Into the High Country

A long Lonely Road book

With

John Walker and the girls

By

TJ Reeder

All rights reserved

March 21, 2013

    After returning to Lake Powell and spending time getting May established as family with Buck and crew and old Molly, we just settled down for a while.  We spent time every day riding all over the canyons looking for places to maybe start our main settlement. We didn’t want to encroach on Joe and Willy’s set up and their canyon was too small to grow as much as we expected the new one to grow.

    We spent about a month just loafing when Sandy came up with the idea to take this time to head back to Texas and spend time with my Mother and Miz Sheri and the entire clan. I had to agree because come spring we were heading for the high lonesome and retrace the route Sandy and I used heading south. We wanted to visit all the folks we had met and hopefully they had all weathered the hard times.

              So, on a bright warm late fall day we loaded up in the Dodge truck and rolled out. We left the animals except Walker.  Molly was very happy to remain behind with her kids all of whom played with her at every opportunity. When not doing that she was very busy napping in the sun then the shade when it got warmer in the afternoon.  It’s good to know exactly what ya wanna do and Molly did!

              We stopped off for a few hours and visited with Charley and Sandy made a bee line for the old woman who greeted her with a hug, which surprised me but then Sandy does have a way. She took May along and they had a good visit, how I ain’t got a clue coz I don’t think the old woman speaks much English.

   I saw May come back to the truck which I had loaded and get several cans of coffee and by god I know it wasn’t in there before we left. May was now in the special group it seems.

    My policy now days is don’t ask coz ya ain’t gonna get an answer so why lower yourself to their level. May stopped short of the door and said “John I heard that”. Shit! I think I thought, she added I heard that too so stop cussing.

   Charley just sat there looking at me with pity so I said “Ok, go ahead and say it.” He just shook his head and said “We can’t sell because if they find their way back you will pay a big price.” I asked why if “we” sell them do “I” have to pay a big price? He smiled and said “I’m an old man and my mommy won’t let them hurt me, you on the other hand are screwed!”

Stoic my old white wrinkled ass! And out the door came” It ain’t wrinkled”! And laughter. Time to go!

    We headed on down the road stopping for nothing. Sandy took great pleasure in pointing out the interesting places, like “There’s where john got shot in the ass.” I fail to see the humor in it, really. After a while it seemed like we had had a fight every few miles, or I don’t remember that many. She pointed out the general area where the folks were waiting to ambush us to get the disc. And of course heard all about the easy shot I blew taking out their leader instead of wounding him.

    I hate her which got me a flashing smile and “No you don’t.” I’m surrounded by witches. Now there was a thought! Charles’s mom has to be over a hundred maybe… Sandy looked at me and said “John, don’t go there.”  Now that was spooky so I dropped it and it took several minutes to remember I was thinking it not speaking it.

We crossed into Texas and of course had to stop at the check point and there was Bear Jackson standing with the Guard Commander Harry Jackson (no kin). Bear stuck out his paw and clinching my teeth I shook it and he didn’t try to crust it, while I was shaking Harry’s hand I saw Sandy looking up at him and saying “Bear, you remember me?” He said “I sure do Miz Sandy” she then said “Do you remember our first hand shake?” He replied with a big grin “I sure do!” She said “Do I need to remind you” he just shook his head all the time grinning like a fool. She stuck her hand out and he was as gentle as could be.

She then introduced him to May with the words “I taught her to shoot so be a good Bear ok”? He even took off his hat and sorta bowed when he shook her hand. Sandy reached over and patted his head and said “ Good boy, good bear” Harry and I were standing shaking with tears rolling down while this giant would have wagged his tail if he had one and I swear if she asked he would grow one. I think he fell in love with May right there. Sandy said down boy, she belongs to us! And both laughed at the look that hit him.

Harry told us to come on in and have a cup or two so we did. Sandy asked about General Will and we watched Harry’s eyes grow sad, He said the old man had died shortly after we left but he was smiling when he went and insisted the docs leave his boots on. We buried him in his dress blues with all his medals and did the whole thing, taps, 21 gun salute and folded the flag which he wanted Sandy to have.

    Sandy got up and walked away followed by May who returned shortly and ask Harry where he was buried and after he told them I heard the truck drive off followed immediately by a second vehicle, I looked questioningly at Harry who said “John, he’s buried out in the hills in the old cemetery where Miz Ellie was buried.  That’s where he wanted to be planted as he put it. So her husband is on one side and Will’s on the other. I knew she was gonna go when she heard so I arranged some shooters to follow, but they won’t intrude.”

    I thanked Harry and Bear who looked at his watch and said well what ya know! It’s happy hour in and Harry and I joined him in saying Bangkok!! Good friends!

    It was two hours before the girls returned, both had been crying and had sat and told Will all about their experiences. She broke open a bottle of my JW and took a drink May took one and she poured the rest on the grave. She took time to introduce them to Miz Ellie and her husband. Sounds silly I know but not to us.We rolled out as soon as we made our manners, Sandy hugged Bear and called him a big dumb red neck dip shit, he smiled and said “Awww thanks Wyatt!”

We decided to just roll on through the night and get home, which sounded funny since we also called Lake Powell home as well as Fort Navajo. I guess we will never be homeless.  By morning we rolled into Casa de Sheri where we were greeted like long lost family which we are. Miz Sheri was the same sweet loving Queen of the Whole fkn Universe. All was well with her family.

    My Mom was still kicking and had a pot of Black eyed peas cooking and was about to put the corn bread in the oven. 94 years young and doing pretty damn good! As soon as I walked in she said dinner was about ready and to get washed up. Sandy hugged her and introduced May.  Mom said there was plenty and to help set the table. Both girls set to work and chatted with Mom who seemed to think we were here all the time. I often wonder… well we all wonder don’t we?

              After dinner and the clean-up we headed to the cabin to settle in and catch a nap. I left the girls to go see Rick who was as usual working his ass off. I often feel guilty about not being here, usually for two maybe three seconds but I get over it. He understands, besides he’s more of a “do it my way, myself, perfect is almost good enough” kinda guy, whereas I’m a close enough is good enough kinda guy.

              I found him cutting down a tree that had the gall to die and become firewood which is funny because I burned more in a week in the high country than he does all winter. I think he just likes cutting wood. If he ever runs out of treated gasoline he will be using a buck saw and axe.  That’s just the way he is.

     We spent an hour catching me up on things. He did say that some folks still seemed to pack a grudge

over Sandy shooting the dip shit fake preacher and his sneaky flunky when they tried to murder me. I said I’d pass it on to Sandy but I knew her answer “Fuckem if they can’t take a joke.”

    I did mention there was a third woman in our family now causing him to laugh and ask just how old I was. I said “age has nothing to do with it, it’s good clean living!” Now that really got a laugh.

    I asked after his family, they were all doing well; he was a grandpa twice over now. I told him I had something for Chris his beautiful wife, that Sandy found and brought with us, he said it can’t be a gun coz she never lets go of one.  I said no, it’s a case of the biggest bottles of Crown Royal made.  He said she would be very happy since she ran out months ago.

    I was concerned about the people holding grudges about the shooting.  He said it was more that the dead would-be gun fighter had a couple of brothers who were vowing all kinds of shit against the whole homestead to the point they had been avoiding town all together.  Now that really pissed me off.

    I asked if they had talked to Fred the town marshal but Rick said no, they just avoided the issue since they needed nothing from town. Well this just kept pissing me off because a person should be able to go to town when they want even if they didn’t need to. I also knew Wyatt was gonna say fuck this and head right in first thing, and I was going with her.

              After leaving Rick torturing that big ol tree I headed to the cabin porch and a sit down. I peeked into the cabin and both girls were sound asleep so I just got up and headed for the truck figuring to settle this town issue right now. That didn’t work, the keys were missing. I don’t think the key had ever been out of it. So I headed back inside and quietly looked for the key, without opening an eye Sandy said “John, you’re not going to town alone so get yer tired ass in bed.” May said “ditto.”

              Both scooted over enough for me to fit between them and it was morning before my eyes opened. I’ve never been one to sleep well crowded but I had become accustomed to it out of a lack of choice.

    I realized I was alone so I staggered up and headed out the door for the solar shower and promptly scalded my ass! I forgot just how hot that black water tank gets in the direct sun but after a bit I eased into it and more or less got used to it. All I had to do was turn the cold valve to have it dilute the hot but that would be admitting I was a pansy who couldn’t take a little pain. I’m my own worst enemy. I heard Sandy say “No shit Sherlock!” I hate her, then they both started laughing, I hate May too.

              After getting dressed I asked Wyatt what she had in mind which promptly brought “I’m hungry for some of Sally’s cooking, which meant back to the scene of the last problem.” I was more inclined to see Fred but food sounded good so after making sure we were loaded for bear, off we went.

    We parked the truck right in front of Sally’s place and trooped inside where we found Fred nursing a cup of coffee. He took one look and said “Ah shit.” Sandy just hugged him and jerked his head down for a kiss, poor Fred didn’t stand a chance.

    After shaking hands and intros with him and May which caused Fred look at me and shake his head, I just smiled and said “Hey, it was their idea.” The smiles didn’t last long because before I could say a word Fred told me what was going on and who to look out for. It seemed the sneaky gunman wanna-be had several brothers and uncles and cousins and even a few friends, all of whom had been vowing all sorts of doom on the homestead and me and Sandy.

    I sipped my coffee while Sandy and May went into the kitchen with Sally for girl talk with lots of giggling going on.  Finally I asked Fred just where the town folks stood on the issue and where he stood.  Fred is a good friend and I will do nothing to cause him grief. He said the town folks were pretty well out of it, all of them recognized that Sandy had no choice in the mess and that the so called preacher did try to set up a murder, and was also abusing women and girls all in the name of the Lord. Amen!    

We just sat for a while until I said “you know I have no options in this matter?” He said yeah he did. I told him I wouldn’t push the issue but wouldn’t let this bunch of redneck white trash bastards cause problems for the Homestead. He said he understood that. We sat for a while longer until I finally understood what was going on. And I asked Fred right out if he had been threatened. And of course he had and was very worried about it because he knew he couldn’t handle the whole clan of trash alone and nobody seemed willing to become involved in a blood feud with a big family of inbred trash. It kinda reminded me of that old movie “High Noon” where folks want peace as long as their ass ain’t on the line.

    But these folks around here were not like that so I was surprised.  Fred said he thought it was because this was a huge family we were talking about and were the kind to carry a grudge forever and most folks figured they might just back shoot from the trees with not a feeling.

              I told Fred my ol grandpa always said “Boy, ya cain’t kill a snake by stompin its tail, ya just gotta go right up and stomp it’s head.” I loved my grandpa. So having said that I asked if it was best to just take it to them? He knew we had enough firepower to end it once and for all. But that would endanger women and kids and I wasn’t gonna do that.

    So the best I could come up with was to invite them to a set down talk and try to settle it peacefully. Fred said “Lots of luck!”

              I could not believe we hadn’t been here 24 hours and shit was already coming at us. And all I could think of was trying to talk sense to a bunch of inbred, walleyed, banjo picking, porch sittin, country fucks (I liked that and always wanted to use it) who believed might makes right. Well actually it kinda does but ya gotta be right before you use might.

              But we would attempt to do it the right way. But one way or the other it was gonna end real soon. Like tomorrow. I asked Fred to set up a meeting and to pick a spot where they would have to have a Carlos Hathcock to be able to snipe us, and I doubted they had one. On the other hand, we did have one and he was gonna be on over watch.

              We had our breakfast and settled up with Miz Sally and Fred said he would be out when he had an answer and a location. We headed home and spent the day preparing for the meeting. I had a talk with the guy who was gonna be our ace in the hole, whose main job was locating the people I knew would be out there waiting for a chance.   I gave him my 308 bolt gun with the can and 100 rounds of the best match ammo Federal ever made. I told him to figure out everything he needed and to not fall in love with my rifle!

              We spent the next several days just being home, spent time with Mom and helping out where needed. The old place was in great shape now that there was plenty of help and Miz Sheri wasn’t having to run 23 hours a day trying to do it all herself. In a lot of ways I agree with Charley that the EMP may have saved humanity and the planet. Folks didn’t seem real worried about getting things back like they were.

    After a week passed, Fred showed up and said that the Higgins clan said they would meet us but we should expect nothing to make things better. Fred said he knew without a doubt they were planning to kill us. He had picked a place for the meeting and tried to make it as safe as possible but that’s never a given.

    The meet up was gonna be in an old rest stop on the interstate and in open country. As soon as we knew where it was, my shooter left with two good scouts to look it over. The meeting was set up for 3 days from today. That night the scouts were back with the news they had spent the day watching the other side scouting out the best place to set up their shooters. He smiled and said “them ol boys don’t know shit about the fine art of sniper work.”

              His plan was to ease into place before dawn of the meeting day and would be using gillie suits. He had a spotter plus another team who would be in closer to give support for us when it was needed. Each side was bringing four people with Fred as the impartial person there as a witness. I looked at Fred and said “you know they plan to kill you too right?” He just nodded so I told him I thought he needed to stay away but that didn’t hold water with Fred. He was tired of these assholes because besides being a pimple on the ass of humanity they were always a problem when they came to town. I told him I was very glad he was going to be there.

              On the morning of the day of the meet we were up and dressed before daybreak. None of us ate anything because I had always heard getting shot in the gut area was worse if you had a lot of digested food in there. What a crappy thing to think about. The girls were both wearing their body armor under loose clothing, and both had their shoulder rigs on plus a spare in the back of their jeans. I had my Para P-14 with 4 magazines all with +2 extensions.  If I couldn’t shoot my way out with 65 rounds I should retire. I also had that Officers model in the ankle rig.

              And God bless him Fred had showed up the night before with a set of body armor that fit me! Where he got it I’ll never know coz he just smiled when I asked.  Right at good light we left for the 20 mile drive to the meeting area. When we arrived Fred was already there and here come the other side from the opposite direction. We arrived at the same time and while they parked wherever they stopped I backed into where I wanted to park. We stepped out and headed for the place where Fred waited. It was a picnic table but none of us was gonna set down that was for damn sure.

              They were a filthy bunch, all with a wad of chew in their jaws. I could smell them from 10 feet away and wasn’t getting close. I stood right in front of the one I figured was the spokesman and the girls were on each side of me. Fred was off to my right at the head of the table but back a bit. I almost smiled when I noticed Fred was standing right beside a round concrete fixture that had a water faucet sticking up, plenty big enough to drop behind. Ol Fred ain’t no dummy for damn sure.

              I looked them over and told them who I was and said I understand there’s a problem. Before the eldest could speak one of the hotheads shouted “Yer goddamn right we have a problem!!” “And what would that be?” I asked. The eldest man held up a hand but the hothead wouldn’t shut up and I knew it was done with when he took hold of the lapels of his old coat and looking at me sadly sighed and looked down and never looked up again, His way of saying “I’m out of this.”

              The mouth screamed again that his brother was dead that’s what was the problem. I had to try so I said quietly that his brother tried to sneak shoot me in cahoots with the preacher and left no choice. He wasn’t hearing me and had no intentions of hearing and made a very stupid mistake. He was almost foaming at the mouth when he said “Which one of these cunts back shot my brother?” Sandy smiled her very dangerous smile and said “I shot the sorry piece of inbred dog shit from the front and if you call me that again you can join him.”

“Oh shit thinks I.” I saw Fred flinch and the dumb bastard just had to do it, he actually smiled and said “Fuck you cunt!” and died right there while trying to draw his gun. The one next to him was quicker but not fast enough. May shot him twice and the first one again while me and Fred took out the last one. The older man never moved from his place. Fred dropped behind cover while yelling “DOWN!” but I had already heard the sound of my rifle firing three fast shots. The first one was right when the dumb bastard called Sandy the name. My shooter knew that was it so why wait? I did hear the first shot simply because you really can’t silence a rifle shot with standard ammo and subsonic just wouldn’t cut it in this case. So there was a faint pop. When nobody shot at us Fred got up looking kinda sheepish. I said “Fred if I woulda had cover I would have been behind it too.”

    The girls were still standing there with their guns out and then Sandy loaded a full mag followed by May. Damn they were good, one loading while the other provided over watch. I was a very lucky man!

              I looked at the older man who was just waiting to either get shot or to finally talk. I pointed to another table a bit away and said “Let’s go sit.” May brought over a bottle of JW’s finest and poured it into glasses; the man looked very surprised but drank it right down. May poured another for both of us then joined Sandy at the truck.

    At last the man said “I’m Josh Higgins” and offered his hand. I took it and gave my name. He sat a moment and looking at me with sad eyes said “I’m sorry about all this, I tried to stop it but they seem to think since the lights went out that they could do anything they wanted.”

    He said they were his kin but had never really listened to anybody in their lives and had made nothing but trouble for the family since they were kids. He also said he knew nothing about the three shooters my man took out.  He caught the look I gave him and said I’ve heard a rifle round fired through a can before in my life and that first shot told me these men had broken the agreement.

    He asked nothing but to be allowed to take them home to be buried and for the family to be allowed to just live and get past it. I said it was all I wanted and I hoped we would not have to revisit this whole issue again.  He said we wouldn’t, because bringing six dead men home for a burying was gonna shut up the hotheads real fast. I hoped so. We helped load the bodies into his truck and it wasn’t a pleasant task, we had to just pile them in but Josh said it was fine and again offered his hand and drove off.

              We stood there for a bit then Fred and I joined the girls who both thanked Fred for his help and we headed for town and as hard as it is to believe we were all starving. So we hightailed it to Miz Sally’s. Fred joined us as well as the overlook team who had done superb work. After pushing two tables together Simon, the one who used my rifle looked at Sandy and said, “damn good shooting Wyatt" then he looked at May and said “you too ‘Doc’” and they all busted out laughing while I just held my head and groaned. Fred sat a moment and then joined in laughing.

Sandy stood up and bowed and a second later May joined her and said “would you boys like me and Wyatt to sign your napkins?” More laughter, I gave up and laughed too. Finally Fred said “we just killed six people and we are laughing, why is that?” Sandy said “because we’re happy we’re here having breakfast and not getting dirt nap.” That summed it up pretty well.

              Simon looked at me and said “wanna sell me that rifle?” I said “Hell no. He thought a minute and said “Wanna sell one of these to troublemakers?” I said “let me think on that” and ribs on both sides caved in, I wheezed out “NO.”

              We headed home and vowed to ourselves and promised Fred we would not come back to town for a month. We couldn’t keep that promise because a week later while checking the stores for unlocked doors somebody ambushed Fred. He was hanging on when the word got to us and our medical team was on the way in very few minutes. I was moving slower because I had to load the truck with weapons, the Higgins clan was gonna get a visit.

