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another story #10 - Part 6
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It was about 4am when Clark woke up from the loud whistling noise caused by the never before 75 or more mph wind blowing through the trees and around his house. The sound was something he had never heard before. He got up to look out the front door to see what the weather was like. The door knob was ripped from his light grip and he was almost sucked out of the house. The door bounced back and he grabbed the knob and pulled it in with a little difficulty where he got the latch to engage. The grid powered lights went out at just that instant the door was pulled shut. He heard someone talking but could not figure out who could be in his house at 4 in the morning. It was the small hand portable radio on the coffee table and Armando was the one doing the talking.

Armando told him; maybe it would be a good idea for him to come to the cave and spend the rest of the night there after he had shut down his house and emptied the fridge. Clark was not totally moronic and did as Armando requested. He put the small amount of salvageable goods from his fridge in a duffle like bag, shut off the main power from the grid, waited for a reprieve from the monstrous winds and ran to the cave. The steel vault like door was open as he jogged into the lit up hole in the mountain.


The 7 High Command Generals amongst other members of the Communist controlled hierarchy that ran China were all smoking American cigarettes in the above ground bunker. Most were watching the large TV screen that had cameras spaced out from near ground zero all the way back to the top of the bunker. They all grinned when the 1st 25 megaton nuclear detonation lit up the sky 7500 feet above ground. By the time of the 3rd detonation there were complete full teeth grins from the 35 or so on lookers. Those grins disappeared shortly when above the speed of sound 900 plus mile an hour, minus 20 degree F winds hit the bunker completely tearing it from its rebar enforced footer; sending the broken concrete and bent steel pieces flying across the small remaining sandy strip that lay a little southwest of the main Ordos desert. The wind is going in the wrong direction was the last thought Xing Phu had as his body along with the other 30 or so people in the building was crushed into the cement walls of the bunker.

Just another story #10 - Part 7
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The Gobi Desert detonations worked perfectly. The only thing wrong was the minus 20 degree F, 900 mile per hour wind blew the desert sand on a 5200 mile wind front that would eventually smother or rip the exposed skin from every human in that sand filled cone of destruction. This included Beijing and a few more billion people eastward. The Gobi desert sand was blasted out down to bedrock 3 or more miles deep for 600 miles due east. A lot of the sand did not fall downward from the wind front till somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But the wall of wind had started pushing a 900 foot high wave 5200 miles wide across the Pacific. The wind above the wave was just as strong as it started out because it was constantly being re-fed from the gravity well type cyclonic vortex that had opened up at the point of explosion. The cyclonic vortex was something no one on earth had ever seen except from a satellite view of the planet Jupiter and the Great Red Spot. The upper frigid atmosphere was constantly being sucked downward and forced out in the direction the atomic explosions had directed it. The wind that had almost blown Clarks pickup off the highway was one of the first gusting from the original explosion.

Just another story #10 - Part 8
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The Ordos desert detonation winds were ripping through the western section of China headed just slightly southwest. The small amount of sand it blasted out was joined by the dirt beyond the desert. These winds would reach to the southern tip of Brazil and anything further south only got hit by a constant 150 mile per hour spin-off wind. The Gobi Desert winds would reach to the middle of Greenland and further north would get 175 mile per hour winds. In less then 24 hours the earth was darkened and shut down. No vehicle or pedestrian could withstand the enormous sand blasting wind.

Just another story #10 - Part 9
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If you were on Hawaii and were not initially on the eastern side 900 feet above sea level; you were either blown by the 800 plus mph wind or washed out to sea by the 900 foot wave or you just drowned. If you were above 900 feet and did not have a heated bomb shelter that was fully stocked; you died from cold or exposure. The 900 foot level was only good on Hawaii for about 6 days. The wind just kept pushing the wave front higher in the open sea until there was no need for it to go any higher because there was no land above the ocean. Clark would be extremely lucky as we shall soon see.

Just another story #10 - Part 10
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California was under 900 feet of water with a sustained wind of 800 miles per hour blowing across the state heading towards the east coast. The following 400 mile per hour 900 foot high ocean wave was right behind the frontal wind assault. Any north south mountain range would in short order be breached or covered in ocean water as the wind was constant and unstoppable in its pushing of the water to flow over or around the obstruction. If there was a wide enough gap on both sides of the obstruction, the ocean waters would level out and flow around the obstruction. If there was no gap the wind just pushed the ocean water up and over.

There was no human surface activity due to the tremendous velocity of the wind. Every open underground mine or shelter was flooded with salt water. Occupants of sealed bomb shelters that did not have an internal source of stored oxygen suffocated. The space station astronauts just looked at what the satellite pictures were showing them. They had no comment about the horror being inflicted on the earth. If you were above the 36th parallel and were in a shelter on the eastern side of an east west mountain range, odds of survival went up 75%. The same applied for people below the 36th parallel only they had to be on the western side of the east west running mountain range. Clark was on the eastern side of an east west running mountain range at the 1400 foot level on the 38th parallel.

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Just another story #10 - Part 11
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8 hours after Clark and the farmer shut the cave door the tremendous wind blew his 10000 dollar set of solar panels off into the mountains where they were battered into 1 inch pieces of silicone. The 9th day the water paddle and the creek froze in the minus 20 degree F arctic wind blasting weather. The paddle down in the creek gulley which kept it out of the monstrous winds was not damaged just frozen. There was a small generator in the cave to charge the batteries and supply some electricity for a short while if both systems failed.

At the Gobi and Ordos desert sites where the trouble emanated from the gravity wells collapsed and the wind instantly stopped on the 14th day. The worlds mixed up ocean waters began to recede back to what were formerly sea level areas.

Clark and the farmer came out of the cave 12 hours after the winds stopped. The sky had that dirty gray look. The atmosphere was full of dirt particles and moisture. The rains started 2 hours after they were out. They had to go back in because no one ever had seen rain like this. It was like someone had a hose nozzle with a 1000 mile wide opening on the end and turned it on full blast. The rains fell for 4 days and Clark saw why the farmer had sloped the cave, water was leaking everywhere through the porous sandstone roof and was running down the slope and out through the 3 two inch pipes he had installed for just that purpose.

Just another story #10 - Part 12
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The farmer had brought his wife, the sister of one of his deceased son’s wife and 2 grandchildren, a 7 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. The reason the sister of one of the farmer’s son’s wife was there; she had brought the grand children for a visit and the farmer had talked her into coming along for a few days until the Chinese event blew over. Her name was Jeanie-Jeanie and yes her parents did double moniker her with those names. She was a lovely looking thing and reminded Clark of the girl that played in that old black and white TV series he used to watch on the old movie/TV series channel every now and then – I Dream of Jeannie - starring Barbara Eden.

The rains had thawed out the water wheel paddle and the creek. Power was again available. The radio antenna was bent down onto the ground, the antenna cables had kept it from blowing away. Clark had no idea if he could get it put back up to see if anyone was broadcasting. When they ventured out to the road that led down to the highway; they just started stuttering. The water was still about 500 feet up the mountainside. They did not yet know it was salt water. They would find out in a little while.

His concrete house, the concrete roof and windows covered with steel shutters had come through unscathed. He and Jeanie-Jeanie would eventually set up housekeeping there.

The 4 adults finally got the radio antenna back in a sort of straight up position. The farmer told Clark that the space station was giving out information on what had happened and the world status. They listened to the astronauts intently for news on their section of the US and received it 2 days later. The astronauts told any one listening not to worry about them – they would leave in 37 days on the escape shuttle and set up a transmitting station in the national forest on the WV and Virginia border. The reason they picked that location was the mountains were all east west and the ocean did not cover them. The reports kept coming in on the world and US situation. The ocean water covering the US was now receding at a rapid pace and most of the US would be free of the salty water in about 2 more weeks. The astronauts reported that as far as they knew it would take more then a few years for the rains to dilute the salt water covered ground enough to plant crops in the lowlands.

Just another story #10 - Part 13
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Death Valley had a new look since it was below sea level; the 300 and some feet deep ocean water would take a long time to evaporate and/or sink into the sand. This just added a little more salt to the region and would harm nothing.

The forests in the US above the 36th parallel were all blown down towards the east and would take many, many years to re-grow. The forests below the 36th were blown towards the west. Clark wondered why there was not a dividing line where nothing had happened. He found out many years later from one of the astronauts that the winds blowing from the east and the ones from the west were actually touching and causing a small amount of friction. There was not enough friction to start fires because of the wind speed and amount of salty water molecules in the air.

Travel in the US was not possible unless one had a helicopter. All the bridges were down the roads were a quagmire of covered, dried/wet mud, downed trees and boulders. Animals/birds were almost non-existent, but you can rest assured the mosquito and fly population had not been damaged in the least. In 14 days the wind had circled the globe in both directions about 12 times and the 900 foot ocean wave had made the circuit 4 or more times. This was almost an (ELE) Extinction Level Event. Only time would tell if it was.

Just another story #10 - Part 14
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2 years after the astronauts had returned to earth they travelled to Camp David and found 3 undamaged helicopters with 40000 gallons of stabilized fuel at a closed in concrete hangar. The hangar was 40 feet higher then the salt water had made it up to. The President and all of congress had not been able to evacuate Washington and all had perished. There were 6 surviving Marine Guards, 2 maintenance workers, 2 cooks and 2 maids at Camp David.

The group at Clark’s farm had increased by 3 new Clark babies when the helicopter landed on the open acreage. Clark and all of the people that could carry an axe had been making steady progress on the trail around the bottom of the many mountains. The large group where the Astronauts had set up their camp had also been making trails to various other groups and they were almost halfway to the Clark Farm. Next summer a walking trail would be completed tying the 2 groups together.

The end of Just another story #10 – The Wind.

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Clark Story #11 - The Plane Crash
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Master Sergeant Clark had been stationed at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage Alaska for a little over a year on his 3 year tour. He had just turned 31 years old, was single and had a good idea on what he was going to accomplish in the next 17 years of his 30 year career. Presently he was in charge of the Law Enforcement division on the base or a better word for the job was figurehead – The 8 flights of Security force members – 4 Law Enforcement Flights (base gate guards, regular law enforcement, patrols) and 4 Security Flights (air plane, munitions, nuclear storage guards) were all commanded by a 1st or 2nd lieutenant. So he really could not issue out orders to the law enforcement flights like he could on a base that did not have commissioned officers in charge of the flights. He was the consummate politician and stayed on top of the entire base goings on. Word came to him that a large amount of US currency was being shuttled back and forth between the Alaskan Military Bases. He looked into this and found there were no guards on these flights, only the pistol armed pilot and co-pilot. He thought an armed MSgt security guard should be on each of these currency flights. Well he subtly informed the Lt Col that was in charge of all Security forces on the base of what he thought should be done. The Lt Col took it under advisement. 2 days later the Lt Col asked him if a MSgt Security force member should fly out on each of these flights. Of course Clark as deft of a politician as he was told the Lt Col that that was a great idea the Lt Col had and he would volunteer for the 1st 90 day temporary duty assignment.

Clark was in hog heaven, he had nothing to do but ride around in a C-130 all over Alaska and look tough. This job was right down his alley and he would make numerous contacts during this time that may come in handy either here in Alaska or somewhere else in the world he may be stationed later.

Both the co-pilot and the pilot laughed at him when he drug the 50 pound duffel bag on the plane each trip they took. He ignored them. They had never been stuck somewhere with no supplies for 24 to 36 hours in a desolate place. He remembered that one incident that changed his mindset on preparedness and it fortunately happened early in his military career. A jet had landed at a base at over 400 mph and crashed through the barrier chains and slid on out into the desert for about 3 miles. Well dumb 1 striper Clark was on flight line roving patrol when this happened – he was directed to go to the plane crash site. Well as things go in the military chain of command he was low man on the totem post. The Sgt of the Guard told him to guard the plane and the body until recovery took place. They took his vehicle and left him standing by the burnt diesel fuel/wire smell at 11pm (2300 military time). All he had with him was his canteen an M-16 and 38 pistol. No food and the canteen was half gone. They forgot about him at shift change – There were other people coming and going like the body removal people and the accident investigators – They all left at daybreak. He was afraid to desert his post so he sat beside the crashed plane till 5pm (1700) the following day dying of thirst in the 110 degree heat. Finally someone came – the only reason they came was he had not reported for duty at 3pm the following day and someone remembered where he was. He never went anywhere after that without his survival duffle bag.

It was late May, the salmon had just started to come into the southern Alaskan streams and Clark knew after this trip he would have 3 days off to fish till he got tired of catching fish.

It was a simultaneous event. The SHTF at the same time the plane crashed. Or better description, the SHTF caused the plane to crash.

Just Another Story #11 -Part 2 - The Plane Crash
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When the 4 engines on the C-130 quit, Clark pulled the seat belt as tight as he could get it. The 1st Lieutenant Finance Officer and the Crew Chief were not going to have enough time to get buckled in. They were at the far end of the plane doing something highly illegal. They were smoking on a USAF Airplane. (Smoking is hazardous to your health). They were flung violently upwards into the top of the ceiling as the plane went into its death dive. He was in the seat with his back directly against the bulkhead leading into the cockpit. He placed the square seat life preserver behind his head and took the 2nd life preserver from the seat beside him and placed it in front of his face with both hands squeezing it against him. He wasn’t worried about how many peoples butts had sat on it before. He just wanted to make sure when his head snapped forward into his lap that he would not bust his teeth out on his knees. This was all contingent on the plane not exploding on impact and it was a survivable crash landing. He just thought me and my big ideas about riding around in a plane in Alaska. The life preserver behind his head stopped the backward whiplash/head crush injury when the plane impacted onto the ground and the life preserver he held on his face did save his teeth.

He was just a little bruised when the plane stopped its spinning movement. He looked in the cockpit and saw the co-pilot was dead; a 4 inch thick pine branch had broken through the cockpit window and pierced his upper throat. The pilot, Sandra Kessler a Major, had some blood running out of her ears and a cut across her forehead. Her left arm was broken in 2 places and was bent at funny looking angles but the bones had not broken through the skin. He applied a pressure bandage to her forehead and before she woke up put the bones back into what looked to him like a perfectly straight arm, he hoped like Hell he didn’t cut thru a blood vessel while realigning her arm bones, he would worry about that later. He did not think she would bleed to death internally from an internal blood vessel in her arm being cut before they were rescued. He used the splints in the first aid kit and tied them firmly around the realigned/reset bones. He would not know whether she had internal injuries or massive brain damage until she regained consciousness if she ever did. Major Kessler was a fine specimen of a woman, a few years younger then him and still single. And he knew she liked to party. He had checked the Crew Chief and the Finance Officer, the violent upwards thrust had broken their neck and the slinging around in the plane had not helped their bodies which were broken up fairly well.

