Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen turned from weary bluegrass travelers to eager first responders early Saturday morning as they were headed home from Silver Dollar City’s Bluegrass & BBQ festival in Branson, MO.
Driving east on I-70 near St. Louis they encountered a wreck on the highway just ahead of them.
Frank said they stopped and hopped out as quickly as possible to see if they could offer assistance.
“The first thing we saw up ahead were truck lights doing something funny and then the dust/smoke. Next thing you know we are upon the accident! I jumped out of our Sprinter and ran up to the window of the truck.
Asking, ‘how many passengers… Is everyone ok?’ I heard back, ‘one… I’m ok.’ We had our cell phones shedding a little light and somehow the cab lights and headlights turned back on. Jimmy was able to use an ice chest and the steering wheel to get up to the drivers door.
We could see diesel fuel pouring across the fast lane from the ruptured tank. Chris Luquette was calling 911 with details, Danny Booth and Frank Marchand (sound man) helped direct some dangerous traffic around the overturned rig, and Mike Munford and I helped Jimmy the driver get out of the cab and off of the truck.
He was shaken and only seemed to have some superficial scratches. It didn’t take long for the police and fire trucks to arrive – maybe 5 minutes for the first police car. Some other folks stopped and offered their support too. Once we knew that Jimmy was in good hands with the state troopers and medics we said our goodbyes, wished him well, and continued on our way.
So glad no limbs or life was lost! It could have been much worse.”
Just another day in the life of a bluegrass road warrior. Well done Frank, Mike, Chris, Frank, and Danny!
