What started out as a typical relaxing foggy morning soon became eventful. After breakfast we sat by the river watching the fog slowly dissipate. Back on the highway we saw two dead buffalo apparently hit by cars. Further down the road around a bend the aftermath of a rollover accident.
We stopped and to see if we can help the injured. No ambulance or police had reached the site yet. The first responder had the single occupant/driver out of his totaled vehicle sitting in the cab of his own truck and a family of six was picking up all the victim's strewn belongings. The SUV looked as if it rolled over 2 and half times ending on its top. Fortunately, the first responder had the driver out of harms way but was unsure if he should meet the ambulance coming from Watson Lake ~160 kilometers (~96 miles) away. I helped secured and buckle the victim in and encouraged the responder to meet the ambulance. Bruce helped the family with the scattered items.
The injured man was conscious, obviously shaken and informed me of his disability from several back injures and surgeries, one being recent, and of his left shoulder and rib pain. He wore a heart monitor but part of it was lost in the accident. It appears the accident happened out in the middle of nowhere around 830 am, the first responder arriving at 845 and called an ambulance. At the time we stopped it was 945. The first responder left at 10 am with the victim.
The biggest concern for the injured driver was the loss of one of his dogs. He had two small terriers and one could not be found. The driver explained his wife, recently deceased, had given him the dog and it would only respond to him. I figured if any one could coax a dog out of hiding it would be Bruce, who has special animal charm. For 45 minutes we looked, called and begged for the dog, named Rat, to come out. No luck. The other terrier was with his owner, shaking uncontrollably, licking his hand.
The driver explained he did not sleep well due to noisy neighbors so got up and drove. He had the truck on cruise control and then he doesn’t know what happened. I surmised he fell asleep at the wheel, or could have dodged a buffalo. Also, due to his chronic back trouble he was on Oxycodone and trazadone, the former being pain medication and latter a sleeping and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) medication. He was in the process of moving to Texas with all his possessions. It just goes to show, you don’t know who behind the wheel coming at you.
The family and other helpers were almost done with the clean up and said they would continue to look for Rat. I hope the guy recovers and his dog is found. I"m just glad the driver did not end up as a cross on the side of the road.
For the remainder fo the day we drove 360 miles and spent the night at Sikanni River campground. The wildlife for the day was caribou, a horned sheep and two black bear. Bruce said the Alaska Hwy is a thousand mile Lion Country Safari.
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