He got her 4 point seat belt unbuckled and laid her on 4 of the 8 foot by 8 foot pallet blankets. There were 32 of them strapped onto a wall section. One wing with 2 engines was still attached to the plane and it looked like it was barely damaged, just a few scratches and the propellers bent backwards. The fuselage was totally intact with no holes that he could find. He went outside and saw that she had lowered the landing gear and all the wheels were keeping the plane fuselage off the 18 or so inches of snow. He was trying to figure out where they were when he heard her moaning.

Just Another Story #11 -Part 3 - The Plane Crash

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She was deathly pale and in great pain. He could not imagine bones being broken and forcibly put back into position. He had a good idea that it would probably cause great pain. If the big rescue helicopter did not soon arrive, he would have to give her some of his precious medicines. One of his drinking buddies at the NCO (non-commissioned-officers) Club had filled out Clark’s survival duffel bag medicine requirements. He had given him 24 Tylenol 3 capsules, 80 500 mg Amoxicillin tablets and 250 penicillin 500 mg tablets. Clark had went to the military pharmacy and complained of great muscle pain and headaches. He was given a tube of sixty 800 milligram prescription strength Motrin tablets.

Clark had a cup of water ready to give her when she woke up. She asked for water. He asked her if she could swallow a pill and she said yes. He gave her 2 Tylenol 3 capsules. He was saving his chicken bouillon cubes for later. She was not ready to talk and fell back into a semi like coma. Clark thought this was good. He started to worry about her messing and peeing in her pants. He took all her clothes off and covered her with another pallet blanket. Yes he did look at that almost perfect body. After all he was a dirty minded 31 year old healthy man.

Just Another Story #11 -Part 4 - The Plane Crash
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He checked the cockpit switches and found everything was in the off position. He had asked some questions and did some observation for the 1st 10 or so flights. He had no intentions of ever learning to fly a beast like this plane, but he did have the rudimentary knowledge of take-off and landing procedures.

There were 12 box lunches on the plane; he had given the cook at point Barrow a 10 dollar bill and a 6 pack of Coors beer which was almost impossible to get at that place for the 7 extra lunches. He had put them in one of the 3 foot by 3 foot by 3 foot aluminum tote containers out in the snow because all 12 of the lunches had milk, some type of meat sandwiches and fruit in them.

He had just enjoyed a box lunch 8 hours later when the moaning began again. She said help me to the head (bathroom). She never mentioned being naked as he almost had to carry her to the bathroom. She fell asleep or passed out on the toilet. Clark had never wiped an adults butt before besides his, but he made an exception this time and did hers.

It got downright cold under 2 cargo blankets about 5 hours after he decided to sleep beside her. He added 3 more blankets and lay back down. He did keep most of his clothes on.

She woke up about 7 hours later screaming in pain and asking for help to get to the head. He gave her a big cup of water a Tylenol 3 pill and helped her to the bathroom. She hollered out this time that she needed help getting back to the blanketed area. He asked her if she could stay awake long enough to drink some chicken broth and maybe eat a slice of bread or an apple. She drank the soup, had 2 bites of the apple and passed out again.

Just Another Story #11 -Part 5 - The Plane Crash
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Clark was beginning to worry on the 3rd day when they had not been rescued. She had taken 7 of his Tylenol 3 pills and eaten a little. He decided to start her on the Motrin when she woke again. Maybe she would stay awake long enough to tell him where they were and what had happened. He had taken one of his T-Shirts and put on her after slitting the left arm sleeve a little to allow the sleeve to slide over the splint. The T-Shirt was long enough to cover her private parts.

The 6th day for lack of something to do he had heated some water up from the nearby creek in his canteen and used one of the aluminum totes to soak her panties and the rear end of her flight suit to clean them because of the leakage that had occurred during the crash.

Day seven she was awake for about 2 hours and after the bathroom trip, a sandwich and cup of milk. He finally found out what had happened. She said this is one of the newer models of C-130 and the EMP shielding was not as good as the older models. She had seen several bright flashes off towards Anchorage and Fairbanks and assumed they were nuclear detonations. She continued and told him we had just crossed over the 9000 foot high Brooks mountain Range when the engines quit. He thought to himself after visualizing a map of Alaska, we could not be in a worse location. That would place them 400 miles from anywhere world. The Arctic National Park was just south of where they were and no one had probably arrived to open the place up yet because of the snow, maybe a Ranger or 2 were there to keep watch over the ranger stations. The only access to the Park was by float plane and travel in the park was restricted to foot and backpack camping. They could not go back north because of the Brooks mountain range and it would be just about impossible to travel eastwards through some of the most heavily infested undergrowth, forested and boggy tundra territory in Alaska. It was almost 400 miles to the Coast and it would be a trip through the same type of terrain. They either stayed here or when she was well enough, try to make it to the Arctic National Park, maybe a hundred fifty or more miles south.

He said to her, I have been to all those survival schools and we definitely do not want to live in a plane fuselage through an arctic winter; but we may have to because I do not think you will be 100% by the end of August. If we do not get rescued we better start planning on food for the winter. They did nothing but talk, plan and eat some of the frozen box lunches for the next 2 days. He just said that is the last of it. She said what? He said the bread.

She told him later that this was a newly modified C-130 and the fuselage had 4 inches of insulation for crew comfort. He told her he did not know that and that information changes a lot of my thinking.

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Just Another Story #11 -Part 6 - The Plane Crash
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During the 2 days of planning and eating the box lunches, they took inventory of what they had. She had made him use a stick and check to see if the attached wing still had the fuel in it. He told her he did not need a stick because he could see the fuel was almost at the filler cap. She said we have about 4000 gallons of aviation fuel to burn this coming winter. Clark said I have never heard of burning aviation fuel in a heater and have absolutely no idea how to construct one. She just looked at him and said those pallets have sitting on them 3 foot by 3 foot by 3 foot cast iron or steel lock boxes maybe we can make a wood stove. He said we can start on that project after we gather some food for the short term. I will have to shoot at least 2 moose for enough food to make it through the coming winter. He was writing out the list of what they had in the way of food. Clark looked at her when she said she had ten 6 ounce cans of tuna in olive oil in her flight bag. She said, well I like tuna. He just wrote it down. His duffel bag contents that she laughed at would be what will keep them alive for the coming bad times. The plane had one of those over the water launch rafts with all the survival supplies. There were 2 fire axes on the wall and the small kitchenette had coffee, sugar, tea, sweet and low, a 26 ounce box of Morton iodized salt, a 4 oz can of black pepper, 3 jars of Louisiana red hot sauce and 6 boxes of crackers, 3 Ritz and 3 saltines. There were 12 cans of Coke, 3 cans of Ginger Ale, 1 plastic jar with 25 chicken bouillon and one 25 count jar of beef cubes. That was it for the plane supplies. He looked at the electric coffee maker and said that is a useless piece of equipment, she said maybe not. He looked at her. She said there is a built in 4 by 8 foot solar panel behind the cockpit on the outer fuselage to maintain a trickle charge to the batteries. If we do not run them all the way down we will have LED cabin and fuselage lights and in an emergency you can heat some water in the coffee maker. He looked at the double burner stove in the galley and said please tell me we have 10 million gallons of propane to light this stove up. She laughed and said no, just the two 20 pound propane tanks under the cabinet. What was in the 50 pound duffle bag will come out in a little while.

There were 2 CAR 14 inch barrel .223’s and his M-16, two 9mm pistols and his 45 model 1911. They all had a full 1 day combat load out for the .223’s,two hundred and twenty rounds each. 42 rounds for the 9mm and Clark had three 7 round magazines for his 45. But as we shall see when we get to Clark’s duffle bag contents, there was a little bit more ammunition. Only the 2 pilots and Clark were armed for this trip.

Major Kessler was ambulatory now on the 9th day but still in a great deal of pain. Each step she took was done slowly and when she put her foot down it was with a feathery touch. Clark thought in a few more weeks she would be able to help with small jobs.

The snow was rapidly melting and the ground would be mushy for quite a while after it melted. He set out a few snares, shot 4 snowshoe rabbits and some fat grouse with a collapsible 22 from his duffle bag. That would be enough food for several days. He set out digging a large pit down to the perma frost to store the fresh meat he was killing. He would not need the dug pit with the aluminum tote boxes buried in it to keep things cold when winter came back.

Water would not be a problem for the summer because there was a large creek about 20 yards behind the plane, the creek was at least 40 feet across and 12 to 24 inches deep.. But winter would pose another problem when things froze solid. When he looked at the creek he could see the early run of pink salmon had started and a lot of the fish were starting to turn that deep red and had the hook mouth that indicated they were at the end of their lifespan and had spawned. He wished she was healthy to help him on the netting and pulling a ton of fish from the creek that he was going to smoke for winter food. He made several drying racks and cut a bunch of small alder trees down to smoke the fish.

From the duffle bag came a tightly rolled up 10 foot long 2 foot high gill net. He staked one end to the bank in 12 inch deep water and staked the other end 10 feet out in the creek. He let the traveling fish settle down and walked across the creek and started herding the thousands of fish towards his net. When the creek peg almost came out of the creek bed he grabbed that end and pulled the 75 or so fish that was hung up in the netting up on the bank. He did not know how long this fish run would last so he pulled out about 400 fish. The work began right then. He did nothing to the fish but gut them and rinse out the inside. The 7 drying racks he had made almost took all the fish he had cleaned. He was busy that day and the next keeping the smoky fires smoldering. All of the guts and 99% of the eggs went back into the fast moving creek to eliminate the stench of rotting flesh that would attract any carrion eater. He was particularly worried about grizzlies. He really did not care for salmon eggs but he filled up 2 gallon freezer bags and put them in one of the aluminum totes in the 36 to 38 degree creek water. He was thinking food was food and the eggs had an untold amount of nutrients in them. If he could freeze them they would be good for a year or so, at least until the next year salmon run

Just Another Story #11 -Part 7 - The Plane Crash
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His back was aching from bending over into the creek and rinsing the fish insides out, his feet were just about frozen from the 36 to 38 degree water he had been wading in on his tire bottom soled shower clogs. He just stopped everything except for feeding the smoking alder fires and let the ache go away and his feet get that normal feeling back in them. It took him seven days to smoke and dry about 700 fish. He could not store the dried fish in the fuselage it would smell the place up with the smoke and fish smell. He thought on this for a few hours and decided it would be another hard job. He made a ladder 14 foot long it was just high enough for him to reach the crotch of a large tree that was out of reach of any grizzly. He had to build the 4 X 4 X 4 foot box in sections tied together with electrical wire from the broken off wing and para cord from the duffle bag so he could carry the parts up in the tree. He cut a piece of aluminum off the broken off wing and used it to water proof the top. The box doorway that slid open sideways was good and tight and would stop all the carrion climbing animals from entering.

The aching in Sandra’s arm had almost quit and she could wiggle her fingers and make a fist without groaning in pain. Clark had looked at her military ID (identification) card and knew she would soon be 28 years old. The small amount of training in first aid and talking with medics, he had learned that at her age and good health it would take just a little longer then 9 weeks for the bones to permanently knit back together.

After he covered the hole in the windshield with a piece of aluminum from the torn off wing, he decided to burn the 3 bodies. The best he could do before was scrape some dirt over them and some rocks. He unearthed the bodies and gagged a little, the rodents had been at their face and eye area. He dragged the bodies up on 10 or 12 dead logs and covered them with 15 or more logs – he used about 4 gallon of Av gas to start the fire, after it was going good he walked back to the plane.

Just Another Story #11 -Part 8 - The Plane Crash

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He really did not want to shoot a moose with summer coming. But he would dry most of it and eat fresh steaks for a week. The different type of dried smoked meat would make for a change in the dead of winter. He took 3 M-16 magazines from his duffle bag that had 18 rounds each of 64 grain Winchester Power Point hunting bullets in them and set off. The stove was constantly at the forefront of both their minds. 2 miles from the plane he spotted what had to be the biggest moose in the world. It was side on to him and about 60 yards away. The moose was eating some type of vegetation that he could not tell what it was from this distance. He leaned against a tree and fired a single shot at the upper part of the neck directly behind the head hoping for a spinal shot. The moose turned to look at him and he said the hell with it. He set the M-16 to 3 round burst mode and squeezed the trigger twice more aiming at the same area. All 4 legs collapsed under the moose and it ended up on its belly. He put in a full magazine and placed the partially fired one in his ammo pouch. He said to himself I should not have shot that 1500 or so pound animal. It will take me a week to cut it up. May as well get started; I am going to do this the easy way. I can always pick the hair off the meat later. He cut the back strap (fillet mignon) out, bagged it up in one of the duffle bag heavy duty contractor size trash bags. Set the bag in the creek to cool the meat down and keep it fresh. He was going to try and save the liver if he could remember where it was in the animal. He cut the animal in two pieces carefully avoiding the gut sack. He thought this would make the animal more manageable. It didn’t. Next the head went. He used the saw from the duffle bag and cut down beside the spine right through the ribs and now had the thing in 4 pieces minus the head and gut sack. Dragging the 4 pieces over to the creek he started trimming the meat away from the bone. It was 12 hours later and about dark when he had all the meat boned out, bagged up and in the cold creek water. This was a dangerous time for him because of the gut pile and darkness coming on. He ran back to the plane and told her he was going to have to stay close to the meat he had and build a big fire to keep any animals from taking his hard earned meat. He would start bringing it home at day light. He spent a miserable night keeping a big fire going and throwing wet brush on it to generate smoke to keep the mosquitoes off him. The Deet was in his duffle bag.

Just Another Story #11 -Part 9 - The Plane Crash
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He got the meat back at around 10 am and took a 4 hour nap. The fires were started up again and the drying and smoking process went on. They ate a good portion of one of the back straps (fillet mignon) that evening. She said we need some grease. He said I know and that means I will have to shoot either a grizzly or a black bear. It is a little too early for the bears to have much fat on them so I will wait another month before trying for one. I need to do some foraging for some vegetables and early berries. As soon as I have the moose meat dried I will do the foraging.

He gathered several pounds of small grape size wild potatoes, a pound or so of Rose Hip pods/petals, found a large blueberry patch that had not yet ripened and cut a few pounds of onion grass. He would have to show her all these things so she can help when able to do so. He did not get any young cat tails – but they were on the next forage list. She got more amazed when he pulled the 2 quart cast iron pot with lid out and made a moose meat stew with onion grass and potatoes. He almost did not take the heavy pot but decided if he was ever stranded someplace he would not be able to cook everything in his stainless steel quart canteen cup. He was glad he put it in the duffle bag.

