Thankfully, this story ends happily.
The kids, cheering after we found our fifteen year old family van.
Thank you everyone who shared our story
Reunited and it feels so good
The story...
That one time you lose your van, post to FB, go viral, get on the local news and interviewed on a radio show. Your story gets shared a hundred times - and lo and behold you actually find the van!
First - my family came and we saw great Seattle landmarks - a ferry to Bainbridge, and the top of Mt Rainer!
"Sean... someone stole the van."
Where to begin.
I made the news. I didn't mean to. I got interviewed on a radio show. And a listener found our van!
You learn about the strength of the local community and social media, and the dangers of being pulled into a crime-ridden narrative. When all you really wanted to do was camp.
Long story short - my family took a 3 day roadtrip to visit me. I hadn't seen them in a year! And within the first two days of visiting me I got a call.
"Sean, they took the van."
My dad's worst fear came true. He had cared for that van for 15 years like a child. We called the police, we talked to parking enforcement, towing companies.
The Search
My dad went as far as to talk to the homeless persons across the street, offering a reward. He stopped to talk to every cop on the street to report it, and passerby's. A tourist from Cali gave us an epiphany - post it to Facebook, a Facebook group for Stolen Cars.
Searching Northgate, our family shops at Ross because they stole all the children's clothes!
Q13 Local Fox News - David Rose
And that's when it shared hundreds of times. Numerous comments and advice. Was it two miles away? Was it in portland? By a River? Was it now home to a new family? (Maybe they need it more than we do - my dad).
Enter David Rose from Q13. Never underestimate power of your local news. Within an hour of the community tagging him, I got an e-mail and call. They were sending a camera crew.
Nervous - we just accepted and shot the footage. Nothing more to it.
The post continued to blow up. "With David Rose on it, you're bound to find it!"
Kiro Radio - Dori Munson
Enter Dori Munson. After hearing the news on Q13 I ended up on his talk show. Outlined with how dangerous Seattle has become, with cars stolen near Pike, homeless crime near the Space needle, and now our family van stolen! I had a brief segment.
Every story fit's into a news channel or radio show's narrative - mine ended up being on how crime ridden and dangerous Seattle has become. I don't mind sharing the story in search of our family van, but to say the show is controversial is an understatement.
For my family - this helped us and we are very grateful for Q13's David Rose and Dori Munson with Kiro radio - the interview put Gary's towing on high alert. And they recognized the van.
After driving them 6 hours to Idaho - a midpoint between our closest relative in Utah - I got the call from Seattle Police.
The rest is history. And my dad is driving home as we speak. We lost some luggage, electronics and tools. But the van and our spirit is intact.
Thanks for listening to our story!
The best part is how I got recognized at McDonald's the day after. Yup. Worth it.
