by T J Reeder
They now had four M-60s and 50 M-16s and 10 of the FALs we had found. Plus enough ammo to fight a war, which I really felt was coming from out of the bowels of the cities.
I took Charley and the girls back to the house where we sat and had coffee while the girls got cleaned up, since none of us had showered. It was also to give Charley and me time to talk. I asked him why he had made the trip, he took a bit to answer and finally said “My brother, your heart is troubled and I felt it through the radio. You have a dark fear and it’s been there for a while.” I nodded and waited, he said “It is a fear of troubles coming, bigger than we have had so far.” I nodded again. He sat a bit and then said “You are right.” I looked into his eyes and I knew he knew what the fear was. We both sat for a while until the girls came out looking clean and laughing at something, which could have been anything because they simply found joy in almost anything.
We walked to the chow hall where Jim introduced Charley to the people of Timberline and thanked him for bringing the hardware. Charley stood, surprising me and looking around the room he said “There are some bad times coming. You will need the weapons, but also the day may come when we call on you to send some people to join us in facing this trouble, and I know you will come.” Well that brought out the quiet then all at once they were all talking. Charley waited for it to quiet down and said “It won’t be for a while, so spend your time working on your place here and be ready. We will be in touch by radio from now on, now that you are a part of the outpost system we have going.”
I think he caused more questions than he answered but Jim said he would be getting with them all in the next few days and lay out the plan.
After resting for a day, Charley and his people loaded up in one of the HV’s and the truck and rolled for home. Jim looked stunned that they were leaving a HV here. I explained to him that when the big problem arrived it would be best to have such a vehicle because when we called and they came it would be their lead scout unit and main fire support weapon. Jim and I spent the day talking about what I thought might happen we then sat down with his committee to iron out some sort of a plan.
One thing they had was several of the one ton Dodge diesels we had found on the carrier on the interstate. Jim decided right then that they would start working on armoring some of them as best they could. With some steel plate on them they would provide cover for the people riding in them.
I told Jim about the weapons stashes we had found while heading east and while that would be a rare instance I believed there had to be a lot of untapped resources out there. Every National Guard unit had vehicles and there must be plenty of them sitting where they were parked. He got out a map of the state and started looking for places that might have such.
I often wonder why the very obvious common sense things evade us. I know there has to be military equipment out there that hasn’t been found or looked for. I wonder what happened to the big bases like Camp Pendleton in California, home of the First Marine Division. No way did they just walk away from the base. They should be up and running and cleaning out the gangs in the cities. Or so I would think. Yet we have never heard a word or rumor about it. It might bear looking into.
In fact this whole line of thinking has me wondering just how bad it had been in the high population places. We have everything we could ever need to be rebuilding and two + years later it’s not being done by any legitimate government group.
Meaning I’m back to the “Let’s do it ourselves” thing… As for the cities they are burned out rubble filled with god knows what, but if it comes out to fk with us then we will bury it and keep going with our plan. I felt better now. I refused to worry about the gang armies or whoever. We have a country to rebuild and we will get it done, and better than the first time. We have the power of the dams and can redirect it wherever we want and need it. And it’s free from now on. The rivers that were dammed belonged to all the people yet all we got were high power bills.
We would work it out I was sure. I mean we are people, humans, (well some of us are) we walk upright, we have thumbs for god’s sake!
But we had a trip to make and the whole country could just by God get by with candles until we got back. Although what we had to do with it was beyond me, I don’t even change light bulbs. I hate electricity except when it’s keeping my beer cold.
We needed to get moving if we planned to make it to my old starting point. So after telling Jim and the bunch goodbye we headed out in a bee line for the route Sandy and I had followed since it was a good one and would save time since we knew the way.
After several days and going up the wrong old road we rode into our clearing, there was the hot pool and there was the first stone and earth oven we had built, still standing. Sandy laughed and jumped off Rab then dragged May off the horse with no name and they raced to the oven, they were on their knee and down on their elbows looking inside it, I was enjoying the view I had, I heard one say “Dirty old man” and the other one said “Thank God!” Sandy got a stick and started dragging rubbish out of the oven, looked like somebody else made use of it, no idea what the critter was but they packed in a ton of crap. No sooner was it cleaned out and they were hauling in dry wood and lit a fire in it, when they heard me moan they turned and found me in the water. Causing a race to get naked. It’s hard to relax with two water babies splashing the tub dry, so after a while I got out and dried off, put sweats on with mocs and started unpacking the stock.
As I got them unloaded Sandy and May would lead them to the lower pool that was colder for them to drink. This place had a lot of good memories for Sandy and I and we would make sure it would be the same for May.