OK he told her, we will start on the stove today. I will catch us some Rainbow trout or Dolly Varden (Alaskan arctic char, similar to a trout) for some supper this evening. They found 2 matching lockboxes the smallest ones and found they also were made from the thinnest metal, about a ¼ inch thick. They also had a half million dollars inside. He gave her a 10000 dollar bundle and told her to go to the 7-11 Store and bring some Twinkies back. She threw the bundle of bills back at him very gently because she still was not moving fast and did not want to hurt herself. He told her in my duffle bag is a folded up hack saw with 24 high quality blades. I do not think there are enough blades to do this job. But before we do any cutting, a chimney has to be made and ran out that round see through window. If I had an electric drill with a half inch steel cutting bit. It would make things a whole lot simpler. But I don’t have a drill or a half inch bit.

He described what little he knew about fire boxes. We need to make 2 holes in the box. 1 a small 4 inch low one to draw outside air in and a 6 inch high one to draw the smoke out. The box as it is with that hinged tight shutting door is OK for a fire box, the door can be raised, lowered or opened sideways to put the wood in and the 2 almost impossible holes we need to cut out, go in the back of it for the air inlet and smoke outlet. We also need a metal grate so the air can circulate under the wood. I suppose we can use some flat rocks spaced out pretty good for the grate.

She asked him if he could shoot a few holes in it to make an opening big enough to get the saw blade in. I don’t have any armor piercing rounds but I can try some of the brass jacketed 55 grain military rounds. Well she said we have over 4000 gallons of Av gas, maybe we will think of a way to heat a section up and punch something through the heated metal. Later that day he placed the metal box on one side of a large tree and he got behind the tree and fired 3 single shots from 10 feet away and he heard the ricochets going through the air. He looked at his handiwork and said well I’ll be. He went back behind the tree and fired 3 more single shots. He had the upper ½ inch hole. 6 rounds later and he had the lower hole. Now before I spend 4 or 5 days sawing these holes out I need to make a chimney and air vent pipe. He went trout fishing and quickly caught 3 nice rainbows.

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Just Another Story #11 -Part 10 - The Plane Crash
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One morning she told him we are running out of toilet paper and hand soap. He just looked at her and said nope you are. I have been saving my share for winter. I only use soap to wash my hair and when I dirty my hands up. Well tell me what do you use for toilet paper? He said creek water. Eew she said you mean you been cleaning your butt in our drinking water. He said no I go 25 yards downstream from where we get our water. He really laid into her this time by saying – You are a major in the USAF and don’t know how to conserve supplies in a survival situation. You should be ashamed of yourself. She walked off and didn’t speak to him for 3 days. He did notice she was going to the same spot he used for body function cleaning. When she finally did speak to him it was at an egg breakfast he had spent hours gathering up for them. She just said you will have to tell me these things that I do not think about. He just said OK. Later on that day he said I have 2 bottles of Palmolive dish soap in a gallon plastic bag and that will have to last us for who knows how long. There are some plants out here that do make soap suds but I cannot remember what they are. We will eventually have to make soap and fortunately I do remember how to do that. Now as for personal bodily waste part cleanup during the winter, here is what we will have to do…

He asked her how her toothpaste and razors were holding out. She said I have half a tube of Crest and just a little piece of dental floss. He told her I can help you with the toothpaste and dental floss. But you will have to keep on using the same piece of dental floss till it breaks. That is a really important thing to have. She continued and said my razor will not cut anymore. The hair is half an inch long on my legs and under my arms. He said I can help you there also. I have a rally nice straight razor and it will last another 200 years if we take care of it. I will show you how to use it and if you ask nice I will cut the hair from under your arms. She hit him and he ran off laughing. He came back and said I have an electric razor that you can use every week. I don’t know how much electric it will draw, so when we use it we will have to keep an eye on the LED lights to see if they dim. She said I have a better idea, why don’t we watch the digital battery meter in the cockpit. He broke down and told her we have plenty of razors, toothpaste, and dental floss from our deceased friend’s night bags. She just said - YOU!

Just Another Story #11 - Part 11 - The Plane Crash
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He took the splints off her the next day and told her it would probably be another month before she had full function of the arm. He had been spending 3 or sometimes 4 hours a day cutting down 4 to 6 inch hardwood trees, then cutting them to measure 34 inches long and stacking them right beside the entry door. He had let all the air out of the plane tires so one would not go flat and leave the plane slanted. He told her we will empty the waste from the holding tank now and rinse it out. We will only use it in the dead of winter when it is dangerous to go out in blizzard conditions. As for now the bathroom is off-limits. They both gagged at the smell in the aluminum tote cart as they drug it off into the woods and dumped it in a hole they had dug. The mini shovel he had, made short work of covering it over. They carried the tote to the creek and cleaned it. Clark said we will boil some water and rinse/sterilize it out several more times. Now our next big project is figuring out how to store several hundred gallons of water so we won’t have to melt snow or chipped ice all winter long.

He told her we have a lot of work to do in the next 2 months. The first thing I want to do is cut the heads and tails off all those pink salmon I smoked earlier and lightly smoke them again to make sure they are good and dry and no molds start to grow. We should have a run of silver salmon soon and they are not as oily tasting as the pinks are plus they have nice tasting big round steaks. We can also make some salmon patties with those Ritz crackers, a few bird eggs and some finely chopped up fresh onion grass. She said that sounds wonderful. Where did you learn that? He said Alaskan Camp Cook Guide book. You can also help me gather a few hundred bird eggs while the birds are still laying and we can keep them in a tote box in the cold creek water. We can then either eat them fried or hard boil them for winter time snacks. I know how to make wine from crushed blueberries. After the wine is made we will let it convert to good grade vinegar, strain it and we can use that to pickle some things. Oh yes we can also drink it before it turns to vinegar. She said that is an excellent idea, let’s make a lot. He looked at her and said we really have to get busy doing some things – there is a big difference in barely surviving and surviving comfortably.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 12 - The Plane Crash

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I want to bury about 40 pounds of boneless Silver Salmon in sandwich bags deep in the perma frost so it will be available in the dead of winter to make salmon patties and have a few salmon steaks. She said won’t those crackers be stale as Moses by that time. He said no I heated them up on a flat rock and repacked them in 1 gallon freezer bags and put them in an aluminum tote chest on top of the perma frost. She patted him on the back and said good thinking. He almost blushed because that was a first touching compliment.

It was nearing the end of August and already the nights were chilling down. He told her it is time to go moose and bear hunting. At least this time he had some backup even if it was only a 14 inch barreled CAR. He gave her two 18 round magazines with the 64 grain bullets and told her to use it only if the moose or bear charged them after he had shot it. They left at the crack of dawn on a chilly day late in August. He was going to the bog area near where he had shot the 1st moose. He told her if we can we will shoot 2 or 3 caribou even though they are not as tasty as the aquatic feeding moose. He eased into the look position he had on the earlier moose hunt and just said, lucky day. There were two 800 to a 1000 pound moose standing in the almost exact position as the 1st moose. He never hesitated, he shot a 3 round burst into the 1st moose neck and slid his sight to the 2nd one and did the same. He just waited. They both fell to the ground on their side. He cussed his bad luck on that, but he had help this time so maybe the cleaning of the animals would not be that bad. He was wrong, it was worse. She had not regained but about 45% strength in her helping arm and was forced to use her dominant arm to just tug when he asked her.

He had reloaded his M-16 and slid the partially fired magazine into his pouch. Whenever he moved into a new position he moved his rifle to within immediate grasp. Military training sometimes pays big dividends. His hands were bloody and the knife slippery when he heard her say you better do something quickly. He looked at her and she nodded her head in another direction. There was a huge grizzly racing towards them about 75 yards away. He said when I start shooting you start too. This is a dangerous situation. He glanced out the corner of his eye and saw her in a military firing standing position with her rifle pointed at the bear. He tried to hit it in the head with the 1st 3 round burst, he heard her gun chattering beside him and he just kept pulling the trigger till the magazine went empty. Her rifle quit firing at about the same time. He was reaching for another magazine as he watched the bear, it seemed like slow motion to him because his reflexes were in hyper drive, the bear started tumbling towards them and came to a stop about 10 yards away. He looked again at her and saw she had beaten him reloading. He sat down on the dead moose haunch and did nothing for about 2 minutes. She wasn’t as stupid as he was; she kept a wary lookout for any of the bears friends.

He had brought the same trash bags that he had used to carry the 1st moose back with him after they had been rinsed out in the creek and turned inside out to dry. The moose meat was boned out 1st, bagged up and placed in the creek water. In between breaks he had gutted the bear and propped open the insides. He told her I am not going to save any bear meat, I really almost gag when I eat it, especially after they have been eating rotten fish for a few weeks. The jerky made from the bear meat is always oily tasting, so all we are going to save is the 200 or so pounds of fat to render into lard or cooking oil.

They both worked like an ant colony the next several days rendering bear fat down and smoking half of the 2 moose. He had earlier noted that the contents of the 2 buried aluminum totes in the perma frost were freezing solid. He used half of his 100 one gallon freezer bags to store fresh meat/fish fillets in and froze it. In the galley of the plane there was a large 500 count roll of 13 gallon trash bags mounted on the wall for the crew to place trash. These were used to store the dried berries and plants they had foraged. The bags had been labeled and stored in the rear of the fuselage. The Major had inventoried everything as it was being stored and made a chart where the foods were placed.

She was asking him why he had picked so many different plants and dried most of them. He told her a lot of them will be for different teas we will drink and a really important one is cranberry. I was taught that the tea made from cranberries used as a mouth wash greatly reduces dental plaque and we need to stay on top of our teeth and gum health. The monkey berry leaves we can use to boil food in are loaded with salt and we will end up saving our limited salt supply. She said so that is why we have a freezer box full of cranberries, blueberries, lingonberries and two 13 gallon trash bags full of dried berries. He said yes but there are so many more plants out there that we can use and I have started pulling some of them from memory and making a list. One we will definitely use next warm time is a plant called Sweet Gale and it grows abundantly here. We have to boil it down to syrup and add a little water back into it so we can put it in one of those Windex spray bottles in the galley and use it as a mosquito killing and repellant spray.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 13 - The Plane Crash
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The winter’s water storage problem was going to bite him in the butt if he did not come up with something. They had made a crude shower that took both of them to operate when one wanted a shower. Creek water was warmed up on the outdoor fire in the 2 qt cast iron pot and poured into a crude aluminum made bucket that had the strap handles from a life preserver seat attached to make for an easy carry. This was poured into another bucket made from aluminum with holes punched in the bottom. It was crude but worked well, especially when one wanted to wash their hair. They were going to set it up in the fuselage when it got colder and one of the large aluminum 4 foot by 4 foot by 4 foot totes would be used to stand in to catch the shower water. He told her this will really be a pain when it is freezing outside because we will both have to carry the tote with the water out to dump it. She said why we can’t use some of the fuel line piping to drain the water to the outside. He said that may work if the pipe does not freeze up while the water is being drained out. She just said well fix it so we can pull the pipe back into the plane and let it thaw. Clark saw this lady had a really capable engineering gadget type mind set. That’s what they did.

He had just decided they were going to have to live with the mounted 10 gallon water dispenser in the galley and keep it full with melted ice or snow water. They had gotten the water purification down to a science; they just boiled the crystal clear water from the creek and poured it into the 27 empty aluminum pop cans to let it cool before dumping them into the drinking water dispenser. They had found the trash bag full of empty pop cans in the under storage cabinet that the clean up crew had over looked before they left the last plane servicing base.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 14 - The Plane Crash

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Clark had taken the battery from the dead co-pilots watch and stored them together in a plastic sandwich baggie. The rest of his flight uniform had been soaked in the creek and thoroughly washed and dried. The co-pilot was about the same size as Clark and even his insulated pilot combat boots fit Clark and Clark wore them around the plane area to save wear and tear on his combat walking boots. They had gone through his flight bag and found a large package of hard candy amongst his extra clothes, toothbrush, paste and razor. They gave themselves one piece of the candy each week. The Crew Chief and the 1st Lieutenant only had their small hand carry bag with tooth brush, soap and shaving gear with them. Their clothes did not have any blood on them so Clark checked the sizes and stored them away. At least the 3 dead people had one thing in common they all had a 100 count bottle of 1 a day multi vitamins in their hand carry night bag. He had found she had a spare fatigue uniform, running shoes, shower shoes, those semi half boot like dress shoes WAF (Women in the Air Force) wear, several undie things, Bermuda shorts, a large USAF pullover sweat shirt, and socks in her flight bag. They each had a parka with attached mittens that was carried with them whenever they flew into northern Alaska territory. Clark’s duffle bag was a survivalist’s dream package since he only had to carry it 10 or so feet each trip, it was OK for it to be heavy.

Clark asked her to cut his hair down to as short as she could with the shear type scissors he handed her. She said what do you not have in that duffle bag? He said a helicopter and a working short wave transmitter/receiver. He then asked her if she wanted him to square off the hair on her back to keep it out of the way so it would be easier to take care of. She asked him to cut it to just mid neck on her. She said you know I do not have any more Tampons or Kotex. He said I been thinking about that and I saved all the rabbit pelts and tanned them, I read somewhere that is what the Indian women used. I also made you 3 aluminum buckets – one to soak them in warm water with a drop of dish soap and two to warm water rinse them out. She gave him a first hug and a buss on the cheek. He thought I am really moving fast on my seduction advances, I got one hug in almost 5 months.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 15 - The Plane Crash
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Snow started falling the 11th of September. They had been here about 5 months or so; they had seen no airplanes flying over and if they had been victims of radiation poisoning it had to of been so slight it did not affect them. But again they had stayed in the fuselage for most of the 1st 2 weeks after the crash, even though the thin aluminum would not have been much protection. It just may have been enough to keep a light dusting from damaging them. The plane radio had been turned on several times but there was not even static, so they assumed the printed circuit boards had been damaged. The LED lights in the plane all worked. They disconnected most of them to save battery power. It only took a few seconds to plug them back in. She said to him oh whatever we are going to do to spend the 6 months of snow weather in this plane. He had some good ideas but didn’t tell her about what the dirty old man mind was thinking. He told her he had a checkers and chess set and 6 packages of playing cards. She said that’s great. He kept the big surprise for last – I also have 30 movies we can watch on my portable DVD player. And 1500 songs I downloaded from the internet, he didn’t tell her 500 of them were country and 300 were popular Gospel that the DVD player will play. Her eyes lit up. That cute dimpled face gave out a smiling grin that tugged at his heart strings. I have a small solar charger that will probably take 3 days to recharge the double AA batteries that run the player, but I think we can plug into the plane batteries and do just as well. Maybe in October when we can’t go out we can start watching a movie a week and listening to some music in the morning and evening. There are 10 paperbacks in the bag that I haven’t read and I am saving them for a real cold night to start on. I have the SAS survival book I want you to go through with a fine tooth comb this winter. Maybe you will pick up on something I missed or forgot.

