Many of you know Derek of Colorado Camper Van. I was one of his early customers and I'm pretty sure there are several here who followed my thread and now have one of his tops. The video I'm linking here is several videos strung together from his clean up and rescue efforts during the Big Thompson Canyon flood in September of 2013, just north of Denver near Estes Park and Loveland. Derek actually lives here, in Drake Co, very close to the intersection of 43 and 34.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Drake ... c542f2e5ec
He lives up on Storm Mountain just above Drake and used to have his shop at home, where I took my van and where he did my top. Nowadays I'm told he has a shop down in Loveland, which probably makes a lot of his customers (and especially UPS and Fedex) much happier with him!
I'm pretty sure this flood and the subsequent problem of having no road to his house for several months is what made him move the shop down in to town. I was in Loveland about a week after this flood, when Derek had scheduled me for a repair on my top. I no longer have this van, but it had a top/lift motor fail and bend the lift mechanism. Derek took care of me on this as I knew he would, but I had no idea when I showed up for my appointment what he had been through within the previous 2 weeks. I was commenting to him on how rough his van looked since it had looked so good when I had seen it a year before (both side ladders beat up, and the van had obviously been laid over on it's side). Now I really get it. He was using his van as a search and rescue vehicle, helping out his community, and also building an old trail in to a road from the back side of Storm Mtn down in to town. The helicopter footage you see in the video is mostly rescues of residents up on the mountain who had no way to get out, no food, no nothing. Derek's wife and son (Canyon) were rescued in the first copter you see. He stayed at home to help out in the Drake area of the canyon. Building a useable road (out of a trail) was, I think, the only hope for many Storm Mtn. residents for a long time. They were told it would be months or maybe a year until Hwy 34 was operational. The video is riveting, shocking, crazy. It's hard to believe some of the stuff it shows. It's 45 minutes though, so grab a cold one and be thankful for your home today.
http://youtu.be/s-E7UjFXJTY
Also, if you have 4 more minutes, check out the latest wheeling video he posted. Derek's van is not a showpiece anymore, but is a testament to where a badass 4WD van will go. His is about a 2000 or so 7.3 Quigley, modified by him, and it shows up lots of Jeeps. Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/sR0pT6Qweyw