We had taken the travel trailer to Denver to observe a FEMA disaster dog test. The weather was reporting a "little" snow for Sunday. Well, that "little snow" closed Denver International Airport for two days and surrounded the trailer with close to 3-feet of snow. We had to leave the trailer and return to Salt Lake on Monday. So Dave came back out Thursday to try and recover the trailer; now up to its axles in mud. It wasn't going well even after jacking the trailer onto some boards, the mud was still too deep in front of the trailer to hitch it to the truck.
But along came Mel with his tow truck offering to assist. With a hitch-ball adapter he backed into position and hooked up the trailer. As Mel drove forward, the weight of the trailer, about 10,000 pounds total, bogged down in the mud and brought his lumbering truck to a halt. Mel apologized saying that the "old girl" was missing on a few cylinders and as a result was running a little weak. As I pondered the situation, Mel calmly rolled into position with his other tow truck and attached a winch cable to the front of the now stuck truck. With a flick of his wrist he promptly winched out both a 10,000 pound trailer and his other tow truck out onto the dry dirt.
We often think of Firemen and Policemen, even a few SAR handlers as "heros," but sometimes we find quiet heros as a result of unexpected situations. Mel was our hero that day and yet would not accept any payment for his time and trouble; although I finally did get him to accept some microbrew beer we had. We hope he enjoyed those Rocky Mountain Brews! - Dave Lehman