The stove put out almost too much heat for the fuselage. They were constantly sliding open, hanging pallet blankets that blocked off the last 21 feet of the fuselage. They had hung them to give them a 20 L by 10 W by 9 H foot living area thinking the stove would not heat the whole 41 foot long cargo area interior of the plane. They each had 10 pallet blankets to use as a mattress and if folded double to a 4 foot by 8 foot it was a nice mattress. The small aluminum ash collector that was under the opening caught all the ashes when he scraped them out. He had to make a pair of tongs to drag the 2 foot by 2 foot stainless grate out to remove all the fire box ashes. All in all the fire box worked extremely well and did not smoke the plane up except when the wind blew down the chimney while they were scraping out hot ashes. The ashes went in the out house hole to keep the smell down. But since everything was frozen solid there was no smell. The flat top of the stove was an excellent cook top and everything was cooked on it. The propane tanks had barely been used and would last many years. They experimented with the 10 or so different leaves and pod/petals he had gathered for tea and they decided Rose hips made the best tasting with cranberry a close second.

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Just Another Story #11 - Part 16 - The Plane Crash
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Clark asked her if she knew what type of survival gear was in the boxed up ready to launch raft. She said I had a briefing on it, but did not pay any attention because once they told me there was a set of instructions inside the raft, I tuned the briefing out. He just said well I guess now is as good of a time to find out what’s in it as later.

Let’s see now – a whistle, a pump to pump the water out of the raft, an plastic case of some type of emergency rations, ah just what we need, 5 collapsible 5 gallon plastic water jugs with spigot. Let’s stop looking at the raft contents and put the jugs in the galley and fill them with water. We can look at the food and other stuff later. I bet there is a reverse osmosis water system in that boat to filter the salt out of the water and fill those jugs.

The next day after they finished filling the water jugs and the 25 16 ounce plastic drinking bottles they checked the rest of the contents of the raft. Sandra just read the instructions and the contents page and told him what was in the raft. Clark just said wooee what a name for this thing - MROD (manual reverse osmosis desalinator). The orange box had 18 blocks of emergency rations – each block contained 12 bars of rations, instructions say eat one bar every 6 hours, coconut flavor, - non-thirst invoking. Well we can use a lot of this stuff. Next summer I will use that fishing rod and reel it looks better then mine, it has spider steel line on it, and a bunch of hooks and lures. If we ever decide to walk out of here those emergency ration bars will be worth there weight in gold, that is if gold is worth anything.

We can make that wine and vinegar now he told her – We can use one of the 5 gallon water jugs to ferment 20 or so pounds of those frozen blueberries from one of the ten 13 gallon trash bags. He told her we did a good thing by not washing the wild yeasts on the berries off. They crushed the contents of one 13 gallon trash bag of thawed blueberries and funneled them into the 5 gallon water jug. Clark filled the jug to within 4 inches of the top with sterile warm water a pint of honey and told her, now we wait for 3 or 4 weeks for the wine and 6 to 8 weeks for the vinegar.

The accidental honey gathering happened in late July and took 3 hard days of smoking the tree, the area around the tree and chopping the large tree apart to gather the 45 or so pounds of honey and combs. Sandra told him about the honey tree and they planned out how to gather the honey for their own use. This was too bad for the bee hive; it was one of them or us situations, us won. Clark only got stung 9 times and while Sandra was laughing, an irate bee stung her on her weak arm and she yelled like she had been stabbed in the heart. They stored the honey in one of the newest aluminum totes that had been thoroughly cleaned and sterilized.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 17 - The Plane Crash
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The cold weather came and it came with a vengeance. Clark had thought ahead when they built the outhouse. The door opened inwards and he had ran a 16 or 18 guage wire wrapped around a piece of para cord 6 feet high straight from the plane doorway to the building and placed a 3 LED light inside that was on all during the cold time. His next big surprise was the single burner pump up dual fuel stove that burned the Av gasoline. It was to be carried back and forth to the outhouse during the winter to give a small amount of instant heat to whoever had to use the outdoor toilet. The para cord was to be held on to if you were caught in white out blizzard conditions while using the toilet. It would happen several times during the winter and the para cord saved their lives by being the lifeline back to the plane. It was planned for it to be taken down and stored in the plane during the summer. The indoor plane toilet was used during the times it was not safe to go out. They decided they would use the plane toilet during the summer and put up with the smell when dumping it.

She brought up the non-talked about taboo subject – Sex – It was sometime in November and cabin fever had just started. He was trying to make a pair of snow shoes for them out of some bent aluminum tubing, para cord and electric wire he had culled from the ripped off wing. He did have a 200 yard spool of the cord in his duffel bag. She just asked him what he thought about sex. The politician and seduction techniques instantly popped into his mind. But this time he decided to be honest. He told her it’s a wonderful thing between 2 caring people. He continued to work and kept his eyes on what he was doing. She said I think the same way – I really think this officer and enlisted fraternization crap has caused a lot of relationships to never start. And I do not think the big Jolly Green Giant Helicopter is going to ever swoop in here and rescue us. He held his silence and waited for the opening. No more talk came from her so he jumped in and said to her, I feel the same way and I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever been stranded with. She laughed and said I like you to, let’s see what happens if we are nice to each other. He said OK. His heart was beating so fast and hard that he was sure she could hear it. She said good night.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 18 - The Plane Crash

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The next morning he asked her if she could fly a helicopter. She said as a matter of fact I can. I had just finished helicopter school and training and the powers that be told me there was a C-130 school slot opening and they wanted a dual qualified pilot and wanted me to take the open slot. I did and they never got back to me on flying helicopters. I am beginning to think they did not want to send me to Iraq because at that time I was dating the Executive Officer to the Commanding General. I think he pulled a few strings using the Generals name. Well anyway I have been flying the big lumbering things around for the past 6 years. She said why do you ask. He told her if we can get to Elmendorf or Fairbanks that would open up a lot of options to us. She said yeah right after a 400 mile walk through some of the most forested, bad undergrowth, mosquito infested country on the North American continent. Well anyways we can make plans even if we don’t follow through. The batteries in the plane will eventually fail and we will get so sick of watching the same old movies and listening to the same music and reading the same old books. The DVD player will break someday. We need some supplies and the most important one is flour, I know how to hand grind some of the grass seeds here to make a basic flour – But that will take 8 or 10 hours of gathering and hand grinding just to make enough for a small loaf of bread. He next told her I have a topographical map of this area. She said you what! He repeated it. She said I think you have a Genie in that duffel bag. He said no, I took it out of your flight map bag in the cockpit. She smacked herself 3 times on her leg.

They pored over it for days and nights staying up way beyond their normal sleep time.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 19 - The Plane Crash
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Sex really entered the picture on Christmas day and never stopped except for food and sleep breaks the next 4 months. They had plans of walking to the Gateway to the Arctic National Park around the end of May. The snow never melted till 30 June in the low areas but the mountains were still covered. She just said the nuclear detonations have altered the weather pattern; and I guess we will be stuck here for another year until the global weather straightens out. He agreed with her. They really had to hustle to gather the vegetation and fish/meat they would need for another long winter. They had found a spot where bears congregated on the creek bank snatching fish and they both were ready for a single 800 pounder grizzly that was really fat. 26 bullets killed it 4 steps from the water. Winter came the 27th of August and the snows did not melt till the 1st of June the following year, She said the weather is getting back to normal, I bet we can leave the 15th of May next year. They had figured on a 6 to 10 mile a day average travel time and should make it to the Park in 3 weeks or more. They planned to get some supplies from one of the many ranger stations that were shown on the map they had. They both knew there were no roads leading into the Park area and the only travelling in the park was either by plane, foot or canoe. Float planes brought all the visitors to the place. From the park it was about a 250 mile battle through the forest and tundra’s to Fort Yukon or 300 miles to Fairbanks.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 20 - The Plane Crash
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The 2nd year in the plane, they had pickled eggs and lots of blueberry/lingonberry wine. They found small stands of wheat and shucked the berries by hand into a small container, they did this stripping of the wheat stalks for a week or more and finally had enough berries to crush in a crude mortar and pestle to make 45 or so loaves of bread and coatings for fried fish, grouse and sometimes egg and flour fried moose steaks. The yeast was culled from the bottom of the 5 gallons of blueberry wine residue and dried into blocks then frozen in the perma frost containers. This wheat was a really big deal in their daily livelihood in maintaining their happiness. Food was an all important item in their daily life. They began to use more and more of the monkey berry leaves in their cooking to conserve their less then 2 pounds of salt supply.

Clark had been right; they really got tired of listening to the same songs and watching the movies except for the gospel music. They found out they did have the biggie in common. They loved to play chess and spent month after month just strategizing on their plan to beat each other. They were evenly matched and it was always a tossup who would win – When a 2 week hard thinking game was over the winner had bragging rights and rubbed it in on the loser. This was a super friendly camaraderie amongst lovers and was taken in stride.

This was really a bad winter they could not leave the plane for many days at a time, the longest being 8 days. The wind kept whipping the snow into white out conditions and it was too dangerous to travel to the outhouse. The plane toilet got a workout this winter. When the wind finally died down and the snow quit they held hands and did a sort of swan dive out onto the 6 foot deep snow They made a path to the outhouse before the snow crusted up and made it really hard to make a path through. The plane was sloped just enough and the slick aluminum skin made it hard for any snow to accumulate on the solar panel so they very seldom had to brush any snow off.

They had been planning the walk out trip to the Arctic Park for many weeks. They were trying to keep the pack weight down to 25 pounds or less. He kept telling her this will not be any thing even remotely resembling a mountain hike or walk in the park. There were several 2500 foot ridges they had to climb and at least 300 creeks to cross. They had probably added 65 miles to the trip by avoiding the 4 and 5000 foot mountains that were directly in their path. The most important thing each would carry was 36 of the emergency ration bars from the life raft. One for each day because the bars had many essential mineral and vitamin ingredients that they did not have access to. She would not carry her 9mm it would be worthless against a grizzly and he wasn’t planning on running into hoards of bad guys. She would have her CAR with 5 magazines, 3 with 64 grain bullets and the other two with 55 grain military ball ammunition. The medicine and a bottle of vitamins and the list went on. Clark finally got to use the duffle bag when it wasn’t so heavy. The bag had shoulder straps on it and that was his back pack. The military flight bags the pilots carried had shoulder straps on them and could also double up as a back pack. So they were ready and would leave at daybreak. She said are you worried about anything. He said yes, 3 things - #1 getting hurt and not being able to go forward or come back - #2 the trillions of mosquitoes - #3 there will not be any supplies or anyone when we get there.

The next morning it was raining so hard they could not see 10 feet in front of themselves. They stayed for 3 more days even though it had quit raining the middle of the 2nd day. They wanted the wet forest to dry out a little.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 21 - The Plane Crash

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They left on a bright clear sky morning. The map that was in the lifeboat plastic instruction coverlet was checked often. Clark used both the Silva compass and the military issue one. They were for all practical purposes both giving the same reading. A large breakfast of fried moose fillet mignon was consumed before the departure. They were only off the weight for each by about 4 or 5 pounds. They took some comfort items, one 16 oz bottle bear grease and one 16 oz bottle of home made (Sweet Gale Plant) bug spray which actually killed bugs on contact and 12 ounces of Av gas to start a fire in super wet conditions. They had taken the door net off the life raft and made 2 pretty nice mosquito head nets that were stitched onto their fatigue caps. Since they had no rain gear or water proof sleeping bags they again went to the life raft and cut four 6 foot by 4 foot pieces of the rubberized raft and would use that as a ground cloth and blanket or lean to shelter during the sometimes heavy Alaskan dew falling nights. They made about 10 miles the 1st day. Sandra was glad Clark had started them running in a 60 foot circle a mile or more each day in the plane to build up their leg muscles and stamina 2 months before.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 22 - The Plane Crash
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They stopped every hour for 15 minutes and every 4 hours to use the katydin filter or boil water to refill their drinking bottles and the canteen. The cooking for the noon meal was done at breakfast and a large fresh fish or freshly killed meat meal was cooked for supper. Clark had been right, there were more then a trillion mosquitoes but the mosquito hats worked flawlessly. Sandra had come up with the idea of wearing those throw away plastic gloves at night and when they stopped to keep the mosquitoes off their hands, they did not throw them away after using them. The mosquitoes at times were so thick they had to flick the netting on their head nets to clear enough off to be able to see. The Deet was used sparingly around their neck and wrists. The trip would not have been possible without the mosquito net hats. The 3rd day they had to stop to get the bug spray out. There were hundreds of biting horseflies that easily bit through their BDU fatigues and the bite left an ugly red welt and really hurt. They sprayed their fatigues and kept on walking – it was at least 2 miles before they got clear of that big problem. Finally they got to the top of one of those 2500 foot ridges where the wind was blowing and it was mosquito free. They stayed an extra day because he had caught several large trout from a stream below the ridge. They left the filleted fish in a plastic bag in the frigid creek water and would retrieve them as needed. 2 fat grouse were added to the larder midmorning and would be fried for supper. They had been lucky and found a large patch of grape size potatoes which also were fried with the grouse in bear grease. All in all Clark said we are going to get fat. She said, yeah right, after burning a million calories a day on this march. Not going to happen my good man.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 23 - The Plane Crash
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They wandered out onto the tundra and Sandra’s leg went through to the icy quicksand like mud water beneath the grass covering, he liked to never got her leg pulled out. From then on they kept off the spongy tundra. They got back on solid ground and she had to take her fatigue trousers off, rinse the leg off, wash the mud from inside her boot and wash the sock thoroughly in a creek. Clark built a fire and she dried the wet things off. It would have been dangerous to walk with the sandy like mud inside her boot. If one of them got a foot blister it would be really bad if not catastrophic.

Long before they left he had checked her pilot boots out – the only difference in them from his was the sole, hers had small 1/8 inch ridges instead of the deep combat boot lug that slung the mud out (most of the time). The military had done something right, they had standardized the shoe sizes for men and women – there was no small medium or large it was A through 5E – she wore a 9B the crew chief wore a 9B, she now had on the crew chiefs boots. They were insulated and waterproof. Clark had taken care of their boots by rubbing bear grease onto them every week and letting it soak in to keep the water proofing. Every military member that had any brains at all went to supply and got their new boots every year. So the boots that Clark and Sandra had on could be called new

Just Another Story #11 - Part 25 - The Plane Crash
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2 days later they were on their way. The undergrowth was terrible. They kept referring to the map looking for streams going in the general direction they were going. They slogged through the streams at a snails pace. He looked at her on one of their breaks and said I am not walking back to our home. She said me neither, but if we can find a large helicopter with some extra tanks I will fly you back. He gave her a hug. On the 24th day he laid his military compass on the map, lined the compass up with the topo map and told her about 35 miles thataway. She laughed at the thataway remark. 8 more days later they saw 3 buildings. They were log cabin structures and in good shape. They helloed the place and got no answer. The door had a padlock on it and the deadbolt was locked. She mimicked one of those old timey actors and said this is a fine how do you do - situation. He shot the lock off and then shot the deadbolt off. At least he told her these 55 grain jacketed military bullets are good for something. He made sure he shot straight down into the locks so the bullets would not damage anything inside. The other 2 buildings were a garage/workshop and storage building.

