[jmattor]

We had a great long holiday in the desert.....unfortunately the last day wasn't so great.

A bunch of our group wanted to go on one last dirt bike ride...about 20 miles or so. I had some things to do - I promised the son of a friend he could drive the RZR, so I didn't go on the ride. My wife's 250 was acting up so she rode a 150 my buddy had.

I was headed back from a short putt with the kid driving and saw some friends from my camp waving frantically at me to come over. My youngest daughter was there - having ridden back to camp at full speed to get me. My wife took a header when the little 150 bucked her in a steep trail section with whoops.
I told her to get the pick up and we'd go get her...."No, we need the RZR, a truck can't get there."

Sure enough she wasn't kidding...as we were getting close she looked up and saw the Mercy Air helicopter looking for a place to land. I couldn't believe the trail they had gone up.....I guess I couldn't believe the RZR made it up there as well.

The copter had landed on a hilltop nearby and they hiked over. My wife was up and speaking clearly by then. She said that she didn't want a helicopter ride, so I buckled her in and we were getting ready to go when two F.D. showed up after hiking up from a fire road. They couldn't believe the RZR made it up there - they had never seen the four seater before. The Capt. said it would make a perfect little ambulance for hard to get to places.

Long story short...by the time I got back to camp another in the group went down - Hard! I had to rush back out there, this time I took the pick-up since they were near a major trail and I needed to be able to carry a couple of bikes. He had no choice - he got the ride in the helicopter, but it turned out he is OK.

And he is shopping for a RZR 4 now!

 

[nfk]

luckily everyone was ok.

 

[The Counselor]

Wait til the bill arrives for the heli-rescue...wow, that will be a big one.

 

[MTW]

Maybe a modified 4 seater would be a great deep wood rescue vehicle! we could use those up here in Alaska, We do have lots of Sleds (snow machines) & Helicopters though....

 

[jmattor]

Wait til the bill arrives for the heli-rescue...wow, that will be a big one.

Fortunately for my Son in Law who took the ride, he had flight coverage. I've got coverage for the whole family.

Good thing too, that brief flight is over an hour on the road!

 

[The Counselor]

Wait til the bill arrives for the heli-rescue...wow, that will be a big one.

Fortunately for my Son in Law who took the ride, he had flight coverage. I've got coverage for the whole family.

Good thing too, that brief flight is over an hour on the road!

You mean, as part of your health insurance coverage, or something in addition? Be interested to hear if you bought a separate policy for that, who you bought it from, and what the ballpark cost is if you're willing to say.

 

[jmattor]

There are separate policies for different companies covering different areas. You can get it very inexpensively:

Life Flight Membership, Fly Free For Under $100. A Year. - Insurance - Families.com

That's just one example. GlamisDunes.com has a deal for a service that covers the ISDRA as well, as low as $35 for a family:

Board Message

You want to make sure that you buy a policy that will cover the area you ride.

I have it included in my personal policies because we, as a family, tend to do things that might require it. :ride:

 

[The Counselor]

Great idea - I'm going to look into it. Thanks for the info.

I shattered my wrist out at Glamis on a quad on April Fool's Day back in 2005 - rode back to camp real slow in a buddy's Alumicraft Dual Sport (Alumi Craft Inc. - Prerunners - Racecars - Sand Cars). Then I cracked a Pacifico. After that, The Wife was very opposed to the quad, and wouldn't green light a buggy, so I compromised on a 2010 RZR-S. So far, it's been great, but I still yearn for that buggy...maybe some day

 

[MossLager]

Sorry to hear... I did a Mercy Air flight a couple years ago out of Barstow Ca. after a dirt bike accident. My medical insurance picked up the tab 100%.. (Cigna at the time) $25000. I was surprised. They did spend about 7 months trying to negotiate it down but no luck. I know you can get the helicopter insurance through R.E.A.C.H.

 

[strracerx]

We had a great long holiday in the desert.....unfortunately the last day wasn't so great.

A bunch of our group wanted to go on one last dirt bike ride...about 20 miles or so. I had some things to do - I promised the son of a friend he could drive the RZR, so I didn't go on the ride. My wife's 250 was acting up so she rode a 150 my buddy had.

I was headed back from a short putt with the kid driving and saw some friends from my camp waving frantically at me to come over. My youngest daughter was there - having ridden back to camp at full speed to get me. My wife took a header when the little 150 bucked her in a steep trail section with whoops.
I told her to get the pick up and we'd go get her...."No, we need the RZR, a truck can't get there."

Sure enough she wasn't kidding...as we were getting close she looked up and saw the Mercy Air helicopter looking for a place to land. I couldn't believe the trail they had gone up.....I guess I couldn't believe the RZR made it up there as well.

