Death at Harlan.

So very sad. Prayers are being said for everyone invovled
 
I think I'll ensure I have enough Home Brew at the Windrock ECORS race so we can give Gabe a huge toast! So sad life always ends the same way, with death. I can't imagine what Heather is feeling right now. My heart cry's for the girl and I've never met her. Just Wow! :(

BTW not to thread jack, we rolled on a by pass trail @ MM a few years ago and we only had lap belts from the harnesses on. :eek: My little girl and her best friend were in the rig. I thank god everyday for it not being worse! We now where full harnesses as a rule regardless but who woulda thunk it!

Chris thanks for the info on facebook! I didn't relize they had a little girl (missed that in your intial post). :( Was that you I took a picture of holding a little one at DPG? Was the little one yours or Gabe and Heathers little one?
 
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Damn!
Hadn't seen Gabe in at least a year, but he was a hell of a guy.

Chris call me when you have some time, lets see about some ideas to help Hetaher and the family.
I just cant imagine what Heather is going through ...

My heart aches for them.
 
bman said:
Chris thanks for the info on facebook! I didn't relize they had a little girl (missed that in your intial post). :( Was that you I took a picture of holding a little one at DPG? Was the little one yours or Gabe and Heathers little one?
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Heather (Gabe's wife) is expecting, I think is what I understood. Chris May and his wife have a new baby girl (about a month old now) named Raleigh.
 
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trailhugger said:
Heather is expecting, I think is what I understood. Chris and his wife have a new baby girl (about a month old now) named Raleigh.
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Yes Chris said that in the initial post. I just missed it until he mentioned it on facebook. Also since Chris is probably so over whelmed with email and such here is what he posted on facebook when I asked about donations: "There is a couple of ways, you can send money though paypal to trailtoy83@yahoo.com, or go to a local BB&T put money in account under Heather Gardner sub title Baby Gardner."

We sent paypal and he got it just fine. :D Let's help put Raleigh threw college ya'll! God bless her not having a daddy! :/
 
Mad Mudders 4x4 has this family in our thoughts and prayers. its def. an eye opener to see how quick someone can get hurt or even lose there life. most def. will i make it a point to wear a seatbelt and my family also!!!
 
Directed to here from a fb post a friend of mine put up. I would like to donate to the family, but I don't use paypal. Is there an address we can mail a check to at the bank, or the wife, or ????


As a side note, I always wear a belt. Even when moving around on the parking lot...you just never know.
 
Wow, such sad news. We had just met both of them for the first time last month. My thoughts and prayers go out to Heather and the rest of his family. We will be praying for them during this tough time. We need to set up something later on for the trail as a marker of some sort...
 
trailtoy83 said:
Hey Guys I wanted to share a story of what happen to a good friend(Gabe Gardner of Seneca ,SC) of mine at Harlan this Thursday night. Hoping this story will save a life, and hoping we can help his Wife.

I have to start this story by telling you about Alex Ragsdale a 4 wheeling friend that lost his life in a truck accident(June 2010) where a seat belt may have saved his life. Alex was Gabe's best friend and Gabe threw Alex's ashes off the cliff at the begging of the Mason Jar trail in Harlan KY. So knowing this, Harlan was a special place for our group of friends and to Gabe!

This weekend Gabe, Nick, and Scotty went to go riding at Harlan this weekend. They got to Harlen camping on the Putney side. The first thing planned was to Head to Mason Jar to pay respects to Alex aka SkinneyPedal, but there was another cool thing going to happen at Mason Jar this time too. Nick, Gabe's best friend asked his GF Miranda to marry him, of course she said YES! So the weekend was off to a great start. Later that day they wound up at Lower Rockgarden, it was getting late so they were going to head back to camp seeing they were so close to Evarts side Gabe decided to get some ice for the next day in Evarts. The other 2 guys just headed back to camp while Gabe and Heather( his Wife) went to the store. They got the ice and Gabe let Heather drive the Jeep back to the Putney side on the way back Heather told Gabe the jeep was driving funny, they swapped seats. Heather put her seat belt on Gabe did not. Gabe headed back to camp when the jeep went off the mountain(turns out the panhard mount broke off the unibody), Heather said it rolled about 3 times, then came to rest on a lower trail. The jeep was on its side and on Gabes leg but he got out from under the jeep and leaned on the cage while Heather was getting out of the jeep. He kept saying he was so sorry, and they talked for about 1 min or 2 then he passed out, Heather called for help and other friends arrived and started CPR. He was not going to make it, his body started swelling immediately; they did CPR the whole time till he got to the ambulance. He was pronounced dead on the scene though. He leaves behind his Wife who was 2 months pregnant, and we can only imagine what she is going though at a time like this. Heather and the Baby were physically okay in the accident.

