by Robert Boren
The coaches behind Frank and Jane honked their horns.
“Wow, I doubt either of them survived that,” Jane said.
“Hopefully not,” Frank said. He started slowing down, getting them to about 60.
“There was only two of those guys in the jeep. Wonder where the other one is?”
“Probably in that coach I see in the rear view mirror. Its pulling off the road now, up to the crashed Jeep. Lewis wasn’t in the jeep, so it’s probably him.”
“Hope he doesn’t come after us,” Jane said.
“I’ll recognize the coach. It’s a rare one. An old Winnebago Brave.”
“Good. Wonder why Ken didn’t shoot at us?”
“Don’t know. And why the heck did they try to stop us anyway?”
“Probably because you spilled the beans about your internet knowledge,” Jane said. She smirked.
“More likely because they knew that most of us are packing, and they wanted the guns and supplies that we have. You saw that they tried to stop the other coaches from following us. I think they were going to herd us to their forces. We’ll have to watch out that we don’t fall victim to them later down the line.”
Jane nodded.
The road ahead was clear. Every so often a car came the other way….it was usually a semi-truck. Lucy started to whine, looking up at Jane. She put the shotgun on the floor between the seats, and patted her lap.
“Come on up, girl,” Jane said. Lucy jumped up. She was trembling again.
“That poor dog,” Frank said, laughing. “This hasn’t exactly been a relaxing vacation for her.”
“So how far should we go tonight?”
“There are a lot of places to camp at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and I suspect there are spaces available. Most of the European and Japanese tourists probably decided to wait until a more stable time to come over here.”
“Good point, let’s go there,” Jane said. “Should we check with the others back there?”
“How?”
“Well, we could look for a good spot to pull over to the side of the road for a few minutes.”
“Alright, Jane, why don’t you see if you can find us a spot on your iPHONE?”
“Will do.” She picked up her phone and went to the map application.
“Sooner rather than later would be good, actually,” Frank said. “We are going up in elevation, and I see a lot more trees ahead. It will probably be harder to find a nice big flat spot up there.”
“I think I’ve found a place. There’s a little road that is off to the right coming up, leading to a place called Sunset, Az. There’s a turnout right before the road. We should be able to park there. Looks pretty big.”
“Alright, let me know when we are getting close.”
“We’re almost there now. Better start slowing down.”
There was a sign that showed an intersection coming from the right. The lights of the coach shined on it brightly.
“There’s the sign,” Frank said. He started slowing down, and put on his right blinker.
“Look, they have asphalt along the side, and there’s the road to Sunset,” Jane said, pointing.
Frank pulled over slowly, creeping along. He pulled up all the way to where the road to the Sunset was, and then stopped. He shut off the engine, and looked in his mirror. All of the other coaches were parked.
“Let’s leave the dog inside,” Frank said. Jane nodded. They walked over to the door and opened it, hearing the steps go out under them. They stepped out, as several groups of people came walking over.
It took a few minutes for everybody to gather around.
“Wow, look at all the people,” Jane said, standing next to Frank.
“Hi, everybody,” Frank said in a loud voice. Several people said hi back, but most people nodded and looked at Frank, waiting to hear what he had to say.
“We’re thinking of finding a place to camp on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, but we don’t know this area very well. Anybody know of a better place to stop tonight?”
An older gentleman hobbled up. He had a cane.
“I’ve been around here a lot. Normally I’d say no way, because those campsites fill up this time of year. Half of Germany, Japan, and England are here,” he said. He started to laugh, but it turned into a wheeze. “But I’ll just betcha most of those folks stayed home this year.”
“That’s what we were thinking,” Jane said. “How’s the drive from here? Is it OK in the dark? Is it close enough to make it before it gets too late?”
“Yes,” said the old man. “It’s not that far. I’m Chester, by the way.”
“Hi, Chester. Frank and Jane here,” said Frank. “Any campground suggestions?”
“The first one of the area is about as good as any. It’s got lots of big pull through spaces, and 50 amp too.”
“Agreed,” another man said. “I was there last year. Nice place. Good people run it.”
“Alright,” Frank said. “Anybody object?”
Nobody said anything. Jane looked up at Frank, and then back out to the crowd.
“How did you find out about Dave?”
“I called my daughter and found out his stories were a lot of BS,” one man said.
“Same here,” said another person.
“Called family too,” said another.
“One of those guys is still out there,” Frank said. “Lewis. I think he’s driving an old Winnebago Brave.”
“Yep, that’s him,” Chester said. “He was the nicest of the bunch. I’d be surprised if he comes after us.”
“Well, we’d better keep an eye out just in case,” Frank said.
People nodded, and a few said yes.
“Alright, let’s get going. See you guys there,” Frank said. Everybody turned and walked back to their coaches. Frank got back into the driver’s seat. Jane was about to climb into the passenger seat when she saw Mr. Wonderful sitting there.
“Hey, move it, big boy,” Jane said. She pushed on him and he jumped off the seat. Frank laughed as he started the engine. They pulled back onto the road and got up to speed.