    Sandy and May were crying and cussing and I had to stop them from filling the whole truck with weapons. I saw Sandy hand May the MP5/40 and she took the old Thompson out of its case and handed me the magazines.

I knew she could load them but she just needed me close by. She and May went inside the cabin and came out wearing their body armor and handed me mine. I could see this was gonna be a wild trip. We rolled for town with about 25 shooters with us and made a beeline for the clinic where we found Fred was awake and able to talk.

    He had lately been wearing his body armor and the shooter was using a sawed off shotgun so Fred got some buckshot in his left arm and one broke a bone in his wrist. The Doc said all in all he was damn lucky to even be alive and after looking at his vest I had to agree. Two loads of buck at close range, too close to really spread.

              Sandy said “enough bullshit, Fred who shot you?” He said “there was two of them and both were Higgins men.” I went to the door and asked the folks who knew where the Higgins people lived. Most folks just looked at me like I was speaking in tongues. I finally just snapped out “Open up you worthless bastards! Fred got shot keeping you people safe and you’re playing the old I don’t want to get involved game?” One old guy said “Give me a minute to fetch my rifle and I’ll show ya.” One of the crowd said “Hey, you got no call to be bad mouthing us, you brought the trouble down on us to begin with.” Before I could slug him Simon did it for me. That scattered the rest of them. I went inside and told Fred he was moving to the Homestead and that his days working for this bunch of worthless assholes was done.

    He just looked at me and nodded. His wife came over and hugged me and said “thank you John, I’ve tried for 30 years to make him see these folks weren’t worth his life.”

              Old Man Jones returned with I swear to god a real and true 1886 Winchester in 45-70 and it looked as old as he did but both were in good shape. I said “damn man did your dad buy that new?” He smiled showing all five teeth and said “Shit no, I bought it new my own self!” I had to take a better look at him and I bet he did sometime around 1925 maybe. He said “nope, 1930!” Christ he was damn near a hundred. But he knew where the Higgins bunch squatted so he was going.

              Just as we were about to pull out here come folks from the Homestead, driving two of the HV’s with guns up. I didn’t want to turn this into a war but damn it these Higgins folks just seemed to have a death wish, so maybe a major show of force would settle them down, or not.

    Old man Jones said “holy shit!! I wanna ride in one of them thangs!” So we let him take the place of one of the security people who grabbed a ride with us.  The HV with Jones in it took the lead and we rolled out. We covered maybe ten miles when we turned off on an old Farm to Market road which covers this part of Texas like a net. We followed that for a few miles when the brake light of the HV came on and I saw a gunner stand up and the gun barrel moved down. Easing to the left I saw several vehicles sitting in the middle of the road with people standing in the road.

    All had their hands in the air so I jumped out and walked up to them.  It was Josh Higgins with a big bunch of women and kids and several men. He walked to me and said “John these folks had nothing to do with shooting Fred and I’m moving all the ones who want to get away from the hotheads, we just can’t take this fighting and killing no more.”

              I asked him how many were at the home place and he took a minute and finally said “about 10 maybe less if some took off which could have happened coz they was fightin among themselves.” He said the two that shot Fred were the last of the trouble makers. I have to admit I like Josh for his honesty but I also knew he just wanted to get his people out safe.

              I asked him to wait a moment while I talked to my people, what I did was ask Jones if he knew Josh, he said “Oh hell yea and he’s a good man who keeps his word but he never could handle them worthless Higgins.” I went back to Josh and asked where they were heading at the moment.  He said just away from the old homestead and hopefully if we didn’t burn it to the ground they could go back and try to get on with living.

    I asked if he had any sway with the ones still there and he said there was a few he might get through to but the real problems were not gonna listen to him.  He was willing to go along with us if I wanted. I said “load up in my truck and lets get this done.” We drove for another 15 minutes and turned off the road into a farm lane with a big old farm type house standing there in the clearing.

              Josh got out and yelled out to them saying he was there to try and save them but they had to come out right now. This was followed by a lot of cussing and name calling but only from a couple of voices. Josh called them out by name and told the rest they had one chance to make it out alive and time was running out fast.

              After a bit the door opened and several men walked out with their hand up and walked right up to Josh, who told them to get out of sight and stay low.  The ones who came out said only the two who shot Fred were inside.

    Josh called out to them again and was answered with a shot that hit the tree we were behind, thank God for huge old oaks. I had enough of this and called for the front HV to roll up and as soon as it did I told them to lay down a heavy fire right over the roof, and not to shoot up Josh’s home.

              They lit it up and it had the effect I was hoping for. They came out running and shooting, and 3 or 4 shots from us and it was over. Only two of our people fired and dropped both men.  We rolled up and checked but they were dead. I just sat right down and motioned Josh to join me. I asked him what had been settled.

    One man tried to sneak attack me and got killed along with a nit wit preacher, then 6 more got killed trying to ambush us at a meeting to talk, not shoot. Now Fred was shot and two more men were dead; nine men dead for what? Stupid redneck misdirected pride? Josh said he had no answers except that the family had always had plenty of good folks and just as many sorry ones.

              He added that it was looking now like the sorry blood line was extinct. I thought how sad that some good seemed to come out of this shit. Josh rode back to his people and told them what had happened; there was crying but no angry voices. Josh said the gun going off scared the crap out of the younger ones who had come out and they knew it was over for good. I told Josh that we had a lot of resources and would be happy to help them if they needed it. He said thanks but they were ok.

    We rolled for home but stopped to see Fred and tell him what happened. He seemed relieved and who could blame him? His wife again thanked me for taking them in, and Sandy reassured her there was plenty of everything at our place and so many folks working together that nobody had to work too hard. The doc said Fred could be out in a few days after they made sure there wasn’t any infection.

We went home and I just sat right down and sighed. Sandy and May both came to sit with me, and May brought a bottle.  I love how her mind works.  Sandy had the glasses with ice in them.  Life in the EMP aftermath was real rough. After a bit Sandy said, “We have to go to town tomorrow, I moaned and asked why?” She smiled that smile that wins all arguments and said “I’m meeting Old man Jones at Sally’s.”

“Why in the world are you doing that” I just had to ask.  She and May both started giggling and May said, “We traded him out of his old rifle!” I sat up and said “What in the world would make him trade that old cannon?” Sandy said “well I’m giving him an M-16 and some other stuff.” “What other stuff?” I asked knowing somehow I wasn’t gonna like the answer. She snuggled in close and kinda mumbled something.  I pulled her up and said “Stop dodging the question and talk!”

    She tried the smile again that always works and I knew I had lost something. She said “Well he likes Johnny Walker and can’t find any and you have several cases so I added a case of that.” I looked at her for a second and leaned back and said “Shit you had me worried for a minute.” I did have to ask why in the hell she wanted that old rifle, her answer made all the sense in the world. She didn’t have one. I didn’t even bite I just took a sip of my rapidly dwindling supply of JW and sighed. They both snuggled in closer and I heard May say “See I told it would work.” I didn’t bite, I didn’t even ask, I just kept my mouth shut because if I open it I’ll lose again. We now have an old rifle that was old when I was born. But I was waiting until she shot it, then I would laugh.

              They both said “We heard that.” I hate both of them and they both said “Do not.” I can’t win, they said “nope.” I shut down my thinking and they both said “Good boy.” I never believed in Witches...’til now.

              We had to find someplace for Fred and Maggie to live so we fixed up the cabin for them and we pitched a big tent from the military supplies.  Hell it had more room than the cabin, and it was fun, kinda like camping out which it was. We took some lumber and made a bed frame and sewed two old blankets together and stuffed them with hay then sewed the end closed.  We didn’t have box springs so we used rope stretched tight across the frame.  We had way too much fun doing this, lots of laughing. When it was done it was very comfy! And king sized! We had canvas folding chairs and an old couch Miz Sheri had and a table where we could play our nightly games of cut throat yatzee or any of the board games that abounded all over the homestead.

    I liked chess but few play it but now May does so we have a game every once in a while, Sandy’s been watching with the intenseness that only she can bring to something and I know she will challenge me any day now and probably kick my ass.

    Like her shooting, she’s a dead shot, and just don’t miss, but half the winning is getting the gun into action and she worked on that till her fingers bled.  As I said single minded, master it today! May has a streak of that too but I think she gets it from Sandy. They are like twins that don’t look alike, so one itches and the other scratches. How it happens I’ll never know. They just “are.” Anyway, we now had a more roomy home and after being out on the road sleeping wherever, this was special.

              Sandy suddenly wanted to build another outdoor oven like we built at that hot springs. When I asked why, “Because” was the answer. I said “Hell I knew that!” So off we went in search of stuff to work with. We had sand by the tons, good old sugar sand. We had red clay and even some gray clay but not much. First we scoured the whole place for stones, and after being in the Rockies I never thought a rock could be hard to find but here they are scarce.

    After a long search we had enough to form a heat sink and mixed clay and water to a mush and spread that over the rocks.  Then we took wet sand and made the bee hive shape and took more wet clay and spread that over the sand hive.  We put it on thick. I have no idea how this is really done but who cares we were doing it. After the clay was several inches thick, we let it sit for a bit to set up then took a large bladed knife and cut a hole through the wall of clay big enough to get stuff in and out easy. We debated having a hole for smoke to get out but couldn’t decide, so we left it for later when we could see the need.

    After a day or two of setting we gently scraped the sand out of the clay hive and laid a fire and lit it off and kept it going for a good while. After it burned out we cleaned the ashes and looked it over.  This was much nicer looking than our first one. Sandy and May went to Sheri’s and got with her and made bread dough and an hour before it was ready we built a hickory fire and let it really get hot.  The girls brought the dough over and shaped small loves and used a heavy spatula to put them into the oven.  The door part we cut out went back in like a plug, I wasn’t sure about that but who cares.

    When we opened it up, the bread was golden brown and here come Sheri with home-made butter and jam. We headed into the tent and stuffed ourselves and sent Sheri home with some. Over the next several days we had I’ve no idea how many people coming by to study the oven and ask questions. In a week there was dozens of them turning out bread and anything else they could stuff in them, cast iron pots on coals, leave it and come back for supper. You’d think we invented it, but crap it’s been around for a few thousand years probably.

    People are really strange ducks, while I could see the usefulness of these kinds of ovens they were something new here in this crowd so of course everybody had to have one, and some were really wild.  One, I swear, was big enough to park a VW bug in.

    But with no TV, no computers, none of the time wasting crap we used to be burdened with, people had more time to work at real projects. Here on the Homestead, there were gardens of every size and shape. People were being creative in their work so it was more like fun than work. There were mound gardens, and another I can’t even pronounce much less spell.  It involves digging a long narrow pit and filling it with anything that will compost, then that’s covered leaving a raised bed area.  I don’t know jack about gardens except poke a hole, drop seed in, and cover then repeat over and over. I would starve if it was up to me.

    Sandy and May were advocates of Miz Sheri’s school of container gardening, and dragged in every piece of junk that would hold dirt.  I thought I’d seen it all and then they dragged in an old toilet bowl and planted something in it.  I told them I wasn’t eating anything growing out of a shitter, and they just shook their heads and looked sad for me.

              Sheri has about the best collection of containers one could want but even she didn’t have a toilet bowl…yet. But she one upped the girls by having somebody drag in an old rusty pickup from the 50’s.  She made the bed into a container and used the cab as a place to put garden tools and such. This of course set the girls to looking for something even cooler. I sat in the shade and watched. It took them a while but they did come up with something.

              It involved Rick and his eternal war against dead trees.  He had one that he said wouldn’t make good fire wood.  I don’t know what it was, but it had bark and limbs, so I called it “Tree.” Anyway it was damn big! Like four or five feet wide, so the girls conned him into cutting the butt log into a ten foot log and then using his skills with the saw he hollowed it out. He really got into it and it looked awesome.  The top sides were flat and left with an eight inch place to sit while working.

    He hauled it down to the cabin area and leveled it and the girls took over.  They went wild, painting it with flowers and all kinds of stuff. Then filled it with the best mulch they could find, mounding it up high and planted it full of flowers of all thing. I looked at it and said “You can’t eat flowers.” Their look of pity was a thing of beauty.

              Mis Sheri was impressed but the general opinion of the followers of the container war was that the 1950’s pickup still trumped the log flower pot, but they didn’t care, they still loved it.  I enjoyed watching the antics of these ladies as did everybody else. They would be going gaga over a weed one minute and frying carrots with Sheri the next and an hour later disturbing the peace on Rick’s range improving their shooting skills.

    Both were scary fast and a lot of fun to watch. And damn good at suckering in some new fool with some “small” wagers. They had more junk from these matches than they could ever use but both said it was the winning that counted and the trinkets were sorta like scalps. I said “Hell no! Don’t even think about it.” I guess I must have impressed them because they dragged me into the tent for a nap.

              It’s a good life here in the woods of East Texas and the new pace of life and the outdoor life style and being in the sun makes everybody just happier. I hoped things wouldn’t change back. I was spending a lot of time with Fred while he recovered but he soon got into the whole “Green Acres” stuff and was off herding goats or cats or some such shit. I like the shade and I love watching the girls.

I swear they are like puppies, one finds something new and they are all over it for a whole four or five minutes then a new something blows through on the breeze and off they go. I’m really happy, I spend some time with mom every day and I love spending time with Sheri. I try once a week or so to drag her away for a couple of hours and we go to Sally’s place for pie and sweet tea. Her and Sally are in the kitchen shortly showing each other some new ideas. It’s good for her and me and Sally, so it’s a win-win for all concerned.

              I also do it for me, just to show any doubters that I really don’t give a rats ass what they think and none will say a word. I think it’s because of Wyatt and Doc. I laugh. That would scare the shit outta me too.

              The girls’ latest request is for a fireplace…..in the tent. I for once stuck to my guns and said “hell no!” Then they dropped the real bomb.  Quote, “Well fine then build us one in front of the tent so we can watch the fire at night.” Herding goats with Fred is looking good right now. But having said no once this month I now had to figure out how to make them happy.

              One thing about a fireplace outside is ya don’t have to have stove pipes running all over the damn place. I sat thinking about it, which is my strong point. And yanno, it came to me and I smiled and said “Ok, let’s build that fireplace.”

    Back we went, searching for rocks and clay.  I had them pick the spot where they wanted it which took several hours and a consult with the moon and stars and a visit to the old Indian Shaman down the road. I was laughing because at this rate we would be in Montana before they got their minds on the same track.

    In my mind I heard “Watch it bub.  It’s cold sleeping alone.” Witches. At last they both pointed to a spot on Mother Earth and said “here!” “Right here?” I asked. “Yes right here!” So I made them place a rock on the exact center of where the thing would be. They did, with a glare.

              Then we went to work, same plan as the oven, except the sand was more of a crescent with wings coming out and wrapping around to the front to reflect the heat. So we did the clay thing and even thicker, also we put some old fencing wire cut to fit over the first layer of clay then packed more clay and we tamped it as well as we could.  When we were done, we let it set for a day then removed the sand.

    The girls looked at it for a bit and May said, “This looks like one of those open air dome looking things that they used to have summer in the park stuff, plays and music.” Sandy agreed. I smiled and said let’s get it baked hard and we did, while the fire was burning we went inside and from our bed it was perfect and the curve kind of directed heat into the open flap.

    They were happy! I was happy, after the clay was hardened we built a nice fire in the evening and even sitting inside by the open flap we could feel the heat.  The down side was we now had a stream of people coming around looking at it like it was the first wheel. Soon the Earth’s supply of rocks and clay were in danger.

    But everybody was entertained and busy. And now the girls could toss a mound of things on the ground and lay there like cats, which I now noticed a lot of, hanging around with the girls on their pallets. I noticed Sheri was spending time by the fire with the girls.

    I would wander off giving them girl time, usually I’d help Rick murder a tree or find Fred who was all healthy from herding cats since that involved a lot of running every which way. I soon tired of both as they involved way too much effort. So I would go home and take a nap. I’m old and tired and naps are good.

              The winter, such as it is here was drifting into spring and the planting was in full boom.  Planting in February, I’ll never get use to it. But we did it, well the girls did, I supervised. And napped which usually got me a cup of water poured over me, and they made a game of where they would wet me down. Sandy loved making it look like I pissed my pants while May liked down the back of my neck. God they’re fun! Like petting baby rattlers, and not the ones made from plastic.

              So there I sat, content knowing the girls had their clay oven to play with, an outdoor fireplace where they could curl up with all the stray cats who now found the fireplace just the best thing since cat litter and the garden was in. I can now nap without feeling lazy.

    Wrong. Really wrong. Here they come again, snuggling up one on each side and wiggling a bit. I sighed and asked what they wanted now. Both were offended, then between them they explained that they wanted a flag pole. “A flag pole?” I asked.  “Yes a flag pole” I heard. “Why?” “Well because it would be the coolest thing.” “Why?” “Because we want to fly a flag, silly.” “Why?”

“Because we have this wonderful flag that once covered General Will’s coffin and we decided it should fly instead of being buried away from the sun.”

              Well shit, they have a point.  I liked the old gent too, also those flags get put away and never fly and these two troublesome puppies are right. But I can’t give in too easy so I got a promise that this was the last project before I started taking training naps for the real thing. They promised, they lied, but they did it so cute I acted like I believed them. I’m a sucker.

              I remember a story that went, The US Air Force Academy had a question on the very last test before graduation. All the cadets were of course sworn to never reveal anything about the tests taken at the academy so it never failed to work. It was a one question test.

    The question said, as a young officer you are given the task of raising a flag pole, you have a pole, 6 privates and one sergeant, how would you raise the pole? They go into the length and weight of the pole and all kinds of technical crap.

    The Cadets have one hour to answer the question. For one hour nothing is heard except the sound of pencils scribbling on paper.

    At the end of the hour the instructor gathers the papers. He then reads the answers one at a time out loud. It’s a long process because all of the cadets are pretty much engineer majors. Some of the answers make going to the moon a simple jump, and others make it like wading a shallow creek. But all of them have one common thing. They are all wrong. Now this pretty well deflates the whole bunch. So the instructor says, written on the black board behind the world map is the right answer. He walks to the map and with a flourish, sends it flying up the roller and there in all its glory is the elusive answer.  

              The answer is…“Sergeant! Raise the flag pole. And the officer leaves the area safe in the knowledge that the Sergeant will get it done.”

              They all learned a valuable lesson. Now how was this gonna help me, I ain’t got a fkn clue. So I go see Rick, and I tell him what the girls want.  He says “Ok.” And the next day here he comes on his tractor dragging a really tall pine tree with all the limbs cut off nice and smooth.

              On the back of the tractor is a post drill.  He asks where I want the pole planted, and I say, “I don’t they do”, pointing at the two forms laying curled up by the fireplace napping.

