by Pete Thorsen
“I think so too. If we brush the tracks out when we leave it would warn us if we saw tracks when we came back.”
“That’s right. The simple plans are often the best.”
Don backed the trailer up near their house door for easier unloading. Don had brought the two-wheeled cart from the semi with so unloading would go faster and easier. It was not long and the kitchen/pantry area was full and they stacked cases of food in each bedroom. The cart went back into the trailer where they would keep it from now on.
It was still early and after lunch they went back and got the remainder of the food from the semi trailer. From there they went directly back home again and remembered to brush out their tracks coming and going. They had to put the entire second load of food in the bedrooms. The rest of the day they inventoried what food they had.
This meant restacking just about all of it to see what was in each case. While the cases were open they kept out a little of everything to put in the cupboards for ease of use. They had a very large food supply now and could eat for many months with what they had on hand. They had never seen a single other person all day which they thought was a good thing but both were surprised.
Both had expected to see people walking, biking, and even driving along the highway. People had to be getting desperate and you would think they would leave wherever they were and look for greener pastures. The highway was a major travel artery in the state and obviously other people would have running vehicles.
Plus even in normal times you would see bike riders on the shoulders of the highway. It was a mystery but they hoped something bad had not happened in town though if something bad did happen you would think you would then see refugees escaping.
Bev and Don worked together that night on a special supper to celebrate the great food run that had that day. They decided tomorrow they would go out again and try to get other things on their list. After the big supper they both got sleepy and went to bed early.
Day Ten
The next morning was bright and clear just like every other Arizona morning. After a filling breakfast they left for another salvage run. The only critical thing they needed was propane. There were many things they wanted but if they did not get any propane they would have to rely on cooking over a wood stove for every meal. This had several negatives besides being unhandy. The wood smoke could drift and be seen or smelled a long way off and could draw someone to their house.
In the winter they would have no choice but to use wood heat but winter was a long way off. Also they did not want to use their very valuable firewood for cooking. But Don had an idea about the propane. If they could find an empty house that had a large propane tank Don thought he could winch it into the trailer and bring it home.
It would not be an easy feat but he thought they could do it. Or they would have to find several of the smaller bottles. Don often thought about all those that he had brought into his store but was afraid to go into town to check if they were still there. He hoped it would not come to that because he knew the town was a dangerous place now.
On the way out they again brushed out their tracks and soon were back to the highway. They went the opposite direction today. Don told Bev to look for any RV’s because they would likely have propane tanks they could use. When he saw a house for sale sign he drove up to the house. It looked vacant and Don walked over to the large propane tank to check it. The gauge on it said it had twenty five percent left and he did not think it was worthwhile to bring it home.
So it was back onto the highway. Soon they saw a stopped pickup with a travel trailer behind and stopped to check it out. The two small tanks had no gauges so Don had to disconnect them to see if the had any gas in. One appeared to be about full and the other had maybe about half left in it. He put both tanks in their pickup and continued their search. When they came to a cube truck Don stopped and pried the back door open with the pry bar he had brought with. The truck had a lot of food inside.
“I think we should take this food and go to that little town down the road and see if we could trade the food for some propane. It would entail some risk stopping in that little town but we could likely get some propane.”
“Well we don’t really need the food and it would be good to help the people of the town. But we would be announcing our presence in the area and showing people that we had a truck that runs. We could be easily over run if there was very many of them.”
“Let’s load a bunch of this food and drive to the town. If it looks scary at any time we’ll just bug out and take the food back to our house.”
“OK but the first sign of trouble we leave.”
Don backed their trailer up to the bigger truck and started loading. After loading many cases he stopped and closed the big truck up and left to check out the tiny town. On the way to town Don stopped at a random car and siphoned out gas to fill their truck.
Arriving at the little town Don pulled through the only gas station so he was pointing back towards the highway. Then he tooted the pickup’s horn and waited with the truck running. It wasn’t long and they saw three armed people heading towards them. When the men were a half block away Don spoke loudly.
“We want to trade. We don’t want trouble.”
The three men stopped and talked amongst themselves for a minute and then one of them spoke.
“What do you have and what do you want?”
“We have food to trade for propane. Either a big tank we could put in the trailer or smaller bottles we can haul.”
“How can we trust you?”
“I don’t care if you do or not. If you don’t want to trade I’ll try the next little town down the road. Everyone needs food so I know I will find someone who will trade with us. I don’t mind driving a few more miles. Your choice.”
The men again spoke amongst themselves before they answered.
“Can one of us look in your trailer to see what you have?”
“Yes that’s fair but leave your gun with your buddies.”
