Wrecks make for hot day on 199

By Adam Madison
Triplicate staff writer
Two major wrecks occurred on U.S. Highway 199 on Wednesday, one resulting in injuries and the other blocking traffic in both directions for more than two hours.
The highway was closed in both directions northwest of Gasquet after a log truck overturned shortly after noon.
Hours later, a Ford Mustang collided with a Dodge truck towing a trailer with a tractor on it in front of Hog-Heaven Motorcycle Resort in Gasquet, owned by the driver of the truck, Keith DeForest.
"I looked over my shoulder and I heard something—I heard gravel—and it hit me," said DeForest, shaken and holding his discolored left arm.
DeForest was turning left toward the gravel driveway of his business when the southbound Mustang, driven by Nathanial Dean Schoeber of Crescent City, collided with the truck, according to the California Highway Patrol. Schoeber was treated and released from Sutter Coast Hospital on Wednesday evening.
DeForest said he had insurance on his truck, which brought a brief smile to his dusty face.
"It jerked me right up on the porch," he said about the collision, still shaken from his experience.
"We're getting ready to take him to the hospital, we think he might have some broken ribs," Summer Calvin, a Hog-Heaven employee and family friend, said Wednesday evening.
After hitting the truck, Schoeber's Mustang slid over a curbed lawn and through a fence before coming to a stop.
Two motorcyclists who were inside Hog-Heaven when the accident occurred were not injured as the truck stopped at the porch—but their motorcycles didn't do as well.
"I was in the store paying for that drink there," said Todd Clendenin, of Crescent City, pointing toward an empty sports drink bottle.
"I heard the impact and saw the truck floating toward the store—I thought it was coming through," said Clendenin. "I was just getting ready to run when it (the truck) stopped."
Clendenin said the heartbreak happened only a moment later. "My buddy looks out and says, "Hey, your bike's underneath that truck."'
He replied with an enthusiastic "yep" when asked if he had insurance, adding, "I've only had the bike for about a year."
Clendenin was riding with Jeff Broderson, whose bike was hit in the chain reaction as well—but didn't end up underneath the truck.
In an earlier wreck, a log truck overturned 10 miles northwest of Gasquet blocking north and southbound lanes of the highway and stopping other travelers in the Gasquet heat.
"As he was coming around the corner the truck started to overturn," said CHP Officer Alton Randall. "I'm not sure whether the cab or the trailer went first."
The logs on the trailer of the southbound truck spilled into the northbound lane after the vehicle tipped.
The name of the truck driver, who was uninjured, was not released Wednesday.
CHP Officer Barry Foster said that no diesel spilled from the log truck, only "a little bit of engine oil."
"When the truck overturned the tanks didn't rupture," said Foster, pointing to a dark pool of liquid that had spilled out from the engine compartment.
People on the way out of town were stuck in the heat for more than two hours.
"We were headed to Medford (Ore.) and Redding," said Roy Magnuson, who was with his wife, Marilyn. "We were headed to pick up a new trailer," he said, pointing to his fifth-wheel camper trailer.
A filmmaker's travels were disrupted as well.
"I'm doing a documentary on hitchhiking for the U.K. (United Kingdom)—sometimes the unexpected happens," said Hamish Campbell from Britain.
Reach Adam Madison at amadison@triplicate.com.