Saturday, October 26th, 2024, at 4:12 a.m. (CT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in Alabama. The requester, Christian Mitchell, submitted the following information: “I have a Polaris that’s on a skinny hunting path road that’s stuck. This is in private land with owners permission. Wide enough for a jeep. / I’m with the vehicle“
Our administrator, Al Fontan, contacted the requester and verified the contact information provided, GPS location, and current situation before sending the request to local volunteers. In this particular recovery, we contacted volunteers within a 65-mile radius.
From the group of contacted volunteers, we got Brian Martin to offer help and take over the request. He drove over to the place, and once he arrived, he tried to establish communication with Christian.
Brian tried calling and texting Christian without any luck, and we made similar attempts, but Christian was completely unresponsive.
This was both frustrating and disappointing, especially since Brian traveled 40 miles each way for nothing.
Thankfully, experiences like this have been very rare over the past five years. However, if they become more frequent, we may need to reconsider and adjust how we handle recovery jobs.
We later reached out to Brian, and he mentioned that regardless of this request, he will continue to help whenever possible. We really appreciate that. (offroad recovery in Alabama)
If you would like to receive a text message when we get a request near you, create your account here: offroadportal.org/signup