One of the men handed his gun to another and walked up to the trailer which Don got out and opened up to show the man.
“You would trade all that food to us?”
“No we would trade a little of the very valuable food to you for the propane. The rest of the food we would freely give to the town to distribute to those who need it. Do we have a deal?”
“We didn’t think there were any good people left. I’m Ben Smith and I’m pleased to meet you. We will see that you get plenty of propane.”
The two shook hands and Ben waved the other two men to come over. Introductions were made all around. Ben asked Don to drive up to the church to unload the food. The three guys got into the back of the truck and gave Don directions to the church where several men and women came out to see what was happening.
Everyone was amazed and very happy to see all the food. The food was quickly unloaded and brought into the church and a different guy climbed in the back with Ben and the other two to help load a large propane tank. Bev stayed at the church to talk to the women there. The men made short work of loading the full propane tank from an empty house with the help of the come-along that Don had brought with.
Don and Bev stayed at the church for awhile and had a nice visit with many of the people of the town. They all got their water from one well that they had hooked up to a large number of solar panels. But they were in dire need of food.
When they were told about the severe shortage of food Bev wanted to go get more for them right then. After some discussion Don unhooked the trailer from his pickup and hooked up an empty one someone else had then Don with two other men went and got the remainder of the food that was in the cube truck they had found earlier that day and brought it back to the church.
With the additional food in that load the town had enough food for awhile and there was a huge community garden planted near the well so it could be kept watered. The town’s people thanked Don and Bev for the help with the food many times while th
ey were there.
In the afternoon it was time to go and Bev and Don took their trailer with the large propane tank home. When they got home Don started the gas water heater so they could each take a hot shower that night something that Bev had been especially looking forward to. Don said they would still bring home any small full propane tanks they found but with the large tank they should have plenty for over winter and beyond.
That night after supper the two talked about how it felt good to find the people in the town that had banded together to survive. Both of them were very happy to be able to help them. Don warned Bev before she took her shower that it was a very small water heater so she would have to take a fairly quick shower before the hot water ran out.
He would wait a half hour or so before he took his shower so it would have time to heat up again. Later when Bev was done with her shower she said it was the next thing to heaven.
Day Eleven
At breakfast Don admitted that the hot shower did feel mighty good last night. Bev said she was just happy he had finally taken a shower. Both Bev and Don were getting much more comfortable with each other and both found they enjoyed the company of the other. After breakfast Don found some old lumber and after backing the trailer in the proper position he tied the new propane tank to a tree and placed the lumber down to act as a poor ramp. Then he drove ahead slowly and the tank slid out of trailer and dropped to the ground.
The tank was too heavy for him to move at all but was very close to where he wanted it so it would work out fine. They had left the regulator and some of the gas line attached to the tank and using some piping he had found in the garage Don got the big tank hooked up to the house. When the work with the tank was done Bev suggested that they leave and try to find more things on the list.
They had such good luck so far that she thought they should keep going before their luck changed. Don agreed to go and this time they took the two AR-15 rifles so they could stop somewhere and each shoot them some to get familiar with them and make sure they worked well.
Don left the trailer at home this time because he thought anything they did find would likely fit in the truck and it was much easier to get around without dragging the trailer along. If necessary they could very likely find another trailer to use anyway. They again brushed out their tracks when they were on the way out to the road.
This time they didn’t drive too much on the highway but took off on a couple different side roads looking for vacant houses. They found vacant houses right away. The first one had no solar panels and when they looked in the windows it was totally empty inside. The next house had no solar but they could see it had stuff inside so Don popped the door open with his small strip of steel banding that he had brought with them.
Inside the house they did find many books of which they took several. There was some food here which they left for others to find. Don found a nice winter coat that was the right size that he took with. Overall there wasn’t much there for them. In the garage Don took two five gallon gas cans that were empty but would come in handy. There were also some empty plastic totes with lids that they took with.
At the next house they checked there was a solar set-up on poles very similar to what was already at their house. While Don was looking at how to take it apart, Bev found a spare key and went inside the house. She out again quickly and closed the door behind her and she was visibly upset. Don noticed and went to see what was wrong.
She said the house smells terrible and she thought there were likely dead people inside. Don went inside and it did smell quite bad. He ran through the hallway and checked the bedrooms and then checked the kitchen before he came back outside. He told Bev there were no dead people but there was a refrigerator and an upright freezer that both had stuff running out of them. Don suggested they not go back inside again.