    Being the weak coward he is, he refused to wake them so I had to do it. And they saw what was going on and both jumped up and ran to hug Rick.  I can’t win. They spent about two ice ages deciding where it should be and Rick said “Let’s put it on the range!!” and more hugs.  I hate him too.

    So off he goes, dragging the pole followed by “them” who had to make a game out of trying to stand on the moving pole. If it wasn’t for the nice way they fill their pants I’d swear they were small boys.

    After another ice age they had the perfect spot so Rick made the hole and then dragged a box out of the bucket and removed a nice shiny pulley which he fitted to the top of the pole.  Then he added a long rope and in about 10 minutes there stood a flag pole. Rick would have made a great sergeant.

    Well now they were happy, I could go back to nap practice. Wrong. “We need a sign” they say, “Why?” “Because we have a wonderful tribute to General Will but nobody knows it so we need to have a sign.”  “Shit.” “Stop cussing.”  I asked, “What does the sign needed on it?” It needs to say “The General Will range”.  Fine, so I head off and come back with a ratty paint brush and a hunk of old plywood.  Wrong. It has to be fitting, and it has to be well made. Professional looking. “Shit.” Followed by a “Stop cussing.”

              I spent two hours tracking down somebody who people say is an artist.  “She is busy.” I tell her I’ll shoot her if she don’t come with me. She tells me to perform an impossible act on myself. I tell it’s for Wyatt and Doc, and she says “Well why didn’t you say that?” So off she goes to find the girls.  Another ice age comes and goes, a sun goes nova 900,000,000,000 light years away. They settle on a sign! The gods are happy, they are smiling! I’m not. The cost of the fkn sign is 4 bottles of my JW! I go take a nap and wake up between two warm bodies. Shit it’s just booze, who cares.

              I’m all snuggled in come morning when they come into the tent.  One had a cup of coffee, the smell of which tells me it’s spiked! Good! The other has a plate with hot from the earth oven biscuits, slathered with butter and honey. I now feel the trickle of fear turning into a raging torrent so I cover my head. No good. I’m caught.

    “What now? I ask. “You’re so suspicious!” “No I’m not.  I simply know you two so well, so now what?” “Well” says one, “When’s the party?” “What party?” “The range dedication party, silly.” “Please tell me why I care when it is.” They did. I’m paying for it. More booze.  I have to kill something to eat.  I have to take them to town to invite the people they like and haven’t killed…yet.

              I stood for a while just staring at the far off distant mountains in my mind. One asked what I was doing, and I said I was looking to the north where the mountains are.  The other one said “uh John, that’s East, North is to your left.” I sighed and asked when the party was.  Both hugged me and told me I was wonderful. I could hear a small voice in my ear saying “God you’re easy.”

              So the party is on, one week from now, I put them in charge of it. I asked Simon to find something to kill that would cook up ok. He asked if he could use my 308 I said “no” just to be petty, and he said I was being petty. I agreed.  Rick was happy because he had a dead hickory tree that needed burning, I explained that it wouldn’t take much to cook whatever Simon shot, he looked at me with pity. I understand now, anything that requires wood requires a lot of wood. So the meat was taken care of, and the wood was a done deal.

    I was providing the booze the leaches get to drink and the women were dealing with the rest. I sneaked off and laid down in our very comfy bed and woke up with two warm bodies next to me, I said “NO…. whatever it is NO, I’m napping.” They both threw an arm over me, a bare arm, followed by a bare leg. I gave up. God hates me. One giggled and the other said “No she don’t.”

              What a party! I’m glad I had the idea! We had a ton of fun. Sandy told the story of how we met General Will. When she told the story of Will and Ellie there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd. And biggest surprise of all Harry and Bear showed up with their wives. Bears wife thanked Sandy for teaching Bear some manners. That got a big laugh when the story got told. Ever see a giant turn beet red?

              The ladies all dressed up like the good old days. Sandy had opened one of her trunks and all the ladies were wearing about a million dollars worth of jewelry. Not that it was worth that anymore but they all sparkled. It was strange seeing my two beauties dressed like ladies, I liked it! May was talking about cutting off a bunch of her beautiful long hair and everybody within earshot yelled “NO!!”

              I wore my BBQ gun Sandy found on our last trip out. I noticed a lot of BBQ guns! Well goes to show men like sparkles too. We had music both live and CDs. Early in the day we all lined up and opened fire on milk jugs filled with water to officially dedicate the range. It sounded like a full scale war.     I hoped Will was dancing in glee. His flag was looking wonderful.

              Our time here is coming to an end and we have started getting our gear ready. We had a very nice saddle for May, now we needed a horse but that would come when we got back to the lake area. I was pretty sure Charley could handle that for us.

    We did look for and find a rifle scabbard for May to put on her saddle. Sandy had done the deal with Old Man Jones on his rifle so she wanted to carry it on her horse. I told her she could after she knew how to handle it. She fired about five rounds and said “No wonder that old crook was so eager to trade!!” I never said a word about it but I was really surprised she got five shots off.  Of course she weighs about the same as that old cannon. And of course May had to try it too and of course fired it five times and they had a quiet talk and said it was amazing how good it would look against the knotty Aspen walls of the cabin. The rifle does look wonderful hanging on the wall of the cabin right by my 1917 Swede. There are times when I do know to shut up. 

              And one day it was time to go. I made my goodbyes with Miz Sheri in private, hoping that on the next go around we would find each other sooner. Mom said she could use some corn meal since I was going to the store, and I said I’d see to it. I wonder….

              Rick, Chris and all the usual suspects were there to see us off. Fred and his lady were happy as can be on the Homestead, I was glad he was there to help with security.

              With lumps in our throats we headed out, me wondering who would be left when we returned, if we returned. Sandy leaned over and hugged me while May reached over the seat and joined in. Sandy whispered “It will be ok, trust me.” May said “Us.” I was either blessed or cursed, and I think blessed is the way to go. They both said “Smart man”.  Here we go.

We had decided to stay the night at the state line crossing with Harry and Bear.  There was a mobile set up just for overnighters and that was us. And we did.  After dinner with the two couples, we hit the rack and crashed and come daylight we bounced out of bed and into a hot shower. Well they bounced, I hobbled. Breakfast was in the guard’s chow hall but we didn’t dawdle.  We had places to go and people to see, and hopefully not kill.

              Bidding another farewell, we rolled and didn’t slow until we hit Shiprock where Charley and his Mother were waiting for us. After a good feed we again went to bed early and come morning we went with Charley to see some horses.

     We must have looked at a hundred before May took a second look and walked to the corral and just stood there, and soon one walked over to her.

They looked at each other a bit and May said “This one.” Charley smiled and said “Good choice.” May smiled at him and said “Think so?” Charley never blinked when he said “I was talking to the horse.” May looked at him a moment and then smiled and said, “Yes!”

              The horse was about five years old and a gelding which I was glad of, since mares can be a problem. Both girls turned and looked at me.  Charley sighed and shook his head and said “It’s going to be a real long trip.” I just nodded and asked if he wanted to go. He said something in his own tongue causing Sandy to laugh, so she whispered loudly that she would tell May later.

              We led May’s horse back to Charley’s place and saddled him and May just stepped right up on him like they were meant for each other. Both girls smiled at me.

May headed out and we sat in the shade, Sandy went in to see the old woman who I swear is named “Old Woman.” Charley and I just sat quietly watching May riding all over the area, after an hour she returned and said “Can we come back to get him soon?”

    Charley said he would be on his way within the hour. Right then an old pickup with a horse trailer pulled into the place and two of the young guys who had been with us on our previous adventure jumped out and came to say hello. Both looked at the horse with surprise bordering on astonishment but neither said a word. They took the saddle off and put the horse in the trailer and were gone.

              May went in to tell Sandy all about it while I waited for Charley to speak up. At last he coughed quietly and said, “The horse had a devil in it, it’s broken up two of our best riders.” I was about to bounce when he put his hand on my arm and said, “Did you see the horse pick her?”

    I said “Well, I saw it walk over to her.” He nodded and said “Yes that’s how it looked but there was more at work. The horse was waiting for May to come get him.” I said “Well hell, he’s broke so somebody rode him.”  Charley waited a moment and said “No, May is the only person to ever ride that horse.”

    Now I can get into all the spirit crap between Sandy and Charley because there is something there, but a horse and a woman who never seen each other before?

    I asked Charley if he was serious, he just looked at me and I knew he was telling the truth. I’ll never understand, and he said “No John you won’t, but it’s right there if you only open up and let it come.”

    I suddenly felt like I had lost something important but he smiled and touched my arm and said “No you didn’t.  It’s there you just haven’t accepted it yet.”

              After lunch we loaded up and headed for the canyon. All the while the girls talked about riding a lot while we were at the canyon to get May’s butt in shape. I smiled and thought “Her butt is just fine” and got a kiss on the cheek from May and a smile from Sandy. We would be in the canyon for at least two weeks getting us and the critters ready for the trip.

              I knew Joe and Willy had been riding Buck and Rab but the pack mules needed some workout time. I was getting really excited about the trip. The girls were pumped as well. Sandy was filling May in on all our adventures good and bad. She of course had heard about me getting shot in the ass but Sandy would tell it just a bit different every time and they would have tears rolling down. I failed to see the humor and I would wish it on them but ruin a work of art? Not likely!! They both smiled at that…thought?

              We made it to the canyon settlement and found Charley’s lads had unloaded May’s horse, who was pissed off until he saw May, who ran to him and hugged him close and whispered in his ear. I’d make a comment but when she whispers in my ear I wag my tail too so….

              The boys loaded up and took off for home with a wave still smiling at May and her horse. I asked May what his name was but she just shrugged and said, “He hasn’t told me yet.” I didn’t ask. Sandy said something about me learning. Joe and Willy were there looking at May and her horse like they thought she was crazy and Joe said yanno, five minutes before y’all got here that nag was about to tear that trailer apart and then he calmed down and just stared up the road. Strange. I lowered my voice and said “You ain’t seen shit my friends.” But they in fact had seen how these girls worked as a team, and it was spooky to say the least. I’ve never believed in any of that spooky shit but I was fast becoming a believer.

    I told them about how nobody had ever rode this beast and they believed it. About that time May jumped up across his bare back and threw a leg over and sat there like a warrior princess from long ago. She just needed a bow and a short sword to make the picture complete.

    She nudged him and he turned and walked right up to us. She smiled and asked Sandy if she had any swords in her stash and maybe a bow. Sandy never blinked and said “No but I bet we can find some.” I swear Willy made the sign of the cross. I asked her why she asked that and she said “I don’t know it just popped into my mind and I liked the idea.” I headed for the truck and the JW with the guys following me.

We spent the next two weeks packing and unpacking the mules, more for May then them.  This was a learning experience for her and her horse with no a name. About five minutes after I thought about that old song I heard May humming it. I need to start smoking that shit just so I have a reason to be thinking this stuff.

              We had a long talk about where we wanted to go and how we wanted to get there. I still had the map with the route Sandy and I used but we wanted to see new country right along with May so we could all be impressed together.

              We debated the entire week on either using the Dodge and trailer to get closer to the mountains but in the end we decided to just ride. After packing and repacking I came to the conclusion we needed at least two more pack animals. I wasn’t sure how two new mules would fit in with the family as it stood so I contacted Charley and asked him. He said he would think it over and two days later he and the two younger men drove into the canyon pulling their trailer.

              I could only smile when he got out of the truck. Charley has become the brother I never had and the friend everybody could only wish for. While he stood with me the others opened the ramp and walked out 4 big beautiful red mules. I had to look close to see if he had snuck ours in the trailer. Sandy and May were bouncing like rubber balls and were among the mules before I could think of a warning about strange animals. Charley laid his hand on my arm and shook his head a bit. So I just settled down to watch.

In short order three of the mules were sniffing at the girls and the forth had backed away, at a hand sigh from Charley the men started to lead the forth mule back into the trailer but Willy asked him to wait. He walked over and stood there until the mule stepped over to him. Charley smiled and nodded, the boys closed the trailer. Willy had a mule.

              Now I don’t really believe all this stuff  but I gotta admit it was love at first sight with me and Buck and as I recall he walked over to me when I was looking them over. Now really, I’m not crazy. I don’t think. But it’s like with the girls.  They, I swear, read my mind, and yeah it’s crazy to think that but there is no denying that it happens. And it’s like Sandy welcoming May into our family unit on nothing more than….what? Some kinda sense?

              Screw it, the girls have three pet mules as big as Buck and Willy has one for whatever reason, but I expect he wants to ride him since mules do so much better in rough country.  That’s why Arabs always win the endurances races. Make sense? I didn’t think so. But look it up.

              Charley and I sat in the shade of some tree that has the balls to do well in the desert and watched the girls sitting on the mules and I swear talking to them. Charley coughed softly so I waited for a second and he said “You are going to start your journey from here riding?” Now nobody I knew of had talked to him about our plans but I just said “Yes.” He sat for a moment and said “You will be traveling through dry country but there is plenty of water out there.  After you get a ways north there will of course be plenty.” He pulled out a map of the state and on it was marked a route that led to water while heading north.

              It led through some of the most beautiful country out there. I thanked him and tucked the map away. I asked again if he would like to join us but he smiled his soft smile and said “No John, this is a journey for the three of you. I will see you when you return.” I asked when that would be. He said when it is time.

              I asked if he knew. He said no but the Old Woman did. That was enough for me. He stood up with the ease of a man 50 years younger while I had to work at it. He walked to his truck and returned with a buckskin pouch filled with something and handed it to me said, “Every morning drink a cup of this steeped in hot water and again at night.” I asked what it was. He said it would help the pains of old age. God knows I need it.

              I sniffed it and it smelled familiar but I couldn’t place it, but if Charley said it would work I’ll take his word for it. After a bit he bid us goodbye and left. The girls were still playing with the mules and Willy was heading off someplace on his. I finally had to break up the puppy love affair between the girls and the mules. Shit they will be wanting to move them in with us too.

              Our hole in the wall as I called it was a very nice home, one large room torn from the sandstone cliff and it was so very comfy. The temperature stayed a pretty steady upper sixties but in cold weather the fire felt very good. We were really just using it like a motel because after we left it would be there for anybody who needed shelter. The solar panels did a very good job providing plenty of light. Warm and light what more did a person need really? The food was eaten as it was grown so it was fresh and the milk from the goats and the eggs were lowered into the deepest part of the canyon where I swear it was damn near freezing. I dove down one time and long before I got close to the bottom I was shooting for the warmer surface water, I like to have froze my… well it was cold ok? So anything we had that needed cooling wasn’t a problem. There was fresh fish whenever we wanted it and deer for the taking. They had also brought in a few cows to have cream and to make cheese. Life in the canyon is good and quiet and peaceful. So why were we willingly riding off into the cold frozen mountains? I guess because they are there. But I feel this may my last ride up into the high country.

              This morning Sandy and May tried to poison me. They fixed the “tea” from the whatever it was Charley left for me. I gag you not. I thought he was my friend. The pair of traitors laughed and called me a baby. Finally they added a bit if brandy to it and it was passable. They each had a cup without the booze to show me I was a wimp. I swear they had to clinch their jaws to get it down.

              I think I figured out what it is! Back in my long ago youth I lived in the Mojave desert and an old man I knew would take dead leaves off of the Grease Wood bush, and steep a hand full in a gallon jug of water he left out in the sun all day.  He swore he never had any arthritis problems again (true story). Could this be what I’m drinking? Anyway, I got it down and vowed tonight I would drink it right down and smack my lips and ask for more.  I’ll show these two.

              Finally the day came to head out, after we packed and repacked the panniers until we had them right. We were heavy on ammo and fairly light on weapons. We all had our usual handguns. I had my 308 in a saddle scabbard; the girls each had a 308 bolt gun in scabbards. On the mules we had our war fighting stuff. My AR 10, May got the 300 Blackout, Sandy had trouble deciding but left the Thompson behind and settled on her MP5/40.We had three M-16s packed away and two pump shotguns and ammo for all.

              Food we had, a great deal of Mountain House stuff plus a lot of rice, beans, dehydrated veggies by the ton it seemed, but dried veggies and a rabbit or two makes a damn good hobo stew and sticks to the ribs. We would take fresh meat as needed and dry the rest. We were back in our Carharts as was May and good light weight lace up boots with Gortex. We had all the tools needed to cut firewood or build a shelter. We had several dome tents, enough to store all the stuff out of the weather and a big one for us. I added two large tarps that could be strung up as shelter for the animals.

              We had made list after list and everything seems to be covered, plenty of sugar, salt, pepper, spices, you name it we had it. Dutch ovens on and on, all packed in its place and ready to use. I even took a crash course on replacing a shoe on one of the animals and had the tools and some shoes to fit our stock. First aid kits filled with everything we might need plus books on how to do some minor medical procedures. We had packed our body armor even. Thank god for the three extra pack mules. So we were ready, nothing we can think of, nothing our friends can think of. So it’s now first light and we are packed and mounted and heading out.

              Goodbyes were said, and hugs handed out. We covered maybe 10 miles the first day. We needed time to iron out any bugs in our packing job and to allow the mules to decide who was going to follow whom. Yes they have a pecking order too. On our first late afternoon we stopped at a spring right where Charley said it would be and started developing our routines on evening chores.

              I did the unpacking and covered all the packs with ground cloths in case of rain or heavy dew. While I did this the girls set up our tent then got a fire going and in general we made a nice comfy camp. We were all tired and were turning in at dark. We put the fire out and leaving Walker outside the tent we settled in for the night. We had solved the sleeping arrangement by using some foam pads in canvas and sewing king size blankets at the bottoms and some down comforters. I can say for me that I was asleep in 10 seconds and I don’t think we moved all night. I heard Walker rumbling once during the night but it was like Molly’s “Hey! We’re sleeping here so beat it” sound. Not a full on “OH SHIT!” we got problems sound.

              Morning came and I couldn’t hardly move. I had two extra warm bookends sprawled across me but the main issue was the pains and agony of sore muscles. I wondered what it would feel like if we hadn’t been riding every day for two weeks. I laid there until my bladder said it wasn’t going to last much longer.  So I wiggled out and slipped on my night moccasins and made my way out of the tent, in agony. Business done, I built the fire up and made coffee in the cowboy pot and crawled back into the tent and bed. I don’t think they had moved.

              I went out like a light and woke to the smell of boiling coffee and missing a bookend so I got up and headed for the coffee. I poured two cups and decided I needed some extra pain killer then I remembered Charley’s magic weed, so I got water going and when it boiled added some of the stuff and set it aside. May returned with Walker and sat down and snuggled against me.  I reached in the tent and got a blanket and we wrapped in it. Like a good little boy I gagged down my meds, then allowed myself coffee with brandy.  

