14 10-4 Magazine / April 2025 destroying three of Jason’s hay barns, 40 of his vehicles, including many of his trucks and trailers, and killed several of his cows. A piece of steel that was ripped from one of the buildings at the dairy actually came through his windshield, as Jason sat in that bunker in his pickup, and narrowly missed hitting him in the head. After the tornado, Jason needed to find some trucks fast. Thankfully, he quickly found an almond farmer in Northern California that had five low-mileage Peterbilts sitting in his barn. The farmer told him, “You got to buy them all or nothing,” so Jason bought ‘em all. To this day, he still has all of them except one, which got rolled over at some point. Rod and the PCT crew repaired several of Jason’s trucks after the tornado, including Narcie’s personal truck, which sustained heavy body damage. The truck itself was all good, but every single body panel besides one sleeper door and the roof cap on the cab had to be replaced. Just talking about this past ordeal and sharing some pictures with me brought back some haunting memories that got Jason a little choked up. Another casualty from the tornado was a set of mangled hay trailers. One of them was bent like a pretzel, but the other one wasn’t too bad – it would never be roadworthy again for a load, but it might work for a special project they had in mind for the truck shows – a custom smoker! Cutting a large portion of the frame out and throwing it in the trash, a 14’ long and 30” diameter pipe, which became the barrel of the smoker, was sunk into the trailer floor and welded between the remaining frame rails. Two large access doors were fabricated, along with the firebox, a wood storage box, and built-in cutting boards, creating the ultimate party smoker trailer. This smoker was designed to take to truck shows and feed not only Jason’s people, but anyone else who was hungry, as well. Married to his wife Leigh Ann since 1997, the couple has no children. They wanted them, but it just never happened. They even tried adopting at one point, but that didn’t work out either. Nonetheless, Jason is so happy to have had his wife by his side, through thick and thin, for almost 30 years now, saying, “I wouldn’t have made it without her!” These days, she spends much of her time at their house in Chandler, AZ (like Jason’s old friend Billy, she too has had enough of New Mexico). Jason is thankful to everyone who has given him opportunities over the years, but most thankful to his uncle Tommy, who helped him start his dairy business. I can’t tell you how many people said the same thing – that Jason is a super humble guy, and that he flat-out just loves trucks. With about 75-80 total employees, Jason likes (needs) to get out and drive at least a few times a week to clear his head. When asked about the future, he said, “I have enough cows, that’s for sure!” The tornado made him realize that he needed to do more than just work, he needed to have some fun, as well. That is one of the reasons he built this truck – so he could go to more shows, with all his guys, and enjoy some relaxing downtime. He’s not sure where the future lies regarding DanDee Dairy and all his other ventures, but one thing is certain, this amazing “alfalfa cruiser” makes Jason Flores and many people who see it say the same thing – “What a dandee!” n
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