by Pete Thorsen
That Friday night he stayed in the Itasca State park and heard some interesting news. Saudi Arabia announced that they would now accept payment for oil in Euros and the Chinese Yuan also. This announcement was met with mixed reviews. Some thought it signaled the end of the US dollar as the world currency and would result in the total demise of the United States.
Some said this was to be expected and it was just a minor adjustment of doing business. It signaled nothing other than Saudi Arabia was making it easier for all countries to buy oil from them and was only a marketing ploy designed to increase the sales of their product.
Joe fell asleep thinking of the implications of that announcement. He thought it would logical for all the other members of OPEC to make the exact same announcement and no one should be shocked if they made that same announcement soon.
Joe did not think this would collapse the whole United States but it was certainly a step in the wrong direction considering how very fragile and very weak the US economy was right now. It would have been troubling indeed if Saudi Arabia had said they were going to no longer accept payment in US dollars anymore. That would have been very bad.
On Monday there was no huge shake up in the financial world. The dollar spot price went down a small amount but likely it was just a normal fluctuation. Stock markets were up and down the same as always. Gold was bumped up a little but probably just a ‘normal’ amount.
Joe decided he would ‘bump’ up his precious metal buying and buy a couple guns if the opportunity presented itself. He only owned one gun right now and it was a revolver. Which was fine but if things did really go down hill he wanted to have more firepower.
Joe was far from his state of ‘residence’ and did not think he could buy a gun from a regular dealer so he would just keep his eyes open to buy from a private party. Joe was obviously not a felon and there was no reason (legal or ethical) why he couldn’t have as many guns as he desired.
That week Joe was able to buy three thousand dollars worth of gold and silver and he hoped he could at least buy that much every week or hopefully more. Joe only bought US coins. He knew which coins were silver and which were solid gold and felt comfortable buying those.
Foreign coins and any bars were always suspect in his eyes so he just stuck with what he knew. Though it was not yet the Fourth of July Joe was thinking about winter already. He decided he would stop a couple places in North Dakota then turn south and stop many places in South Dakota before continuing south through Colorado and on to Arizona for the winter.
Chapter Six
Jason had gotten fired from his job at the bank and had looked a little bit for a new job but certainly with no urgency. He was getting unemployment, had signed up for welfare, signed up for food stamps, and signed up for a free cell phone. He was totally unconcerned about his future. He thought there was a very good chance that things would be better for him now than when he was working.
He obviously had all free time now and spent that time mainly lying around in his small apartment. He played quite a lot of video games and watched a little TV. He occasionally watched the GBS channel to stay up-to-date on the news. He thought things were actually looking good for the country now with the economy improving and unemployment going down.
The only slight concern was the group that called themselves ‘Patriots’ that protested many places about the ‘government takeover’, ‘loss of rights’, and other nonsense. On the news they voiced concerns that this group might very well become violent and often included ex-military, many of which had problems dealing with civilian life. Jason was enjoying his ‘retirement’ right now but with things looking up so much when he did really start looking for a job he thought he could likely get a much higher paying one than the last one he had.
Chapter Seven
At a flea market in North Dakota Joe bought his first gun. It was a Browning Hi Power nine millimeter. It came with three magazines that the man assured Joe were all original. Joe had found the gun and then went back after checking the price on the internet and bought it for six hundred dollars which he thought was a bargain. When the man gave him a small package and said this is the original safety Joe was confused and the seller explained that the older Browning’s had this very small safety. So he had brought it to a gunsmith and had an after market safety installed that was much easier to move on and off with a larger lever. The seller had kept the original safety so any collector could always change it back if they wanted it all original again. After more checking Joe found out it was made in 1963.
He bought several boxes of ammunition for the gun also and the next day he stopped in the middle of no where and shot it some. It worked flawlessly and had the same controls as the forty five auto he had used in the military. He was very happy with his first purchase. Joe stopped at a couple sporting goods stores until he found a holster he liked that fit the pistol.
Joe stayed in South Dakota for some time seeing the many sights there and jumped over into Wyoming far enough to see Devil’s Tower before turning south to go into Colorado. On the news front all the other OPEC nations had changed to the same payment arrangements as Saudi Arabia had done just as Joe had predicted.
More than a year ago Germany had requested all of their gold that the Federal Reserve Bank in America had been storing for them be returned to Germany. At that time the Federal Reserve had stated it would take about seven years or more to transfer all the many tons of gold back to Germany which many had thought was very odd.
It could logically be shipped to them in a couple weeks not seven or more years. Well the Fed did ship Germany a little of their gold back but it turned out not to be the original gold with the German bank stampings on it. Joe found this very curious indeed. Why wasn’t it the original German gold bars?