After the chores were done Sandy and May dug thru the supplies looking for the things needed to make bread, I left them to it and taking my 308 I headed out to scout the area. I could see no signs of anybody having been here since we were. On the way back I shot a yearling deer and after dressing it out I dragged it back close to camp where I hung it and cut out the back straps, leaving it to cool out I pulled it higher in the tree and headed on into camp where I could see the bread plan was in full swing, they seemed to have gotten into a flour fight and both of them and Walker were covered with it.
Now one thing I was not gonna do was mention it to them because I’d end up covered with it too. I suddenly had a thought about dinner and asked if they wanted to hear it? Both said sure, what I wanted to know was if we took bread dough and made a flat pizza like thing and after seasoning the back strap we rolled it in the dough and set it in the hot earth oven what would happen?
This became a discussion for several minutes until finally they decided to just try it. But the general consensus was to kinda sear it on the hot stone in the oven then do the dough thing, that would help ensure it was fully cooked and lock the juices in, so we did that and the smell like to have killed me!! I was starving.
We could always eat it even if it didn’t work out and Walker wouldn’t know the difference even as he wolfed down his share. So we did it. The dough was really more like biscuit than bread if you know what I mean. While this was going on I built the fire up and really got it hot in there. When they were ready I raked the coals to the front and laid the rolled up blob in on the flat stone, we closed the open door with the flat rock we used for that and went about getting camp set up.
It was starting to smell good no matter what it would taste like. After the tent was up and the gear all covered and the supplies hanging in trees out a ways from camp we took another long soak and at last couldn’t stand it any longer because of the smells coming from the oven so we got dressed and opened the oven, I won’t say it was a golden brown, it was more of a dark brown, I could see that it was a good thing the girls had poked vent holes in the dough to let out moisture. The juices cooking out of the vents and hitting the hot stone was the smell we got.
We cut it into chunks and ate it with our fingers, and it was delicious! The deer being so young was as tender as it could be. The girls had
nailed the seasoning, It really was outstanding, I had worried it wouldn’t cook all the way but it did thanks to searing it first. I got high praise for my idea!
We were stuffed and since Walker wasn’t gonna be inside the tent he got some too. Sandy asked where I got the idea for this and I could only shrug. I couldn’t remember reading anything like it. May said “ Pigs in a blanket!” there ya go. Had to be. Whatever we loved it and would be doing it again, hell we had a Dutch oven we seldom used that would be perfect for this but using the oven we had built made it all that much better!
We pulled out a few days later heading for the Valley where I had met the West Virginia Mountain folks, along the way we stopped at the place where I had found Sandy and buried her people. We stopped and placed wild flowers on the grave after pulling some weeds and in general cleaning it up. May and I gave her some alone time then she called us over and introduced us and said she was loved and happy and missed them but knew things go around so one day they would meet again.
We rode out of there and were all quiet for a while then Sandy started telling May the story of the people we were meeting next, and that she had not met them but from my description she just knew her and May would like them. Soon enough we stopped for the night and all was back to normal. We made a quick supper and put the animals on a picket line, and were asleep by full dark.
Right about the time the sky got gray and it was half light all hell broke loose! Walker went crazy, Buck and his bunch exploded. My brain said wolves! So I grabbed the pump shot gun and bailed out of the tent. One thing we had done was to collect Surefire flashlights and also mounts for the shotguns. I flicked the light on and looked right into the eyes of the biggest damn bear I’d ever seen. About an arm’s length from me!
I will go to my grave believing the only thing that saved me was the several hundred lumens from that light that fried his vision long enough for me to shoot him several times. I stopped only because the gun was just going click.
And then May stepped around me and looked close and said well shit John, you never gave us a chance to get in on it! I said excuse me but I need to visit the outhouse and I did.
In the last year I’ve been in more gun fights than I can remember and never got hit with a bolt of raw fear, but this one about dropped me. After I tossed my cookies and checked my drawers, I walked very shakily back into camp. The girls were building a big fire after settling the animals and checking Walker, who had gotten swatted when he leaped at the bear. Lucky Walker! Got his marbles scrambled a bit and a cut ear but was standing growling at the dead bear.
I checked on the livestock who were still wall eyed and pulled back as far as they could get but they were settling down a bit.
It was a big boar Grizzly and big like really fkn huge, I almost tossed my cookies again. In all my years hunting in Montana I only had a chance to kill a bear three times, all black bears, but I never shot one. I like bear meat but I just never had the urge to kill one. Now I was looking at the king of bears at least in the Rocky Mountains.
