Bishop dropped the hands he was holding and sat down, followed by the rest of the group. The group had been buoyed by Bishop’s remarks but there was still a general feeling of apprehension, tinged with a bit of excitement, as they individually considered what might lay ahead.
Before Bishop could begin again, Jack raised his hand and immediately began talking. “Last night I hooked up my short-wave again and picked up transmissions from all over the place. Many were from other countries, because they were speaking in foreign languages, but most were from the U.S.—and most were from big cities. The operators were definitely distressed and seeking assistance. Some reported that armed gangs of individuals were roaming the streets, taking what they wanted, including young girls, and shooting anyone who got in their way. They also reported on looters who were breaking into occupied homes to take food and liquor and whatever else caught their fancy. It appears that the small confrontation Bishop had with a Scorpion was only the potential tip of a very large iceberg.”
“Did Grandpa see a scorpion?” asked Kiera. “I don’t like scorpions; they sting,” she added.
“Yes, I saw a scorpion,” Bishop responded gently to his granddaughter, “but it was outside and you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Based on the reports and pleas of the operators I heard,” Jack continued, “we’re actually among the lucky ones. Those people living in large metropolitan areas are not only threatened by the need for food and water to survive, but the avarice of thugs. The unfortunate thing is that even the good folks will ultimately have to turn to the same kinds of actions to survive. Anarchy is inevitable.”
“I guess that doesn’t surprise me,” Bud chimed in. “It just reinforces our need to stick together and implement a plan of survival that will help us avoid what other communities are already experiencing.”
All eyes turned toward Bishop again. He looked around the room and recognized they were all looking at him. “I don’t have the answers,” he said, addressing them all, “but, I’m willing to act as a chairman, of sorts, to help us come up with a strategy.”
Much to Bishop’s surprise, the group applauded. The children didn’t know what the applause was for but they too began clapping their hands. The clapping startled Chloe and she ran to hide under the bed in the children’s room.
“Thank you, I think,” Bishop said in response to the ovation. “Just remember that I’m only chairing this group and I can only suggest what needs to be done and by whom. Your thoughts are equally important, if we’re going to be efficient and successful. I’m inclined to believe that Jack’s report on what he heard on the short-wave and our own brush with the Scorpions…,” he turned to see if Kiera would react again to the term and, when she didn’t he continued, “…not to mention Melanie’s concern over the potential spread of disease and the contamination of the local groundwater, points out our need to provide personal security as quickly as possible. We’ve already agreed to Tanner’s suggestion that we relocate to the ruins of Tuwalanki (pronouncing it the Hopi way with a D-sound instead of a T) up on Horse Mesa, so the question is how we go about doing that.”
Before anyone could react, Kiera said, “What’s a Duwa?” She obviously couldn’t assimilate the name Tuwalanki, but she could get the first part, Duwa.
“That’s the name of the place we’re all going to go camping,” Bishop responded.
“Is Chloe going too?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” said Bishop, “and so are Jackson and Belle,” referring to Bud and Cole’s Labrador retrievers.
Kiera went back to petting Chloe, who had come out of hiding and sat contentedly in her lap.
“One of the first things we need to do,” Tanner offered in response to Bishop’s earlier question, “is to develop a roadway on the old jeep trail that will enable us to move our goods and supplies up to the ruins on trailers. If we have to move them solely in the backs of our four-wheel pickup trucks the monsoon will be on us before we can complete the move.”
Bud then offered that he and Colby had a good Case 580K backhoe, known as a TLB, Tractor-Loader Backhoe, with the necessary loader and backhoe to accomplish that feat. He also had several 12-foot lengths of 24” corrugated steel culvert they could use to build a bridge across the one creek they’ll have to cross.
Matt Hudson, Bud’s son-in-law, who up until now had been very reserved, offered that he could cut the culvert into shorter lengths with his welding torch, if that would help. “And,” he said, now getting into the excitement of the planning, “I can operate a backhoe with the best of them and cut that road in no time.”