“We need to be careful, if we don’t want to end up leading this expedition,” Jane said.
“I know. They are looking for somebody to lead them. They all thought that was Dave before. Wonder how many of them knew him before this mess started?”
“Good question.”
The scenery was getting more and more beautiful as they went along, even at night. There were signs advertising various campgrounds and resorts and tour companies.
“Looks like we aren’t that far,” Frank said.
“According to my GPS, we are still at least an hour away.”
“How’s your battery holding up?”
“We have enough to get there, I think,” Jane said. “I could plug it into the socket behind the seat, I suppose.”
“Might be a good idea.”
“Alright,” Jane said. She got up and went into the bedroom to get the charger. She plugged it in behind her seat and set it down on the floor. “No eating my cellphone, Miss Lucy.” The dog perked up, and wanted to climb back up on Jane’s lap. She jumped up as Jane was sitting down.
“What do you think our longer term plan ought to be?” Frank asked.
“I don’t know. I was thinking about that, though. I wish we could go home, but we’ll need to wait and watch. At least we know we can get news and use the phones.”
“Well, we think we can at this point, at least,” Frank said
“You aren’t still believing in these anti-government stories, are you?”
“No, but I’m worried about all of these militias. We may run into them out on the roads. They may be a danger.”
“Oh. Yeah, you could be right about that,” Jane said.
“I’m not a hundred percent sure out the government, either, to be honest. This border thing is lousy management at best. You have to agree with me there. We should never have allowed things to get to this
point.”
Jane sighed, and nodded yes.
They were silent for a little while, as the miles rolled by. Then they saw a big string of headlights coming at them from the north.
“Lots of folks coming,” Frank said.
“Looks like another military convoy.”
It was upon them in minutes. They drove past the line of RVs as if they weren’t there.
“Wow, there must be about 30 troop transport trucks in this line up.”
“Here come some tanks,” Jane said, pointing.
“More battle tanks. And this time I know why they need them. We’ll be taking southern Arizona back in short order, I suspect.”
“Well, so much for the Federal troops being a danger to us,” Jane said. She smirked.
“Hopefully they run into Dave’s buddies.”
“If he has any left,” Jane said. “If it’s just Lewis, he’s probably already disappeared into the woodwork.”
“He knows I shot Officer Simmons.”
“Remember, though, that he didn’t see it. Dave and Ken were the only ones who saw that, and I doubt if either of them walked away from that crash.”
“You’re probably right about that, but I can’t help worrying about this. I wonder if I should contact the authorities and tell them what happened?”
“Don’t do that, Frank,” Jane said. “I wouldn’t worry about it. If he was still in that ditch, he probably got burned up in the fire fight that happened there. Remember the napalm?”
“True. I still wish I wouldn’t have had to do that. It’s not a good feeling……..I’ll never get over it. I keep seeing his face.”
“That’s because you’re a good man, Frank.”
They passed Tusayan, a small town at the gateway of the Grand Canyon National Park.
“We’re getting close now,” Jane said. “I’d better get my phone back up here.”
She got up and pulled the phone charger out of the wall socket, then got back in her seat with it in her hand.
“Close?” asked Frank.
“Yes, we are only about ten miles away,” she said.
“Good, hopefully we can relax at this place for a little while. A day or two at least.”
“That would be wonderful.”
They drove along, and started to see more cars coming and going on the side streets. There were roads going off to National Park campgrounds.
“You don’t think Chester was talking about one of those?” asked Jane.
“No, I think he was talking about a place with hookups. Do you want to boondock? I don’t.”
“No boondocking for me tonight, if we can avoid it.”
“Wonder if that’s it?” asked Frank, pointing to a driveway with an RV Park sign, coming up dead ahead.
Just then a coach behind him beeped their horn twice.
“Yeah, this is it,” Jane said. “Turn in.”
Frank nodded and pulled into the long driveway. A man came out of the office. He had a shotgun in his hands.
“Oh oh,” Jane said.
“Be calm. I’d do that too, given the circumstances.”
The man came around to their driver’s side window. Frank opened it. The man looked like an old cowboy.
“Where you folks coming from?” he said. He sounded like an old cowboy, too.
“We’re from Southern California, but we came up through southern Arizona. We are looking for a safe place.”
“You aren’t some of those militia nuts, are you?”
“No, we just got away from some of those folks.”
“Hey, Charlie!” shouted Chester from the coach behind them. The man looked back, squinting. Then he looked at Frank.
“You guys with Chester?”
“Yes, he’s one of our group. There are about 20 of us.”
Charlie got a great big grin on his face.
“Go on in. We have plenty of open spaces. Just come back to the office after you pick one. I need the space number.” He smiled and waved them forward.
“Whew,” Jane said.
Frank looked in his rear view mirror, and saw the Charlie and Chester. They hugged each other, patting each other’s backs.”
“Yep, Chester and Charlie are close, it looks like,” Frank said. “I just saw them hug back there.”