The copter had landed on a hilltop nearby and they hiked over. My wife was up and speaking clearly by then. She said that she didn't want a helicopter ride, so I buckled her in and we were getting ready to go when two F.D. showed up after hiking up from a fire road. They couldn't believe the RZR made it up there - they had never seen the four seater before. The Capt. said it would make a perfect little ambulance for hard to get to places.

Long story short...by the time I got back to camp another in the group went down - Hard! I had to rush back out there, this time I took the pick-up since they were near a major trail and I needed to be able to carry a couple of bikes. He had no choice - he got the ride in the helicopter, but it turned out he is OK.

And he is shopping for a RZR 4 now!

good thing everything turn out good. what desert were you at?

 

[johnnycat8]

copter rides seem to be all over the price list ive seen as low as 500 to 2 k glad your son inlaw is ok

 

[MTW]

copter rides seem to be all over the price list ive seen as low as 500 to 2 k glad your son inlaw is ok

wow...$500-2k, that must be what you'ed pay AFTER the insurance eats 80% because thats cheap, $500 wouldnt get the bird off the ground, what with Gas prices, pilots / flight crew pay, blah blah blah.. the $25K listed above sounds about right. Now I have heard of the insurance but never knew the prices..

 

[jmattor]

good thing everything turn out good. what desert were you at?

We were in Cal City. The tumble took place about 20 miles from camp, towards Randsburg. When my daughter got back to camp she had the coordinates written on her arm!

So, I've got the waypoint in the GPS now....maybe a picnic lunch would be fitting for next Labor Day ?

 

[MossLager]

Interesting you bring up coordinates... After my helicopter ride out of Stoddard Wells my family started keeping a card on them with our camp site coordinates in case someone gets hurt while out away from camp. In my scenario when I wrecked I was with 2 others on dirt bikes and I was in the back. I still have no idea what happened as I woke up on the helicopter. My camp was a short distance away but the only reason the 2 guys in front of me knew I wasn't there was because they pulled into my camp and I was not with them. There was a camp near my wreck that assisted me promptly as they saw me go down and interestingly enough it was a nurse and a fire fighter. I was later in Glamis and a guy was hit by a sand car while on his bike riding solo and was helicoptered out. We thought about the fact his camp had no idea where he was and what happened. So now we carry a card or write our camp cords on our arm when we ride off solo in case this happens at least the rangers can go to camp and inform our peeps.

 

[GIXXERGUY6]

 

[8ball_99]

Not a big dirt bike guy.. Just to easy to get hurt on them. After having the RZR for a while not really a big quad guy anymore either lol. We have a few friends what we ride with that still just have quads. I've seen them come off the back and jump of the side several times... We just roll over on our side unbuckle and flip it back on its wheels. I've got an ankle with a steel plate and 8 screws in it.. My wife has a bad knee from hyper extending it playing football. So neither one of us really want to fall of something on the trail.
Glad everything worked out for you guys. Now you just need to buy your wife a RZR

 

[jmattor]

Sorry, no pics...I was a bit distracted, if you know what I mean. :rollfinger:

However, a buddy may have snapped a shot of my son-in-law laying on his back, arm covered in blood as they were trying to slide him on to the backboard...I can see if he'll send that to me if you'd really like to see that. :scared2:


I don't need to buy my wife a RZR....I just have to get her to ride in ours.

She swears that she wouldn't have had any problems if she was riding her 250X instead of that little 150. A whole world of difference suspension wise, I had to agree with her there.

The trail...more like a goat trail, strewn with bowling ball sized rocks, was nasty. It was the whoops at the end of a steep downhill that bucked her. She's done that one before with no problems......but I think she's more receptive to either riding/driving the RZR now and saving the bike for less intense stuff.

 

[dev's rzr]

wow glad everyone is ok

 

[Tedram]

I had to call for a Medi-Vac twice while in the dunes (Glamis) I saw a guy on a quad endo bad (Drunk) and broke his back. He is now is a wheel chair for life. The other time a guy on a two wheeler thought he could jump-- didnt work out for him either. I used to carry a GPS with me but now my BlackBerry has a feature of giving cooridinates even when you dont have cell coverage (uses satellites to get coordinates).. as far as a 20 k ride in a bird they charge you that much to make up for all the people who do not have insurance. Actual cost is about 4 k per hour for the bird and just under 1k for the Pilot, Medic and flight nurse. (I have a friend in the biz)..... I dont leave camp without knowing where i am at all times....

 

[medik418]

Pictures of WHAT?