“Okay,” said Bishop, “let’s put Tanner and Matt in charge of cutting the roadway. But first we’ll need Bud and Colby to bring the backhoe and culvert from their jobsite down to the trailhead at the Ranger Station. I think that needs to be our mustering point, if you’ll all agree.”
There were no objections so he continued. “We should move all our goods, supplies, and equipment to the Station so we can begin moving it up the mesa as soon as the road is ready. In the meantime we need to get everything packed and ready to go: all our clothes, food, medical supplies and things each of us feels we’ll need in our new homes in Duwa,” he said with a smile directed at Kiera.
“I thought we were going camping at Duwa, Grandpa,” Kiera pointed out.
“We are sweetheart,” he responded, “but while we’re camping it will be our home, too.”
“Okay,” she replied and returned her attention to Chloe.
Bud suggested he move his motorhome down to the Ranger Station as a rest station and then move it up to the junction of the Woods Canyon and Hot Loop Trails. It would provide cover, and a resting place while they moved things up to Tuwalanki.
Jenny Thomas suggested they’d need lots of containers and boxes to pack all the supplies and clothes in. She said they could use suitcases for some of the clothes but she was sure they wouldn’t be enough.
Jason raised his hand and shook it around. “I know just what you need, Grandma. There were stacks and stacks of plastic storage containers in Building 2 at the Ranger Station. Philip and I could take his pickup and bring them back here. They’d be perfect for packing and protecting the food and medical supplies.”
“And we kept our boxes from the move to the Village,” Mel added. “We should have enough to handle the rest of the clothing and lots of bedding.”
“Just remember,” said Bishop, “we can come back for more things after we’re settled, so concentrate on the essentials now and, if we still have leftover containers and boxes then we can take more of our things. Make sure you get your cold weather clothes and substantial walking and hiking shoes and boots. We don’t want to get caught unprepared by an early cold snap.”
“We have lots of food at my parent’s house,” Jessie chimed in. “We have lots of things like beans, rice, flour and cornmeal in bulk because that’s what we mostly eat. Can we go get that?”
“Certainly,” responded Bishop, wanting to make sure Jessie and her brother and sister were made to feel a part of the Mavericks. “When Jason and Philip get back they can go to your parent’s house and then your apartment to gather all the food and any clothing you didn’t have time to gather last night. Everyone,” he added, “make sure you mark any containers that have your personal items in them and mark the other boxes and containers as ‘FOOD’ or ‘MEDICAL’ so we can readily identify them later.”
“I’ll take care of that,” offered Jennifer, “and I’ll prepare an inventory of food once we get it all together.”
“I’ll do the same for the medical supplies,” said Melanie.
“That should be enough for now,” Bishop told them. “Once we have everything packed, we’ll use the pickups and SUVs to start moving everything to the Ranger Station. Okay, folks let’s get to it. Oh,” he said, “I almost forgot. Make sure that every trip away from here has at least one armed guard with it and a two-way radio. If you see any potential problems call in and le
t us all know. Also, make sure you have canteens or water bottles. We don’t want anyone suffering from dehydration. And, most importantly, I’ll be stoking up the barbecue for another feast this afternoon. We don’t want all that good beef to go to waste now do, we,” he chuckled. “You’ll have to do with snacks in the meantime.”
There was an excited buzz within the group as they now had something to occupy their time and to keep their minds off what might lay ahead.◘
Chapter 15
Anticipation and Preparation
A broad grin spread across Bishop’s face, turning up the corners of his mouth and wrinkling the corners of his eyes. He was thinking about how much they had accomplished in the two days since the CME and how excited everyone was by the anticipated move to Duwa, as they now all called it. He, and they, knew of the hardships that lay ahead, but the sense of adventure and the knowledge that they would be more secure in their new village buoyed their spirits and their energy. Even the children had chipped in, helping to carry their clothes and shoes to their mothers to pack and then keeping Chloe company in the spare bedroom, where she had been sequestered with her food, water, litter box, and bed so as not to get trampled underfoot or, heaven forbid, allowed to escape outdoors where she would become prey for the coyotes.