              We heard Sandy yell “Walker!! Shit!! And we both laughed as he got her out of bed! Her coffee was waiting when she came back from watering the desert and cuddled under the blanket on my other side and moaned at the first sip.

              We just sat there and sipped our coffee watching the beautiful sunrise. I will admit this morning I could be talked into heading back to the canyon and settling into retirement. But after the sun warmed things up some and we had something to eat the day looked better. It took us a while to get loaded up but that would improve with time.

    All that day and the days that followed were spent looking at the awesome beauty of the red sandstone canyons and arches of this part of the country. The camp chores became routine and easier, the nights sleeping were better and most nights we slept under the stars. Walker liked those nights best because he could lay beside Sandy or May; he was an equal opportunity layer.

    As the days turned into weeks we moved north and saw not a soul simply because we chose not to. When there are people in a bunch trouble seems to follow. In all this time we never fired a shot. The girls and I would practice our draw every day and from most any position. We started a game of using the clock as a test board. We would take turns at any time to call out a time. Maybe I’d call out 3 and they would turn and draw regardless of what they were doing. We just never fired a shot, why announce we were here? It was just keeping muscle memory alive. Folks say it’s like riding a bicycle but if you haven’t ridden one in a long time you’re gonna be slower and wobbly.

    The girls were flat out scary fast. They both had shoulder holsters but May liked the right hip carry like I used. She carried a Colt Defender in her shoulder holster and a Commander on her side right past center.

    Sandy carried her Gold cup under the jacket and Ellie on her left front in a cross draw. I like that because on a horse it was damn fast. With Walker out ahead I felt pretty safe from a close in ambush. He had really matured; he had to weigh close to 80 pounds now and wasn’t grown yet. He was totally devoted to the girls, I was on my own.

              We reached the point where we have to re-supply which meant entering a small town or a farm commune. After looking at the map we picked out a small town to check out, not knowing if it was even still occupied. It was. The town on the map was maybe a thousand people pre-event. When we got close enough to scout it out it looked like it hadn’t lost too much population. People were walking, riding bicycles, horses; even a few older vehicles were in use. It seemed like a peaceful place but we spent the afternoon watching it. In that time we saw no signs of anything out of place so we decided to ride in like we owned the place, but we took time to get out the close combat long guns. The girls both had short weapons with collapsible stocks, they both had dusters that would cover the guns, I had a CAR-16 but I kept it in hand as we rode in. The town was clean, folks nodded as we passed by, some gave a howdy. I stopped and asked one old gent where we could get a hot meal. He pointed down the road and said there was a few places but the best was a place called “Ma’s.” That sounded fine so we headed on following his directions.

    It was easy to see this little town had been lucky to have good leadership in the very beginning of the event. It had not suffered as so many had but with one road passing through town it had been easy to keep trouble blocked from entering. Deeper into town we saw more and more folks going about their business, but it was easy to see we were the most excitement in a while.  People stopped and watched as we went past, all smiled and gave a wave.

              We spotted “Ma’s Beanery” in the middle of the block with a long hitch rack in front, next door was a general store. We tied up and the girls went in to look it over while I kept watch over the livestock. A few men stopped to say howdy and ask where we were headed. All were friendly and all agreed Ma’s was the best food in town.

              They also pointed out that it was a very good town and peaceful. That worked for me. The girls came out and said the store could supply most of what we needed and the prices weren’t out of line. Leaving Walker to watch the stock, we all went in and I was transported back to my youth, since it was like the old general store in the small town where I grew up. The same smells, wooden floors with the smell of oiled sawdust used when sweeping.  I hadn’t seen that in so long I had to think about my age to remember.

              Behind the counter was a nice looking older lady who greeted me and said my daughters were just so sweet. I said “Thank you, their mama bless her would be proud of them.” They both had the grace to blush, May came over and said “Daddy, Miz Mary here said we could give her our list and get dinner while she gets our stuff together.”  I said “Fine sweetheart, let’s do that if it’s no trouble for Miz Mary” with a look at the lady. She said “Oh my no, I know where every bean and needle in the place is.” So we left her to it and went next door.

              The café was real nice, clean and smelled

outstanding. Homemade pies were baking and on the wall was a menu with today’s meal, meaning it was eat what there is for the day.

              A young lady smiled us in and led us to a table near the window and offered water, coffee or tea. We made our picks and she headed off to the kitchen. Shortly a man came out of the kitchen who could have been Bear Jackson’s brother.  Big Brother. He rumbled across the floor stopping at our table and offered the biggest hand or paw I’d ever seen.

              He said “Howdy! I’m Ma! Welcome to our town and our beanery!” His voice boomed on the same level as his size. I said “Ma?” He laughed and said “Yep, I was named Marvin but my baby brother couldn’t say my name and it came out Ma so it stuck.” Sandy asked if it ever bothered him and again that laugh.  He explained that when he played football a few players on the opposing teams would make fun of it for about a minute and then shut up. I could see why!

              We invited him to sit when our food came out so he pulled up a chair and we talked about the area and how things went after the event. He said being a kind of isolated town they had a few instances of power lines going down so several years before they had passed a city tax to pay for a big generator system that could power the town and luckily they had placed it in such a way that it was protected from the EMP. “Fate” as he put it.

    So with power they were able to cobble together a system to replace the burned out transformers. He laughed and said “Think giant extension cords running all over.” But it worked and over time they were able to get things fixed more permanently. I asked how they avoided the troubles most places had, his reply was about what I thought it would be; a strong Sheriff with a few good deputies and an armed citizenry. And the one road thing all helped. They had a few minor brushes with gangs but most of them were buried in the town dump, seemed appropriate to everybody. Hard work and community spirit and a take no shit attitude worked well for them. We had been watched for over two hours as we made our way into town and were deemed to be “ok.” We never spotted their hidden spotters as it should be. Dinner was so good I asked for and got a second helping and ate half a pie. The girls weren’t far behind me. Mountain House and beans and rice only go so far.

              Ma told us there was a motel on the edge of town and it had a place for livestock, and our animals and gear would be safe since there was an armed guard on duty at night. I asked if he wanted ammo or gold or silver, he said silver was fine, the meal cost three silver quarters.

   Sandy said maybe we should just live here and live on room service.  I laughed at the reference to a line in the movie “Tombstone”. I had to explain it to them. Big age difference!

              The motel was right at the edge of town with a nice livestock holding area with only a few horses present. It was run by the motel owners’ two teenagers, a boy and girl who looked like twins. The stalls were clean and the water fresh. We took the loads off the mules and placed them in a room with a very sturdy door and were given a padlock with two keys.  The girl said they were the only keys and the stuff was safe and the boy had a bunk room right there where he spent the night.

              Fresh hay and grain went to the animals so we left them and went to check in. The stable kids had said their mother would get us rooms which she did.  She was a pleasant woman who asked if we wanted separate rooms or could we share one? I left it to the girls.  They said if there was a room with a queen and a king, it would be perfect. There was and we got it. The showers were fed from a huge black tank on the roof just like at home with some cold to cool it down.

              The room was very clean and comfortable.  She hoped my daughters and I would have a restful stay. The shower wasn’t big enough for all of us so it was not as much fun as at home, but we were all squeaky clean. The girls went first and when I was done I came out to find May combing out her long hair and Sandy gone.  She said Sandy was checking the stock, for a while. I never knew nor cared how they worked it out but it worked. I offered to brush May’s hair which I loved doing and she loved having done. Later we dressed and went to the barn to collect Sandy who was chatting with the kids. She and May smiled at each other in a way that said it all.

We went to dinner at Ma’s where the menu said that it was fried chicken with the usual. It was awesome. That man could cook. He joined us for pie and coffee and we had a good talk. We decided to stay a few days to enjoy the amenities of civilization as it were. While we were there the Sheriff came in and Ma introduced us.  He was interested in what we had seen and where we had been. I left out mention of our “Army” days and the whole Chicago thing. He was interested in hearing about the plans for the Lake Powell settlement and asked a lot of questions. Also about the Oklahoma / Texas coalition and how it was working out.

    He told us of rumors of a small army that had cleaned up some bad problems and then just disappeared.  He said he wasn’t sure if it was real or somebody maybe having a few too many. I didn’t have anything to add except we hadn’t seen anybody at all in our journey which was the truth. He asked where we were going and our story was I was taking the girls to our family ranch in Montana. That we had just hunkered down until things got better meaning safer. It was so funny that nowhere we had been had people assumed they were my daughters, which was funny as could be. I was sure nobody would care but it was the way it was; folks see something the way they think it should be.

              After supper we headed for the barn to check the stock and found all well there.  Walker was staying close to them. The kids seemed to have that special thing animals could sense so all our critters were happy with them. The girls had brought some bones from Ma for Walker so he was a happy camper, plus they had stopped off in the store and got some carrots and were feeding them to the stock.  It was almost scary seeing these two small humans surrounded by big mules and horses calmly feeding them carrots.

              The kids who ran the stable were in fact twins and in fact I shit you not, named Jack and Jill. The girls were enjoying spending time with them. They were both home schooled by their mom. And it turned out they were staying overnight here while traveling when the EMP hit and just stayed on and took over the motel when nobody showed up after. Their dad was in the construction business and soon had things figured out to make things the way it was today. He also did handyman work and between them all they had a good life.

              I asked how the two of them kept the place so clean and Jill blushed when Jack started laughing and said their father had explained to the local boys who wanted to “visit” his daughter (who was beautiful) they could do so, as long as they had a pitch fork or a shovel in their hands and knew how to drive a wheelbarrow. This had me laughing and Jill grew a brighter pink. The girls took her off to the back of the barn leaving Jack and me sitting on a couple of stumps cut from a nice tree.

    He said he wished the local girls would come visit him but none wanted to shovel horse crap. I assured him they would when they realized he was a hard worker and was part owner in a very good business and would provide for a family. He said he never thought of it that way and smiled and said he might have to be a bit more picky. I mentioned that beauty was a fleeting thing but love and a good workmate made life so much better. I could see that thought sink in, since he was a fast learner. He said “You know, I’ll bet dad is using the good worker thing to weed out the guys interested in my sister!” I agreed and he added “My dad’s pretty smart huh?” I agreed with that too.

              The girls came back with Jill and all were laughing at something and I’d bet a bent nail it was advice along the line of what I had told Jack. I figure if a young man is willing to spend hours shoveling out a barn just to spend time with a girl chances are he’s going to be around through thick and thin.

              We bid good night to the kids and headed in for the night. I slept like a dead man and it felt wonderful. I woke up hearing the shower going so I went in to find Sandy alone. She said May had showered and was at the barn, so I accepted my fate and got slippery with Sandy.

              I will say I’m the luckiest man alive with two beautiful wives to share life with. I’ve never heard a word of anger out of them or even myself. Oh I grump and bark but it’s only because they gang up on me (which I love and they know it) but I’d not have it any different.

              We rounded up May who was brushing her big bay who was still nameless as far as I knew. Then off we went for breakfast where we found the Sheriff having his and motioned us to join him. The Menu board said “Breakfast” so whatever it was we were getting it. Before my butt was on the chair Ma came out with a stack of hot cakes tall as the girls sitting down which lasted about 2 seconds as they went to lowering the stack onto their plates.

    Sheriff Ben as he was called watched and said, “Can you afford to feed both of them on the same day?” I had to laugh because I’d heard that before. The cakes were hot as was the syrup and real butter. Ma came back out with a platter of eggs and watched most of them get piled on the girl’s plates. He came back shortly with more eggs which he handed to me plus bacon and hot biscuits and honey also warmed up.

              Ben was in awe of the half-pint ladies ability to empty a plate while stabbing bits off mine, which also meant I got two bites of bacon. After I was full they were still at it and cleaned my plate of the remaining hotcake and the last piece of bacon which May broke in half to share. Ma had come out to join us and shook his head and said “Be sure and take them with you when you leave cos I can’t feed ‘em.” Ben and I laughed while both of the girls leaned on Ma from each side and snuggled up. He turned beet red and said, “If my wife comes in and shoots me yawls in trouble too!!” They laughed and let up on him.

              Now one thing I know from having been in the cop business myself and that’s when a lawman has something on his mind. And Ben finally leaned back, sipped his coffee and smiling at the girls said “ok, all bull aside, which one of you two is Wyatt and who’s Doc?”

    Well that was a show stopper. Sandy smiled that killer smile and sweetly said “Who?” Ben just shook his head and said “Well let’s try this.  How many men John’s age ride around the country with a hot redhead and a bunch of mules?” He admitted the beauty with the long black hair threw him off a bit but the fact both women were packing more iron than Josey Wales and the story of the two women known as Wyatt and Doc was getting around since it was a good camp fire tale.

    The girls finally fessed up and we spent an hour filling Ben in on the goings on with the phantom army and the word trickling down that part of Chicago had turned to dust in a flash. Ben said that the Southern army had cleaned out the trash in the east freeing up a lot of people who were nothing more than slave labor.

    That part we had not heard but he said it was on short wave but we had been out in the wilds for several weeks just wandering from water hole to pretty view, not following a road or seeing people. It was good news and we were happy to hear it.

    He asked where we were headed so I told him my story and then Sandy’s part and that we were going to backtrack and see friends who helped us along the way. He smiled and said he often thought of chucking it in here and go out there to see the country, but his wife wouldn’t go and after so many years, he couldn’t figure how to get along without her.

              We stayed a week and enjoyed the town and the people but the urge to move on was pushing us and the stock was rested. We had their shoes checked and refitted by the local farrier. All was ready, we had gotten everything we wanted from the general store so we once again bid farewell to new friends and headed north. We were all happy to be back on the road, and even the stock seemed like they had enough of town life. Walker was in his place ranging out in front and we just eased along side by side and chatted the day away. A few hours before dark we came to a stream of good water so we rode up it a ways and found a very nice camp area. We fell into our routine with ease. It was a beautiful day with promise of a beautiful night so we skipped the tent.

    After we had eaten an early supper we took a walk up on the hill and looked the country over.  It is beautiful out away from all of mankind’s troubles. We laid back and watched the clouds what few there was and tried to pick out shapes in them.  After checking the stock as they grazed in the hollow where we camped, we headed for the fire and a last cup of coffee. Before settling in we brought the stock in and put them on the picket line for the night after watering them. Walker was out and about but returned and settled down by the fire. We lay in bed for a good while watching the stars and it still seems funny seeing the blink of satellites overhead knowing or assuming that they are burned out too.

              Morning came and after washing up in water heated over the fire and eating breakfast we loaded up and were on our way. Using the maps we set our course north and a bit west to avoid some of the towns and spent another quiet day, followed by several more. Time gets away when you’re not looking at a watch every few minutes. We just used two times, day time and night time as our ancestors had. It was a good way to go.

    Today we hit I -70 and sat staring at it for a while, nothing moving. The few vehicles in sight were a reminder of our past year or so. I took out the fencing pliers and cut the fence leaving a wide open spot for deer and anything else to cross if they took a mind to.  I did the same for the other side and in a short time we were out of sight of the reminder of it all.

    We made good time through this area and late afternoon found us riding through a gully when I pulled up, stopping the pack train. I sat listening to something that I knew and it was manmade but it was real faint. Sandy and May came up to me and May said that’s a windmill pumping water! I came close to slapping my head.  Crap I heard that sound so often as a kid and should have nailed it. We eased on following the gully until the sound was real close.

              I dismounted and left the girls and walked around the bend in the gully and could see the top of the windmill spinning and hear the sucker pipe doing its thing.  I moved closer to where I could see all around the area and there was just the windmill pumping water into a metal tank that was over flowing and making a small stream running into a low area that was now a small pond.

Seeing nothing to be alarmed about, I brought the girls and stock up and stood watch while they drank. There was no sign that a soul had been here since before the event.  I looked at the over grown path made by the folks who owned the place where they used to come check on the tank and windmill. Since we were still a few hours from our usual stopping time we decided to follow the old road and see where it went.

    We followed it for a few miles and finally came up on an old ranch house that looked abandoned but we approached it with caution. Walker of course trotted right in and said it was fine. I dismounted and taking my 45 out approached the door which was closed, and knocked several times. Turning the knob opened the door to a stuffy place that hadn’t been opened for a long time.

    The girls followed me in and Sandy found a note on the dining room table that read “Howdy, got my oldest truck running and heading to son’s place near Heber City. Help yourself and close the door when ya leave.

Silas and Marybeth Conner

              How sad that they had to leave but we could hope they found safety at their son’s home. We just headed out and closed the door and decided to ride back to the water tank for the night. After our camp was set up including the tent and the stock out on picket lines to graze we worked together to make a nice supper.

    Sandy walked to the tank and put a hand in it and said I’m going swimming and peeled off right there and stepped into the tank.  I figured it would be freezing but it wasn’t, more of a warm spring they tapped into which was great for winter. If the tank don’t freeze, the stock can get water. It wasn’t warm-warm but when we joined her it wasn’t bad.

    We put on sweat pants and shirts after drying off and sat by the fire and it felt very good.  Maybe the water was colder than I thought! We fixed some dinner and by dark were in the tent with Walker on guard duty. With morning we could see a storm working its way so with haste we broke camp and headed back to the old ranch house. The barn was closed also and we hadn’t looked in it so we headed right for it. Inside was very nice, hay that was put up just before the event was stacked in the loft.  We brought the stock in and waited to see what the storm was gonna do and it did plenty, with high winds and pouring rain. So we unloaded the stock and put them in stalls with hay and we moved to the loft with our bed roll and changed back to sweats and crawled into the big bed resting on hay. The rain pounding on the tin roof put us right to sleep for a couple of hours then we laid there talking quietly all warm and snug. It rained all day and into the night. We cleared a place on the dirt floor of the barn and made a small fire out of some old lumber pieces in an old hubcap where we could make coffee and fix some Mountain House add hot water and eat. The hot coffee laced with brandy was very welcome, as was the heat from the fire.  The weather had turned cold for sure. But we couldn’t have asked for a better place to wait it out.

              I took our shovel and went into the last stall and dug a deep cat hole and put a roll of TP in there and was hugged and kissed on the spot. Both girls it seemed were in need. Do your business and put some dirt over it. NEXT!  We spent the rest of the day feeding small bits of wood to the fire and just chatting about our trip. Sandy asked why we couldn’t toss down a couple of bales of hay and break them open for a mattress and sleep down here near the animals since they were happier with us nearby what with the storm and all. We agreed so I tossed the hay down and they broke it open and spread the bed roll over it after I tossed it down.

