by T J Reeder
We followed him into the city where we stopped at a car lot and went in to meet the owner, who was on the town council. We explained what we had and what we needed. He was still a car dealer above all else and tried to work up a trade for a hummer with the gun on it. I smiled and stuck out my hand, he smiled big till I said, “Thanks for your time” and headed for the door.
He caught up in the parking lot, we spent 30 minutes dickering and he settled on five M-16’s, a dozen mags and 2000 rounds for each for the guard force, after Blake reminded him that he slept while others guarded him.
We left with two one ton quad cab diesel Fords and now we needed two large cargo trailers. Blake took us to a place that had them and we used gold to buy two large gooseneck enclosed trailers. They put the towing set up in the beds and we were off.
We left Blake at the gate and told him who was leaving. He said he knew those folks and they were good people.
He then got a look in his eyes and said, “I wonder if they would mind if we took over the place to help feed the city?” I said, “Well, when we leave it will be empty but asking would be nice.”
He and his wife followed us back out to the farm where he talked with Anna and Samuel. They were thrilled that somebody would be on the place, so that deal was done.
The next morning the ladies started packing up the house and Anna, being very practical and knowing about the Fort storage, didn’t get too crazy about what they were leaving. Furniture wasn’t needed so they left it. When they were done, one trailer was pretty well full and the other was getting a good start.
Samuel said the farm equipment and such wasn’t needed and when all was said and done there was still room in the second trailer.
The next morning we headed out in a convoy with one Hummer riding tail gunner and one out in front scouting.
Sandy said, “Well, John? Ready to head home?” I smiled and said, “Nope, we have another stop to make.” And that was all I was saying, which of course was driving them crazy.
We drifted east; out of Washington and into Idaho, taking our time and looking at everything there was to see. Many of the smaller towns had been fought over and burned; it looked like the coastal area had been safer and more peaceful for some reason. More people on the coast equating more security? Fewer out in farm country meaning more vulnerable? We will never know for sure but I vote for fewer people plus less security equals easier target.
We had a choice of running the interstate or the more back country roads; I opted for back country, more interesting than the miles of concrete ribbons.
We opted to stay in small communities that were interested in trading for their fresh veggies and dairy products. Without the reefer truck we needed daily supplies of milk, cheese, fresh baked bread…life on the road in post EMP America was getting better than three years ago. Folks were open to trade and everybody wanted news.
We were moving in a northeasterly direction and getting well up into the mountains when Sandy popped up and said, “We’re going to see Long Bow! Aren’t we?!” May jumped in laughing and they were bouncing. I said,“Well yeah, we are. Why?”
Both said they needed more cedar shafts because they had used theirs so much they were breaking and where would they get new ones? I asked why not use fiberglass shafts and got that look that implied I was to be pitied. After all, any fool knows one just does not shoot fiberglass in a handmade long bow! Not done, nope, never.
We reached the area where we needed to head up some rough forest service roads that had not been maintained in years, so one late afternoon we pulled over and made camp by a good stream. I explained to everybody that the girls and I had some business to do up in the mountains aways and would return no later than three days from now.
They were all armed now and the scouts were there, so it was safe enough. We left the next morning and spent the day trying to find the right roads into Longbow’s area.
We spent the first night camped out and were rolling at first light. Around noon we found the right road and headed up into the even higher country. We arrived near their place a couple hours before dark. We found them when Longbow stepped out from behind a tree with an AK pointed at us.
It took him a few heartbeats to realize three people were smiling at him and he lowered the muzzle. The girls bailed out and rushed up to hug him and were babbling a mile a minute. By the time I got there they had both ordered a new more powerful bow plus a tree full of shafts. The man still looked like he belonged in the 1820’s- time stood still for him.
We shook hands, loaded into the Hummer and drove on up to his place. We had met Seth, his wife Clare and two sons when we were heading home from our first trip north. Later on we were on the run from a crazy old bastard whose son got pin-cushioned (with cedar shafts!) by my ladies while he talked about what all he was gonna do to me and them. Later, May blew the old fart all over the street of a town a few mountains over.
Seth makes beautiful longbows and May used to be on some school archery team so next thing I know her and
Sandy both have bows and of course are deep into outdoing the other.
We drove into the dooryard of the forest service station they had moved into when the lights went out. Clare came outside and was jumping around a bit just like the girls; they were doing some kind of group hug/dance that headed for the kitchen area. Females are…Well… different.
Seth said his boys were off hunting but would be back before dark. Clare and the girls had coffee on the table and some cake that I grabbed real fast and warned them to stay the hell away from.