Philip and Jason had returned from the Ranger Station with Philip’s pickup truck loaded with plastic containers and then Philip had taken Jessie, with Tina and Jaime sitting in the back of the truck, to get the clothing, bedding, food, and any other supplies they might be able to use from their parent’s home and Jessie’s apartment.
Philip had a shotgun propped between him and Jessie. Bishop had no doubt, judging from the way that Philip and Jessie looked at each other, that Philip would not hesitate to use the gun if necessary. Though they saw some individuals and small groups scavenging near the apartments, no one seemed to pay them any mind.
While at her parent’s home, Jessie took the opportunity to replace the note she had previously written with a new one explaining how to get to Duwa.
They had no sooner left when a caravan of vehicles pulled up in front of the Westin’s led by Bud, driving his motorhome and pulling a trailer loaded with two ATVs, jerry cans of gasoline, two 7,500 watt, wheeled, generators, similar to those they had found at the Ranger Station, and miscellaneous ropes and pulleys.
Colby and Matt followed behind in Bud’s Dodge Ram pulling a 20-foot flatbed trailer with their Case 580K TLB and the three lengths of culvert, all securely strapped down. The back of the truck contained neatly stacked bags of concrete, covered with a tarp.
Tanner was driving Cole’s Ford F150 and towing a Wells Cargo T121 trailer. The 10’x 6’x 6’ trailer was used to haul hand tools and other equipment to and from the jobsite each day, rather than leave the equipment to be stolen overnight. Cole and Bud had packed every piece of equipment they could get from their warehouse into the trailer, and what was left over they put in the back of the pickup. Jason joined Tanner in the cab of the truck.
“We have more equipment and concrete to get later,” Bud told Bishop, “but we figured we better get as much of it as we could now. We’ll take it all down to the Ranger Station and off-load it until we can haul it up to Duwa.”
By now, everyone had come out to see the caravan with heightened excitement. Seeing all the equipment and supplies reinforced the feeling that the move was really underway.
Cole told Maria that he’d be back shortly with his pickup, after they’d detached the Wells Cargo trailer and unloaded the equipment from the truck bed at the Ranger Station. Then he and Maria would go back to their house and load all of their food and belongings and whatever else they had room for, into the truck and the 6'x10’ utility trailer they still had by the equipment barn. They could then use the trailer to start moving the boxes of food and clothing down to the Ranger Station.
Once at the Ranger Station, Tanner and Matt realized they would need to cut out a section of the chain-link fence surrounding the maintenance yard in order to drive their equipment up Woods Canyon. The actual foot trail that started in the parking lot was just that, a foot trail, and far too narrow to allow for vehicles and trailers.
They had to use some of the steel mesh planks from the Disaster Relief storage shed to cross the marshy remains of Oak Creek which, they knew would begin to run again when the rains came; a problem they’d have to deal with later. For now the steel planks allowed them to get the heavy equipment across—and that’s all that mattered.
Colby and Matt drove Bud’s truck, with the trailer hauling the backhoe and culvert through the cut in the fence. They made it across the marshy zone without a problem. Tanner and Jason followed in Colby’s truck, pulling the Wells Cargo trailer. Within 20 minutes, both trucks had arrived at the Hot Loop trailhead.
The four of them off-loaded the TLB and then unhooked the trailer; it would be too heavy to keep driving back and forth across the marshy area. The culvert was still strapped on either side of the trailer. They unhooked the Wells Cargo trailer next to the flatbed and unloaded the equipment and concrete from the back of Colby’s truck on to the flatbed, covering it all with the tarp again. They checked their radios to make sure they could communicate with each other. Satisfied that they could talk with each other and receiving confirmation from both Bud and Bishop that they, too, could hear them, Matt climbed up onto the TLB and checked to see that the diesel tank was full. He gave Cole a thumbs up sign, started up the machine and began moving up the old Hot Loop jeep trail, with Tanner walking in front of him checking for any problems in advance. Tanner carried his 9mm pistol in a hip holster and Matt had a hunting rifle in the cab with him. He moved the TLB forward, using the bucket to push rocks and brush aside and fill the old ruts as he went.