Also I wanted to mention the towing company that got the jeep. They had to work about 4 hrs getting it back up the mountain. Our friends drove up there to get the jeep and called the tow company, he said it would be at least 200 just to cover fuel and labor. When our friends got there and told the owner the story and that his pregnant wife was in the jeep the owner said that he did not want any money. He told our friends to give the money to Gabes wife. The name of the tow company was Alan's Towing in Harlan, KY. Just wanted to give them a big thanks!

We are setting up an account for Heather and the baby at a local BB&T. If anyone wants to donate money online they can send it to my paypal account trailtoy83@yahoo.com. I will cover what ever paypal charges, so if you donate 20 bucks Heather and Baby will get all 20 dollars. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. As of now the family is discussion armaments. I will update thread when arrangements are made.

I want to also say that we need to be wearing our harnesses in our off road trucks. No matter how strong the cage is, it does no good if you are thrown out the truck. I myself when trail riding don’t wear my belts except at a big obstacles. This happen on the main gravel road! So please a least wear your lap belts just driving around!
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My Thoughts go out to his family. This is a tragic loss and a reminder of how quickly we can lose it all.


Do you know if he carried any life insurance at all to help his wife and soon to be child? It is important for every one of us, especially with loved ones to make sure we have adequate life insurance to cover in such tragic events.
 
Tragic news. Thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, baby, and family. Such a sad turn of events.
 
Man dont know what to say......sending prayers, definately will buckle up in the morning. Maybe us ecors racers could do something to raise money for the family and give it to chris at the last race. Let me know if i can help in any way.
 
Sad news and a wake up call rolled into one. This hit home for me personally as I am very lax on belting up in the truggy and buggy unless it "looks tough" I posted a link to this thread on my bronco board as our Fall Crawl is coming up in Harlan early Oct. We run the trail from Put. camp side up every year-could easily see this happening to anyone. I have seen a couple posts on folks doing a pay pal for the fam. We like to think old bronco guys are a good group. Prayers for the family.
Karl Bradley
NC
ebsssss
 
We were just at Harlan on Labor Day weekend. I hate to hear this for anyone. I will see if Rock Corps can do a donation through paypal. I will pm you and let you know.
 
myjeepsbigger said:
Directed to here from a fb post a friend of mine put up. I would like to donate to the family, but I don't use paypal. Is there an address we can mail a check to at the bank, or the wife, or ????


As a side note, I always wear a belt. Even when moving around on the parking lot...you just never know.
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Not sure about bank address but Chris told me: "go to a local BB&T put money in account under Heather Gardner sub title Baby Gardner." So I'm sure if you go in person you can give them a check.
 
So sad. I couldn't imagine going through that. I'll be stopping by a BB&T this week.
 
Hey ya'll I know Chris has been incognito dealing with things. He wanted to pass on to everyone this message; "Thanks so much, I am overwhelmed by the people reaching out to help Heather. I really have learned that there are still good hearted caring people in the world still. THANKS!" I'm sure when he is able to he will personally post up a big thanks here and/or give a big thanks at Windrock.
 
I would like to say thks to Chris for posting this and trying to help Heather out!! She is going to need all the prayers she can get to help her get down this long hard road ahead! I personally was with Gabe and Heather in KY when this happen and it was a reminder to me that we ALL must ALLWAYS use are seat belts!!!!! We are not promised tomorrow so make sure u tell ur loved ones how much they mean to you!
 
Hey Guys, I just cant say Thank You enough! I have had over 20 people donate to my paypal account, from 10 to 200 bucks. I'm sure other have donated to the BB&T account as well. I will be updating this post often, here is a pic from his memorial of all of our rigs.

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