“Good. Maybe we’ll get some rest this time.”
“Seriously.”
They drove down the center street. There were rows of slanted pull through spaces on either side, with plenty of shade trees. Up ahead of them were about twenty park models. They appeared to be occupied, as light was shining out the windows and from the porch lights.
“Let’s go down this row,” Frank said, and he turned in. He went down to the end and pulled into the space. It was deep enough to fit both the RV and the toad.
“This looks very nice,” Jane said. Frank shut off the engine and got out of his seat. He stretched. Lucy jumped off of Jane’s lap, her tail wagging.
“I’d better take her out,” Jane said. She got up, and put the leash on Lucy’s collar.
Frank went to the door and opened it. He could see coaches pulling up, in the spaces to the right of them on their row, and also in the rows behind them and in front of them. There was the sound of people greeting each other and laughing. He stepped out, and was followed by Jane and Lucy.
“Wow, look at everyone!” Jane said. Lucy was attempting to pull her all over the place. “Slow down, girl.”
“Yeah, we’ve got quite a crowd here. I’ll bet the park owners are glad to see us. They should be full of tourists this time of year.”
Chester came walking up. Frank walked out to greet him, and shook his hand.
“Thanks so much for telling us about this place, Chester. Now I feel like we can rest for a little while.”
“You’re quite welcome. Charlie and I go way back. He said to invite everybody in the clubhouse in a half hour. He’s got a bunch of ice cream that he needs to get out of his freezer. I’m making the rounds telling everyone.”
“Sounds great!” Frank said. Chester gave Frank a mock salute and continued on to the next coach.
“You really want to go?” Jane asked. “Aren’t you tired?”
“Yes, I’m tired, but we should go there and see who we’re with,” Frank said. “We helped each other out on that road. We’re stronger if we’re together.”
“Alright, you have a point. Let’s get the coach put together.”
Frank went around to the back and got the electrical and water hooked up. Then he went into the coach and fired up the engine. He turned on the leveler panel and started the auto-level, making the coach lurch and shake as it worked. It was done quickly.
“Hey, honey, could you check around for Mr. Wonderful? I want to put the slides out.”
“Sure.” She looked around, and found him in the back under the end of the bed. “He’s in a good space, go ahead and extend the bedroom slide first.”
“Thanks,” Frank said. Then he went to the panel and hit that button. The bedroom slide slowly inched its way out.
“He still in there?” Frank asked.
“Yep. I love the way he comes to attention and looks around when the slide starts moving out with him on it.” She laughed.
“Yeah. I’m surprised he doesn’t just bolt. Every other cat I’ve ever had would have done that.”
“Mr. Wonderful isn’t every other cat,” she said, still laughing.
Frank moved the two slides in the salon out.
“OK, that’s it. You can turn off the water pump. I’ve got us connected to city water already.”
“Alright,” Jane said, switching it off as she came out into the front of the coach.
“I think we can just leave the TOAD connected,” Frank said. “If it makes sense to stick around here for a few days, we can unhook her in the morning.”
“Sounds good. I’ll just freshen up a little, and then we can walk over to the clubhouse. I see a lot of people heading in that direction out
the window.”
“I guess I could run a comb through my hair, too.”
They were done with their grooming in a couple of minutes, and left the coach. Lucy wanted to go, but Frank pushed her back, shut the door, and locked up. There were still people walking in the direction of the clubhouse, which was bleeding light all over the front end of the park.
“This is a nice place,” Jane said. “I hope we can rest for a few days here.”
“Me too,” Frank said. He was really tired. “I’m glad this isn’t a very long walk.”
Frank and Jane followed another couple into the double doors of the clubhouse, which were held open with doorstops on both sides. The room had a stage at the far end, and rows of long tables in the middle. Of to the left side was a long table, with several commercial sized containers of ice cream. There were two young women behind them, dishing out ice cream into plastic bowls and handing them to people who were lined up. When some of people saw Jane and Frank standing inside the door way, they started clapping.
“Oh, my,” Jane said, embarrassed. The applause continued for about thirty seconds.
Frank held up his hands.
“Thanks, folks, but we didn’t do anything. We’re just folks like the rest of you.”
“You could have chickened out a couple of times,” said one man. “If it wasn’t for you, who knows where those creeps would have led us.”
“Nice game of chicken!” shouted another man. The crowd burst into laughter.
“Yeah, well several of you helped out a lot with that,” Frank said. “Nice job of slamming the door on those guys.”
Chester hobbled over slowly, with Charlie following him. They had wide grins on their faces.
“Get some ice cream, folks, before it melts too much,” Charlie said. “Then we’ll talk.”
Frank nodded, and he and Jane walked over to the table. They got bowls of ice cream from one of the pretty young ladies that was dishing it out. She had a sweet smile.
“Here you go,” she said.
They walked back over to the table where Charlie and Chester were sitting.
“It’s so nice of you to feed us ice cream,” Jane said. Then she took a spoonful. “Oh, this is heavenly.”