A brutal winter storm struck the western U.S. from Arizona to Wyoming last month, seeing many motorists stranded for long hours in cold weather and abandoned cars littering the highways.
Twenty drivers trapped in a blizzard in Washington state on Feb. 22 have a pair of local heroes to thank for pulling them out.
Uber driver Alec Higley, 27, from La Center was en route to a client when he got trapped in traffic on the Columbia Boulevard exit off of 82nd Avenue in the storm.
Deep ruts in the icy road made driving impossible for many.
He proceeded to call his best friend since kindergarten, Jonathon Gilbert, 27, an off-road enthusiast and owner of Honest Jon’s Auto.
Gilbert didn’t need to be asked to help a friend.
“I didn’t even ask him to come help; he just offered,” Higley told The Epoch Times. “He went to La Center to help out his family and told me he was on his way. He even brought food!”
Higley had been stuck for about seven hours by the time Gilbert arrived in his Pathfinder at 11 p.m.
Pulling out his tow straps, he set to work helping haul out Higley’s Tesla 3 and made short work of it.
“He proceeded to tow over 20 cars,“ Higley said. ”[He] even attempted to pull the semi-truck up the hill and managed to move it enough to open the off ramp and clear the highway to dozens of other vehicles that had been waiting to get through for hours.”
Helping his community comes naturally for Gilbert.
“I believe that if you have the capacity to help someone you should do it,“ he told the newspaper. ”I’m also a 4x4 enthusiast. There were so many cars; it was kind of a call of duty.
“We were out there till 6 a.m. helping drivers, roughly 7-8 hours total.”
Their efforts had a snowball effect. With those cars out of the way, some 20 more drivers were able to get clear and take the off ramp.
They were “incredibly thankful and happy” to head home, the mechanic said.
Gilbert’s business has a reputation for having the “most friendly service” with the “lowest costs in the area.” Nor does he charge any overhead like traditional garage stations.
Higley touted Gilbert’s off-road accomplishments.
“[He] has a lot of skill with anything to do with vehicles,” Higley said, adding that Gilbert can “fix and build anything.”
Gilbert’s involvement with the Gambler 500, an Oregon-based long distance off-road rally, helped him help his community.
“He has always done good, honest work at a good price,” Higley added. “He’s done work for free for friends in need and is always willing to help anyone he can any chance he gets.”
