick. 934 00:50:08,240 --> 00:50:09,880 Like Sylvania Lake, is that right? 935 00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:12,040 In Sylvania maybe? I was here. 936 00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:13,080 It's a Sylvania. I've been there. 937 00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:17,120 And then the next year I think we went whitewater rafting. 938 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:20,960 I had 0 fun. It was I did it for the family. 939 00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:24,120 They were all excited about like and I figured well I'll be safe 940 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:26,240 because these are experts in this boat. 941 00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,240 But I just clung on for dear life the whole time and I I had 942 00:50:29,240 --> 00:50:31,240 no fun. Kids loved it. 943 00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:33,000 You know, some people wouldn't even do that, so you know. 944 00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:37,320 When we have a hard rain and I hear the Creek out on our 945 00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:39,760 property, to this day I don't like the sound of it. 946 00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:42,720 Like I'll just shove the door, open the door. 947 00:50:42,720 --> 00:50:44,520 Oh, the creek's going. Shut the door. 948 00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:52,600 We went on a backpacking trip this last couple weekends ago 949 00:50:52,720 --> 00:50:56,080 and there was some cold water crossings that were difficult to 950 00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:58,040 cross. It kind of brought back. 951 00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:01,280 Yeah. I bet I get cold really easily 952 00:51:01,280 --> 00:51:06,240 and shivering is is not a thing I like at all. 953 00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:09,760 It it almost is physically painful for me when I shiver 954 00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:12,080 because. Yeah. 955 00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:16,080 Wow. So I ask everybody this and I, I 956 00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:19,240 think I'm, I'm, I bet I already know the answer to this. 957 00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:22,440 But if you could go back in time and pull that day from ever 958 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:24,880 happening out of your life, would you do it? 959 00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:29,520 I, I would say no. Initially I would say yes, but 960 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:32,400 that's just more it's like wanting to avoid hard things. 961 00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:36,240 But then it just kind of just reflecting on how much it's 962 00:51:36,240 --> 00:51:38,880 changed all of us, but especially her. 963 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:43,680 She's just had, she was just a lot more joyful afterwards and 964 00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:45,880 just had more thankful to to be alive. 965 00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:48,920 She had a lot to live for. You know, God's basically not 966 00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:51,200 would not change it. No, because God's not done with 967 00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:54,040 you yet. So literally, literally pulled 968 00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:56,560 you out of the water. Almost like Jonah didn't spit on 969 00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:02,560 dry land, you know? So you you would you don't 970 00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:06,160 regret that day. No, no, because it's like you, 971 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:08,280 you go through life and you get certain amount of scars, like 972 00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:10,280 your scars, like they tell you what, you've been part of your 973 00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:11,840 story. If if you didn't go through hard 974 00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:13,960 things, you wouldn't be that person you are now because 975 00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:15,200 you're always better on the other side of it. 976 00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:18,600 Yeah. And I would probably echo that. 977 00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:23,640 Like, would I have, you know, hindsight? 978 00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:26,080 Yeah, I would have made a lot of different choices. 979 00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:33,360 I have again, guilt for putting them through that, but the 980 00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:36,800 experience in itself, I don't know if I would have ever heard 981 00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:39,400 God like he. He picked that opportunity for 982 00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:42,320 me to hear him. He needed to get my attention 983 00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:46,680 and I don't think I was he had my attention any other way. 984 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:52,640 It probably took something like that for me to get my life on a 985 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:56,360 a good track. So for that, I'm thankful for 986 00:52:56,360 --> 00:52:59,240 that opportunity to be that close to him, I guess. 987 00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:02,640 Wish it hadn't been that close to death. 988 00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:04,960 Actually. It's I've actually told God 989 00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:07,200 before, like, OK, I don't need another Creek. 990 00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:08,440 I hear you. I'm listening. 991 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:13,400 I don't need. I got this because I don't ever 992 00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:14,960 want to go through something like that again. 993 00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:16,920 But yeah. I don't. 994 00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:20,840 Yeah. I I think that's amazing. 995 00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:23,280 It's pretty awesome. It's cool. 996 00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:27,120 We've had you, you know, several years to just kind of go through 997 00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:30,480 and just see piece it all together, all the things that 998 00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:32,960 happen like the timing. Oh, yeah. 999 00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:38,120 That was one of the things, like I was kind of kicking myself for 1000 00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:41,560 not calling 911 sooner. You know, I, I probably should 1001 00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:44,000 have recognized that and started trying to manage it myself. 1002 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:48,160 But then I reflected upon it, like just the way that, you 1003 00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:50,880 know, she got out of that barn when she did. 1004 00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:54,000 And 'cause if if she didn't wake up when she did and I didn't 1005 00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:56,040 call when I did and get the guy started when I did that, he 1006 00:53:56,040 --> 00:53:57,760 wouldn't have been there when she came out. 1007 00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:00,960 So like the timing just worked out so perfectly. 1008 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:02,360 That right. It is. 1009 00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:05,280 So it's like, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, if, if God's at 1010 00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:07,320 work in this whole thing, no matter when I called, he was 1011 00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:08,640 going to work it out. So yeah. 1012 00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:11,040 So I'm just going to have to sit with that. 1013 00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:14,960 Well, you got an incredible story and I'm sure somebody 1014 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:18,800 listening is probably hearing it from that metaphorical state, 1015 00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:20,920 and hopefully they're hearing what God's telling them too. 1016 00:54:20,920 --> 00:54:24,960 So that's pretty awesome. Appreciate you guys being here. 1017 00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:26,840 Thanks for sharing your story. Thank you. 1018 00:54:27,200 --> 00:54:27,800 Thank you very much.