04/11/2026
(Because I got so many comments from people who are hypercritical of me posting pictures, I will once again preface this post by saying I had complete permission to post the story and pictures…)
One thing about having a Towing and recovery business… I meet some of the coolest and nicest people on some of their worst days. I met two of them today., when at 1:30 PM, I got a call from a younger guy (mid 20s) who was losing his mind after a disastrous day with not one, but a pair, of UTVs. M
They knew better than to ride on the trails, as they aren’t open yet, so they decided to go have fun on some infrequently traveled dirt roads that were perfectly legal for them to be on.
I’m guessing it started out as a fun day anyway… A lot of curves, a lot of hills, tons of mud with deep mud puddles, did every once in a while, just to switch it up, snow, ice, and slush… basically and off-roading jackpot.
Until…
One of them flipped over on its side in a section of the road that still had a bunch of snow and ruts (fortunately, no injuries or vehicle damage). Well, I suppose he’ll always remember his first time driving a UTV… and no, I’m not kidding… it really was his first time.
As for the other one, they managed to burn the clutch up, while trying to fix the rollover. They were able to get that one out of the woods and back onto the road, but that one was gonna need to get towed a couple of miles back to their place. I was more than willing to help, but there was just one problem… My truck happened to be partially disassembled at the time, getting new tires and shocks installed.
The caller insisted that a four-wheel-drive truck in a strap should be able to take care of both uprighting the one vehicle, and towing/pulling the other one. They tried calling a bunch of other places as well, but they couldn’t get any response from anybody, so I told him I would take my Silverado out there to see what I could do.
Pulling the first one a mile and a half or so back to their house was easy with a toe rope. We got that one dropped off and then went back after the one flipped over in the woods. We managed to get that thing out of there, but dear lord, there was more than a few times I thought I was gonna end up having to call Bulldog to come get us both out.
They were almost four miles in from the time I got off the pavement, and by the time I got back to the pavement, it looked like I was the one that decided to go mudding today.
Having been laying on its side for so long, that thing was smoking like crazy from all the oil that it seeped anywhere and everywhere in the engine. After I got it back on its wheels, we even waited about 20 minutes to give all of the oil a chance to settle back into the drain van before he started it.  I told him I’d follow them back to the house, just in case, but it made it.
It’s always great when people can find at least some humor in their own misfortune, and the humor today between those two was priceless. After I helped them get the machines back in the garage, they still had a sled sitting outside that needed to go in there as well.
The kid who originally called me, looked at his buddy and said, “So, do you think you can manage to get the snowmobile in the garage without rolling that over too?”
Without missing a beat, that kid replied, “At least my UTV still runs because the clutch still works.” 😂😂😂