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Just Another Story #11 - Part 26 - The Plane Crash
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The place was dusty and dark. She found the rangers log on the radio transmitting table. The note said – Fred - situation is critical here, radiation front will be here in 4 hours – I am taking plane and will be at the church shelter in Fort Yukon. I locked your rifle and shotgun in the gun safe. The canoe is provisioned if you decide to take to the water. Good Luck – Sam – It was dated the day they crashed. They found the food supplies; they jumped up and down clapping their hands and high fiving each other for several seconds. It took them all that day and part of the next to figure out the place. There was a triple redundant power supply – 4 solar panels – a wind turbine and a diesel generator. The generator would not start – the solar panels had been unplugged from the batteries and the batteries had frozen – the wind turbine had nothing to send its DC current too. Sandra found them and told him we are awfully lucky. There were 4 empty batteries in a shed with the 4 plastic sacks of battery acid. He changed the batteries out and waited for the wind turbine and solar panels to do their thing. The lights came on the next day the pump to the well started pumping water into the sink, shower and commode. They found the water tank was heated by a 100 gallon propane tank and they could now take a hot shower and wash all their clothes. 4 days later after they had gotten everything organized, they started checking out the radio. Sandra was a whiz at this and started transmitting 3 minutes after looking at the radio. She tried every emergency channel she knew and then the military channels and then looked at the instruction sheet for the rangers. She tried all those frequencies and did not get a response. She just turned the receiver to scan and looked at the gun safe. He saw her and said don’t touch the combination, we may find the keys and hopefully the ranger that left did not spin the dial.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 27 - The Plane Crash
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Clark found the keys on the 3rd day of just randomly searching the place. They were in a bunk bed metal post. As soon as he pulled the 5th cap off they were laying 2 inches inside the hole. The ranger had not spun the dial. There was a 300 Winchester Magnum bolt action scoped rifle and a 12 gauge Remington pump, 8 boxes of 180 grain silvertip bullets for the 300 Winchester magnum, 6 different size shot shell 25 count boxes and 50 slugs for the shotgun. She looked over the found weapons and said, I can assume that now grizzlies will not be a problem. He said you are absolutely right and after I fire this 300 magnum at 100 yards to see where the bullets hit, we will be ready for a big bear attack. The 12 gauge shotgun with slugs is the preferred weapon of choice for the rangers in the woods. The 400 grain lead slug will knock any grizzly down and give the ranger time to shoot it again or use his 44 magnum or what most of them are carrying now, the 500 Smith and Wesson 10 inch barreled pistol in a cross the chest holster to kill the animal.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 28 - The Plane Crash
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He started fiddling with the generator and going through things in the workshop – He found the gallon of Pri-D and a gallon of Pri–G and wondered about it for a bit. He checked the level of diesel in the 250 gallon tank and saw it was ¾ full – Following the directions on the Pri-D he poured the appropriate amount in the tank and used the metal rod that had the measuring level marks on it to stir the tank. He checked the generator and drained the fuel in the lines and decided to wait a few days before attempting to start it again. The next 250 gallon tank held gasoline and he did the same to it with the Pri-G. There were 2 snow machines, weed eaters, a riding lawn mower, 4 chain saws, extra chains and sharpeners, repair kits for the saws and two 4 wheelers with tow carts that used the gasoline. He assumed the tow carts were for bringing cut wood for the fire back.

They wrote down what the supplies were and laughed at the amount of beans and rice in the storage bins. She said this is going to be good because we haven’t had any of it in about 3 years. The first evening meal was pinto beans and rice – The beans were flavored with a tablespoon of dried ham powder. She told him I could learn to live like this if I had a big juicy beef burger with lettuce tomato and mayonnaise. Well maybe some pickles and onions. He kept on eating and agreed with her. There were 8 bunk beds in the sleep room and they just slid 2 of the bunks together and really slept well on a real mattress.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 29 - The Plane Crash
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A breakfast of powdered eggs, rehydrated potatoes, some bacon from a can, powdered orange juice, biscuits (Clark made them), butter from a can, real coffee and powdered milk started out the day. They really liked this place – One of those large airtight stoves with a glass door sat right in the middle of the room. She told him I bet this place is cozy in the dead of winter. He looked at her and asked how long do you want to stay here? She said till an airplane comes and takes me away – I do not think I am up for a 250 or 300 mile walk through terrain like we just came through. He told her I agree 100% with you. But even though this place is supplied a 1000 times better then where we just came from; everything will eventually quit working and we will be right back in trouble. We can probably live here for 10 years or more before we will need to be resupplied. We need to think of a way to get back to civilization. She said to him let’s find that stocked up canoe. It was in the back of the garage covered with a heavy canvas on a dolly like structure that could be rolled down to the lake launch area. There was a small outboard on the square end and the thing was easily 20 feet long and 42 or more inches wide in the center.

They went back inside and looked at the maps on the wall and saw that an unnamed river/ stream ran due east for about a 150 miles plus or minus 25 into a place called Coldfoot; where the Alaskan pipeline was with the road beside it heading south towards Fairbanks. She said want to chance it. He said let’s think about it for a while and talk about it.

One more thing he told her if there are no vehicles in Cold Foot - It will be about another 200 to 275 mile walk on the pipeline road to Fairbanks. She thought about that and said I could easily stroll a 1000 miles on a road if there are no trees or underbrush on it.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 30 - The Plane Crash

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There were 2 parkas and 2 parka pants in the closet – They had to of been made to fit a 6 foot 8 inch tall person who weighed 300 plus pounds. They laughed when they tried them on. He said that right there is one of the biggest reasons we will have to try to make it to the Alaskan Pipeline Road. She just looked at him – He said we do not have any winter clothes – Remember we had to leave our parkas in the plane. They looked the area over for another week before making the decision to leave. There were 2 creeks feeding the large lake in front of the ranger station. Moose were abundant off in the distance. The wall map showed the caribou migration trail which was about 3 miles to the west. The lake was full of fish the place reeked with wildlife. On one of the creeks they found a small fish paddle wheel that they assumed one of the rangers had put up to catch the winters supply of fish for the station. There was even a log table beside of it to butcher the fish and a pipe from the paddle down side to run water to the table for clean up. Nice is all Clark said.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 31 - The Plane Crash
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Back at the log cabin Sandra said I would like to live here permanently. He said that is an option but we will run into the same old problem eventually – The batteries will fail and there go the lights. But if we can get to Fairbanks and get a float plane or one of the military helicopters, we can come back with enough supplies and new batteries to last our lifetime. She hugged him so hard he felt his rib bones creak. She had told him about the 5 year Norplant implant in her shoulder. He had already felt them there and had a pretty good idea what they were. She said I had to get them in Japan, the US does not allow them to be imported anymore. They should be good for one more year and then if we are here you are going to have to surgically remove them. His eyes widened at that remark. She laughed and said they are only under the skin about a 16th of an inch and after the incision a small vacuum cleaner is used to suck all the parts out or sometimes the Dr that put them in said surgical tweezers are needed to pull some out that have been overgrown by the skin. A big band aid is all that is needed after that. He never said anything – Just nodded his head up and down.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 32 - The Plane Crash
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They pulled the large canoe out and Clark filled the 2 and half gallon gas tank with the treated gas and the 3 horsepower engine started on the 1st pull. They ran the generator and started the washer and thoroughly washed everything they had. Their boots were washed out inside, hung to dry for 2 days and recovered with Snow Seal water proofer they found on a shelf. The map that showed the river/stream leading to the town by the Alaskan Pipeline was carefully folded and inserted in the water proof coverlet they had taken from the life raft. The boat food supplies were changed out with beans, rice and some dry canned goods they knew were still good. One of the ½ gallon iron pots was placed in the canoe cook box. A new tin of oil was opened and 16 ounces were poured into a new plastic bottle. They decided they were ready and would leave in 2 days. The shot gun and shells were strapped down. He took the 300 Winchester Magnum and 100 rounds of ammunition. She had the M-16 and 10 magazines and was wearing his combat ammunition pouch vest under a life preserver. He put on a life preserver and tied the rifle to his life preserver as was her M-16 on her vest. Everything in the boat was secured in case it turned over they would not lose anything. He told her if the stream we are going to take is easily traversable there will be only 3 ways we can get back here – plane, flat bottomed jet ski boat or we pull a canoe back up the stream if it is not to deep for us to walk in it.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 33 - The Plane Crash
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The 3 HP motor was used to traverse the large lake and was turned off when they entered the eastward flowing waters of the no name stream. This was middle June and the days were about 21 hours long. The battery in Clark’s watch had died about a year ago. He just asked Sandra what time it was or looked at the cockpit clock. When they left he put the battery back in the co-pilots watch and was now wearing it. After about 4 hours she said stop I have to use the forest for a bathroom. She grinned as she walked into the bushes and held up a roll of toilet paper. He caught a huge 10 pound salmon and he cut 4 big fat steaks off it and cut the spine and bones out, skinned it and then rolled the steaks in some flour he had brought from the cabin. She fried them in a skillet from the cook box in a little bear grease they had brought in addition to the new corn oil. She asked him if he knew where they were – He said why yes, we are on a no name stream somewhere above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. Oh yes I know we are also in the Gates of the Arctic National Park on the eastern side, After rolling her eyes, she said I guess at the 8 to 10 mile per hour this stream is moving we are 30 miles or maybe a little further along on our trip. He said sure beats walking. He said that a little bit early. They both had to get out and pull the boat along in the 3 inches of water they ran into. They had to drag the boat at least 2 miles before the stream got deep enough to float the canoe. They found a wide spot in the stream with a black sandy beach about an hour later. She said lets stop, that dragging the boat wore me out and my feet are wet. They had seen bears on the stream side, but the bears ignored them while they were eating salmon.

They set the camp up and he gathered a ton of dead wood and built a huge fire. She laughed at him as she saw he was opening his last 3 year old can of spam to fry for supper. He fried the spam almost crispy and fried some reconstituted scrambled eggs and that was supper. He said mighty fine meal. And strange as it seemed to her she even agreed with him. She said no bread – He said I am saving the biscuits for the next 4 meals.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 34 - The Plane Crash

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Breakfast was scrambled eggs, biscuits with strawberry preserves, they were leery of eating it but they both tasted it before they left and they did not get sick so they were going to use it. Lunch was a trout baked in some creek mud and lightly salted when they ate it. Supper was her favorite meal, tuna on biscuits. She complained that it was packed in soy oil and was not as tasty as olive oil – He just looked at her and said you would complain if McDonalds Quarter Pounders were falling from the sky. She said yes I would make a big complaint, I like the Big Mac and they both laughed as they swiftly floated down and through the spectacular scenic area.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 35 - The Plane Crash
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2 hours before stopping for the evening they jumped out of the canoe into the shallow water and brought it to a halt. There was a huge grizzly right in the middle of the stream 50 yards in front of them and it looked like it was not going to move. It turned and started walking towards them. Clark just muttered under his breath, big mistake bear. I can’t take a chance on you hurting us or our canoe after we came all this way. The bear angled just a teeny bit sideways and Clark sent a sizzling piece of metallic coated lead towards its heart region. The bear stood up and made that growling roaring sound bears ready to charge are famous for. He shot it dead center of its body knowing if the bullet penetrated to the spinal area the big thing would fall down. He told her if it does not fall down and comes towards us – start shooting at the biggest part of its body you can see with the shotgun slugs. The bear woofed a few times and fell sideways. They waited where they were for about 5 minutes before they got back in the canoe and paddled around the carcass. He touched its head with his paddle and said sorry big fella. She said you need a bigger gun – He said no I need a bigger bullet for this rifle. Next time, you use the shotgun and shoot it anywhere – that will stop it where it stands or knock it off its feet. I’ll shoot it in the head then – She looked at him and said okie dokie.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 36 - The Plane Crash
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3 days later the creek just branched off into 6 or seven teeny water ways. They took a compass reading loaded up their back packs, stashed the aluminum canoe with the motor and rest of equipment under the upside down boat under some large trees and hiked due east.

4 more bad days of rough travelling through the underbrush, streams and trees before they ran right into the Alaskan Pipeline and the roadway beside it; she said that is a big pipe. He put his hand on it and his ear up close and said yes it is and there is nothing flowing through it. They walked south for about 4 miles where they found a stream. They cleaned a spot under the pipe and lay their raft ground cloths down where they were going to sleep this evening. A quick lady of the night wash, a can of Beanie Weenies from the cabin and they lay down to sleep.

The next morning the trek south began again. He told her it looks like you are going to get your wish. She said what wish? The one where you said you said you could walk a 1000 miles on a road with no trees or underbrush. They came to an area that was swampy and boggy on both sides of the pipe’s road and the mosquitoes got really, really bad. He even thought the mosquitoes here were worse then some of the areas they had came through from the plane wreck. They never slowed down or stopped because the mosquitoes stayed with them for about 3 miles until they cleared the water logged area.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 37 - The Plane Crash
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They were averaging 12 to 15 miles a day at a lazy walk and had seen no signs of humans, even the dried mud areas showed no sign of tire tracks going over the place for a long time. They kept walking, finally a line of buildings appeared off in the distance at the top of the next ridge. Clark told her I bet they built on that ridge so the wind would blow the mosquitoes away. It was a long way to the buildings and it took them 3 or 4 hours to reach the place.

The sign over the door said Cold Foot Truck Stop. The place was so quiet you could hear the wind whispering against and around the buildings. The door was closed and latched but not locked. They entered. There had to of been 10 million dead flies in the place. They saw the 3 bodies on the floor. Just bones really and mummified skin wrapped in the clothes they had on when they died. The grocery shelves were checked and there was a huge load of food, mostly dried staples for people who used them in this forlorn location. They checked the other buildings out – nothing but more bodies in the same shape with the flies. She said what’s with all the flies – He said if there was one fly in the room when those people died it laid its eggs and they hatched and on and on till there was nothing left for the flies to eat and they could not escape. Then the cold weather came and that was the end of the fly life cycle.

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Just Another Story #11 - Part 38 - The Plane Crash
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There were 8 vehicles in front of various buildings. The 1st thing Clark did was open the hood and look – all the batteries had frozen and burst in the -60 F winter temperature. They took their time and did a methodical search, the 1st 2 hours turned up no useable auto batteries. They took a break and found an empty room with made up beds in the 8 room hotel. They would spend the night there. What he had not shown Sandra was the two 12 ounce bottles of Pri-G and Pri-D he had put in the duffel bag. He had a feeling that gasoline and diesel fuel would be in bad shape after 3 years and hopefully the small amount of preservative and restorer would help them get an automobile started somewhere.