I was glad Sandy had the idea because it was easy to see the stock was much more at ease with us there and Walker wasn’t separated from his buddies. We kept the coffee pot full and the day turned into night. We slept sound except when a mouse would run across the bed. Walker never made a sound all night and come morning it was still raining but seemed to be easing up. But riding anyplace after such a storm was silly because every bush or tree limb was a shower waiting. Besides we weren’t on a time clock.

              The day went a bit faster because we had a couple of game boards and some good books and we spent the day lounging in sweats and sipping coffee. The girls were still pouring the dead weed down my throat every morning and night and I had to admit my knees weren’t hurting like usual.  In fact I had to admit I was feeling much better than I had in years.

    I hoped there was enough to last through the trip. I was pretty sure it was the same stuff the guy told me about in the Mojave, Grease Wood leaves. But there wasn’t any around where we were going.

    I had finished the thought when Sandy asked if I was aware that Charley had given the girls several bags of the crushed leaves. I said “Stop it!!” She said “Stop what?”  But couldn’t hide the smile so I grabbed her and started tickling her and she was screaming and kicking and Walker hit me like a Mack truck!

    He didn’t bite but he rolled me off Sandy and stood looking at me like “OH Shit! What did I do?” Sandy pulled my hand and I sat up while she told Walker he done bad and put her head against his and whispered to him.

    Well pretty soon he eased over to me and laid down and licked my hand and kind of whined. So I scratched his ears and told him I understood then he knocked me down and started licking my face and of course nobody dragged him off. I hate all of them. They said “Do not”    

    After another quiet night with no rain we took a short walk around the barn yard and everything was soaked. I could not believe how lucky we were to have stumbled over this place.

From the looks of the sky it might be a while before we could leave so we walked to the house and went through it looking for things that might make our stay better. Sandy found some oil lamps full and ready to work. May found a door off the mud room and opened it to a dark basement but I being the former Boy Scout had my Surefire light and said so.  Both of them pulled theirs out and said BFD!  Fine.  The basement was dry and cool with another door at one end so of course we had to open it and found it full of home canned food of all kinds. There was holes in the spacing so I figured the old folks took what they could and left. Sandy and May both agreed that the lids were sealed and it was good so we took several quarts marked Beef, potatoes and carrots. Upstairs we could see the date on the lids and it was canned right before the event.

    On a whim I tried the old kitchen range and lit it with a match! Propane: the never aging never spoiling fuel! We decided we would fix dinner here in the kitchen and take it to the barn to eat. The girls found a old flat bottom Dutch oven and since the lid was on it the inside was clean so they opened one each of the jars and soon had it bubbling, May got bowls and spoons out and we headed for the barn and not a moment too soon, as the door was closing when the sky light up and it started again. But soon our fire was going and a couple of lamps lit and it was home sweet home. After dinner I took time to shovel out the stalls of the presents from the gang. I tossed dirt over the wet spots and it smelled much better. The girls sat on the bed and watched me while making little comments. I would have jumped them but was a bit worried about Walker.

    Another night and two more followed but no rain and it appeared to be done. When the last day broke clear and sunny and things had dried out we debated on what to do, none of us wanted to spend the night on soggy ground so we decided to stay until it was better, after all the place was pretty pleasant. The food was great and we could let the critters out into the corral which they seemed to enjoy what with the sun and all.

              The beauty of our lifestyle was we had to be no place, no time, we could go or not or turn around and go back to the canyons. It was a good life for sure. After a few more days of sunny weather and warm days we loaded up and headed out, but not before we cleaned up the barn and washed the empty jars and put them back in the fruit cellar on the shelf with other empty jars.

              We left a note on the table with the old folks note and I left a $20.00 gold piece just in case they ever retuned and I hoped they did. It was too nice of an old place to be without the sounds of happy people.  Once again we were a bit sad to be leaving a place but there were mountains and rivers to cross, people to meet and hopefully not have to shoot.

    We were all ready to be moving even though the break did us all good, and the road called. We set out still on a north and a bit west course.  Using topography maps we could pretty well avoid getting into places where we would need to back track plus we wanted to avoid real steep country to save the livestock. I set the course more or less in line with the town of Roosevelt Utah more as a point to aim for than a destination. There were plenty of small towns showing on the map and most would likely be open for business because this was Mormon country and from everything I had seen they kept things pretty much inline and safe to a point.

              Once again the days rolled into a week, then another. There were some things we needed supply wise so after looking the map over and having a reasonable idea where we were on the map, it was starting to look like the nearest place was called East Carbon. This was fine for us because it kept us out of the worst of the rough country. The best way to travel thru this kind of country was by using the old US Forest Service roads that seemed to go everywhere, but a good map was a must because most of them ended on a mountain top requiring some back peddling.

    But we were pretty low and could make better time. It seemed to me I spent more time cutting fences than riding but that was part of it. In years past if I had to cut a fence I would have spliced it but no more, it just wasn’t needed.

    We saw all kinds of human activity from the sounds of a chain saw far off to smoke from a fire of some kind. We avoided contact but one day we rode right into a ranch road not a quarter mile from the house.  People were working outside and we were spotted right away but other than some picking up a rifle there was no sign of hostility. With nothing for it we rode up to the gate and sat waiting until a pair of men walked up to us. I said howdy and they answered, one asked if we were lost, I smiled and said no we wander around in circles all the time which got a smile in return.  I introduced myself and the girls, and they said they were brothers named Sam and Robert Wilson.

    They invited us in for lunch and we accepted. At the house after we dismounted two boys about fourteen or fifteen years old came at a call from one of the brothers and said to take the stock to the water tank and then bring them back to the hitch rack by the barn.  Both said “Yes sir” in a happy way and did so.

    We were led into the big old ranch house built of big logs and large stones, it was well done and not lately for sure. Sam noticed our looks and said the place was built in the 1800’s by their great grandfather and added onto as years and family size demanded it.

              They never blinked when I introduced “my wives” as a test and showed things were well in Utah. There were so many people moving around I had no idea who was with who until the meal was on the table then when everybody was present they both had two wives so we fit right in.  The girls sat together so they could visit while we men did the same. The younger kids had their own table out on the screened in porch and could have their fun while not bothering anybody. The older kids in their teens sat at the table with us.

    One of the boys that took care of the livestock mentioned one of the mules was favoring a hoof and he checked it and found a cut that was real fresh so he washed it out and put some wound sealer on it.

    I asked if it was a black salve and he smiled and said yep the real stinky stuff.  I had to laugh because he was so right, I never could remember the name of that crap but while it did wonders on a wound it stunk to high heaven. I always wondered how it would work on a human wound and said so.  Both the boys admitted to putting it on cuts and scrapes which drew immediate attention from both mothers. I kind of whispered that there was some things to never admit to moms, and both of my girls glared at me and I know they couldn’t have heard me. The dads looked at them then me and the boys nodded understanding.

    After a meal that would kill me if I ate like that every day we headed outside to the shade of a big cottonwood tree where we sat in some homemade Appalachian chairs.  I love them but getting out is almost too much work. We told them about our journey and mine and Sandy’s trip south, leaving out the rougher stuff.

              I mentioned the old ranch we had sat out the storm at and how nobody had been there since the event due to its isolation. The same storm system had rolled from the North right through this area and they said it was kind of the norm for the time of the year but it was a lot bigger front than usual, and that we were very lucky to have a good place to layover.

              We sure knew that.  I mentioned we were heading towards East Carbon to stock up on supplies. They said that wasn’t necessary, that there was a town not more than ten miles from where we sat.  I pulled out my map but they said it wasn’t on the map it was just a crossroads village that had grown as folks move together for protection. I said we would head there.

    But they offered to drive us there in their older Ford crew cab truck that had been parked in their barn and never had any problems from the EMP. We accepted their offer but I saw their wives both get worried looks so I asked right out what the trouble was. The brothers tried to blow it off but one of the wives said there was a rough element that had moved into the area and they were causing trouble. I couldn’t understand that because I knew the Mormons had never shied away from trouble.

              Robert said the problem was these folks belonged to an offshoot of the LDS church and were very militant against non-Mormons and had caused a lot of problems and had divided an otherwise peaceful community. I told them all that we would just go get our supplies without involving them but they weren’t going for that.

Sandy asked why nobody had stood up against them and one of the women said it was both a church matter and the fact that everybody just wanted to live in peace so they just didn’t make waves. I saw the look come into Sandy’s eyes and thought “Oh shit, Wyatt and Doc to the rescue”, but actually it was more that nobody was going to prevent them from getting the supplies we needed.

              I sat a moment and finally asked if we went in with them, would they stay out of any problems and in fact just stay in their truck while we shopped? Both brothers I could tell didn’t like that but their wives all said please and that in fact they were all going too in their van that was still running.  It was a diesel cargo style van with several rows of seats, and I could see the brothers had lost any argument before it could start, so we excused ourselves to go to the pack mules for some extra insurance.

              The girls both had large over the shoulder bags that would hold their full auto weapons with the stocks collapsed. I just stuck with my 1911 plus the BBQ gun in a cross draw on the left side and of course my Officers model in the ankle holster that I put on for the trip since I don’t ride with it.              

              I did take one of the short barreled Car-16s since I noticed the Brothers were both armed with AR-15s. The girls and I rode in the crew cab with the brothers while two of the women and the older boys rode in the van. I asked the brothers what exactly these people had done and Sam said mostly they had tried to drive out the non-LDS people who had lived there all their lives and that there had been some bad trouble and all of this was just in the last few weeks. He said the ring leaders were the main problem because they were trying to push ideas that were never part of the LDS faith.

Sam added that they had taken over the small sheriff’s department after somebody murdered the sheriff one night. Now, this was starting to take on some very familiar points and it sure reminded me of Fred back in Texas, and the trouble we had with the supposed preacher. Mostly I just wanted to get in and buy what we needed and get out. But I had a feeling down deep that if trouble didn’t come banging on the door that Wyatt and Doc were gonna find some and I was just along to make sure they didn’t get their cute butts killed.

The town was small and clean, hitch racks had sprung up all over the main street in front of businesses. It looked to be a very nice town except it sure didn’t sound like it. Robert drove right to the General Store and parked. I reminded him of his promise to his wife which was funny because both women were walking up the side walk to the store. Sam said they needed stuff too but the women were afraid for them to come in for fear the brothers would get into it with the newcomers.

In my checkered past in Montana I had met folks from an offshoot of the LDS and I liked them and found nothing wrong with them or their beliefs, so I was a bit confused as to just what these folks were into. The brothers said it was mostly like they were trying to segregate Utah and all LDS from any outside influences. But the main issue was these people were not only willing to use violence to further their cause they seemed to look for any opportunity to do so.

    Hell, I knew that simply wasn’t gonna work. First and foremost the LDS I knew, and it was quite a few, were patriotic through and through and were 100% America first. And they were among the first to join the military when they became of age and to hell with drafts.

              Sure sounded like the rats nest back in Texas. What’s wrong with us as a people is that we have men who think of women as property to be bought and sold like cattle.  People who think they can do anything they want because they have a gun and people who believed everybody had to believe in and worship god as they do.

              I know that while we in this country have always had freedom of religion, we also have the right of freedom from religion. And a lot of blood has been shed by one bunch trying to force the other to believe their way. So I believed the local problem wasn’t a religion based problem but more of an ego problem.  I didn’t care, we were gonna get what we needed and be on our way so screw em. Of course it wasn’t gonna be that way.

              We walked into a nice clean store that had supplies, maybe not in huge quantities but they had a good selection.  Sandy and May had their list and got to it while I wandered over to the gun and ammo section just to look, since the last thing I needed was another gun. But, under the glass was a pair of used Walther PPKs in 380.

     I’ve always liked those small pistols simply because they fit the hand nicely and they were small enough to carry in a pocket. And while the 380 slug sure wasn’t a .45 acp it was damn close to a 9mm, and with +p loads was a good stopper.  Also, I knew back home we had a pile of 380 ammo simply because it was there when we found other stuff locked away.

    I asked to look at the pistols and again loved the way they felt. I asked the price and if he had ammo for them. The gent behind the counter said he had 500 rounds of FMJ and 100 rounds of +p hollow point. I said I’ll take them, his jaw dropped and he said “both of them?” “Yes” says I. “Plus all the ammo.” Well he got to piling stuff on the counter real quick, maybe business was slow.

    When he was done there was 4 mags for each gun and two very nice inside the waist band holsters with IWB mag holders and of all things two ankle holsters.  He said that he took the whole mess in trade for a more suitable weapon. He added up the price and I stacked five $20.00 gold pieces on the glass.

    He smiled real big and so did I. I asked if he minded if I loaded them right there, he said go right ahead so I did.  I called the girls over to the counter and showed them their new toys, and I swear they would have shook their heads at a huge diamond but both squealed like little girls and hugged me. They had never seen a Walther so both spent several minutes getting used to the feel and the way they worked.  The safeties were backwards to their 1911s, but they would get it. I loaded both and chambered a round then added one to each magazine. They put them in their jacket pockets and stood with them in their right hands, I could see they were very pleased. I loaded the rest of the stuff into my over the shoulder bag so it hung on my left side.

They went back to shopping while I loafed at the counter talking to the owner. He said he had been born right here as had his father and his grandfather, but said it looked like he might be leaving soon. 

    I asked why and got the same story as from the brothers Wilson and said as such.  He smiled and said the Wilson’s were his family’s oldest friends and their great grandparents had founded the small town when they all settled here way back. I asked why he would leave if he didn’t want to. He said it wasn’t worth causing a fight that good folks would get hurt over.

    He said he was not LDS nor had his family ever been. I was getting a bit pissed off at this crap. Good folks settled this land and now some bunch of assholes were going to run people off over religion? And not even the religion as practiced by the people who lived here. I knew folks like the Wilsons would fight if and when it came to it but just would not start it. Right then I had the feeling I should hurry the girls along, but it was too late.

              Three gents walked into the store and one walked to the counter.  He interrupted what I was saying to tell the store owner it was time for him to get moving that he wasn’t wanted here.

    I asked him if all of his family was impolite inbred assholes or just him. Well his eyes bugged out and his face got red but he calmed down and said “You don’t belong here, you are not one of us!” I said “You’re right, I’m not an inbred impolite asshole.”

    He took his shot at me with an awkward swing which I slipped and kneed him in the balls and that was it, he went down with a moan and a thud. His two buddies both rushed me but being a wonderful general store there was a barrel of various tool handles there. Ever seen what happens when somebody runs into a pick axe handle making a back swing? Depending if you’re the swinger or the ball it can really hurt, it did and he wasn’t gonna move for a while.

              The last one was smarter, he pulled a gun but instead of using it he talked about using it, a bad habit he won’t repeat soon. The old fellow behind the counter took him out with a 12 gauge double barrel with about 16 inch barrels. He was dead before he hit the floor.

              I stood there blinking and trying to hear but that blast had fixed my hearing for a while. I looked at the old man and he looked sick but was reloading.  My kind of man! I looked around and found the girls, one behind a stack of wooden boxes and one behind a metal drum full of something.  Both had their squirt guns out and were watching the door. Good training, I was proud.

              I finally could hear again and looked at the man behind the counter who was shaking like a leaf so I patted him on the back and said “Thank you, you saved my life.” Well that got him, he stopped shaking and just changed right there. He was a different man. I asked if this was his first fur ball and he said “Well yeah, since Bastogne.”

              Well I understood that, flashbacks can do that. And this man had seen enough at the Battle of the Bulge to have earned a bucket of flashbacks. He reached under the counter and brought out a bottle of brandy and took a big swig then said “Excuse my manners” and handed it to me so I took a drink. I looked at it and he said “Sometimes not being a Mormon has its good points” and laughed. He was still shaky but I needed to find out what was going to happen now because we couldn’t just leave this mess behind us and leave these people to deal with it.

              By now Sam and Robert were inside with their AR’s at the ready with astonished looks on their faces. I told them to get their wives out of there and home. Sam went after the women who were deeper in the store with the kids.  He herded them out the door and into the van and sent them home and told the eldest boys set up the guard posts they had trained for. We were in it and for once I couldn’t blame Sandy for it, since this was all on me. She and May joined us at the counter and May nudged the one holding his balls and said “Want me to shoot this dip shit?” And they really got him to moaning, the other one was just flat out cold.

              First things first I asked just how many we might be facing and was surprised to hear it was maybe twenty men. Well three were out of it so that left seventeen so I asked where they were. Sam figured very shortly most of them were gonna be right here. Well, it was time to set up a welcoming party for them.  The old trooper went back to the counter and came out with a nice old AK and a dump bag of mags. I raised a eye brow and he said he had almost decided to not move and was gonna take some with him when we came in and got the party going. I love old combat grunts! Not much bullshit!

              We headed out the door and had just gotten behind cover when here come a quad-cab truck and a cop car full of men. They piled out and I counted nine. The leader looked at the store and yelled for the old man to come out with his hands up.

From behind an old car parked across from his store he yelled out that he already was outside and for them to drop their guns. They turned and the leader opened fire with no thought of who might be in the building behind the car.

              Then the rest opened fire and they never heard the single shots that took them down but finally one fell into the man next to him and they knew they were in a fight. It lasted maybe two minutes and they were all down.

We could hear a vehicle coming fast with loud pipes on it and around the corner it came right behind the girls. Both turned and opened up with their sub guns and tore the windshield out of it, Both were behind cover and reloaded before the truck hit a power pole and stopped dead.  The ones still in the truck were falling all over each other and started shooting at us in the street but we were on the move, so they didn’t see the girls who opened up and just tore them a new one. In less than five minutes the whole mess was over. The locals were coming out and while there were some folks who had appeared to like the brand of crap these folks were spreading, they seemed to be changing sides real fast.

I’ve always been a strong believer in maximum firepower delivered from behind good cover at fools who watched too much gangsta shit in the movies. Real troops, trained to fight as a unit would have torn us new asses. People who think waving a gun is akin to a magic wand in a Harry Potter movie don’t live long. It’s usually about picking the time and place that best suits you and not the enemy. Today it was just fate that we came out of it as we did, all in one piece. But we, meaning the girls and I, had a lot of this shit behind us and the old trooper sure as hell remembered his training.  The rest was just luck.

              The only ones left were the two in the store and when we checked they were gone, out the back door.  Sam sent some of his friends after them but they returned to say they had took a car and were last seen hauling ass out of town. I had some bad feelings about their families but Sam’s wife said don’t, that they had been more like slaves than wives and would be fine with these abusers gone and the community would take care of them.

              On that note I followed the old man back inside and he got his jug of brandy out again but the Bobsey Twins horned in and grabbed it before we could have a drink.      Then they turned around and passed it to the brothers who looked embarrassed then both took a big drink and handled it like pros. The old man laughed and said “John them ol boys are Jacks don’t let ‘em fool ya.”

