by T J Reeder
We made good time on the empty roads and passed by some small farms, but only saw a few people out and about. Some ran for cover while others just stood and watched us. We hit Rexburg by noon and ran right into a roadblock on the interstate. After stopping we raised the colors, and Sandy and I drove the lead truck slowly to the roadblock.
After looking us over one man came out, so I got out and met him half way. He was wearing a uniform that indicated that he was either a deputy Sheriff...or he had stolen the shirt.
He asked who we were, where we were heading and what we wanted. I answered all his questions and explained about the need for truck parts.
He said, “Wait here” and went back behind his roadblock. I figured they had radio communications and he was getting orders. When he came back he said the parts would cost, and had to be paid for in junk silver coins.
The Deputy climbed in front with me and Sandy and pointed out the way we were to drive. In the rear view mirror I saw three of his crew getting in the bus. He gave his name as Johnson and that was it.
After driving a mile or so Johnson told me to turn and head down a side street. I figured this was to confuse us if we came back up to no good. Shortly we arrived at the Dodge dealership and pulled in with the other two rigs right behind. We all got out. and our people took up pre-arranged positions around the vehicles. Johnson smiled.
We walked into the main showroom of the dealership and met the Sheriff of the county, Bob Riley, and a few others including the parts manager of the place and one of the mechanics who worked here before the event.
Our mechanics got with theirs and soon wandered off speaking a language I never heard of, but it was full of chips and diodes or some such. Sandy was off looking at some kind of super go-fast gas guzzler all decked out in the display area. I had to shake my head, which she saw and threw me a big smile.
The Sheriff and his group invited us to sit down and offered coffee, which was pretty well used up- as if it were perked a few times without new grounds.
When Sandy took a sip, she made a face and glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. I gave a small nod she walked outside.
When she returned she had a backpack in hand and went to the coffee pot and started making a big pot full.
In just a few minutes all the men were sniffing and looking around until it dawned on them it was real fresh coffee, and the stampede started. These ol’ boys may have had the grip on the local world’s supply of dodge parts, but we had real fresh coffee! It wasn’t a fair fight from that point on.
Sheriff Bob sat back, sighed and just smelled the cup. Finally he asked if we were the bunch who stopped at a local ranch recently. I confessed we were guilty; causing the ol’ boy to laugh and say Granny Annie was his great aunt and had mentioned us in a communications check a day or so back.
He wanted to hear all about the demise of the raiders, so we told him our story from the time the EMP happened. He was impressed that we had wiped out the entire gang.
I admitted we were very lucky, but had some people wounded due to our own mistakes. And that the entire area seemed to be doing OK from what we could tell.
He asked about the trailer full of trucks and just shook his head when I told him about salvaging them, plus the other trailers. Sandy, bless her heart, opened her magic pack and tossed out a big pile of candy bars which had the same effect as the coffee.
I had to wonder how it was a city this size hadn’t been doing better than Timberline was. So I asked the question, and got a disgusted look from the Sheriff who was busy chomping on a Snickers bar.
After he got the bite down, he confessed that the town was being led by a clique of former political hacks and other so-called ‘Community Leaders.’ Or maybe ‘Community Organizers’ was a better handle for the bastards.
And that they were as screwed up as Hogan’s goat, which I knew from my time in the Corp to be bad, and also made me think the Old Sheriff was a former Marine since I never heard that phrase anywhere but the Corps.
He said they had to have a meeting over every damn thing that came up. I asked about our little deal here and he smiled and said, “Well, they don’t have much in the way of commo gear.”
I thought about it for a while, and then asked why he and the others were allowing fools to lead them into a dangerous future without digging in his heels. He said the local police department as well as most of his deputies were snugly in bed with them, and nothing he could do would stop the fools short of an all-out war, and since the people were more behind them then Bob’s group it was just not in the cards.
I asked why he stayed and he admitted he was about to head out for Granny’s place with those who wanted to make the break. But while there wasn’t very many, it was more than Granny could take in. I mulled that over for a bit and asked just how many folks he was talking about?
He said about twenty five families were ready when the time came; maybe a total of a hundred people- all of whom were capable. Also, one couple were doctors who had come to town recently and were ready to bail, as was one of the local pharmacists who had cleaned out his business before the dipshits thought of grabbing all the goodies.
I asked him if he had been to Timberline, and he said only on law business so I told him what we were doing and had planned and that I thought there was room there for any who wanted to make the move.
He sat a moment and then said, “I know them mountains real well. Used to hunt Elk up there and it’s nice country.” My next question was. Would they move if the Timberline folks said they were welcome?
He said yes they would, as they all wanted out as soon as possible before the whole thing blew into a big shootout with the power faction.