Sandy said John, May and I want the hide and we want to get it tanned. I didn’t bother asking why because it was their wish so I would get it done come full light. But first I wanted coffee with a heavy jolt of brandy. And there it was delivered with a smile from May. So I said ok girls, one bear skin rug coming up! They started smiling and doing the “I’m excited dance”.
And skin the big son of a bitch I did. Buck was willing to haul the rope that pulled the bear up in the air so I could get to work. Now I’ve skinned a ton of deer and a few elk as well. But I’ve never done a bear and I wanted it to be a good job for the girls. So it took a long time.
After that was done, I used Buck again to drag the body off into a gully and left it. I had thoughts of taking some meat but right now it would spoil before we could do anything with it. Bear spoils fast.
We spent the day stretching the hide and scrapping it free of fat then rubbed salt into it. After that was done we left it out in the sun to dry, and before dark we rolled it tight and wrapped it in a canvas ground cloth for the night and hung it in a tree. Come morning, we stretched it again and let the sun do its thing. After packing it away for the night we hit the bed early and come morning light we had coffee done, breakfast eaten and were packing. In another hour we were riding out.
We spent another few days on the trail before we hit the trail Harv had shown me which we followed down off the ridge and soon we saw smoke and then smelled it. We paused for a while in a clearing before heading on down the slope. I knew soon we would hear from somebody and then Harrv rode into sight and it was old home week! After a quick introduction to the girls he led us on down into his canyon where the entire family was waiting. It made me feel so good seeing all these good folks still here safe and sound.
The live stock was taken over by the older boys and we were herded into the big kitchen where we were seated like royalty and food and drink were brought. Harvey and all his clan were piled into the huge kitchen to hear my story, but I said it would be better to do it after supper and when the whole clan outside of the guards were able to hear it.
Harv laughed and said hell John everybody’s here now! So I spent a couple hours telling the story and after the point where Sandy came into it she had to join in and then May in her turn. I wasn’t sure how these mountain folks would deal with the two wives thing but nobody blinked. After we finished with our arrival here it was supper time so everybody just dug in, how the ladies got the meal ready while listening to the whole story is beyond me which is about it with everything to do with women. I’m like most men, we are pretty blind to everything these wonderful creatures do for us.
Sandy and May were up and involved with serving and eating and chatting with the women and when the meal was over they were right in the middle of cleaning up. No slacker in them.
After the meal the men wanted to see the bear hide so we headed to the barn where I unrolled it and got some real praises on the size so I told them the whole story including the fear ball, the puking and shakes, all of them said they would have been in the same boat. When asked what I planned to do with it I told them what the girls wanted and one of the men stepped forward and said “John I can tan this thang so soft yer gonna thank yer touching a babies butt.”
I love listening to these folks talk and I said well sir if you can get it so my ladies are happy I sure as hell make it worth yer time, he just waved away the comment and said I’ll have it ready in a few days and rolled it up and hauled it away.
Harv said this man was the best hide tanner he ever seen and said come on and took me into the cold cave and showed me wolf hides the man had tanned and they were awesome! I had a few ideas right there and we had a talk and Harv said not a problem.
It was their time to tell about what happened around here and I was surprised to hear that I was the first and last person to wonder into their area. The road block they had set up right in the beginning had worked very well since there just wasn’t any other way into the area except on foot or horseback. He said they still maintained the watch on the roadblock but it was just a couple of the older boys who spent a three day watch and then were relieved by two more, which gave the boys an adult job to do and built confidence. I couldn’t believe after all the shit we saw that it was just peaceful here.
I was able to go into more detail on our experiences than I had with the women and kids there. He wasn’t surprised about the cannibals, saying there was always rumors of such goings on in lonely country and he was glad we had stopped that bunch dead. He was surprised about Chicago but not the Southern Army going in a cleaning up the mess.
He did give me shit about how I could ride through the area on my mule alone and come back with more mules and two wives! And he said he could tell at a glance that they were for real tigers, ready to fight in a blink and they would blink to get it going.
I told him about the whole Wyatt and Doc thing and that it was a no shit thing. They were flat out cha
ined lightning with their 1911s. He was impressed and wanted to do some shooting in a day or two. He said they had done some scavenging trips and had gone through places abandoned by the owners and found a lot of loading equipment and were able to load their own ammo which wasn’t much, since they only shot enough to keep the youngsters trained.
We finally convinced them that we really did want to sleep in the barn with our animals. So we moved into their hay loft and slept great. I’ve always loved the smell of a clean barn, the cow and horse smell is fine with me. Come 0 dark thirty the damn rooster down below was about to get shot when the boys came in to milk. I just snuggled down and snoozed for a while but the girls got up so I did, in the big kitchen coffee was ready and the men were coming and going getting chores done.