If he had asked her about petroleum products he would have learned something, but he didn’t at that time.

The propane stove in the truck stop kitchen worked, so they fixed a fine meal from the good stable shelf supplies. He asked her if she thought she could get lucky again and find some batteries like she did at the ranger station. She just grinned at him and said, we won’t know that till we get to searchin. In the truck stop garage he found two 12 volt empty batteries and 1 bag of battery acid. He filled one of the batteries and another search began. The small solar panel was on the back side of a house shed and the interior light still came on at dark. He just removed the wires from the light and hooked them onto the battery and they went about their business and let the 20 hours of sun flow through the solar panel into the battery. A small multi meter was used to check the battery charge and on the 3rd day it read 11.9 volts. He had taken a 5 gallon empty fuel can and drained some diesel fuel from a 100 gallon diesel fuel tank beside the truck stop. He used the correct amount of pri-D and shook the can and waited another day before draining the tank from an older diesel truck. He got a can of starter fluid, turned the glo plugs on and squirted the starter fluid into the intake. The truck engine exploded and backfired through the exhaust until he thought it was time to vacate the area. It did start running really rough for about 2 minutes and smoothed out. They just looked at each other for about 20 seconds. She jumped up in the air and did a little kid thing by singing na na na na na na and spinning in circles. He let the truck run for 10 minutes before shutting it off. He then treated 5 more 5 gallon cans of diesel and they waited for another day to drive towards Fairbanks and then southeast to Eielson AFB. The sign on the road said 248 miles to Fairbanks and the mile marker sign said mile 175. He would have to figure out why the mile signs were different later.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 39 - The Plane Crash
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Hang on he said as he slammed on the brakes. The roadway in front of them was no longer there. They had just cleared the big U curve around the mountain about 15 miles from Fairbanks. There were no more trees in front of them – they were all down on the ground, burnt black and facing towards them. She said a bad word. He agreed with it and repeated it louder. Looks like there will be no shopping trip in Fairbanks she said. I am not worried about shopping trips – I am worried about how much residual radiation there is. She said good point – Turn us around and get us back towards that teeny 10 house town 5 miles behind us. They had a sad night trying to figure out what to do next. They had just enough fuel to get back to Coldfoot. He told her about the fuel and his treatment of it. She said you should have asked me about fuel storage in Alaska; any underground storage tank for diesel or gasoline is good for about a maximum of 8 years because of the near 32 degrees F temperature it is stored at. The military initially did not want to treat the military fuel stored here and in other northern areas because of that fact. However some whiz kid in the Pentagon discovered that if it was treated it would last about 20 years before needing to be treated again. So the military kept having the suppliers treat the fuel for here. He said where did you learn that – She said from a military fuels specialist that gave us pilots a classified briefing several years ago explaining the degradation process of fuel. I wish I had known that he said. She laughed and responded with one of those military clichés – Need to Know my man; Referring to a specific need to know classified information

Just Another Story #11 - Part 40 - The Plane Crash
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They found a map on the wall in the really small 1 room grocery store that showed the local dirt roads surrounding Fairbanks. He said do you think it will be worth it to make the trip to Eielson AFB – She just said there might be some planes in sheltered over or parked back in some protected earth bunkers. That brings up another small problem he said, how will we get them started. She just said I know a few things that you do not know about C-130’s and helicopters. He agreed with that unequivocally.

Again they were looking over a map – She said we are about 40 miles from the base and this dirt road here she was pointing at circles Fairbanks about 12 or so miles outside the city limits and hits the Richardson Highway heading southeast to the base. She just said lets find a bicycle and ride instead of walking. If any trees are down in the road we should easily be able to by pass them by carrying the bikes. He said OK I guess we sleep here tonight.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 41 - The Plane Crash

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6am they found 4 bicycles, pumped up the tires on 2 of the better kept ones and tied the hand pump, a few tools and some spare tubes on the carriages to make the trip. They set off and the dirt/gravel road was not in to bad of a shape for not being maintained in the past 3 harsh arctic winters. They were just at the extreme edge of the blast that destroyed a lot of Fairbanks and not too many trees were on the roadway. They did have to carry the bikes up and down a few spots that had been washed away by the melting snows from the mountain beside the road.

They hit Richardson Highway and pedaled the 20 some miles from Fairbanks to Eielson Air Force Base. They got lucky again the nuclear blast had missed the base by about 14 or so miles and blown a big hole in the Alaskan forested countryside. Both of them had been to the base several times and knew their way around. She said you know this is the 1st time we went anywhere and did not make a plan. He said that thought just hit my mind, let’s look for survivors. The bodies were everywhere, inside buildings, outside on the ground. It did not make any sense. Surely they had some warning and enough time to take shelter. They would not know what really happened until they went through some personal log books and made their way into the Base Command Center.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 42 - The Plane Crash
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She said I am hungry. They rode their bikes to the Military Mess Hall and went directly to the kitchen area. Using their keychain LED lights one of the stoves that ran on propane was turned on and a big blue propane flame lit up the stainless steel stove and the area around it. He said I have a better idea let’s go to the Base Exchange (BX) and get us a small camp stove; some Coleman fuel or one that runs on small propane tanks and cook something in the BX lobby. She said OK, it really is dark in here and I don’t feel like stumbling around in the dark using 10 gallon pots to cook one little meal.

They giggled like two 6 year olds while they were rehydrating 2 freeze dried rib eye steaks, potatoes and asparagus – The 2 burner Coleman stove was filled with Coleman fuel, pumped up and 2 new skillets and a small pot were used to cook the delicious meal. She said we need a source of water. He told her there is a small creek running about 50 yards behind the Commissary 4 or 500 yards from here. She said do you not remember this base is a super fund cleanup site. He said yes I know that but I am not going to drink more then a gallon or so of the water before leaving. She just looked at him. He said well aren’t you going to get us a plane? She laughed and said yes but it will take several days to get everything ready. And where is your Katydin water filter? He said I broke the filter a week or so ago. Well let’s go back in the BX and find you a new one. Good idea he said

Just Another Story #11 - Part 43 - The Plane Crash
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After wandering around in the Base Exchange making mental notes of things to pick up, he moved the top case of burst water bottles and found the rest of the pallet looked like it had not burst – he moved some more bottles and found that most were intact, they went to the flight line to look for a C-130. They went to the flight line maintenance chief’s office which was a clearly marked Quonset hut on the ramp. She went straight to the big black notebooks in the C-130 section and started to go over the maintenance logs for each plane parked on the ramp. She said we need one of the models that have the solar panel on the plane. He said why. She said the solar trickle charge will maintain the batteries and keep them from freezing and bursting; fully charged sulphuric electrolyte or battery acid will not freeze until the temperature is minus 73 degrees F. She found 4 planes that the maintenance was current on and they were ready to fly after topping off the tanks. He said are you not worried about the fuel. She said no, I already told you all the military fuel is treated. He just said ah a mental lapse. She said I sure am glad I went with the crew chief when he serviced my plane. He showed me the 2 electronic modules that were the most likely culprits to be damaged in an electro magnetic pulse. We have to pull those 2 modules and go to the hangar maintenance resupply to replace them. The stored ones are in a metal cage on a rubber mat covered shelf and are not hooked into any long electrical wires so they should not have been damaged. After that we have to get a generator running and air the tires to the proper air pressure and do some minor checking of the entire plane. He asked her if she could do all that by herself. She said no. You will have to help me do several of those things.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 44 - The Plane Crash

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They spent the next 12 hours getting the plane ready to fly. Boy did she have a surprise for him. She then told him I can land this plane at the ranger station on the lake shore line and take off again. He just stared at her. She then threw the surprise at him. You are going to learn how to fly that single engine plane over there. Why? Because we are going to take 2 of them to the ranger station so we can commute back and forth to pick up things that we will forget in our supplies we are going to take there. He stuttered a little before she shut him up with, it’s as easy as stepping off the curb to learn how to fly one of those little things. The main reason is you do not have to sit through a hundred hours of classroom instructions. It will be a simple hands-on and on the job training (OJT) learning experience. Don’t worry if we have to take off and land a hundred times because, we will. That's to make sure you can do it. The fuel is free and the flight instructions are free. She grinned when she said that last part: And then said, there are 35 or more planes parked over there that look like they are none the worse for wear. A new battery in them and some military aviation petrol and they will be ready to fly. Some of them still have the canvas storage coverlets on them.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 45 - The Plane Crash
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He said this is all fine and dandy – I will try to learn and fly a plane – But I think before we do all this we should look around the area for a few hundred miles distance and look for some survivors – It will be a truly lonely world if there are only 2 of us in all this vast wilderness - And if we have a baby – Sometime in its life it may need to find a companion or playmate. A trip to Anchorage and our old AFB Elmendorf should be put on that list. She said yes, yes – I was only thinking of getting back to the ranger station – I hadn’t factored in long range planning.

They spent the night in the bachelor officer quarters and had a good breakfast at the BX. They found an empty office with big windows in it beside the BX and sat around pinging ideas off each other and writing out things to do. After that they went on a mission to try and find out what happened. The dead body smell had long ago left the area except for some tightly closed up rooms. They had no need to enter any of those rooms. They needed a quick portable source of power for lighting and turning on personal computers; back to the BX they went. A small 1000 watt generator a florescent drop light and a hundred foot extension cord was put on one of the BX upright dollies and the search began

Just Another Story #11 - Part 46 - The Plane Crash
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The 1st place they walked to which was the closest was the Base Commanders office. They knew the outer secretary had all the information a person would want to know about the base operations. Her computer was plugged into the quietly running generator outside the entry doors. Sandra said please lady, please lady do not have a huge password protected computer. The computer was not password protected. Clark wandered around the building looking into other offices and perusing paperwork left out on the desks. Funny he noted they were all dated the day of their plane crash. One office had 15 older dated NY Times newspapers on a large meeting table. He sat down and started to read about things that went on about the time he lost contact with the world. There were several long articles about a huge rash of flesh eating disease cases that initially attacked the soft moist tissue area of the body – primarily the eyes and mouth and if not treated immediately was 100% fatal. The CDC said it was not a new disease and had not been genetically modified. They continued to say they had no idea why it was becoming a sort of pandemic in the large cities. The strain of virus was the one detected in the 50’s and was the same in all cases. It had first became known in the middle 50’s before dying out and occasionally rearing its ugly head in different parts of the country periodically. It was extremely contagious and he read the steps to take to prevent becoming contaminated with the virus. He went on and read other articles and could not find any mention of any country preparing to attack the US.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 47 - The Plane Crash
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He wandered back in and saw she was turning the computer off. She said I have a pretty good idea what happened to most of the world except for Russia. He said don’t tell me it was the flesh eating virus. She looked up sharply at him and said how do you know about that? I just found out. He said I read it in the NY Times. Really? He said of course it did not say anything about it destroying the world. She said it did. This lady secretary was real sharp – she monitored the CDC outputs and here is what the last logged entry from the CDC was – The latest strain was engineered and somehow they had moved some parts or added some parts to the virus that made it immune to any known treatment. And the big to do was it was in the general population 15 days before the attack. Why did we not get it he asked? She said I don’t know, but if we had been infected we would have been dead these past 3 years. Hopefully we will find out some more information in the Combat Control Center and the Base Command Center. He said I don’t know about you but I think we should get a few vehicles running, we will need some to load up the C-130 and we can save a lot of time on this sprawled out base by driving instead of riding a bike.

The 1st place they went was to the military base battery shop which housed all the batteries for automobiles up through airplane batteries. There was a USAF pickup parked in front of the shop and that made it easy for them. They found several dry batteries, filled the one that fit the pickup and hooked the battery charger up to the generator and let it start the charge on the new battery. They had lunch while the charger was charging. 2 hours later they were driving a pickup around the base. He said this will probably take us a month to do everything we need to do. She said I hope we can get everything done before the end of August. There will be tons of supplies to load up and balance on the plane before we make a run to the ranger station. We will fly the C-130 to Elmendorf and land there if it wasn’t destroyed by a nuclear bomb.

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Just Another Story #11 - Part 48 - The Plane Crash
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They just stopped everything and went to the office that had the big table in it and started making plans and prioritizing them. They got 2 laptops charged up and started using them since both could type faster then they could write. The computers were nice in that they did not have to tear a page out of a notebook and start over on an out of place prioritized item to do or pick-up.

They finally got around to going to the Combat Operations Center. Clark checked the generator room and saw the tank was dry. This was going to make it easy as soon as he replaced the battery in the big generator and fueled it. It was the emergency back-up power center for the Combat Operations Center. The computers should be ready and boot right back up as soon as the power was restored. He would know in about an hour as soon as he dumped 20 gallons more diesel fuel in the hundred gallon tank.

Holy Cow she said after about an hour of setting in the Commander’s chair looking over what had come in from the other US Combat Operation Centers worldwide. She said the President of the US authorized a massive strike on Russia. It looks like all of the ICBM’s the US had were launched and the submarine crews that had not succumbed to the virus were also ordered to launch. I guess the Russians retaliated. She said that’s what it looks like. I got from that computer over there the virus had surpassed world wide pandemic expectations and if you were not somewhat immune you died. It says here there will be less then 1/100th of 1% of the world population left alive unless the Russians had a vaccination for the virus and the President of the US seemed to think they did. He said so we are part of that 1/100th percentage point of the world population left living. She said I think there are more people alive than that. Read here again where it says somewhat immune. Does it say what the time frame is for catching it and dying? She said no, why do you ask. It may explain why these bodies are everywhere instead of a single place. You mean if someone had it and the others saw the virus eating on a person they would try to get away from the infected person. Something like that he said. She wanting to change the subject looked at him and in as serious of a look and voice she could come up with asked, do virus eat? It was his turn to roll his eyes. They decided they had questions that would never be answered and went off to do another one of their planned activities.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 50 - The Plane Crash
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They returned to Eielson AFB and his flying lessons commenced. In between his learning flights, they loaded and balanced 2 C-130’s with goods they were going to take to their new home. He didn’t even bother to ask her why 2 C-130’s were loaded for flight he knew she would tell him sooner or later. His training was a little unorthodox to say the least. 5 days after his first flight she had him landing on straight clear sections of the high way and dirt roads all around the area. She was right it didn’t take him long at all to learn how to just fly the plane. It was seat of the pants flying and he kind of knew it. There were no FAA rules or radio procedures or heck anything that would have gotten a pilot grounded forever if they did not comply.