Clare and Seth had seen them in action and fully understood the warning. A whole table full of cake and they eyeball the bit I have. I’ll never understand it. No man ever will. I was so busy staring them down I never saw Clare take the cake off my plate until the girls burst out laughing and high fiving each other. I just looked at her all wounded till she gave it back, less a big bite.
Seth was watching with a small smile and a funny look on his face. I knew exactly what it was- he was seeing his wife turning into a girl again because she had female company to be a girl with. All were past a certain age but were as happy as a litter of kittens.
After the cake, we just caught them up on all the goings on we had been up to since leaving here. Seth was astounded that we had made such a long trip just to secure a supply of coffee, until I slid his cup away from him. He sat a moment and nodded, saying yep, he got it.
The black ship made his hackles go up; I could see he was wishing he had been in on that. The bait was floating there and I could see the interest so I waited for it and sure 'nuff he nibbled a bit, asking how it was out there in the world? Had things settled down any? Were folks starting to rebuild? He was pleasantly surprised when I told him most folks were happier with their new life and weren’t going back to the way it was.
Sure electric power is wonderful but folks see they can live pretty damn good without the alarm going off at 6:00 every morning telling them it’s time to go work to pay the tax man.
We spent the rest of the day just talking about life in the canyons, how laid back it was and how folks worked together so nobody had to kill themselves toiling from can see to can’t see.
The boys (both looking to have grown a foot since we last saw them) were all ears when we talked about the way the kids did school, meaning they didn’t. They learned what they wanted from people actually doing it and then moved on to the next thing.
Also the girl to boy ratio was like 10 to one due to all the rescued girls who wanted to remain with us. That got their attention for sure.
The girls were having fun telling Clare all about the women of the canyon area and about the community cooking area and the wonderful meals and friendship and laughter when people wandered in looking for something to eat. I could see it was having an effect on her. Seth was watching all this with interest.
After the evening meal we sipped our coffee with booze in it and just relaxed. Finally, after a quiet spell Se
th looked at his family and said, “OK. Family vote. Who wants to move out to the canyons?”
They all looked shocked for a second and three hands shot into the air. Seth laughed and raised his hand then said, “Got room for a broke down old Mountain Man out there, John?”
Clare was up and around the table so fast I was impressed. She threw herself into Seth’s lap hugging him and started laughing and crying at the same time. The boys were smiling real big as were Sandy and May. It was a wonderful trap and poor Seth stepped right into it.
I knew Seth pretty well from our talks before and I knew he was only holding out up here because of his family. He wanted them safe, but he also wanted them to have as good a life as possible. I liked him and his family a lot. Later in the barn hay loft in our big old bed roll we talked about it. May asked if I had planned this all along. I had to say no, that it had come to me when her family showed they were ready to head out just to have a better life and share it with others, plus their grandkids needed to be around others if they were going to develop and build for the future and that was when I thought of Seth and family.
Our canyons were filling up, but with really good folks- not one slacker in the crowd, and damn near all folks we had met along the way. Sort of a handpicked community. Maybe that’s why it worked so well. Everybody got along so well because everybody was a survivor and a worker and team player.
Seth and family were going to be wonderful additions to our life and community; it was a win/win for us and them.
Plus, since the girls got everybody hooked on archery I could see we might need a good bow maker. Yep, I was pleased!
We left the family to figure out what was going and what wasn’t. We had explained the Fort and its vast warehouse of everything- meaning outside of personal stuff there was no need to take most of it.
We then headed off to locate the hot springs we stayed at while waiting for their bows and we found it. It looked like nobody had been there since we were. The girls
cleaned the squirrel debris out of the earth oven and got a fire going while I scouted the area. Nothing moving so I headed back to find them in the pool. I joined them, setting up the tent and other camp stuff could wait.
We stayed there two nights, then headed back to the cabin where we found them ready to go. Their old truck would carry them out of here and back to where we left the others at which point they could spread out among the other rigs or keep driving their truck as long as it kept running.
I expected them to take some time saying goodbye to their home since the event but they were ready to haul ass out of there. I had a feeling they all had been wanting to leave here but just didn’t know where to go. Now they do.
We made better time heading back to our other people than we had coming in, as was to be expected. We made it back in one long day and it was good to be among our people. The Daniels clan were welcomed by all and after a good meal we warmed by the fires a while, then hit the bedrolls. With the coming of morning we started breaking camp after breakfast. Seth said his boys were going to ride with the other kids and get acquainted while he and Clare drove the old truck which had no problems at all.
Our next stop was Rock Springs Wyoming where we had stayed on the last road trip thru the area. Harry and Margo were very happy to see us and showed us where we could park our rigs in safety, then we all headed to the café where we had a great feed that we didn’t have to cook over a fire. Mostly it was the pie that got everybody going; it’s hard to bake a pie over a camp fire.