I just nodded and waited. At last he said he would talk to his group and I could talk to mine, and if all were good with it they could maybe get moved pretty quick.
I asked how much stuff they had to move. He said it was a good sized load of food and weapons and ammo they had horded, as well as personal goods. I asked if a 40 ft. box trailer would handle it all. He said it would, but it would be tight.
I left him there while going out to talk to the townsfolk who were with me. I explained that while a hundred more mouths to feed seemed a lot, the added security of around fifty shooters would be well worth it.
All agreed that it would be a good deal for all concerned. I went back inside and told them that if they wanted to move right now, we could have a tractor and trailer here no later than morning.
Another hour and it was a done deal; the two pickups from Timberline were on their way back to tell our people what was going on and to get the 18 wheeler moving.
While we waited, the gear heads finally showed back up and explained that we might have what we needed to get a few trucks going.
We loaded everything they needed into the bus, and after talking it over they loaded damn near the entire parts shop along with every tool and diagnostic machine they thought might help.
The folks who were planning to make the move were gathering at the dealership with all their stuff as fast as it could be moved with the few running vehicles they had.
In the meantime, I looked thru the phone book and found a trailer sales place and asked Johnson to get me over there. Fortunately, it was not so far away. We got there and I spotted just what I was looking for. I asked Johnson if he knew where the owner was, but he didn’t.
I asked if he had any issues with me getting inside and he just gave that smile he seemed to use in place of words. So after walking around the office building, I ended up just breaking a door window and unlocked the door.
After spending an hour in the place, I had everything I needed for my plan. I piled it all near the door and we left. When we got back to the dealership, we found a lot of people there waiting for the move to get underway. I just hoped we had the transport for so many.
Finally around 0200 the truck and trailer showed up along with the other two busses. Jim had thought of people transport- no seats but p
lenty of floor space.
While the trailer was being loaded, I corralled one of the trucks that belonged to one of the folks making the move. It was a one ton dually that we took to the trailer place.
There we did a fast job of placing a goose neck ball plate in the bed of the truck and hooked up my new toy- a 6 horse trailer with living space. We took as many mounted wheels and tires as we could find, and a large hydraulic floor jack. Pretty much everything I could think of to help us get home to East Texas and my family and Sandy’s new family.
As we were leaving the place, I just happened to look next door and there was another gold mine! A feed and tack store! The easy-open window rock did its job in a smart fashion and we were in! Inside we raided the feed section for everything I could think of to help care for the animals including Molly. We even tossed bales of hay up on the roof cargo area of the trailer and lashed it down. Ropes, new saddle blankets and hoof tools. At least I could pull off a loose shoe.
There was just too much to think of since this whole idea started just a few days ago, and had grown today with the situation we found here. I want to go home as fast as I can and the best way is to help get these folks up to speed and working as a team.
I could only hope we could at least get far enough south before bad weather really set in, so that even if we ended up riding as before it wouldn’t be so bad.
When we returned to the Dodge dealership, we found the trailer loaded, all their running vehicles loaded, busses full of people and within minutes we were rolling. Right up to the road block where we had come in.
The men on duty there were mostly planning to come with us and were ready to roll. One of the men who wasn’t leaving attempted to make a radio call to the Powers That Be, but was tied in a corner. We rolled out in good order and by morning we were home… well, home for the present. I planned to change that damn fast. It’d been a week since we made the big raid so to speak, and the new folks were fitting like gloves. All were workers and all have some kind of skill that’s an addition to the town.
The bus shop seems to be burning the midnight oil and there are some choice words coming out, so all the ladies and kids are staying away. Hopefully there will be less cussing and more smiling and back slapping soon.
We took another salvage recon and found more goodies. It’s a safe bet there isn’t a loaded truck sitting within fifty miles of the big cities, whereas out here it’s many miles between cities; meaning more to salvage. And time is running out because when it freezes the canned foods in the trailers will be worthless. Thus the big push against time and the weather.
We also found a few folks in need and brought them into the fold. It felt good to be helping folks instead of killing them. It does feel better for the soul. After almost two weeks of working and cussing in general, the mechanics came to the committee and said they had changed all the parts that had fried, but there was still one chip or something- I didn’t understand as the conversation was in Gear Head talk but they needed it.
Finally, I tired of the talk and asked if the parts were needed and if they could be found, where do we need to look? They all looked at each other and finally one said, “Uh, at a Dodge dealership.” I was so tempted to say, “Well, Duh.” But Sandy nudged me before I did, so I didn’t. But it was close! After more talking it to death, they decided we needed to head to any town or city that had a Dodge dealership excluding of course Rexburg.
