October 27, 2006

Trucker Seeking Sasquatch

Man on the hunt for Bigfoot
Florence (SC) Morning News

Jason Walker is a truck driver who has been obsessed with the search for Bigfoot since he was 6.

And he’s riding that obsession now into his own search to prove the existence of the large, hairy, elusive dweller of the deepest forests.

Walker is having his 18-wheel, 1996 Kenworth T600 decked to the nines for the occasion at K&L Chrome Shop. It’s been stretched 90 inches to accommodate a room for his Bowflex fitness equipment, a motorcycle and a trail bike that cost enough to sniff out Bigfoot by itself.

Jason Walker stands with his big rig truck currently being customized at K&L Chrome Shop in Florence on Tuesday. Walker is having his truck customized and then plans to set out to find Big Foot and prove the it exists.

“Jason is dead serious about finding Bigfoot,” Mike Love, showroom manager at K&L, said. “We took the truck down to bare metal and have replaced everything.”

Love said it’s also being painted in Walker’s custom colors: dingy white with a lot of pearl on it on the outside and osha orange with matching bucket seats on the inside.

“This is a trick and a truck, that’s for sure,” Love said, estimating the makeover will cruise into the $50,000 range. “It’s been a special project for all of us at K&L Chrome Shop for two months. It’s going to be a good-looking truck when he rolls out of here.”

Walker said the truck has 1,400,000 miles on its 575-horsepower Caterpillar engine. He’s hauled produce to all four corners of the country. He still will be hauling produce off and on when he hits the road.

Walker’s goal in pursuit of Bigfoot is to prove the creature is real. He said there are many hot spots across the country where he will be looking.

“They all live in mountainous areas in dark, dense forests,” he said. “They are where people aren’t. They are very smart, probably more intelligent than us. They probably think along the lines we do, but with an animal instinct. They catch their food with their bare hands.”

Walker said he plans to hit the woods in the Northeast on this side of the Mississippi. He will park the truck and come back to it during the day because he will be in the woods at night.

He said he will be armed with thermal imaging equipment because “anything warm-blooded will show up as a white signature.” He said he expects nothing to escape his vision.

“I intend to spend four to six days in the woods at a time, probably along a creek,” he explained. “I’ll just sit there and wait. Bigfoot doesn’t use canteens or bottled water, so whenever he has to drink, he will have to come to the water source.”

And what is he going to do if he runs upon Bigfoot?

“I’m going to get undisputable video footage, for sure,” he said.

“I’m going to take along a compressed air gun that shoots DNA darts. The darts hit the animal and fall out. I need some DNA backup because I need to show that it’s not a guy in a suit. No one has ever been able to achieve that.”

Walker said he expects to have about $100,000 invested by the time the adventure is in full swing.

He said he estimates the state-of-the-art equipment (TV monitors, thermal cameras, thermal imaging and the GPS incorporated into his laptop) will cost $60,000.

And for those who want to keep up with his odyssey, he said he will have a Web site, www.bigfoothunterlive.com.

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Forensic Science, Sasquatch