    We shared the jug for a while and let the shakes settle down and the girls headed for their baskets and located the ones the Wilson wives had to abandon. Sandy paid for it with gold coins in smaller denominations than the big cartwheels I used.

    Clyde said we had made his year in more ways than one. He said wait a minute and hurried away and returned with a dusty box and opened it and handed each of the girls a pocket knife. They looked at them and both found the button at the same time, they made one clicking sound and out popped a long slender blade. They did their “Bright Shiny Sparkles” sounds and hugged old Clyde. I was scared they were gonna cut him in their efforts to both hug him at the same time but they were good girls and didn’t.

    I took Sandy’s and looked at it and blinked because I knew the name on them, one of the top custom knife makers back several years. Clyde said he had them for years but didn’t offer them for sale because they were illegal back before the event.  He forgot about them but figured they would be good to have with the PPKs.  Who was I to complain?

    The girls hugged Clyde again and we got the hell out of another Dodge City.

              I swear I’m gonna stop going into any towns but I couldn’t blame this one on the Doom Twins. I did this one all by myself. May leaned over and snuggled me and said “Yes you did!” The brothers looked back at us because I hadn’t said a thing.

Sandy leaned over and snuggled her side and said “Daddy you show us such a good time.” I choked and they laughed and the brothers just shook their heads.  Of course the girls told the story about our stay in the motel and the lady referring to them as my daughters. They laughed but Sam said the woman most likely had it figured out but was being nice about it.

              We accepted the offer to stay a few days because I wasn’t wild about leaving until we knew the problems were over. We were offered room in the house but chose to sleep in the hay loft. I didn’t believe things were over yet and wanted to not be pinned down in the house if hell broke loose again.

That night in bed I lay quiet for so long the girls both rolled to me and May said “Wanna share it with us?” I didn’t but knew it was useless because they already knew I was sure, how I don’t know but there it is.

    Finally after a deep breath and a long sigh I asked them “Counting before we left home, how many people have we killed just this trip? I can’t even remember the count.”

    I added “we joke around with the Wyatt and Doc thing, but in truth both of you have killed more people than the whole Earp family plus Doc Holiday tossed in.” I added that if my count was in the pool, we were like the flu epidemic of 1917 or whenever it was.

    Before they could speak I added that yes we never went hunting for trouble and the people we had killed had all deserved it one way or the other. But it was starting to bother me and I was afraid that would lead me to hesitate which could cost one of them their life and that would be the death of me.

              They both laid there a long time and finally Sandy said “Well we can go back to the canyon or to Texas and settle down because if we want to live the free life then there will be days like today. Human nature is what it is. Somebody always wants what you have, be it money, goods or power of some kind, or even good looking women, since god knows we’ve helped free enough women from a short life of being sex slaves. So if killing those types is bothering you then let’s go home because you’re right we don’t belong out here in the free world. We need to be someplace where bad people can’t make us defend ourselves.”

I laid there for a while and finally said “you know I hate you right?” She snuggled in closer so I rolled my head to the left and said “You too, I hate you both” and then I started tickling them, which tore the bed apart and hay was flying everywhere as they shrieked and laughed but I could only hold one and ended losing both and then it really got bad. Well, bad being subjective. We ended up becoming three which had never happened.

And now I turn off the lights and close the door, go find your own imagination.

              We woke up to the sounds of the boys milking the cows. I felt like I had been in a fight with devils which in a way I had. I eased out of the bed and put on my mocs and went down the ladder very slow. I had aches where I never knew I could ache. Stress from the day before I guess then I heard “Yeah keep telling yourself that” said May “It’s ok old man” said Sandy. I told them both if I had the strength I’d climb up this ladder and spank them.   One said “Oh Daddy” the other said “exactly!” The boys giggled, one of them said “Pa said come in and have a nice hot shower, something about being sore?”

              “Are you hurt Mr. John” asked one. The sound of laughter came from above. With no dignity left I hobbled to the house where one of Sam’s wives pointed to a door and as I closed it I heard both of them giggling.

    Now these folks knew about showering! This one would hold a squad of Marines although I never saw any I’d wanna shower with. The nice part was the door opened and I had company. I was worried about the hot water but May said one of the wives said don’t worry as their solar tank was about 500 gallons! Damn ours in TX was only 75 and we had never run out.

    So we relaxed and got slippery. Things had changed, that was easy to see, so I just relaxed and let them work it out.  Finally I got out and dried off and dressed in my sweats again and went into the kitchen for coffee with the brothers.

              Robert, with no expression at all said “You have flashbacks from the old days huh?” He said he heard me, said it sounded like a real fight. His wife hit him a hard whack with a spoon getting a painful yelp out of him but they all burst out laughing just as the girls came out of the bath room and looked at me with raised eye brows.  I just shook my head and said “beats me” and that really set them off.  Robert trying to say “beats me” but couldn’t get it out. Finally they all stopped laughing and handed the girls coffee.  Robert said sorry ladies but it was funny, sorta?

    “What was?” asked May with a smile. Sam said “Oh, we were talking about flashbacks and dreams” and his wife smacked him with the spoon.

    The girls got it in a flash and Sandy said with a very serious look “Yes it’s sad.  John has these late night issues but May and I help him control it with in-depth therapy.” Now the dam really broke, and both the brothers wives fled the kitchen and the brothers were about to slide under the table. I got more coffee and went to the barn and returned with a bottle of blackberry brandy. I poured some in all the cups and that quieted things down. The ladies returned to the kitchen and both took a big drink of coffee and choked. I had the last laugh! Breakfast was a great time, lots of laughing and I was sure most of it was because they could relax because the town issue was fixed. And I realized I was fine today and happy we could help out as we did.

              The next few days were fine but I wanted to make another run to town before we left so again we loaded up in two vehicles except the four women left the kids at home with the older kids in charge. We arrived to find everything looking normal and Clyde was happy to see us.  He said there had been no problems from the rest of the bunch and that some seemed relieved that the problem was gone. I knew they would work it out among themselves, I also knew none of the widows or kids would be left in need and would be cared for.  It was just that simple. I really liked these folks, always misunderstood and often wronged but good folks.

              At last we took leave of these good folks and hugs were exchanged along with promises to drop by if we passed this way again. I had asked the men about their ammo supplies and they had what they had, and there wasn’t any to be had.  So I broke out a case of 1000 rounds of 223 and gave it to them.  They were astounded and wanted to pay for it but I said their hospitality more than paid for it.

    With our map now updated we headed north again, always north it seemed but not so long ago it was south. Gypsies we were for sure, and loving the life even with the bumps.

              With Walker ranging out in front we rode deeper into the mountains away from humanity and that was good for now. We spent the first night in a small clearing with a stream running through it so I broke out the tackle and dug some worms and started pulling in brook trout with almost every cast. Of course the girls had to take over and had I not stopped them they would have emptied the creek.

    I showed them the proper way to clean Brookies; leave the head and tail on, corn meal, fry in hot grease. The way to eat them is to remove the dorsal fin and put your mouth and your bottom teeth where the fin was on the back and roll the meat off the bones and into your mouth! The girls took to that and soon we were stuffing our faces as fast as they pulled them from the hot grease. We forgot to fry some potatoes which was funny because we never even missed them.

              Somehow I knew the brook trout population was in trouble from now on. When these two get something new going they let nothing get in their way. Sandy had had brook trout on our way south but had forgotten about it.  The beast was reawakened now and with her sister in arms they were a force to contend with, trout beware. Think endangered.

    One thing we needed to be aware of was where we would be when winter hit. That was a ways away but by early September it’s winter in the high country and it’s damn easy to get caught in a bad storm so we needed to think about it. We agreed we weren’t much into being in a town but if we found a good one, we could do it. Plus being snowed in for several months with these two would kill me.

              Looking at the maps I spotted something I knew was gonna please the girls. I kept it to myself and two days later on a forest service road was a trail head with a sign that said “Hot Springs 3 miles, no vehicles.” That got them going. We rode up the trail and found the springs, and like most it had been improved by people who visited it. They had removed rocks and built a dam making a nice deep pool.

    We took time to set up a nice camp, tents for us and the gear, let the animals loose to graze, they had become used to staying close to us so hobbles weren’t an issue. Buck and Rab and the un-named horse would stay close for sure and the mules weren’t leaving Buck so it worked out. Walker was out on patrol so everything in the neighborhood was quiet.

              Camp was set up and it was time. The girls were stripped before I got my boots off and just fell into the water, they came up sputtering and saying “Hot! Hot!” I being older and wiser stepped in slowly, easing in until I was jumped and dumped in. I came up sputtering “Hot!!” Life is never boring around these two. We floated around and turned wrinkled. Try as they might, they couldn’t get Walker to fall for it. It made me remember grabbing Molly and pulling her into the hot pool long ago. Sandy smiled at me and I knew she was remembering it too. She told May about it which made them redouble their efforts but Walker wasn’t buying it.

              We worked at making a really good supper and with the big coffee pot going it was very nice. The spring was in a clearing and I knew come full dark I for one was going to be floating in the hot water watching the stars, Sandy said “WE, buddy boy,” May said “yeah, just try doing it alone” Yep life’s a strange thing.

              With morning came the urge for fresh meat, so I took my 308 with the can on it and headed down the creek fed by the spring. I didn’t go three hundred yards when I spotted several does.  One was dry and she fell with a head shot.  Just as I was done dressing her May led Buck up with a pack saddle on him. We tossed the deer over the bows and headed to camp.

              After hanging and skinning the deer a ways from camp and cutting out the back straps I headed for the pool to clean up and was soon joined by the girls. We were loving this place. Sandy suddenly sat up scaring me into reaching for the 45 laying by the pool, she laughed and said “no! I have an idea!” She then said “Why can’t we find a hot springs to winter by? Build a good shelter and just spend the winter?” I agreed as did May but there was the small issue of all the livestock to be fed and up high there just wasn’t enough graze for them to winter. That was a balloon popper for all of us, but it was something to think about.  All hot springs aren’t in the high up places it just seems that way. But grazing was an issue regardless of where we stayed, that was a given.

              But I liked the idea as did May so we talked about it and decided if we worked at it we could locate a good place and then prep for it. So out came the maps where we located every hot spring as marked by the US Gov. on the USFS maps. It is surprising just how many hot water springs there are. Most are located in areas so far from civilization that nobody really ever gets to them except the hard core hikers. Also there were a lot of USFS camps where they had cabins and barns with corrals used when they had trail building crews out. And that was an idea.

We planned to stay in this spot for a few days so I got a few more deer and we made up jerky. Walker really liked this plan. I tried to tell the girls “Don’t feed him raw deer meat” but they ignored me and we all paid for it.  They finally made him go sleep elsewhere, poor dog had no idea why.

              We loaded up and headed out with a purpose now, to locate a place to winter which we needed one way or the other but it would be better if it was what we wanted not what was forced on us by the weather.

    But we did have time so we kept heading north but more west too. I wanted to stop off in three places to see folks we had met when we were heading south and see how they were doing. And for some reason I wanted to revisit where it all started; in the little camp ground where my truck and trailer are still parked. Silly I know but there it is.

The first place on our list was the town of Timberline where we helped the townspeople out in a battle with raiders.  Also, where we ended up getting the Dodge truck and trailer we used to get home in, and which was now parked in the Canyon settlement on Lake Powell. I was hopeful that these good folks had survived and were prospering.

              We spent two weeks heading more NW than north and arrived in the hills around Timberline in the evening hours and once again found ourselves sitting on a hill looking at the lights of a town and wondering if they had prospered or been taken over.

Morning would have the answer, so we settled into a gully with a stream running through it, trickle would be a better word but it was water. We found the usual curve in the gully and the usual deeper spot where the water cuts out a hole making its turn.

    After we watered the stock and it had cleared we got a small fire going and coffee on.  While that was boiling we peeled off and eased into the cold water.  It was run off from snow melt in the far off mountains, but thank god it had time to warm a bit. As it was we lasted long enough to get clean but no playing as was the usual thing.

    Dressed in sweats and moccasins we fixed some dinner of rice and beans that had been soaking all day.  May cut up some bits of jerky and put them in it and added a goodly shot of hot sauce to give it kick and dinner was ready.  Hot sweet coffee laced with “Who Shot John” and we were in business. Walker had several chunks of jerky, his system was used to it now and he didn’t stink us out. But it had been a rough time for a while.

              We slept good since we had pushed hard for days to get here, and the animals were tearing up the grass growing in the wash. We let the fire burn down and lay watching for the flash of satellites passing through the darkness of space and as always wondered if they were still working.

    Morning found us up and ready to pull out an hour or so after full sun up.  We could hear distant voices and the sound of an axe chopping wood. One sound we heard that signaled good was the sound of children laughing. But not being the dull tack in the box I laid on a hill with the glasses and watched for a bit and before long I spotted Jim Barttle heading down the street looking around.  He was carrying his rifle as were just about everybody I saw out in the open, so this was all good.

              We rode out into the open as far out as we could to give them time to see us and soon I heard the sound of a steel pipe being whacked with a pipe or something. People were getting out of sight and I saw windows opening and rifle barrels sticking out.  I took my hat off and waved it while Sandy rode up beside me and waved her hat.

              I saw Jim come into sight and a big smile showed through his beard.  He was joined by his brother Sam and brother-in-law William who had really filled out from the skinny kid from two years ago. They just waited and smiled watching us ride in and as soon as our feet hit the ground we were caught in the hand shaking hugging back pounding of true friends. After it all settled down I walked over and handed May down and introduced her to them. It was a bit awkward for a second until Sandy piped up and said “She’s our wife.” They all busted out laughing and welcomed May as family.

              They got us settled in the same house we had used before. The barn was too small for the extra three mules and one horse so since the weather was good we just left them all in the big corral. After filling the big water trough we headed to the town hall / saloon where we spent half the day telling of our experiences since we left here. They were very interested in the Chicago information since there had been a few people traveling through the area trying to get to some family place.  They had said that Chicago was gone, just a pile of radioactive slag.              I let May explain about the whole bomb thing and how we had all first met.

    They were horrified at the cannibal story and happy we had ended that mess. Thrilled at the whole adventure of the “Army” and everything we had done.

              I was more interested in finding out how they had faired. Their news was all good. After Sandy and I left they worked their butts off building the place into a fort. They had made some fantastic improvements to their security. They had used heavy equipment to build a triangle shaped wall around the whole place with heavy bunkers on the points where shooters could cover every inch of the wall.  We had looked at it on the way in but up close it was something else. Anybody making it over the wall would fall into a deep trench with sheer walls, filled with sharpened stakes and barbed wire all through it.

    On the inside of the trench was another trench with fighting positions that allowed firing down into the pit. It was by far the toughest looking thing I’d seen since a long time ago and this one was even better.  These folks could live in their fighting positions for a good while.  They had taken every old vehicle they could find and used them to make walkways that allowed movement within the compound area from cover.

    Hell, they had even filled the vehicles with sand. After getting inside the walkways I saw access to get under the vehicles, climbing down under one of the cars I found a bunker with a bare few inches between the bottom of the car and the ground, allowing plenty of room to fight from. All the gas tanks had been stripped out to prevent fire.

    I was more than impressed and said so, and asked where all this idea came from. Jim said they had found a bunch of old Soldiers of Fortune Magazines with a lot of stories from the ‘Nam war with pictures so they read them all and turned their imaginations loose and the results was a compound that would take artillery or mortars plus a huge mass of ground troops to breach. What they needed that they didn’t have was a few of the M-60 machine guns we had at Fort Navajo.

              I said how about the low hills where we fought the raiders from? High ground could be an issue and that got a smile from Jim.  He led us around one of the buildings and pointed, and it took me a minute to realize the low hills were gone.

              They had bulldozed them flat and were growing pasture for their horses, all fenced in with a very sturdy barbed wire fence. There was a dirt enclosed wall that covered the animals from gun fire and a couple of bunkers on top of the wall of dirt.

              This was the most fortified place we had seen outside of Fort Navajo. It was wild, every inch of open soil inside the fort was planted in food plants but the ladies had planted planters with flowers to make it less gloomy.

    Over a drink in the saloon I asked if they had had so much trouble that this whole fort thing was really necessary. They said outside of some half assed attempts by some roving raiders they had no problems they couldn’t handle. They said there was talk of a large gang raiding outlying places like this one but so far they hadn’t got here.

              This was worrisome news since we had seen what these gangs can do. I needed time to think about it but I already had an idea I just needed to iron it out. I had only planned for us to stay around for a week or so but that might change.

    They still used the community kitchen /chow hall system so many others were using because it fed more people with less waste. Plus it made for a stronger sense of community and helped people to share problems and find solutions to problems that could eventually hurt the whole group.

              These folks really had it together and this was what it would take to rebuild America. So it was a fact that helping them was number one on my list. Sandy and May were helping out with the evening meal which did not go unnoticed by the rest of the ladies, and after a bit one just came out and asked about our triangle marriage. So the girls told them with lots of giggling from all of them, and I was starting to feel eyes on me. Damn girls I hate ‘em.

              After dinner I spent time with Jim and his committee. My main point of interest was if they had established any communications. They had but hadn’t needed it since they were holding a low profile to avoid attracting unwanted attention. This was good news and come morning I met with them in the communications shack bringing the girls with me.

    I played with the dials adjusting the frequencies until I had it where I wanted it. Then I started calling Fort Navajo and within a few minutes I had them.  I asked if they had contact with Charley and they did. I really wanted to talk to him but we just weren’t going to make contact. I explained that I needed one of Charley’s talkers which they took care of.  Soon one of the lads came on saying “Howdy John!” I laughed at the lack of formal radio procedure. I asked him if he could try to translate what Sandy was going to say but keep it to himself, not repeating it on the air. He said he understood.

    What followed was a long and frustrating at times conversation in Navajo or kinda. But in the end Jimmy said he had it and that Sandy had really improved a lot. He said he would get back asap and we signed off. It took less than an hour and he called back and in English said “Charley got it and said he would handle it and to give him a few days.”

    That was great news and while Jim and his guys waited I said “I’ll tell you if it works but not till then, I hate disappointing people.”

              I then said we needed to take a drive, so taking a truck me and the girls took a scouting trip with the maps and found what we were looking for about 20 miles away. With a little preplanning it was going to do just fine.

    Two days later the call came in at the time we agreed to be on the air, and I was surprised to hear Charley. He said him and Ralph had dropped into the fort for a visit and were working on something. He said he understood the message and that Sandy was improving but that the idea wasn’t practical according to Ralph due to fuel issues, but. It was only about 500 miles more or less from the Fort to where we were. Driving up would be much easier and with several drivers it could be done nonstop. He figured 2 HV’s and a truck. I agreed. He said the load would be on its way in an hour! I started to ask then figured he had already taken care of the load out and was prepared to drive the load up here all along.