She said let’s take a break tomorrow and fly a load out to our new home. When she landed that plane on the gravel bar on that lake and reversed those 4 propellers and came to a stop right straight down from the cabin; he knew then that he knew nothing about flying. It took them all that day using the forklift to unload about 30,000 pounds of palletized cargo off the plane. They spent the night and flew back the next morning.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 51 - The Plane Crash
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She told him the next day when they got back to the base that the GPS was no longer functioning. She just said we have to use the compass for navigating. He told her I won’t have any trouble getting from here to the ranger station the landmarks are pretty visible and I am not going to fly in any kind of weather that limits visibility. She said we won’t, especially after a big snow fall everything tends to look the same then. One more thing she said we will not go to the cabin until we have another plane parked there. If the C-130 had broke down! Yikes he said. No boat to make another trip out. She said right and we will take several canoes back with us for just that reason.

He told her now we go to the Rod & Gun Club. She laughed and said bigger bullets – He said yes and a big pistol for both of us. There were four 50 caliber S&W pistols and 107 boxes of ammunition. He said looks like we are going to do some reloading and then maybe not, Fort Richardson has a huge Rod & Gun Club. Maybe in a few years we can go there. But in the meantime just to be safe we will reload the pistol bullets. They took all 4 pistols and Clark found 43 boxes of 220 grain round nose .300Winchester Magnum caliber bullets for his rifle. He also took several more rifles and some quality scopes, rings and mounts. He particularly wanted some quality 22 rifles and an assortment of shotguns and all the ammunition. Now we go break into the Security Forces armory. She said why? He said Eielson is a large base and qualifies for a USAF Swat Team. What are we looking for when we get there? I want a 50 caliber sniper rifle with the day night scope and a couple of the 308 sniper rifles and all the ammunition. The Generation 5 night vision is also in the armory vault. She said we can get those Gen 5 goggles at Base Flight Operations in their Controlled area. I had to leave mine there a few times when I over nighted here. What are we going to do with night vision – He just said the worn out phrase – Better to have it and not need it then to not have it and need it. She said you know that phrase always made sense to me.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 52 - The Plane Crash

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The Security Forces Armory was easy to get into because there was always an armed guard 10 feet from the door, and an armed guard in the armory 24/7, so a vault entry was not needed. He found more then he wanted but he took a lot that would hopefully never be used; hand grenades and 40 mm fragmentation for the M-203 launcher on the M-4. He laughed at the next thought. Since I am going to live like a caveman I need a spear so he took 4 bayonets’ and laughed all the way out the door. He never told her what he was laughing about.

He asked her if she could get one of the rescue helicopters running. She said if we can change the batteries out we can. Why? I want to take some dry batteries and acid to Cold Foot in case we or someone else needs a ride to Fairbanks sometime in the future. 4 new mounted tires for that Chevrolet Pickup and 25 gallons of treated gasoline. She said planning on leaving me. He didn’t even answer that gibe. She told him the helicopter did not have the range even with extra tanks to make the trip to the cabin. She said if you want, we can pre position some fuel tanks to make it. He said not this year.

On the next to last trip they looked at the mound of supplies stacked up beside the storage shed and garage. She said an extended roof with a good slope on it will cover it and keep it out of the worst weather. He wrote it down and said another trip and a lot of work. She said no, I have an idea to eliminate all the lifting. We will bring a large and a small backhoe to lift the timber for the roof and roll aluminum to cover it will do just fine. Next year we can put some treated 1 X 6 or 1X12’s up to stop the snow from blowing in. He said you know we might as well – She said I have heard that phrase before – he said yes it is a standard one when someone is building or repairing something that they might as well do this or fix that while they are doing the initial job. Well she asked what is your might as well – He said a few small greenhouses to have some tomatoes and peppers and lettuce. How are you going to heat it? We have 10 million gallons of kerosene here – how about a dozen or so kerosene heaters and 500 gallons of kerosene. She said let’s get to loading it and finding the tubing and stuff to make the greenhouses. He said no the plastic will just get shredded in the 75 mph winds. We have to use plexi-glass with a big sloped roof. She said well let’s go to the garden center. They had to dismantle the 2 on display at the garden center, but they were exactly what Clark wanted. He knew the ranger cabin was surrounded by put down gravel and he thought surely they didn’t haul all that rock out there on a plane. It had to have come from a nearby creek bed. He would find it when they got back and use the small backhoe to load the gravel on the 4 wheeler carts.

He said we need to find some radiation detection equipment and I have no idea where on this base to look; maybe the PMEL (precision measurement equipment laboratory) or the Disaster Preparedness Office. She said well yes but don’t you think we are a day late and a dollar short. He said I don’t know. But we should have it for later excursions.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 53 - The Plane Crash
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He was shaking so hard when he landed the plane on the gravelly beach he could hardly keep his head in a straight enough looking position to see the lake beach landing area, he just knew he was going to crash. He bounced about 10 times before the plane tires finally bit into the ground. When he taxied back to where she was standing he looked out the window after the engine was off and just said piece of cake. He thought she was going to choke to death laughing. He smartly did not say any more. It was the 16th of August and they figured they had 30 days before it got really cold. The 2 small planes were parked behind the garage and storage cabin, covered with a protective tarp and tow strapped down to 5 foot ground rods that he beat into the ground with a sledge hammer. A small 1 amp battery charger was hooked onto each battery and electric wire ran from the main cabin to charge them once a week. The C-130 was parked on the large graveled area in front of the storage building and as a might as well, it was also tow strapped down to ground rods. They got the 2 lean to roofs built and covered with roll aluminum in 2 days. The green houses were built onto the opposite sides of the main cabin and bolted to the cabin. They stopped their construction for 2 days and just looked at the pile of goods under the lean to roofing. She said it is too much to do. He said I know but we can do a little bit each day until we can’t work outside anymore. They did do a little each day and surprisingly by the 1st snowfall it was all mostly done – The date was September the 14th.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 54 - The Plane Crash
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They were up at daybreak and the C-130 was unstrapped and a search for survivors began. They spotted smoke in about 27 different places and cussed themselves for not having but 10 drop bottles with notes. There were instructions telling the people on the ground to broadcast on CB channel 9 or another HF frequency. They did not drop a radio unless the people waved a red or dark colored flag signaling they wanted one. 4 of the people read the note and went back in their cabin. No radio to them he muttered to Sandra. 3 people chatted with them on the CB channel and agreed to meet them in the spring. When they ran out of bottles to drop they marked the locations of the remaining not contacted ones and agreed to return another day or if they could find a whole lot more radios at the base they would return this day. They found a case of the small radios in the BX that had a range of about a mile but the batteries were all dead. He told her I guess we will be looking high and low for rechargeables. She said no we can use the helicopter after we drop a note. He said I just don’t think that is a good idea this early on in our seeking out of survivors. It just may be a tad dangerous. She agreed with him and they changed the message in the notes and continued to drop them from the C-130.

He said and we haven’t even gotten to the Anchorage area. He kept watching the weather and told her we are done for today because it looks like that may be a snow squall front coming. She got them back to the cabin and the plane was tied down for the night. They could not leave for 3 days because it just snowed heavily and visibility was poor. They flew to the anchorage area and saw many more smoke plumes from chimneys. So there were a lot of people that had survived the flesh eating virus and the nuclear detonations. They dropped the bottles out and returned home to talk about all the new friends they were going to meet this coming spring. The closest plume of smoke they saw to Eielson AFB was over 45 miles away. That was probably a big factor why no one had raided the base. They probably thought the place had been bombed and were afraid of radiation. Clark and Sandra were right.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 55 - The Plane Crash

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This was a fine winter – They even gave each other a Christmas present. They talked about all the things they did not have and the hard work involved surviving at the plane wreck site. The lack of reading material was one of the things that bothered them the most. That would not be a problem any more nor would they run out of movies for at least 15 years. Music also was not a problem. They even decided to try and listen to Heavy Metal Music.

In March Clark injected the Lidocaine into her shoulder area and instead of making one small incision he had to make 5 and then used the surgical tweezers to remove all the broken parts of the implant that had been grown over by flesh. The job was really almost beyond his basic medical skills. Everything ended up OK except for the scars on her shoulder. The other 7 cabins in the park were checked out and they were identical except the other main cabins were 6 feet shorter then the one Clark and Sandra had set up housekeeping and the lakes were smaller.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 56 - The Plane Crash
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They used the helicopter and met about 35 different families. After interviewing all of them, 7 of the families were invited to live in the park near Clark and Sandra; If you wanted to consider 48 miles away as near. Clark, Sandra and the families made 4 more trips in the C-130 to resupply the other 7 cabins. A smaller helicopter was flown in the C-130 to Clark’s cabin in case of an emergency at any of the new family’s cabin. These people were self reliant and the helicopter was stored in a sort of pole barn that they all put up to shelter it. The last thing they did before winter set in that 1st year was to bring a 10 X 20 foot aluminum disassembled insulated work construction trailer and mount it on treated 6 by 6’s on gravel that had been attached to the ground with 6 foot ground bolts for a medical building. One of the new ladies was a pediatric surgical nurse and another needed to take his final exams before becoming a dentist. The building was supplied with whatever the 2 knowledgeable people decided from the military base.

The next summer before the salmon made their way upstream. Sandra flew 6 of the men to the highway near Coldfoot. A map had been drawn from where the no name stream ended to the pipeline roadway. Using 6 chain saws, a bull dozer and a backhoe from the military base a 4 wheeler road was cut from the pipeline road to the stream ending. The bulldozer scraped the dirt down to bedrock so the trail would always be there. Where the dirt was too deep to get to bedrock – the backhoe dropped flat stones on the dirt to stop the re-growth. They knew it would partially grow back over but the faint trail would always be there for someone to use in the future when the planes quit flying. Clark told Sandra I wish it was there when we came out it would have saved us 3 and half days of fighting through the undergrowth. They recovered the canoe that Clark and Sandra had used and it was flown back to the ranger cabin and stored with the 14 other canoes they had brought to the Park.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 57 - The Plane Crash
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Clark and Sandra did make one trip to the plane wreck flying in the small helicopter – They had to set up 4 series of refueling stops which took them about a week. They gathered up their personal things they had left, took a real long look at the place, snapped a few hundred digital camera pictures and said goodbye to the aluminum fuselage home that had protected them from the elements for almost 3 years. They never returned to the area. They would never know that 2 weeks after they left a forest fire set off the gasoline in the wing tank and the entire plane wreckage and surrounding area was obliterated. The forest would reclaim its property and in 10 years the place would be again pristine wilderness.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 58 - The Plane Crash
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A lot of planning and construction was done that summer at each cabin for future growth of the families. Just about all the wood was taken from the military base wood shop. 7 more 10 by 20 foot aluminum construction work trailers were reassembled at each cabin. The base was slowly being scavenged down to the ground. The hangars had been built to carry the load of snow and would probably stand for another 50 years. 2 other C-130’s were parked out of the weather in 2 of the hangars along with 9 more small planes and 2 helicopters. The fuel would be good for 17 or more years but the planes without 1st line maintenance and parts would not.

The 8 families in the park could maintain radio contact with each other and with 14 of the families outside the park. The outside of the park survivors that had radios passed the word on to other outside families as to how the park residents were doing, kept track of babies born and their sex for future matchups. On a cold December day Clark called the pediatric nurse and asked her to ride her snow machine to his place. Sandra was in labor – 2 hours later the nurse arrived and before daybreak Clark was a Daddy. The next spring they made their one and only trip to Fort Richardson – They were too late, the place had been scavenged. All he told Sandra on the way back was the kids will have to reload the S&W .50 caliber pistol bullets.

Just Another Story #11 - Part 59 - The Plane Crash
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Fred, a park resident that lived the furthest from Clark called him on the radio late August and said I have found a herd of about 90 buffalo in a valley 15 miles from me near a hot spring. Clark told him that was great, we should cull 2 or 3 when it gets a little bit colder and split the meat up between the families. It will be a big job butchering three 2000 pound buffalo and we will all do it after the 1st snowfall. He told Sandra, well I remember one time you said you would like to have a beef burger. You are just about to get the next best thing. And what might that be? He said Fred has found a large herd of buffalo near a hot spring 15 miles from his cabin.

He said please do not do what you are going to do. She laughed and spun in circles singing the little kids ditty, na na na na na na. He grinned, grabbed the baby and spun him around and around saying the same thing. Clark and Sandra fell on the floor laughing really hard.

The nurse made a trip during December every year for the next 5 years to deliver another baby at the Clark residence. Sandra told him after the last baby – No more. I am up to my ears in diaper cleanup and there is just about enough formula left to raise this little mongrel. He laughed at her calling their baby a mongrel and he knew there was enough dry formula for 30 more babies, but over the years he had learned to just agree with the Major.

The end of Just another story #11 – The Plane Crash

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Just a heads up, this is the longest one so for.

Clark Story #12 - The Cheated on Prepper

Part 1.

When Clark found out his new wife could not cook worth a tinker’s toy and later on in life was cheating on him – He just said to himself – well I married the thing and if it wasn’t for those 2 little boys I would probably be on the national evening news. He could see the headlines now – Missing Wife – Husband is Prime Suspect. He just dismissed that kind of thinking and ate the Taco from Taco Bell.

Ever since he had stopped at his drinking buddy’s house and saw all those buckets of food in the garage and the radiation detection stuff including the nuke alert key chains, he had become somewhat of a prep person. His friend just told him I do not want to go hungry if I lose my job or something bad happens in the US where we cannot get to the store to buy food. That made a lot of sense to Clark.

Clark told his woman he was going to buy some extra food to stock their pantry. She called him a fool and said Kroger’s and Super Wal-Mart will always have groceries. He just went about his business. He started small since he could barely eat his woman’s cooking, the stops at the drive through windows at Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Long John Silver’s and a few other places he ate a sandwich at stopped and he went inside to get his sandwich to go. He never purchased a drink at those places; he had a little plug in cooler/heater in his pickup to keep stocked with cheap soda or juices he bought at the super saver stores. He always got 10 or 20 packs salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, vinegar, mayonnaise, cocktail sauce, salad dressings, mild/hot taco sauces, plastic forks, spoons, knives and a huge handful of napkins. He picked up whatever was available without being to obvious at each of the stops. He carefully read the ingredients on each package and the ones that had vinegar in them were good he thought for 10 or more years. He got 20 used empty 5 gallon buckets that had drywall mud in them, cleaned them up and spaced them out in his large garage that he kept his motor bike and snow machine in. His woman never entered the garage because it always smelled like gasoline and oil.

Clark made a good wage as a dry wall and rough in carpenter worker. There was always a job waiting as soon as he would finish one he would start on another. After he found out his woman was a no good cheater he started putting some money away in a safe deposit box he rented. He thought if she ever filed for a divorce she would get the kids and probably most everything he owned. So he decided to be prudent.

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Part 2

The buckets were soon filled and to save a little grocery money he started bringing in the mayonnaise products because he could never find out if they had an expiration date. He never bought any more mayonnaise.