Our group headed for the hotel and hot showers and soft beds. The girls and I sat with our friends and we took turns telling them all about this trip. They were blown away at the shit we can find to get into.
I spent a good while telling them about the canyon settlements and the lake and our Fort/warehouse with the girls speaking up as we went. Margo was just sitting with a small smile on her face watching Frank who was eating it all up like ice cream on a hot day.
Finally she said, “Well John, girls, are ya’ll thru with the recruitment efforts?” We laughed and May said, “Yeah, we were pretty obvious, huh?” Margo said, “Well no, just that Frank and I have been talking about heading out of here to someplace with more agreeable weather and less hassles, and we were talking about just loading up and heading down your way and say howdy!”
We all had a good laugh and I asked if there was trouble here. They said no, not really, just that as things got more settled folks were starting to talk about wanting the Government back to make it easier, and she and Frank wanted no part of that.
I asked them how fast they could be ready to roll out. Frank said if there was most everything they might need in the Fort to get started they could roll the day after tomorrow. I said there was more at the fort than they could believe; from gold (which nobody cared about) to kids’ books, to medical equipment enough to fill a big hospital to armored vehicles, to solar stuff enough to light a city to…name it and we have tons of it.
Margo said, “How would we ever pay for it?” Sandy said, “By being a good friend and family member to our community/village and doing what you want or helping when it’s needed.”
They couldn’t comprehend a community where folks did what needed doing without somebody dragging them kicking and screaming to get it done.
We laughed and I told them the big problem we had was too many willing hands, which caused the hardest jobs to be done so fast there wasn’t anything for folks to do so they just made jobs last as long as they could.
I told them about the hobbit homes and our ‘pile of rocks’ on the ridge and that they could do whatever they wanted- Hole or House, just point where they want to live and get out of the way because they might get trampled. They were still having trouble with that when we headed for the hotel room and the shower.
After we were clean and in bed and all snuggled in they of course wanted to talk, as usual, and even if I didn’t join in I was still required to listen with regular pokes to make sure I was awake.
The last thing I remembered was one of them asking me why I was gathering all our friends in one place. I said I don’t know and went to sleep.
I woke up asking myself why I was doing this and why did I think everybody wanted to join us in our weird but wonderful life style? Yet they so far had seemed to be almost waiting for us to come by and say ‘come on’.
Bed was nice and warm and almost empty. I knew May was here but Sandy was gone. May wiggled closer and said Sandy was hungry. I said, “Uh huh. And you?” She got even closer and said, “I’m hungry, too.”
After showering together we headed to the café where we found Sandy sitting with May’s folks. All were obviously waiting for us, so we got settled, ordered and sipped the first cup of the day.
We spent most of the morning in the café waiting to order lunch; well mostly we were killing time waiting for Margo and Frank to come tell us what their plan was. And right on time to eat with us they came in. Margo spoke first, and said she was wrong about the two days, I nodded. Frank said, “We are ready now!”
Just like that. They had called on friends to help, explained what they were doing and what they were taking. Everything else was staying and the friends could have it all as well as the house.
They had an enclosed horse trailer packed with what they wanted as well as the back of the truck which had a topper on it. I love folks who can just get it done and roll. They were gonna fit real well.
We now headed south and I waited for it and sure ‘nuff this time May said, “We’re heading for Moab, but why? Ben, his wife and Ma already moved down with us.”
I just smiled and kept driving until they both laughed and clapped their hands and said, “Jack and Jill!” I smiled at their enthusiasm for recruiting. I said I had no idea how the kids were doing but they might decide life with us was easier than working seven days a week from dark to dark.
We arrived in the nice little town and headed for the motel and stables. We found the place run-dow
n looking. The stables was empty and dirty as could be, the stalls hadn’t been cleaned in ages, this was not looking good.
I headed inside flanked with the girls and found a scruffy looking guy behind the counter and several others lounging around. Now, I was really worried about the twins. The surly dickhead asked if we wanted rooms. I said, “I don’t think so.” He then said, “Well, stop cluttering my lobby.”
Sandy walked over to him and said, “Where are the young couple who have been running the place?” He smirked and said, “I run ‘em off, that’s what.” I could see this wasn’t gonna be good when one of the loafers stood up and said, “He told you dummies to get out of here, so ya best be getting to it.”
Sandy never took her eyes off the twit by the counter, but May looked at the one talking and said, “Wow, a mouth breather that made a complete sentence.” He squinted, I sighed, and Sandy said, “I asked you a question, you cretin and I want an answer that pleases me or it’s gonna go bad. Where are the kids?”