              After clearing off with Charley I explained to Jim and his people just what I had in mind. He was astounded as was his committee. I told them to relax because the load would be here before they knew it.

     We spent the next couple of days just resting and watching how well these folks worked together. If we could get enough towns like this going we would rebuild our country in my lifetime. We had all the materials in the world to work with, we had the people, knowledge, everything. The only thing was giving people a peaceful and safe way of life so they could work and build. That we could give, a lot of us weren’t much as builders but we could sure keep the wolves away from the door while the builders built.

                 I believed the bigger gangs were about done, it’s mostly just cleaning up the smaller pockets but we have no idea what’s lurking in the cities. I often wonder if one day a giant army of gang bangers mixed with god knows who or what will come roaring out into the heartland.

    More than fear it, I fully expect it and they will be the worst enemy we have faced bar none. After surviving in the wastelands of the cities they will be a tough vicious killing machine. And we will have to stop them because we simply cannot lose the heartland because this is where the skills to rebuild will be found. And we cannot let it die.

    I was wondering where these thoughts were coming from, since I’m on vacation! And not in the least interested in hunting for more enemies. I seem to stumble over way too many way too often.

              One morning one of the young boys Jim used as runners came pounding on the door waking the whole town so I got up and went to check it out. He was bouncing like a rubber ball. I had to smile at his exuberance he had to be all of seven years old, I asked what he was doing beating my door down in a gruff voice, his eyes got big and he sputtered “They’re here!”

“Who’s here?” I asked while looking all around behind him, “Them!” He said. I was starting to enjoy this early morning fun, so I said “but I don’t see them.” He started bouncing and said “No! they ain’t here!”

“But you said they are here!”

“They are here!!”

“But where?” I asked, looking around. Then my ear started hurting really bad and I realized somebody was pulling it. I knew it was a redheaded fun pooper, and it was. She pulled my head around and pushed me at the other bad sport who pulled me out of the room while Sandy squatted down to eye level and talked to the little messenger. Damn it, I was just having fun with the kid but these two are just sticks in the mud.

              “John, we heard that.” Shit. “Heard that too.  Wanna sleep alone?” I just decided I’d ignore them and prove I was the more adult. They laughed. I hate them both. “Do not.” It’s like having a conversation with shadows.

              The message was that the crew from down south was here or close anyway. We got dressed and trotted to the comm shack. I grabbed the mike and said “John here,” the voice boomed in saying they were within sight so we headed out the door to the main gate in the wall and saw a dust cloud rolling at us. Out of the dust rolled a Humvee with the gunner standing up behind the gun, shortly a six by rolled into sight then another HV.

    All had their guns up and scanning. Jim had the blocking vehicles rolled aside and the convoy rolled in. I wasn’t a bit surprised when Charley stepped out of the first HV. I had had a feeling when he rushed to the Fort that he was getting restless sitting around being the elder. I was so glad to see him, I truly missed him and his wisdom but mostly I just missed my brother.

    Sandy ran to him and at the last second stopped and made a hand sign which I guess is a Navajo version of a hug. He smiled and said something to her.  I watched her pause and process it then smile and say something back. May walked to him and said something which caused Charley to straighten up and blink, then he smiled big and said something.  May spoke again and Charley placed his hand on her shoulder and made a hand sign.

    Then he looked at me and as we met he offered his hand.  So we shook hands as he looked in my eyes and nodded. Whatever it was would come later. I made the introductions to Jim and his staff and walked them to the six by which had a canvas covered load. The scout team uncovered the load and started sliding crates off the back of the truck where Jims people took them and carried them into the building they used as a store house. When the truck was empty we gathered in the house and the lads opened a crate and removed one of two M-60 machine guns causing Jims eyes to pop. One of his men said “OK!! Pigs!” I knew right then he was going to be their main trainer.

              They now had four M-60s and 50 M-16s and 10 of the FALs we had found.  Plus enough ammo to fight a war, which I really felt was coming from out of the bowels of the cities.

              I took Charley and the girls back to the house where we sat and had coffee while the girls got cleaned up, since none of us had showered. It was also to give Charley and me time to talk. I asked him why he had made the trip, he took a bit to answer and finally said “My brother, your heart is troubled and I felt it through the radio. You have a dark fear and it’s been there for a while.” I nodded and waited, he said “It is a fear of troubles coming, bigger than we have had so far.” I nodded again. He sat a bit and then said “You are right.” I looked into his eyes and I knew he knew what the fear was. We both sat for a while until the girls came out looking clean and laughing at something, which could have been anything because they simply found joy in almost anything.

We walked to the chow hall where Jim introduced Charley to the people of Timberline and thanked him for bringing the hardware. Charley stood, surprising me and looking around the room he said “There are some bad times coming. You will need the weapons, but also the day may come when we call on you to send some people to join us in facing this trouble, and I know you will come.” Well that brought out the quiet then all at once they were all talking. Charley waited for it to quiet down and said “It won’t be for a while, so spend your time working on your place here and be ready. We will be in touch by radio from now on, now that you are a part of the outpost system we have going.”

              I think he caused more questions than he answered but Jim said he would be getting with them all in the next few days and lay out the plan.

              After resting for a day, Charley and his people loaded up in one of the HV’s and the truck and rolled for home. Jim looked stunned that they were leaving a HV here. I explained to him that when the big problem arrived it would be best to have such a vehicle because when we called and they came it would be their lead scout unit and main fire support weapon. Jim and I spent the day talking about what I thought might happen we then sat down with his committee to iron out some sort of a plan.

              One thing they had was several of the one ton Dodge diesels we had found on the carrier on the interstate. Jim decided right then that they would start working on armoring some of them as best they could. With some steel plate on them they would provide cover for the people riding in them.

    I told Jim about the weapons stashes we had found while heading east and while that would be a rare instance I believed there had to be a lot of untapped resources out there. Every National Guard unit had vehicles and there must be plenty of them sitting where they were parked. He got out a map of the state and started looking for places that might have such.

              I often wonder why the very obvious common sense things evade us. I know there has to be military equipment out there that hasn’t been found or looked for. I wonder what happened to the big bases like Camp Pendleton in California, home of the First Marine Division. No way did they just walk away from the base. They should be up and running and cleaning out the gangs in the cities. Or so I would think. Yet we have never heard a word or rumor about it. It might bear looking into.

    In fact this whole line of thinking has me wondering just how bad it had been in the high population places. We have everything we could ever need to be rebuilding and two + years later it’s not being done by any legitimate government group.

    Meaning I’m back to the “Let’s do it ourselves” thing… As for the cities they are burned out rubble filled with god knows what, but if it comes out to fk with us then we will bury it and keep going with our plan. I felt better now. I refused to worry about the gang armies or whoever. We have a country to rebuild and we will get it done, and better than the first time.  We have the power of the dams and can redirect it wherever we want and need it. And it’s free from now on.  The rivers that were dammed belonged to all the people yet all we got were high power bills.

    We would work it out I was sure. I mean we are people, humans, (well some of us are) we walk upright, we have thumbs for god’s sake!

    But we had a trip to make and the whole country could just by God get by with candles until we got back. Although what we had to do with it was beyond me, I don’t even change light bulbs. I hate electricity except when it’s keeping my beer cold.

    We needed to get moving if we planned to make it to my old starting point. So after telling Jim and the bunch goodbye we headed out in a bee line for the route Sandy and I had followed since it was a good one and would save time since we knew the way.

    After several days and going up the wrong old road we rode into our clearing, there was the hot pool and there was the first stone and earth oven we had built, still standing. Sandy laughed and jumped off Rab then dragged May off the horse with no name and they raced to the oven, they were on their knee and down on their elbows looking inside it, I was enjoying the view I had, I heard one say “Dirty old man” and the other one said “Thank God!” Sandy got a stick and started dragging rubbish out of the oven, looked like somebody else made use of it, no idea what the critter was but they packed in a ton of crap. No sooner was it cleaned out and they were hauling in dry wood and lit a fire in it, when they heard me moan they turned and found me in the water. Causing a race to get naked. It’s hard to relax with two water babies splashing the tub dry, so after a while I got out and dried off, put sweats on with mocs and started unpacking the stock.

    As I got them unloaded Sandy and May would lead them to the lower pool that was colder for them to drink. This place had a lot of good memories for Sandy and I and we would make sure it would be the same for May.

    After the chores were done Sandy and May dug thru the supplies looking for the things needed to make bread, I left them to it and taking my 308 I headed out to scout the area. I could see no signs of anybody having been here since we were. On the way back I shot a yearling deer and after dressing it out I dragged it back close to camp where I hung it and cut out the back straps, leaving it to cool out I pulled it higher in the tree and headed on into camp where I could see the bread plan was in full swing, they seemed to have gotten into a flour fight and both of them and Walker were covered with it.

    Now one thing I was not gonna do was mention it to them because I’d end up covered with it too. I suddenly had a thought about dinner and asked if they wanted to hear it? Both said sure, what I wanted to know was if we took bread dough and made a flat pizza like thing and after seasoning the back strap we rolled it in the dough and set it in the hot earth oven what would happen?

    This became a discussion for several minutes until finally they decided to just try it. But the general consensus was to kinda sear it on the hot stone in the oven then do the dough thing, that would help ensure it was fully cooked and lock the juices in, so we did that and the smell like to have killed me!! I was starving.

    We could always eat it even if it didn’t work out and Walker wouldn’t know the difference even as he wolfed down his share. So we did it. The dough was really more like biscuit than bread if you know what I mean. While this was going on I built the fire up and really got it hot in there. When they were ready I raked the coals to the front and laid the rolled up blob in on the flat stone, we closed the open door with the flat rock we used for that and went about getting camp set up.

    It was starting to smell good no matter what it would taste like. After the tent was up and the gear all covered and the supplies hanging in trees out a ways from camp we took another long soak and at last couldn’t stand it any longer because of the smells coming from the oven so we got dressed and opened the oven, I won’t say it was a golden brown, it was more of a dark brown, I could see that it was a good thing the girls had poked vent holes in the dough to let out moisture. The juices cooking out of the vents and hitting the hot stone was the smell we got.

    We cut it into chunks and ate it with our fingers, and it was delicious! The deer being so young was as tender as it could be. The girls had nailed the seasoning, It really was outstanding, I had worried it wouldn’t cook all the way but it did thanks to searing it first. I got high praise for my idea!

    We were stuffed and since Walker wasn’t gonna be inside the tent he got some too. Sandy asked where I got the idea for this and I could only shrug. I couldn’t remember reading anything like it. May said “ Pigs in a blanket!” there ya go. Had to be. Whatever we loved it and would be doing it again, hell we had a Dutch oven we seldom used that would be perfect for this but using the oven we had built made it all that much better!

    We pulled out a few days later heading for the Valley where I had met the West Virginia Mountain folks, along the way we stopped at the place where I had found Sandy and buried her people. We stopped and placed wild flowers on the grave after pulling some weeds and in general cleaning it up. May and I gave her some alone time then she called us over and introduced us and said she was loved and happy and missed them but knew things go around so one day they would meet again.

    We rode out of there and were all quiet for a while then Sandy started telling May the story of the people we were meeting next, and that she had not met them but from my description she just knew her and May would like them. Soon enough we stopped for the night and all was back to normal.  We made a quick supper and put the animals on a picket line, and were asleep by full dark.

    Right about the time the sky got gray and it was half light all hell broke loose! Walker went crazy, Buck and his bunch exploded. My brain said wolves! So I grabbed the pump shot gun and bailed out of the tent.  One thing we had done was to collect Surefire flashlights and also mounts for the shotguns.  I flicked the light on and looked right into the eyes of the biggest damn bear I’d ever seen. About an arm’s length from me!

    I will go to my grave believing the only thing that saved me was the several hundred lumens from that light that fried his vision long enough for me to shoot him several times.  I stopped only because the gun was just going click.

    And then May stepped around me and looked close and said well shit John, you never gave us a chance to get in on it! I said excuse me but I need to visit the outhouse and I did.

    In the last year I’ve been in more gun fights than I can remember and never got hit with a bolt of raw fear, but this one about dropped me.  After I tossed my cookies and checked my drawers, I walked very shakily back into camp.  The girls were building a big fire after settling the animals and checking Walker, who had gotten swatted when he leaped at the bear.  Lucky Walker! Got his marbles scrambled a bit and a cut ear but was standing growling at the dead bear.

I checked on the livestock who were still wall eyed and pulled back as far as they could get but they were settling down a bit.

    It was a big boar Grizzly and big like really fkn huge, I almost tossed my cookies again. In all my years hunting in Montana I only had a chance to kill a bear three times, all black bears, but I never shot one.  I like bear meat but I just never had the urge to kill one. Now I was looking at the king of bears at least in the Rocky Mountains.

    Sandy said John, May and I want the hide and we want to get it tanned. I didn’t bother asking why because it was their wish so I would get it done come full light. But first I wanted coffee with a heavy jolt of brandy. And there it was delivered with a smile from May. So I said ok girls, one bear skin rug coming up! They started smiling and doing the “I’m excited dance”.

    And skin the big son of a bitch I did.  Buck was willing to haul the rope that pulled the bear up in the air so I could get to work. Now I’ve skinned a ton of deer and a few elk as well. But I’ve never done a bear and I wanted it to be a good job for the girls. So it took a long time.

    After that was done, I used Buck again to drag the body off into a gully and left it. I had thoughts of taking some meat but right now it would spoil before we could do anything with it. Bear spoils fast.

    We spent the day stretching the hide and scrapping it free of fat then rubbed salt into it. After that was done we left it out in the sun to dry, and before dark we rolled it tight and wrapped it in a canvas ground cloth for the night and hung it in a tree. Come morning, we stretched it again and let the sun do its thing. After packing it away for the night we hit the bed early and come morning light we had coffee done, breakfast eaten and were packing. In another hour we were riding out.

We spent another few days on the trail before we hit the trail Harv had shown me which we followed down off the ridge and soon we saw smoke and then smelled it. We paused for a while in a clearing before heading on down the slope. I knew soon we would hear from somebody and then Harrv rode into sight and it was old home week! After a quick introduction to the girls he led us on down into his canyon where the entire family was waiting. It made me feel so good seeing all these good folks still here safe and sound.

    The live stock was taken over by the older boys and we were herded into the big kitchen where we were seated like royalty and food and drink were brought. Harvey and all his clan were piled into the huge kitchen to hear my story, but I said it would be better to do it after supper and when the whole clan outside of the guards were able to hear it.

    Harv laughed and said hell John everybody’s here now! So I spent a couple hours telling the story and after the point where Sandy came into it she had to join in and then May in her turn. I wasn’t sure how these mountain folks would deal with the two wives thing but nobody blinked. After we finished with our arrival here it was supper time so everybody just dug in, how the ladies got the meal ready while listening to the whole story is beyond me which is about it with everything to do with women. I’m like most men, we are pretty blind to everything these wonderful creatures do for us.

  Sandy and May were up and involved with serving and eating and chatting with the women and when the meal was over they were right in the middle of cleaning up. No slacker in them.

    After the meal the men wanted to see the bear hide so we headed to the barn where I unrolled it and got some real praises on the size so I told them the whole story including the fear ball, the puking and shakes, all of them said they would have been in the same boat. When asked what I planned to do with it I told them what the girls wanted and one of the men stepped forward and said “John I can tan this thang so soft yer gonna thank yer touching a babies butt.”

   I love listening to these folks talk and I said well sir if you can get it so my ladies are happy I sure as hell make it worth yer time, he just waved away the comment and said I’ll have it ready in a few days and rolled it up and hauled it away.

    Harv said this man was the best hide tanner he ever seen and said come on and took me into the cold cave and showed me wolf hides the man had tanned and they were awesome! I had a few ideas right there and we had a talk and Harv said not a problem.

    It was their time to tell about what happened around here and I was surprised to hear that I was the first and last person to wonder into their area. The road block they had set up right in the beginning had worked very well since there just wasn’t any other way into the area except on foot or horseback. He said they still maintained the watch on the roadblock but it was just a couple of the older boys who spent a three day watch and then were relieved by two more, which gave the boys an adult job to do and built confidence. I couldn’t believe after all the shit we saw that it was just peaceful here.

    I was able to go into more detail on our experiences than I had with the women and kids there.  He wasn’t surprised about the cannibals, saying there was always rumors of such goings on in lonely country and he was glad we had stopped that bunch dead.  He was surprised about Chicago but not the Southern Army going in a cleaning up the mess.

    He did give me shit about how I could ride through the area on my mule alone and come back with more mules and two wives! And he said he could tell at a glance that they were for real tigers, ready to fight in a blink and they would blink to get it going.

    I told him about the whole Wyatt and Doc thing and that it was a no shit thing.  They were flat out chained lightning with their 1911s. He was impressed and wanted to do some shooting in a day or two. He said they had done some scavenging trips and had gone through places abandoned by the owners and found a lot of loading equipment and were able to load their own ammo which wasn’t much, since they only shot enough to keep the youngsters trained.

    We finally convinced them that we really did want to sleep in the barn with our animals. So we moved into their hay loft and slept great. I’ve always loved the smell of a clean barn, the cow and horse smell is fine with me. Come 0 dark thirty the damn rooster down below was about to get shot when the boys came in to milk. I just snuggled down and snoozed for a while but the girls got up so I did, in the big kitchen coffee was ready and the men were coming and going getting chores done.

    Harv was waiting for us and asked how we slept. I said fine but I have a candidate for dinner, the women were laughing hearing the girls’ version of me plotting the demise of the rooster.  They all were laughing because that one bird always went into the barn to roost and started the day for everybody and was threatened with the stew pot daily. Harv said he had threatened to kill the damn thing so many times nobody even listened anymore.

    We rode down to the head of the road where they had their look out bunker set off the road but with a very good field of fire. The boys were bored and said nothing was moving but a herd of elk that had spent the night bedded down not fifty yards from the bunker. Which allowed them to get some sleep since nothing was gonna sneak up on the elk. We drove out on the highway and other than a few abandoned vehicles, it was empty of all signs of life.

    After we returned to the compound we sat and talked about the future.  I told them how I was wanting to get people moving again, use the knowledge we have and the resources to get America back on her feet and open for business. Harvey agreed and said they were all getting bored with life in this deep canyon where it was sunless more often than not. It had served its purpose but it was about time to get back into the world. I told him about the idea of Lake Powell and the dam and all the other stuff I had been thinking.  He was surprisingly very interested in the Lake idea. That and sunshine! He said the womenfolk were talking rebellion if they weren’t taken out of here soon.