After a few more talks with his friend he started looking around for a cheap piece of property to build his little hideaway. He found one not to long after looking around the local countryside. A man wanted to sell his ½ acre that was by a small creek beside of a large mountain side pond that the mines had used for run-off water before it shut down 40 some years ago. He could easily afford the sellers asking price and did so. There was a cinder block building with a ¼ inch steel metal roof with a pot belly stove in it. Not much else besides the battery hooked to a small water pump in the creek that pumped a little water into the place from the creek for a sink and to flush the toilet into the leach field that the man had installed several years ago. There were 3 rooms if you would call a 12 X 12 foot bedroom and a 12 X 14 living room, small bathroom and 8 X 10 kitchen a big area.

He thought about fall out and checked around on the web sites and stumbled into a few good ones – He learned a lot after burning some midnight oil and losing a lot of sleep, which made him cranky at work.

He could do a lot of the stuff he read about – He needed a little help on putting a basement under the cinder block building or beside of it. That was a big mess because of the small amount of seeping ground water – but after a year and 3000 dollars more then he wanted to spend for water proofing and drainage it was dug out besides the cinder block building and built. He admired the look of it before he put 4 feet of gravel and dirt on the top of it making it level with the surrounding ground. He laughed a little bit and said to himself – I have built a real bomb shelter – And then he thought about all the rest of the work and money he was going to spend to stock it. The little laugh ended then.

Another year went by and he noticed that his empty building was being used by strange people. He installed a hidden camera in the trees 50 yards away and another one 300 yards away to video the license plates and descriptions of 4 wheelers, 4 wheel drive pick-ups and motor cycles – He was more interested in the faces of these people and if they decided to steal the plastic pipe from the commode or even the cheap commode itself. 2 burly guys showed up one day on the camera and actually stole his sink and the commode. He promptly turned the video over to Law Enforcement and was told that an actual human being had to be present to witness the crime. That really ticked him off – There was nothing in the basement but an empty hole so there was nothing to be stolen there. They did use the place to pee and defecate in. He took action then. He buried the entrance to the front door and the basement with a small end loader he had bought. He had repaired the toilet and sink before he buried the building entrances. The basement was again fitted with a steel door and promptly covered with 5 feet of earth. The vandalism stopped. He always wondered if the idiots would bring a sledge hammer and knock the walls down that was not earth covered but that did not happen. He had to rent a storage building to keep all the equipment and long term food he was going to put in the shelter.

Part 3.

Powering the place was his next project. Due to a booming economy his job skills were in high demand at the moment. He started working Sat and Sun for 20 bucks an hour 10 hours a day for 3 months before he took a couple of weeks off – His cheating wife thought he was visiting his friends or fishing. This gave her time to spend with her current lover so she never complained. Every 2 weeks he bought a 200 watt solar panel. At the end of 3 months he had 12 panels stored in his friend’s garage. He took 2 weekends off before he started again. This time he bought golf cart 6 volt batteries which were a heck of a lot cheaper then the solar panels. His friend told him he would have to move his stuff out soon. Clark asked him for 3 more months because he did not want to move all that dirt every 2 or 3 weeks. He got the 3 months and 12 more solar panels. The measurement of the panels was made and a grid of racks was designed for the metal roof. The panels were stored in the almost damp shelter he had dug by the building. He knew a little dampness would not hurt them. He looked around for a way to air dry the place out during the sun lit days and found a 75 dollar solar panel that would run 2 small DC fans off of 2 of the batteries he had in the basement. The intake of outside air and exhaust of the basement air was going to be a tricky job. He would address that later. A 2 inch galvanized water pipe was run out of the basement wall up to the roof for the solar wiring. An electrical PVconnector plug was put in a down turned neck on the roof pipe, the racks installed on the metal roof and the holes permanently water proofed around the rack installation. The panels were left in the basement except for the 75 dollar one which was placed at the furthest upper edge of the roof which was not visible from ground level. This panel was hooked onto the 2 batteries in the basement to charge while he figured out how to run a pipe in and out for intake and exhaust air. He unplugged the batteries in the basement and left to figure out how to do that job. He had to use the small backhoe to recover the basement entryway and decided he would design an exhaust system and return in 3 months to do it right. When he returned he brought with him a 1500 gallon diesel tank from an abandoned farm the new owner did not want that he buried. He ran the tank pipe through another hole in the basement wall to the generator room. He was going to have to knock 2 more holes in the generator room wall for intake and exhausting. Some more reading and he discovered that a 6 inch 60 feet long buried plastic schedule 40 pipe with the ends placed in a metal lidded water meter base filled with fiber glass would eliminate 99% of the intake radiation for the generator and living room. He wondered about that and just thought it has to be the distance the air is travelling and the 2 U joints, the fiber glass in the meter base and the metal ½ inch thick iron lid covering. He kept on researching and found the foot note to make sure the pipe ending was facing down with a 90 degree elbow on it and placed on top of at least 6 inches of fiber glass and a large Hepa filter with the top 4 inches of the hole filled with fiber glass batting. Clark went and bought a couple of furnace hepa filters and cut them just a little larger then the 6 inch diameter of the intake pipe and placed one each in front of the intake fans - He was just being doubly cautious.
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Part 4.

His woman finally gave him the boot about 9 months after he had his little piece of heaven stocked, paid for and ready to move in – The judge gave his 2 kids to the evil woman with only once a month 4 hour visits – He lost the house that was almost paid for and he had to finish paying for it – No problem he thought. Until the judge said he had to make 1200 dollar a month payments for child support for the next 10 years in addition to paying the house off. He sure was glad the judge didn’t make him pay utilities or house property taxes. He thought he got off easy. Even though he had the private investigators show the films of her cheating on him. The judge was an idiot and his lawyer was a stupid piece of crap.

He moved into his house beside the shelter that very few knew about. He did not put the solar panels up nor did he open the basement that housed his generator and long term food supplies – the upper interior was barren with just a bed, Coleman stove, and toilet. The town had laundries and there was a large truck stop that he drove by to take a 1 buck shower. He bought a used recertified fiberglass 3000 gallon propane tank and semi buried it beside his diesel tank. It took 5 months to fill them. He had to bribe a propane truck driver and a diesel delivery driver to fill them on the quiet. Good things for Clark went on for another year until the economy fell apart.

There was little work and his ex and her new man were screaming for their child support. He just told the judge that he would have to jail him because he could not make the payments. No one was working. The judge said he was sorry about him not being able to make money but the 1200 dollar a month child support payments would stand. The judge also told him he would lose his drivers license if he did not make the payments. Clark laid his drivers license on the judges table and walked out. As he was walking out the door the judge told him he was going to revoke his visitation privileges. He thought about that on the way to his pickup and came to the conclusion his ex and her new man had turned his 2 kids against him and there was nothing he could do about it except kill them and take the kids to his place. That was not going to happen and he knew it. So he settled in for the coming doom that was sure to take over the country.

Part 5

He was fortunate that his woman thought the small back hoe belonged to his worker friend. He never gave her any information for her to change her mind that it was his. He thought he was as prepared as any low tech cheap prepper could be. He just needed a couple of hours to mount the solar panels and dig an opening to the basement door if anything dire happened.

There was still plenty of money he had socked away in his safety deposit box and he withdrew all of it and buried it on his property. He had lots of time on his hands and set about fixing some things up he had not done before. He installed some cable pulleys over the basement door and pulled up an old metal door and covered it with 2 feet of dirt to add a little more radiation protection when he let it drop back down over the entryway. He was on site all the time now and was not worried about someone stealing everything he had. He installed 12 solar panels on the roof and got the basic satellite package with computer hook-up. He thought 99 bucks a month was outrageous but he paid it.

He built a 60 foot long by 5 foot W by 6 foot H wood shed and covered it with some tin from the junk yard. The hard wood he cut came from around the side of the mountain and was easily accessed by an old fire break type of road. He wanted a better stove but the 1500 or more bucks were out of his finance league. He kept watch on the trading post magazine and the local paper for a bargain. 2 months later he fell into one of his better bargains. An elderly lady could no longer shovel coal or put firewood in her air tight stove and she wanted it removed, the roof repaired and some other work done. He got the 6 year old high dollar air tight stove for a hundred dollars not counting the 4 days labor he expended fixing up a lot of things including the lady’s roof. The lady’s husband had worked in the coal mines and had used a 6 inch diameter ¼ inch thick steel water pipe as the chimney. He carefully removed and salvaged the ¼ inch thick steel thimble going through the roof. All the accouterments were available and he loaded them up. He had to have his friend come help him man handle the 600 pound stove up onto his pick up and take it off at his place.

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Part 6

Next he used his back hoe to close all off road trails leading to his house. That was not an easy job and several times he wished he had some dynamite. Finally he built a log gate and blocked off the only remaining access road to his place and chained it shut. Feeling safe from the game warden he set out some traps for some squirrels and rabbits. He only had a small college dorm AC/DC fridge so he could not trap or store many at a time. He thought that it was best to not trap out all the small game close to his place.

Meat at the grocery store was getting progressively more expensive and he had not had many jobs in the past 6 months. He researched raising chickens and thought it would be an inexpensive way to get his meat supply. He built one of those movable tractors and several coops. He already knew or thought he knew they would probably die if radiation became a factor; but then again maybe not. Wow was all he said after looking in his newly made log shed and checked his buildable supplies. It was all there. He laughed at the memory of him and one of his friends using a 4 wheel dolly to carry four 1000 yard spools of 14 and 16 guage wires out of the new prison site where they were working. He knew those telephone and alarm installer workers were gonna be really mad when they came back to work after that long weekend.

There was a sand stone over hang of about 10 feet on the hill 20 some yards from where the coops were now standing. He had no idea if what he was going to do would save the chickens. He currently had nothing to do so he started on his save the chickens campaign from radiation. He would install the water line first and the pipe would be the most expensive part of this little job. He again lucked out – Lowes was discontinuing 10 foot pieces of 1/2 inch trailer sized schedule 40 pipe for 33 cents a stick. He bought forty dollars of the pipe and fittings since it would never go bad if kept out of the weather. This was a low tech operation for the pipe, but it did have to be buried to keep the water from freezing. He ran the pipe to the stream 25 yards around and above the overhanging ledge, made a coarse outer screen and a finer inner screen to go over the pipe that was placed about 16 inches down in the fast moving stream. The water would run into a 12 by 12 by 2 inch deep metal aluminum tray that was sloped slightly to let the water run out on the down sloped side of the rocky overhang floor. He thought the tray may freeze, but there would always be creek water running over the top of the frozen ice for the hopefully surviving chickens to get enough to sustain them if any thing bad happened in the winter time. The next part he had not figured out, but he would research automatic chicken feeders He went ahead and took his time cutting 6 and 8 inch trees down to make an enclosure with a 4 foot wide gate to block any of the wind blown radiation – He did not think wood would stop much radiation but why not give it a shot – It was something to do to kill time since he had no money making jobs lined up.

Part 7

He looked up automatic chicken water and feeders that evening and said – why of course – I had the right idea, I just didn’t go far enough in my thinking. A 40 or 60 watt bulb in a glass case right under and touching the metal water trough will keep it from icing up. The plans for making a feeder were in that section and he had all the items to make both.

The next day he cut a window pane to make the water proof glass box to hold the light bulb for the water trough. He looked at his design and said I don’t think I could sell any of these ugly looking things. He used 2 types of glue (Gorilla and Super Glue Gel) to seal the seams and then bent a small thin aluminum metal bracket around it to make sure it stayed together. The bracket was just long enough to mount the lower half of a drop light onto.

It took 2 days to make the feeder, but it would hold a hundred pounds of chicken feed. This he was sure would last several months for 5 chickens. Before he put the chicken coops together he had to redesign the whole thing. He decided he did not want the rooster in with the hens. Not yet. A quarter of the water trough and feed drop was placed in the rooster portion of the coop. He had made each coop big enough for 8 chickens and the rooster had a lot of room in his coop. Next he ran the wire from the basement through the 1/2 inch plastic pipe and dug a small trench right into the overhang area. The place was finished he thought. That night he remembered these hens would be laying eggs and some of them would have been fertilized right up till the time the chickens were placed in the coops under the overhang. Don’t want any baby chicks he thought – Back to the internet to see some plans for letting the eggs roll down into a box or dumped outside. That took 2 more days to find some 3 inch plastic pipe and get the elbows angled under the hen laying boxes. He made it simple the eggs were diverted to the outside where they would fall 5 feet off the ledge onto the rocks below. A little more research on chicken feed and he had to make a trip to the feed store and buy some fancy calcium supplement to add to the 100 pound sacks. 5 one hundred pound sacks of feed were stored in 55 gallon metal drums under the overhang and he had a long term supply of chicken feed. He stopped at the ice distributor and bought a small plastic box of dry ice. He put a small chunk in each 55 gallon drum that had chicken feed and sealed the top down after the dry ice had almost dissipated. He grinned and said; Ha - I killed all the bug eggs and live bugs in the barrels.

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Part 8

He checked his finances – there was 21000 dollars left. He checked his list of things he needed and decided to bite the bullet and buy the radiation detector, the nuke alert and the KI pills. The order was placed. His ammunition stockpile was enough for him to battle off 3 or 4000 bad guys and his weapons were first class. The small Gen 3 night vision was bought during the height of his work income and he saw that it was perfect for taking a deer at night. That brought up daily food supplies. He really did not want to get into canning and dehydrating food but he really had no choice. A nice canner and dehydrator were found at a 2nd hand shop in the city. The 2 gross of jars and extra lids set him back another 170 or so bucks. He saw that the library had 4 Ball canning books and he absconded with a 2 year old one and left the 3 newer ones for the general public. Another check of his lists showed he was lacking a good garden tiller and some gardening equipment. When he finished with that shopping spree he had 18700 bucks left. He kept his eye out for a freezer- he really wanted one of those extreme low electricity use DC ones – But the 2400 dollars was way out of his non wage earning finances. He decided that would go at the top of his list if he got a good paying job in the coming months. The current 2400 watts that his solar panels would produce would not run much. He had picked up 3 more dual fuel Coleman 2 burner stoves and repaired them. Unleaded treated gas would run them for many years. The neat little Coleman aluminum oven that sat on top of the stove made passable baked goods and excellent biscuits. The propane was to be used only in the shelter.

He could stay here in his little concrete building for 3 or 4 years if he had to without making a trip to town. But he was not going to do that, he liked the company of a female occasionally and a few drinks with some of his friends.

The garden the old man Clark had bought the place from had grown over with all kinds of things even small trees of about 2 or more inch diameter had started growing. Using the backhoe he cleared off and made the garden 50 X 50 feet. That would be just large enough to have a variety of vegetables to eat and can but not so large that it would break his back working it. Blackberries, raspberries and wild blueberries were abundant. There were also some apple, peach, pear and nut trees scattered in the close by walk to mountains throughout the area.

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