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Below: Lee
Duquette picked up a clear piece of glacier ice and it was shiny like
a crystal |
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Below: John Smythers - Mr.
Muscle Man |
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Below Standing by Knik Glacier
and looking at the fireweed and mountain |
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 Then
it was time to head back. Unfortunately, about 1/2 hour from the original
parking lot, the young TEEN-AGE guide directed Karen Duquette down a
steep cliff. Karen said that she did not want to go there because it
was too scary. The main guide was nowhere in sight. Karen may have panicked
and accidentally hit her switch to go even though she said she did not
want to. OR maybe her ATV wheel just slipped off the edge of the cliff.
At any rate, her ATV somehow went off of the steep cliff and flew HEAD-ON
into a big fat tree. Karen was then thrown off of the ATV onto the ground.
She landed on her back with her head facing downward on a hilly slope.
She thought she felt fine, but wanted to be check out.
It took a very long time, but eventually, a back-country ambulance
came and drove her to the parking lot where a regular ambulance then
took her to the emergency room. No bones were broken, but Karen was
very sore for almost a month. She was also black and blue almost everywhere.
Below is the only black and blue photo spot Karen can post here because
her whole body was brused. She is lucky to be alive and not have broken
anything. The hospital was shocked that Karen did not have broken bones. |
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Since
the ATV was totaled, the ATV tour company and its insurance company
tried to collect big money from the two RV Gypsies to repair the ATV.
They even wanted their deductible charge from Karen. Karen felt that
she did not owe the money because there were TWO ATV guides on this
trip and the main guide was not anywhere near her when the accident
occurred plus the young guide directed her to do something dangerous.
There were several other times on this trip that the guides were nowhere
to be seen. Once the main guide was off racing with another ATV rider,
and Karen Duquette (who was in the front of the pack) was not even sure
which path to take. Luckily she chose the correct path and everyone
followed her. Another time, Karen and Ilse both got stuck in a big mud
river and no guide came to their aid for quite awhile. Even with two
guides, one guide should have noticed.
BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, everyone signed a waiver at the beginning
of the trip that stated the rider is responsible for any damage even
if the guides are negligent. That tells everyone something. Nobody noticed
that in the small print.
At any rate, DO NOT take this trip unless you are a very experience
ATV rider. And if you are an experienced rider, you do NOT need those
worthless guides anyway. The two RV Gypsies really do not have the kind
of money to pay for this and they even had a big hospital bill to pay
on top of it all. The guides probably would not even have cared if Karen
had died and would still be charging Lee for the money. OMG. Life sure
is not fair. No, the two RV Gypsies do NOT recommend this company at
all.
Because
family was with the two RV Gypsies, they continued their Alaska adventure
as planned. Plus the RV of the two RV Gypsies was still in repair in
Fairbanks, so they had no choice to just continue on hotel hopping and
letting their family enjoy their one-and-only Alaska trip. Karen did
not even want to move her body at all, but had no choice. |