Colby turned his truck around and Jason climbed into Bud’s truck and followed Cole back through the cut fence and into the maintenance yard.
◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
In the meantime, Bud had parked the motorhome deep in the yard and had off-loaded the ATVs, making a mental note that there were a half dozen portable chemical toilets lined up against the fence, cleaned, supplied and ready for use. He was moving some of the equipment they had placed on the ATV trailer into Storage Shed #1, which had the most available space, when Colby and Jason returned.
“You’ll never guess what I found,” he said excitedly. “I went up to the front of the yard to close the gate, just in case someone came snooping around while my back was turned. Low and behold, right behind the big gasoline tank we found on our first trip here, there’s another smaller tank filled with diesel fuel. That means we can use the backhoe for a long time without being worried about fuel! And,” he said with emphasis, “I found a Komatsu diesel forklift in the back of the shed covered with a tarp. That’s why we didn’t spot it the first time we looked in there.”
“That’s great,” Colby replied, “because I think we’re going to have a lot of work for the TLB and the forklift. I’d hate to have to load and unload all those pallets of food and equipment in those storage sheds onto the trailers by hand,” he added.
“Let’s put the forklift on the ATV trailer. I’ll take Jason with me,” Bud said to Cole. “You go pick up Maria and we’ll meet you at your place. While we have the forklift, I think we ought to get the septic tanks from both our jobsites because I know we’re going to need them, and then we can load the pallets of concrete, too. We’ll leave enough room at the back of the trailer to reload the forklift last.”
They locked the gate behind them.
◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
Cole and Maria began gathering and packing everything they would need from their house while Bud and Jason did their thing.
At the jobsites, using the forklift, Bud and Jason were able to quickly load the fiberglass septic tanks they had not yet installed at their jobsites, along with all the plumbing pipe and fittings, and then filled every square foot remaining with bags of cement, both ready mix and Portland. They squeezed the fo
rklift on to the back.
When they drove back to Cole’s, he and Maria were ready for their help loading their food and belongings into the smaller utility trailer. With the four of them loading it went fast.
They drove to the Ranger Station and unloaded everything, putting the food and clothing into Storage Shed #1. They detached the big trailer from Bud’s truck, leaving it deep in the yard where it was less likely to be seen. Returning to Bishop’s they began loading the trailer, the pickup trucks, and the SUVs, with the boxes and containers of everyone else’s food, clothing, and household goods. They continued until the sun started to go down and were amazed at the mountain of goods that now filled the storage shed. In fact, they had had to remove all of the surplus tables, chairs, desks and other stuff previously stored there by the Rangers, in order to make sure their goods were covered for the night and locked.
They radioed Tanner and Matt and told them that Philip would come out to the trailhead to pick them up. The first full day’s work was done.
◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
When they got back to the Westin’s, Bishop had steaks cooking on the barbecue and Carly had organized the women to set up a smorgasbord for foods that were still edible from the refrigerators that had been running on generators. Everyone was ravenous, having sufficed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and water since their early breakfast that morning. Once sated, they sat around telling stories of their adventures that day, but most demurred to Tanner and Matt so they could all hear about building the road to Duwa.
Tanner explained that most of the work had been done by Matt and the TLB. His job was to walk ahead of the machine and point out any problems ahead of time, like large boulders, deep ruts or overhanging tree limbs. He said that Matt was a real magician with the backhoe; his magical touch on the controls maneuvered the loader to push aside obstacles and level off the ruts as they went. The trees that had encroached on the old jeep trail were primarily juniper and were easily pushed aside by the loader.
Sinagua Rising: A story of survival after a worldwide catastrophe Page 15