I left it up to the folks who knew where best to look. I was just a gun dog. We headed out the next day and headed straight to Idaho Falls where I used to know some Federal Law Enforcement types which might help or not. We made it with no trouble and using Sheriff Bob’s radio we made contact with somebody he knew and made arrangements to meet at one of the off-ramps.
Bob’s friend was a State Trooper and in a few short minutes we were on our way to hopefully get the parts we needed.
We arrived at the Dodge dealership, met the owner, and his lead mechanic met with ours and off they went speaking in Klingon or some such. I asked the owner what he wanted for the things we needed. He said silver or gold was fine. I was good with the gold idea as the silver was handy in small deals.
The wrench nuts returned all grinning and I knew we had it in the bag. While we had been talking, I was looking at some of the stuff on the showroom floor. One item was something I wanted and hadn’t found in Rexburg.
It was a big heavy front bumper with a brush guard and an 8,000 lb. winch. I wanted it bad but didn’t show it until we were done with the other business. I walked over to it like I had just seen it and scratched my beard before asking how much. It ended up costing me one gold coin that was worth $20.00 back in about 1900 but now it was worth one big-ass bumper / winch combo. I felt I had won the deal.
We headed out right away and made it back just after dark. The mechanics headed right to the shop and most of us headed to the mess hall where the cooks had kept the food hot.
After filling our plates, Sandy and I sat with Jim and told him that if he had no objections we were heading out as soon as possible after the truck was running and set up for the long haul.
He was very understanding and said we had done so much for the community and they were all safer now because of us. We both felt Jim and crew had been life savers for us and we were thankful that we had found them.
He asked about the big gooseneck trailer and I had to laugh. I told him it was either take the livestock or leave Sandy. The mules won. They were going to Texas in style as was the chick. Jim laughed and said it was good that I was so smart.
We headed home and hit the bed, both too tired to do more than cuddle, and we both slept later than usual. Then we used the generator to heat the hot water tank and enjoyed a shower together, something we couldn’t do at the school gym. She was much nicer to shower with than the guys. Hot soapy water is very nice.
We headed to the mess hall and there sitting in front of the place was a big black ass-kicking Dodge with a very heavy duty bumper and winch. Hooked to it was a very nice horse hauler and living space. It was quite a sight and half the town was gathered to look it over.
Sandy took off, jumped up into the driver’s seat, fired it up and it was music to my ears! I got into the passenger’s seat and she took off with a roar as a cheer went up from the onlookers.
Sandy whipped it around like she had driven one all her life. She wasn’t too good at backing it, but that would change fast. After heading back and parking it we talked to the wrenches and they wanted it for another day or so for something they wanted to check.
Two days later the truck was back and mounted in the back was a 150 gallon bulk tank with a bleeder valve to feed the main tank with gravity. It was full, as was the 35 gallon main tank. Comparing the mileage to what my former truck got pulling the damn heavy Arctic Fox travel trailer at around 15 mpg the math said we should have around 2,500 miles worth of fuel on board and there was five 5 gallon fuel cans on the roof of the trailer which gave us a good safety margin.
We also rounded up some food grade barrels for water just in case. They rode in the space where the 6th horse would go if we had kept the old pack horse who was now living the life with several other horses and would probably be used as a scout horse for area patrols.
There was another addition to the load that I had nothing to do with. It was a Honda XR650L duel sport motorcycle that Sandy had picked up while we were getting the truck parts and the stock trailer. She said her dad had raced them and she had too, but not on his level. But she thought it would be a good scout rig to check the area ahead before driving into something we might not be able to get out of with the trailer and all.
While I agreed, I wasn’t too sure about the idea; but she assured me she could handle the bike. The bus shop gang had put a much quieter muffler on it to the point it was damn near silent and painted it with some flat OD green paint to tone it down some. They also built a carry rack on the side of the trailer, easy on and off. And with a full tank and 20 extra
gallons it was ready to do its thing.
I had to laugh at this, because here we were driving a big-assed truck with more chrome then a pimp’s caddy and a camouflaged bike, but she liked it so who was I to gripe? I sure as hell wasn’t gonna ride it, that was for damn sure. Been there done that and got the scars to prove it!
Now all we had to do was drive 1,500 or so miles and survive doing it, but that problem was always there so we were just as well off as before except we were going to be on highways, not cutting cross country.
I figured slow and easy and watch behind every blade of grass and every overpass. I figured all the exits into towns and cities were going to be guarded and we would just keep moving.
While in normal times the interstate system is faster, this time I felt avoiding bigger cities and towns was best for us. And we would just have to be ready for anything at any time. I also planned to not stop anyplace close to a town for the night. I prefer being out in an open area where I can see a long ways.