The only reason Joe could come up with was because the original gold was gone. So the Federal Reserve was trying to buy gold on the open market to replace the gold that Germany had given them for ‘safe keeping’. It sure made Joe wonder if the Federal Reserve had any gold left at all in their bank. Then Joe wondered if Fort Knox had any gold left in it. Joe suspected that both places had little or no gold left. It sure made Joe want to up his precious metal buying even more.
The nation’s gold was not the only problems that were popping up either. The nation’s health care overhaul was in full swing and it was a total disaster of epic proportions. And there was no good news in sight on this front as far as most anyone could see. Even the Democrats (who were the only ones that had voted for it) had nothing good to say about it.
It was another huge drain on the fragile economy and on taxpayers. More White House scandals that they were having a harder time shaking off. Congress actually increased their spending so the nation’s debt was going up even faster than before.
The Federal Reserve had at one point said they were going to taper down their money printing and supposedly had for a couple of months but then had increased it substantially with very little reason given. Rumor had it that other countries were quietly selling all the US bonds that they were holding but this was only a rumor. Though it would explain the increased money ‘printing’ by the Federal Reserve.
One thing that was never mentioned anywhere was the fact that Homeland Security forces seemed to be everywhere now ‘helping’ local police forces. Joe had seen many of their vehicles everywhere as he drove across the Untied States. Joe found this to be very troubling and wondered just how many officers that DHS had in the ‘field’. To him it seemed it must be a very large number.
The President had been trying very hard to get gun control bills passed in states and in Congress with very little luck. He had awhile back issued several Executive Orders on gun control that did not seem to do anything really but slowly it was coming to light that many veterans were being disarmed due to being ‘emotionally unstable’ due to these ‘Executive Orders’. And apparently it was all legal; at least it was if you had control of the whole Justice Department. There were
hundreds of horror stories about this on the internet.
Then there was inflation that was going up even though the government was doing their best to hide this fact. But every person in the United States knew it to be a fact because their money just would not go as far. On the internet it was speculated that now that US dollars were not needed to buy oil many of those foreign held dollars were coming back to the United States and this flood of dollars was causing the increase in inflation and was expected to get much worse.
Normally when inflation went up the Federal Reserve would increase interest rates to force it back down and they would sure stop printing more money. But they were in a bad spot because the nation’s debt was now eighteen point six trillion dollars and if interest rates went up there was no way that the government could continue to pay the interest on the national debt, at least not without severe cuts to other spending. Unemployment was again going up rapidly. There was absolutely no way this was going to work out. No way at all.
When he stopped for gas Joe took to reading the ads stuck up on the bulletin board that many stations had for their customers use. At one a guy had an AR-10 for sale for seven fifty and the ad had today’s date on it. Joe called him and the man said he lived close by and would run it over for Joe to look at.
While waiting Joe looked that one up on the internet and saw that it was a steal for that price. The man showed up and Joe looked the gun over and bought it on the spot. The man admitted that he had over three times that in it but needed the money really bad after losing his job.
He had brought a lot of 308 ammunition with and he and Joe quickly came to an agreement on the price of the ammo also. Both men were happy with the transaction. In the days that followed Joe bought four other guns for very low prices from people that were in dire financial straits.
Soon Joe was in Colorado and he continued south and then turned west into the mountains. It was so pretty here in the mountains. Joe spent quite awhile in the Colorado Mountains and often left the motor home sit for two or three days while he rode his motorcycle around.
He had never spent any time in the Rockies before and they were magnificent. He knew they got a lot of cold and snow in the winter or he would never leave. If the country held together for another year he would come back and spend next summer here. He often had no cell phone signal or internet in the mountains and with how the world events were right now that left him uneasy not knowing what was going on every day. But he would stop every day or two when he had a signal and serf the internet for all the news. Things were still going downhill but still holding together yet.
Chapter Eight
Joe was out of Colorado and into Arizona. He went through Monument Valley and saw the Grand Canyon then headed south and west. The land was rather desolate with only a few pretty spots here and there. Then he got close to Flagstaff and it changed to look just about like the mountains of Colorado. Joe was amazed at the transformation from desolation to fully wooded mountains.
And when he got up high and looked south, he saw solid woods for as far as the eye could see and if you have ever been in the mountains you know you can see a very long ways indeed. At a gas station he picked up an Arizona atlas and spent the next week traveling only about fifty or sixty miles with the motor home but put many miles on his motorcycle.
He saw elk, deer, and turkeys. He talked to some other campers who all seemed to be very friendly and they offered their ideas of spots in Arizona for him to visit. They told him when he got south a ways he would be out of the trees and at a lower elevation but he should camp and explore those areas also as they were just as pretty only in a different way. Then if he kept on going south he would “go down the hill” and be in the actual desert. This area was way different again but many also found the desert to be very pretty.