     He really love hearing about our sand stone homes in the canyon. One thing these ol boys are really good at is digging through rock or coal. I hadn’t set out to do so but I think I had lit a slow fuse that was gonna lead to something.

He was very interested in what we did to get the Dodge diesels running and all I could do was parrot what the gear heads said. Harv said his people could make anything run with good parts, I was still surprised to hear him talking like this, but I could also see they were tired of just being holed up here in this safe but dark canyon.

    At the end of a week we said we needed to be moving on and I was surprised when Harv asked us to come to a meeting with the adults.  The meeting was held after breakfast clean up, and all the kids were shooed off to do chores. Harvey stood up in front of his big extended family and laid out everything I had told him about our life outside in the world, and the plans for a settlement on Lake Powell. He didn’t miss a thing from the weather to the beauty of the country as described by me and the girls. He asked the three of us to talk about it and the girls really had it down pat, about our friends the Navajo people, the beauty of the red rock canyons, to the peace and quiet of a desert night. Sleeping outside, the gazillion stars, the satellites blinking across the night sky. There was nothing I could add except that for me it was time to stop wondering all over the countryside and to start building a country.

    Harv stood up and looked at every person in the room and said, “Folks I want us to think about moving, I’m like a lot of the family, I’m tired of the gloom of this canyon. Yes, it’s been a safe place for us and it’s been our home, but it’s served its purpose and it’s time to get out there and help rebuild America. We all came here as family and we all came because we saw what was coming and what we had to do to protect the family. Now we need to decide if we stay here and do nothing more than just live, or do we get out there and build?”

He asked every couple to talk about it and to speak with their kids, and at supper tonight there would be a meeting to decide what their future would be.

   Well I was stunned but the girls said, hell John it’s a done deal! I asked why they believed that? May said John we been with the women for a week now and they are so tired of this lifestyle.  They all want to have a home again, fix meals for their own family.  Yes they are one big family but a woman wants her own place, and these women are happy to be safe and alive but they are ready for a new life.

    I had to ask if they had kind of pushed it a bit but both said no not at all.  They simply spoke of the life in the canyon, and the hot summers and the beautiful nights, about being on the lake on a quiet night in the pontoon boat sleeping under the stars. I had to admit that right then they had me sold on it.

   That night at supper the talk was lively and happy and everybody was caught up in it. After the place was cleaned up and all the evening chores done everybody was back in the big room.  I found out later that even the guards from the highway were here, every soul was here.

Harvey stood and said ok, we had the whole day to talk and think and now it’s time to bring it to a vote. The question is this. Who wants to move to the desert on Lake Powell and build a community and get back to living life as we should be. Raise your hands, and that includes the kids who can understand what we are talking about. A sea of hands were waving, he said ok, who wants to stay here? Not one hand was raised. He looked around and said folks we are moving on! And a hugh cheer went up!!

   Just like that, a lot of good folks were heading to a new life. Harv turned to me and said I know John here has a bit more traveling to do and he’s agreed to return to this place soon and we will roll out together. We have a lot of work to do, we have to get out and into the surrounding area and locate vehicles we can get working, trucks and trailers because when we go we are taking everything we have here, everything that we brought. So you ladies need to get to figuring out what you need to get things packed up and I need the mechanics to figure what vehicles you think will work best.  John and his people use diesels because the fuel is still good where you find it so plan on that.

    With a loud cheer the meeting was over and people were coming over to thank us for giving them the will to reenter the world.

    On a beautiful sunny morning a week after we arrived we rode out following the same road that had brought me to this place a life time ago.  I was alone then and filled with the need to make it back to Texas.  Now two years or so later, I was back with two beautiful wives, a bigger pack train and heading back to where it all started. It sure seemed like a lot of trouble just to look at a Dodge truck and shot to hell trailer that would never move again.

    As we rode along we talked about the good folks we had just left and how in a short few days they were willing to uproot their lives to follow a dream. The girls told me that the women were the driving force behind it. May told a story that I thought sounded like funny BS. She said the ancient Chinese symbol for trouble was an inverted V representing a roof and two stick figures with dresses on representing women.  The meaning was supposed to be “Two women under one roof was trouble.” I had to laugh but the girls didn’t, so I asked if it was true why didn’t we have problems. Sandy said “how do you know we don’t?” That was a show stopper, and I guess I looked like I choked on a toad from the laughter that started. They both leaned over and hugged me and said “Joke John!”

We don’t have those problems, they explained,  because us girls talk everything out and never let anything fester. Most people don’t do that, plus we have no jealousy in our relationship. And we all love each other equally. I swallowed the toad and thought “Thank God”! because I wanted nothing to intrude in our happy home/life/whatever we have.

    They said the biggest issue in the canyon we just left was there was so little real privacy and women more than men need privacy. Plus as good as the canyon was to hold out in bad times it was always cold and sunless a good part of the day. Humans need sun, we need to be out in it and breathing fresh air. So in a sense they all had cabin fever, or canyon fever if you will.

    I could see all that and it helped clear up in my mind why we three didn’t have these issues. I vowed when we did settle down we would have privacy and room to move around. The girls both leaned over and hugged me telling me I was a good husband. It sounded funny to hear it from both sides but I’d never change it.

    Our life is good in the midst of so much that isn’t.

We reached the hills above the Bremmer ranch, former home to Buck and his bunch. I sat looking it over with glasses and it looked the same, the garden was bigger and I could see the crow’s nest on the barn roof and almost made out a head moving around. But having learned to never take things at first look I got down and dug into one of the packs and found my spotting scope mounted on a rifle stock.  I flashed on the memory of using this same set up when I first observed this place.  With the higher power I could see everything better, and I recognized the boy on the roof of the barn but was blocked from seeing much else.

    Finely we rode out of the timber and headed for the ranch and hadn’t made it a hundred yards when I heard the clanging of the kid banging the iron pipe. I then saw other people moving around and one joining the boy on the barn roof.  I saw the sun flashing off the glasses and heard a loud shout followed by a man waving his hat, and  I returned the gesture.

    By the time we were close to the ranch yard I saw the entire bunch standing out waiting for us. I stepped down and accepted a hand shake and a hug from the brothers. I turned to the girls and said please meet my wives, May and Sandy.  The women came forward and all of them started talking as they led the girls into the house. I shook hands with the boys, all of whom were really growing up, which is what kids do.  The older boys were men by now.

    We led the stock to the corral while all the boys gathered to pet Buck and his four that had lived here. They were astounded at the three new mules that looked just like the ones I got from them. We adjourned to the porch where the ladies brought out coffee, I wondered where they got it and Bill reading my look said that one day a peddler drove through in an old truck loaded with goods and they bought stuff using silver coins.  He said the man returned once a month. Interesting, of course my first thought was that it was a good cover for spying for a raid. Bob said the man would never enter into a place simply because he wanted to know nothing he could be forced to give up. Good man and a good way to develop trust. The brothers figure he must have scored a few tractor-trailers off the interstate since he had a good cross section of goods.

    We spent the rest of the day just telling them about what had happened after I left until I found Sandy, then she joined in until May came into it then all three of us were involved. It’s a long story and took a lot of telling. Then we told the return trip story. When we finished they all sat there with mouths hanging open.

    They were like Harvey and his clan, they had just lived and let live, no more raids after the first one but they never slacked off on their security. They were very interested in why Harvey and his extended family were so willing to just pack up and move, until one of the wives spoke up and said “I know exactly why they want to” and went on the explain the facts of life to the men.

    She started with the fact they had two boys at the age where they should be looking for wives, and other boys coming up, and daughters ditto.  She also pointed out that while they had a life here where was it going? They were just getting up, working from can see to can’t see and while they had plenty to eat and were warm it wasn’t much of a life for any of them.  Kids need to have other kids around to learn how to interact with others. She said it all calmly and her sister was nodding right along.

    The brothers looked kind of lost but their wives told them that they were two of the most decent, honest, hard working men a woman could have but their kids couldn’t develop stuck out here in the middle of nowhere where they never see another person besides family. They said it well I’ll admit that. And the brothers took it well and the older boys spoke up and said their moms were right that it was lonely here and what were they accomplishing besides just existing in a bubble? I liked that, two mature young men who could see the problems coming at them as a family unit.

    I stood and apologized for bring problems into their home, but all of them talked me down damn fast.  The women were grateful it had come out as it did, when a resolution to the problems was right there in front of them.

    That started a barrage of questions about the plan to build a village/town/city on the shores of a huge lake.  I had to admit it was just talk so far that we were planning to settle down there when we returned from this trip. And then the growing would start.  May’s people were there right now looking at what they needed to get the power grid reorganized to really get things growing. The kids all loved the idea of living on a big lake fishing and swimming.

    I was really feeling like I was turning into the Pied Piper. Uprooting people from their lives.

Sandy said John how many people have the chance to help rebuild a nation and could handpick the first settlers to build the future with? But I argued this wasn’t why I made the trip north! May said “are you really sure of that”? Well that made me stop and think, I had been selling the City on the Lake idea everywhere we went. Without even knowing it. Or had I?

    By the third day of our visit the whole family had voted to head south for the Lake.  I could only hope I had a clue what I was getting these people into. They all said it was for the best because they would be moving forward instead of sitting still. God I hoped so. I used the time and the brothers’ work shop to do something I had wanted to do for a long time. When time came to finish this phase of the trip we arranged to return here to assist them in preparing for their move.

    We headed out with only two pack mules and our riding stock to make better time.  And we didn’t slow down a bit, no long camps, and no days off.  We had a mission even though I had kept it from the girls only for some personal reason. And one day we rode out onto the junction of the USFS road and the highway and right down the road heading for the camp ground. When we came to the rusting car so shot full of holes and the sad mound of earth now grown over by grass, I stopped and looked down at it then stepped down and removed a bundle from a pack.  Unrolling it, I revealed a cross of steel with a name spelled out with a welder.

Jeremy Dane

RIP

  It was all I could do for him but I took a moment to apologize for taking so long to mark his grave, and to tell him that the bastards that murdered him were lying in a pile of bones unburied and nobody cared.  That I hoped he could rest in peace and that one day that peace would return to this nation.

We mounted up and headed down the road to the camp ground, the girls each holding a hand.  I was glad Buck could drive. Turning into the camp ground was a funny moment for me, I felt as if I had come full circle which made me laugh because I had. There in all its glory was my truck, dirty and a tree limb laying across the hood, still hooked to the trailer. After looking around a bit I could see that somebody had used the place after I was gone. The trailer was still closed up and dry because the bullet holes were in the side not the roof. But it smelled like mice had been holding parties in it.  I’ve always hated that mouse smell but even more since the Hantavirus outbreak from years ago. We walked around the camp ground and I pointed out the places I had hid my weapons and the bunker I had built from which I shot the assholes. May moved leaves around a bit and came up with three empty 22 lr casings and said “The NCIS crew would have nailed you by now” and we all laughed at that one.

    Now that I had returned and marked the grave I had no desire to remain here, and no desire to spend a night here so we mounted up and headed back the way we came. I finally asked them if they thought the whole marking the grave thing was foolish? Sandy said “No John it was something you had to do.” May agreed and added that they had both known from the start of the trip that the main reason was to mark that grave. That surprised me, and I asked about it.  They both said because through everything that had happened since the EMP the one regret I ever talked about was that I had not marked the grave. I never realized I had ever really mentioned it. But now that it was done I felt at peace for the first time in a long time, and I truly felt like there was a future and we were riding right into it.

    We made it back to the ranch in good order and talked things over with the brothers and decided to see what we could locate in the way of running vehicles of some sort. So we loaded up in the old Chevy truck and headed out, the brothers and me, it felt strange not having the girls with me but we just didn’t have the room.

We headed for the nearest town where the brothers had done their business before the event and found it still empty.  It wasn’t much of a place but it had been the center of activity before. We looked in every building and found nothing. It was a long drive to the next place but it looked like we had it to do so we headed out.  The two lane road left the valley and wound up the timber covered mountain and as we neared the top I remarked how there wasn’t a vehicle sitting where it stopped.  They said it was a empty road at the best of times.

    And there at the top where the road broke over was the prize. Off the road through the trees was a metal building and as we looked at it Bill said “Shit.” Bob said “Indeed.” It was the building where the road repair and snow clearing equipment was stored.

    We approached it slowly so as not to spook anybody who might have taken up housekeeping there but it was empty and all the steel doors locked with the barred windows still in place. I hated to break in but it was the only way so we spent several minutes working on the walk in door before it gave up the ghost and opened. As usual a heavy hammer will get results most times. Inside we found two large highway trucks with dump boxes and a pickup sitting as they were left. The batteries were dead but we got the big doors open and let in light and the old Chevy with jumper cables. We got the pickup going first, then let the Chevy charge one of the dumps and the shop truck doing the same on the other. While this was going on, we looked the place over and found a lot of good stuff that we could use down the road.

    There was a big Hobart welder mounted on a trailer that was going.  Everything here used diesel. After the trucks finally started and were warmed up they smoothed out just fine, thank god for metal buildings in an EMP. We now had four vehicles and three drivers. But there’s more, as the guy used to shout from the TV. There were two large flat bed trailers so we hooked them up and drove the old Chevy onto one with the trailer with the welder hooked to it. The other trailer we left empty but we piled the shop truck full of every tool we could find. The shop truck had a large fuel tank and pump which was full and the trucks were full.  Since they were coming right back by here on the way out, they could refill plus fill some cans and barrels with fuel. It always seems so easy finding this stuff, but the whole country is full of it.  People just need to get past the bunker mentality and get to moving. Like the brothers, in two years they just stayed dug in and did what they needed to be safe, Harv and his family ditto. Well we were on the move now and nothing was gonna stop us.

    We arrived back at the ranch and found the women weren’t letting grass grown under their feet. They had made the difficult choices of what was going and what stayed behind. But after the girls told them about all the treasures we had gathered and what was still out there they had no trouble leaving all the furniture behind.  Only a few pieces that had first come here in a covered wagon were going. The clothing issue was not an issue after we reached the canyon. So a lot of the stuff they had hoarded not knowing when there would be more was left. In three days of intensive labor the two big trucks were loaded full and covered with tarps.  The two flat bed trailers were sided using plywood from the ranch, so each now had four foot walls and could be covered. The shop  truck was the prize, so we took the ball plate from the truck that used to pull the big stock trailer and placed it in the crew cab truck which was going to pull most of the stock.  A two horse trailer would be pulled by the Chevy truck.  All their live stock would fit and some of ours but not all, so this was a problem. But Bill solved it by remembering seeing a trailer in town, so we took the Chevy in and sure nuff it was just what we needed. After it was back at the ranch we welded a hitch on the back of one of the trailers being pulled by the big dump truck and it that solved the livestock issue. We all were riding in style! The girls and I were in the crew cab shop truck with room for a couple of kids.

    A week after we found the trucks we rolled out of the valley and on the hill.  Before we left it from sight the whole bunch got out to take a last look at their home. Most of the younger kids were born here in that old house. But all were up for the grand adventure. And we rolled over the top and into the future.

    I did tell them all that at some point we were going to unload the stock and ride back part of the way simply because that was our plan from day one. We headed right for the Canyon where Harvey and his clan lived and when we got close to the guard bunker I got out and waved my hat until one of the lads came down to see me.  He said we could wait here rather than hauling all this weight up the mountain just to turn around and come out, so I agreed. One of the boys took off on a small dirt bike. Within an hour he was back followed by Harvey and one of his brothers. Introductions were made and they offered that we all come up and eat and plan the migration as Harv put it.

    After we made it up the road to the canyon compound we all trooped in and everybody met and the women folks all set to preparing a big meal. One thing that became very obvious real fast was that the older boys and girls were very happy to see each other. Right there was proof that all of them moving was the right thing to do.  Now there would be a life for all of them.

    Harvey was very interested in the highway road trucks and said there was a place not 10 miles from where we were that had been a snow removal equipment park and they too had never thought of it. They had been busy getting their vehicles running but knew they needed much more in the way of transport, so come morning several of us were going vehicle hunting.

    After a great meal we all got better acquainted especially the teenagers. I could see the hormone waves crashing on the shore from where I sat. Sandy elbowed me gently in the ribs and said be good and wipe the smile off your face. I could also see the realization of what was going on hitting the fathers of the girls while their mothers just smiled and you just knew there was gonna be some heavy mom/daughter talks tonight.

    We spent several days helping get Harvey and his people loaded into their trucks with the trailers they had. It was a very tight fit but they made it. The highway barn was a bust.  Somebody beat us to it.

    On another beautiful day the whole bunch hit the road.  Well all but us, me and the girls decided we wanted to head back riding, so that left the stock trailers empty for the extra stuff that needed a home.

    We made our goodbyes and promised to see them when we saw them. They all pulled out waving, and it was another one of those moments. But this time it was good friends leaving. But we would see them soon enough.

    They had all the information they needed plus the frequencies our commo people used and I told them as soon as they made contact to just say they were friends of Wyatt and Doc. That would get them in just fine.

    Rather than stay in the now lonely compound we headed out of the canyon as we entered it and made camp that night close to where we had when we came in.  We studied the map and located a few places marked as having hot springs so we picked one and headed for it. Two days later we found it, and it looked as if nobody else had ever been there which of course was silly. It wasn’t as hot as some nor as cool as others so we decided that it was just right.

    We arrived there at midday and by late afternoon we had a great camp setup. And we were soaking. It was as usual wonderful. Afterward the girls got with the dinner issue while I took care of some things in the tent. When it was ready we sat around the fire eating and sipping our coffee and talked about just where we wanted to go.

    After the clean up was done I said I was taking a patrol and headed out with Walker, I was all of 200 yards away when I heard the shrieking, but for once I didn’t go back.

    Walker though took off on the run to do battle. I wondered around for a while and headed back. I could see the glowing tent in the dusk and announced I was coming in.

    Inside I found two beautiful ladies laying on a beautiful bearskin rug, wearing nothing but smiles and a  necklace made of bear claws polished to a tee and the upper part was sporting beaten gold molded around the thick root of the claw.  Between each claw was a gold bead made from gold coins and threaded between the claws. The front claws were in the center with hind claws on each side. They were beautiful! So were the hide and the necklaces!  

    I had to admit fighting Grizzly bears was worth it if this was what came out of it.

It was a very good night and the days following the night were awesome, and soon we would decide where we were going.  But for now we have the hot spring and graze for the stock and what more do you need? Freedom, love, good four legged friends, and two wonderful wives.

But we would get to moving soon.

Not the end.

I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it.  It went where it wanted to go and did as it wished. The only thing I had nothing to do with was helping May with a name for her horse.  I guess he will remain the “Horse with no Name” for a while.

TJ Reeder