by T J Reeder
Fall was bringing the first touch of things to come so one fine morning we broke camp, cleaned up our mess and rolled out. We were heading for Fort Navajo for now and there was a lot of talk about maybe building a settlement on Lake Powell since we had Dam keepers and folks who could bring power to our area. I could also see that several of the ladies were going to need to be settled and soon since nature was about to bless us with little ones.
We rolled into the Fort two weeks later and had a great home coming with the keepers of the castle. The Hunters that had stayed behind and kept the search for whatever needed saving from whatever had been busy and a walk thru the old cell blocks was funny as hell, picture a 8x10 cell stacked to the ceiling with gold, another with Silver and others filled with jewels and none of the doors locked, Paintings the resident artist said were masterpieces ( I gotta take his word for it coz I just don’t see it) Sandy and May seemed to think some of it was really good.
I didn’t see any card tables with dogs playing poker so I stopped being interested.
Of course the armory was busting at the seams as was several cells, I had to shake my head because we had not one use in hell for more fire power but we couldn’t leave them to rust away.
They had found farm equipment and had used the deep large well system to run irrigation lines so they now were growing more food then they could use so they hauled it to several small settlements around the area and were building “community” this was a wonderful thing and they got plenty of Attaboys from all of us.
We talked about the settlement idea and the advantages of it since there wasn’t room for everybody here in the fort.
And with Ralph’s Air Force we were just a short jump between the two.
So after spending a week at the fort we headed for the Lake and our new home. We couldn’t wait to see Buck and the bunch and old Molly who was still kicking at last report. I was glad for that.
I didn’t know what the spring would bring but for the winter we would be snug in our own home dug into the red rock of the canyon lands.
The Jolly Gypsies were heading for home and everybody was happy. Charley would be back at Shiprock with his Mother and his people but wasn’t far away and we would be seeing a lot of each other thru the months.
America is open for business and will be fine even if it takes a while and I’m sure there will be bumps in the road but we are back.
The End
Not the end of John and the girls, but I can’t do this road warrior stuff and it’s been done before by much better writers then I, and I need to take them into the high country. I need to be in the high country once again,
I want to thank everyone who have made this series into something more then I ever thought it would or could be. I know I make lots of mistakes and butcher the English language and I know for some people this drives them crazy and for that I’m truly sorry, I do the best I can and in truth never thought for a second anybody would find my stuff interesting.
I believe our country and yes the entire world faces some very bad times in the very near future and I hope I’ve made some of you stop and think about what you can and should do to insure your safety as well as your families and friends.
Nobody can go it alone everybody needs help and companionship. Everybody needs a tribe.
Thank you all again and prepare .
TJ Reeder