Funny.bytes
a look at the lighter side of BLM issues

Road to Big Trouble

Fun E. Bytes Presents "Road To Big Trouble"

Mountains are in the horizon; the sky is clear.  Road is leading from the foreground to the mountains. A sign next to the road displays "Stay On The Road." A blue jeep drives down the mountains and screeches to a stop in front of the sign. Two men are inside the jeep. On the driver's side is a man with a broad physical frame, wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt and a blue baseball cap worn backwards. The passenger is a man with a thinner physical frame, wearing a tan long-sleeved shirt and a red baseball cap worn backwards.

Music is playing. The passenger has a happy facial expression and holds a wilderness recreation area brochure. He shows the map to the driver of the jeep with a raised brow as he looks at the contents of the brochure. The passenger looks at the brochure and at the driver, then makes a gesture with the brochure implying on what they should do.  The scene zooms in on a view of the map.

The map displays the "Beautiful View Recreation Area.". Also on the map is "Warning Travel on Designated Routes Only" and in parenthesis, "That means, don't go over here!" which is followed by a cartoon hand pointing at a skull and crossbones marked on a mountain region on the map. On the right most flap of the brochure, "Important Info" is displayed followed by various recreation pictures.

Still maintaining a happy expression, the passenger hold the folded up brochure in his hand towards the driver, making a gesture implying that they abide by the road warnings given by the brochure. The driver takes the brochure, mumbles something, crumples up the brochure, and tosses it out of the vehicle. As the crumpled brochure is tossed away the passenger complains.

The passenger looks frightened and mumbles something that makes him sound worried. The driver is happy and responds with a sinister laugh. The passenger puts on his seat belt, followed by the driver. The driver revs up the vehicle. The driver points in the direction of going off-road. while the passenger points in the direction of the road. The vehicle takes off in the off-road direction, leaving tire marks and a smoke trail. 

A little ways off road, a huge abandoned mine hole is in the foreground. A gecko wanders in the area. The two men and their jeep comes into the scene and head towards the hole. The gecko runs off as the men in the jeep come up over the rim of the hole and fly into the air, falling straight into the hole. The two men have scared expressions, as their jeep plunges into the hole. The passenger makes a painful expression as if he is bracing himself for the impact. Meanwhile, the driver has a regretful expression to reflect his mistake of going off-road. "Crash."

The inside of the hole is dark and the only source of light is from the hole the two men fell through.  The passenger turns on a flashlight, revealing an abandoned mine. Both men appear to be not injured.

The next scene show the men outside of the hole, unharmed. The passenger of the vehicle takes off his cap and scratches his head. The driver of the vehicle has his hands on his hips as he waits. Scene zooms out, and a BLM officer in uniform wearing sunglasses, writing up a vehicle citation appears from the right, and a Crane Services worker appears from the left. In the background a crane truck drives towards the hole lowering the crane hook into the abandoned mine as a Crane Services worker jumps down the hole with the crane hook to make secure the crane hook onto the vehicle.  Meanwhile, the Crane Services worker in the foreground examines the bill for all this labor. As the crane hook cable is retracted the Crane Services worker is standing on top of the jeep as it is lifted out of the abandoned mine.

"Based on a true story. Luckily the recreations involved were not injured in this case."

"Many abandoned mines in California are not posted."

"Please be careful and stay on designated routes!"

For more information, visit these websites on the internet:

Stay out - Stay Alive!
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/Abandoned_Mine_Lands/Safety_Education/stay_out-stay_alive.html

FAST Campaign (Fix A Shaft Today!)
http://www.ca.blm.gov/tu/fast.html 

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