For a moment I'd like to veer off the subject of my trip. On a more serious note, a friend of mine who many of you Durangoans likely know, Fred Hutt, is recovering from a brain injury.
A fundraiser is set for 4 to 7 p.m. July 25 at Digs Restaurant in Three Springs next to Mercy Regional Medical Center. Proceeds will benefit Fred and Jenna Hutt, and their young daughter, as well as the family of Steve and Sako Harris of Durango, who had a baby born prematurely with complications.
Fred was injured when he crashed April 27 at a high speed on his road bike coming down Hesperus Hill. He spent a couple months at Craig Rehabilitation Center in Denver, and although they had insurance, that doesn't cover all the added costs. Fred is a longtime search and rescue and firefighter volunteer. I got to know him after he fell 800 feet off Engineer Mountain in 1995 and miraculously survived. A shame that he is having to go through a similar ordeal after another freak accident.
People can also make direct donations to the "Hutt/Harris Emergency Medical Fund" at First National Bank in Durango.