Both of them went into the garage and Don found a big toolbox that he carried out to the solar panels while Bev stayed in the garage looking around. It took Don a couple hours to disassemble the solar panels and put them into the truck. He also took most of the wire. This was a grid feed system and had no batteries for them. Bev had taken a few things from the garage and put in the truck while waiting for Don to finish with his solar project.
They stopped at a couple more houses and took a few things from each one. They did find a chest freezer that was empty but was too big for their needs. One of the houses had a huge supply of books and they filled two of the large tote boxes full of them. One garage had a golf cart and Don took all the big batteries out of it to use with their solar set up.
It was getting well into the afternoon so Don took a couple of empty cardboard boxes from one garage and found a spray paint can to make a bullseye on each for a target. He set them up outside and had Bev shoot at the closer one first.
She a little trouble getting comfortable with the rifle design but after a few minutes she got the hang of how to hold it and both she and the rifle shot fine. Then Don tried the other rifle and it seemed to work well also. It was not as accurate as his 308 but it would still be plenty good enough for self defense. They reloaded the spent magazines before getting back in the truck to head home again.
When they were almost up to the highway Don stopped the truck and pointed. Four old cars and trucks drove by on the highway but apparently did not see them because they kept going. Don waited for ten minutes before getting back on the highway and when he did he drove over to the other lane just in case they had seen them and set up a trap ahead of them.
Don wished he would have brought his binoculars with but they were at home in his pack. He was very uncomfortable on the highway and when they turned off the highway he stopped and looked to see if anyone had driven on this road other than them since they left this morning.
He then cut some brush and brushed out their tracks leaving the highway. It was impossible to be too safe. He only stopped one more time and that was to brush out their tracks again after they turned into their driveway. He even locked the gate after they got home.
“What’s up with all the security stuff?”
“I don’t know. I got a really bad vibe off those cars and trucks we saw today.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining I was just wondering.”
“I think we should lay low for a few days.”
“That’s fine. I can see you are pretty concerned. Maybe in a few days we can park a distance from town and sneak in to see our new friends. Those vehicles were heading their way.”
“That’s a good idea. We will want to be very cautious when we get there. I hope I am just shook for no reason.”
“Me too.”
They had a modest supper because neither of them were all that hungry and then went to bed. The truck could be unloaded tomorrow. Or even the next day. They had nothing but time on their hands.
Lying in bed trying to go to sleep Don was mentally going over what he would do over the next few days here at the house. The thoughts were boring enough so he soon dropped off.
Day Twelve
to Sixteen
In the morning neither of them was in any hurry to do anything and after breakfast they talked for some time over a couple cups of coffee. Then Don suggested they go hiking around their place to get the lay of the land and just check the area out some. Bev thought that would be fun and they each took a bottle of water and one of the new rifles and they hiked slowly around the place checking everything out. It was very relaxing and took their minds off the whole situation. The woods were the same as always and it was nice to be out and just listen to the birds sing.
They found the spot where the diverter pipe ended and the spring water flowed into a small gully. About a mile from their house they found an old cabin that looked very old, it was made of stone and had a rusty metal roof. When they went inside the door almost fell apart though the cabin looked much better on the inside than on the outside. Don said “We should stash some emergency supplies at this cabin. Not a whole lot of stuff just a little
food and water and some other stuff.”
“It won’t hurt anything to do that because we have plenty of food at the house.”
“This will be our BOL.”
“Our what?”
“Our BOL. Bug Out Location. A place we can run to if there is an emergency. If something ever happens and we are separated we could meet here. I might even fix it up a little on the inside but I’ll leave the outside looking the way it does now.”
“I guess that’s not a bad idea. We will have to come over here a few times and from different directions so we can always find it easy even if there is very little light. Our house was your BOL wasn’t it?”
“While I had never really seen our house I suspected that it would have a water supply so it was on my short list for a possible BOL. I like this cabin. When we start to salvage again I might pick up a few more things to bring here. Maybe a couple trash cans to put stuff in to keep the critters out of it. I feel better just knowing its here.”
They looked the old cabin over well and continued their hiking and only returned to the house when they were both hungry for lunch. After lunch they worked together unloading the truck and Don spent all after noon assembling the ‘new’ solar panels. He could not use a pole because they have to be cemented in deep to make it solid. But he had brought the metal brackets from the pole assembly and he put the panels in a line and made angles to hold them pointing at the sun. When he was done it was pretty solid. He had used some lumber he had found in the shed with the brackets he had brought.
By the time he was done it was getting late and he thought he would do the wiring tomorrow. Bev had made a nice supper that they enjoyed together. After supper Bev said they should open the Home Depot truck they had seen and get some stuff to build shelves in just about all the rooms to make more space. Don thought was a good plan and would keep him busy.