Joe took all their recommendations to heart and traveled throughout Arizona. He was entranced with just about every area he visited in Arizona. And he realized those he talked to were certainly correct, you don’t always need big trees to be in paradise. There were mountains visible from just about anywhere in the state. Some were bare and some were forested but all had their own beauty.
He was so entranced that he started to stop at realtor offices in towns he went through. He didn’t know what he was looking for and didn’t know if he could afford anything but he stopped to look anyway.
One realtor after asking Joe what he was after and talking with him awhile then asked him if he was a veteran. When Joe answered yes the man walked to his desk and retrieving a piece of paper made a copy and handed it to Joe.
“I don’t know if this is what you want but if I was you I would drive over there and talk to a guy named Gus. It is just possible that it might be mutually beneficial.”
“Thank you, I’ll do that.”
Joe studied the map and realized that it was some distance out in the country. With nothing better to do Joe spent a couple hours and finally found the place after taking a couple of wrong turns.
He actually thought the map maker made the map so most people would take those wrong turns and maybe get discouraged and give up. Certainly not something someone would do if they wanted to sell some land. All it did was get Joe interested.
When he did drive up to the place it wasn’t all that awe inspiring. Maybe closer to the term ramshackle. Joe stopped and got out then spotted an older gentleman sitting on what could be charitably called a porch.
“You lost, mister?”
“No I don’t think so. A realtor told me to come out here and gave me a very poor map to get me here. Told me to ask for Gus.”
“I’m Gus. You ever learn how to follow orders when you were in the, what the Army?”
“Yes. I was in the Army and now I see that I had forgotten how to follow orders. The directions clearly said to turn left but the map pictured turning right.”
“I see you persevered though didn’t you. You drink beer?”
“I think a beer is a fine beverage. Yes.”
“Sit and take a load off. I’ll see what I can find.”
The man got up and went inside while Joe sat in the chair indicated. In just a couple moments the man returned with a couple of cold beers. And the two men made small talk for quite some time before Joe realized he was being pumped for information and his feelings on many different things.
“So you lookin’ for a place?”
“Yes I think so. I’m not sure what I want and I’m not sure what I can afford. But yes I am looking.”
“I got some spots might be available. Got water and sewer but no electric. But nice spots to park that rig of yours. And likely in your price range.”
“Even I’m not sure what is in my price range. And I don’t know if I’m too interested in this particular area.” Joe said kinda looking around.
“Let’s go for a little ride. We’ll take my old jeep.”
And it was an old jeep. A real jeep from the Army. They climbed in and Gus took off and none too slow either. About five or six miles later and way past the time when Joe wished that jeep had seatbelts they drove into a pretty little basin that had a grouping of three RV’s.
All of them had carports over them to provide shade and all had solar panels on the roofs of the carports. There was a large tank up the hill a ways nearby with solar panels mounted on a pole next to it. It was a very nice looking spot with many trees in varying heights. Most of the trees appeared to be fruit trees. There was one free standing building of unknown purpose which also sported a few solar panels on the roof.
Gus came to a stop and invited Joe to take a walk with him around the place. They walked up to the large tank first.
“We have a solar pump on a good well here. It keeps the tank full and then it gravity feeds all the RV’s. Each RV is hooked up to a quite large septic system. We have no electric except for what solar each of us has. It works out pretty good so far. All the land for miles around is BLM land.”
“It is a nice looking spot here and c
ertainly off the beaten path. You rent these spots out?”
“No not really. More like a lifelong lease.”
Before either could say anything else two men walked up.
“This here is Sam and that ugly one is Pete.”
The men shook hands with Joe. And then they all talked for a bit. It seems that both Sam and Pete had been in the military also. They moved over to Pete’s RV where he had an awning out from the oversize carport that covered his RV. They all took seats in lawn chairs and more beer magically appeared.
They talked for some time about the past and the current and the future. All four of them had a dismal outlook on the future. Finally Joe brought the conversation back to the reason he came out here.
“So Gus, you selling spots out here or did I drive all the way here just to get some free beer?”
Joe saw the three other men glance at each other and each had a barely perceptible nod.
“Yes and no. I won’t sell but you could get a lifetime lease on a spot.”
“That would suit me. What kinda money we talking about for a lease?”
“Zero down with zero monthly payments. But a gentleman’s agreement on a few details.”
“You don’t want any money?”
“I have no use for any more money. I have enough to buy some beer and few cans of beans. What more does an old man need?”
“Well I can agree with that. Money often causes trouble and the more you have the more trouble. So what would be in the agreement?”
“We all share equal on repairs or improvements to the infrastructure here. This part might be nothing if nothing breaks down and if as a group we decide not to do any more improvements.
We share equal on the taxes which are very low. That’s it for the money part. You have to agree if the country goes in the dumper you will help in defense of this place if it is ever needed. Which is not very likely because of where we are located. And you have to have a one year supply of food on hand at all times. That’s it.”