A Long Lonely Road (8 page)

I was just flat blown away with what I saw and it must have showed cause Harv laughed and said remind you of anyplace? I said nope, we never had a thing this nice.

He took me into the biggest .. I guess bunker will have to do, and inside  it was real nice and comfortable and big enough to use as a fall back last ditch stand fighting position but was also the mess hall and entertainment center and school which was going on in a corner.

We took a seat at a picnic table and within seconds a young girl about 16 had cups on the table with another looking like a twin bearing a big coffee pot. She said “Pops Mom said she will be serving breakfast to the first wave in about uh hour and yawl gotta make do with this till then.” This was a big hunk of apple pie!

I looked around and after swallowing my first bite of the best apple pie I’d ever eat I asked just how the hell this came to be. Harv was an ol boy who loved to tell a tale I could see that.

He said well the main area here is a patented mining claim about 20 acres, the rest is just squatters rights he said with a grin.

Seems that Harv and his clan had all moved to Idaho after reading a book by a guy who was a believer in being prepared. He said they all read the book and all agreed to get the hell out of where they were. So 10 years back that’s just what they did.

The pooled everything they had after selling off about 150 years of living in the Mtns of West Virginia and headed west. But first Harv and two of his brothers came out and looked the whole state over.

Being mountain folk they didn’t cotton to the flat lands so they headed for the high country. And there they found Mining! Now one thing a West Virginia man has in his blood is mining and even though is was Silver not Coal they were happy as could be.

They all three found jobs right away and with the promise to not only return but to bring a whole bunch of men just like them they returned home and packed up lock , stock and barrel and here they were.

This mining claim was something they went to looking for right off and after digging around it they knew that with hard work they could get enough Silver out of it to start preparing for whatever came.

He said the USFS being the huge pain in a working mans ass they are tried to revoke the patented  rights to the land but weren’t able to do it so they tried gating them out, that didn’t work and pretty soon the Timber Nazi’s saw they were good stewards to the land and stopped fighting them.

All the building I could see was preplanned and they had a small dozer and had been doing what they could without pissing the Feds off. And sure nuff one days it happened.

And they just loaded up everything that wasn’t already in their mine tunnel into their older pickups and headed here. I was wordless , I had never seen such a thing in my life.   

After a super good breakfast Harv took me on a tour of the place which had so much more to it then meets the eye. Back in a small gully we followed a trail that lead to a …valley being the wrong word I’d have to say clearing that was one big garden with a small spring fed stream running thru it watering the whole area but being late in the year it was all put away in the cave and canned.

They had about a hundred hens running around scratching and bug hunting with two youngsters up in perches with a couple of old 22 single shot rifles to ward off critters looking for a chicken dinner.

And I was astounded to see a couple of milk cows and some goats. These people had it going 15 ways from the center. I’d never seen nothing like it in my life. But I was making mental notes as fast as I could so that when I got home there was gonna be some new ideas. Which made me stop and once again think of home.

After we were done touring we went back for more coffee and since breakfast was coming we settled in to wait which got some words from his wife with a smile added. I think lazy and gabby were two of them.

While waiting for breakfast I had told Harv and one of the brothers what I was doing and why I was doing it the way I was, both agreed it was best since they knew first hand as did I just what was going on out there.

They had an outpost a few miles from their compound manned 24/7 by members of the group. And the reports called in daily from the over watch point were bad.

Even decent types were in a shoot first mode and to hell with the questions. So far they had only had to turn back a few people who had somehow gotten vehicles running.

They had as yet to fire the first shot and just shook their heads in dismay at my report of my involvements with raiders. But I could see that with a lot of thought and preplanning they had beat the odds and truly were prepared far beyond what most “preppers” were able to do.

Now these ain’t the rich types you read about in most shtf stories. You know, the type who has a few million bucks and one day decided to build a fort. Nope these were working folks who all got the same bug bite at the same time and who come with a family /clan type mind set. Nope these ol boys did it the old fashion way, They Worked for it!!!

After the lunch I was offered a bed for the time I was staying which was not going to be very long. Harv and his brother asked what supplies I could use and flat refused to let me pay with the silver of which they seemed to have plenty.

Being hardheaded I asked how they were set for ammo and received a smile so that was out. It looked like I was just going to have to accept their generosity or hurt their feelings.

I explained I had been using my can goods since it was what I had plus cans didn’t break. Harv took me into the mine tunnel which was flat out awesome! They had not only braced the thing six ways from Sunday they had turned the side areas into more dorm rooms and recreation areas.

Best of all was the “cold” room which was sealed off from the main shaft by what looked like a reefer door, inside looked like a warehouse for a grocery chain.

Walter, Harvs brother said they had spent the past few years building this room and filling it. And I believed it. There was enough food in there to feed 5 times their numbers for a long time.

Harv grabbed a flat bed cart and took a case of Denny Moore stew off a stack and placed it on the flat bed, next was a case of canned butter, canned bacon  powdered eggs and milk.

I had to remind him my mules had to pack all this but he said not to worry that we would take some of everything and the rest would be added to the store room in the dinning hall.

After he had loaded all he could pile on the cart we pushed it thru another door into a room carved out of the rock and thru another door into the store room of the kitchen. I was just blown away… again.

We set out to figure where to pack it so I started unpacking when I noticed Walters eyes open wide.

He was looking at the 45 ammo. I asked if he was short and Harv said that was an understatement as they had placed a order but it never made it. So now I was off the hook for their kindness.

I had way more then I needed simply because if I went thru the rifle and shotgun ammo a 45 wasn’t gonna save me, so I took out 200 rounds and gave them the rest which made them both smile big.

I also had a lot of 7.62x39 but they had bought all Ar’s in 223 and were heavy in that. I did offer and they accepted some 12 gage buck. All in all it was a wonderful surprise to meet such people such as these.

I knew out there in the cities it was 100 percent different and I once again thanked the Big Boss for the chance to see home again.

I told them that I would stay the night but at first light I had to roll out and keep going. How easy it would have been to stay here or back at the ranch but I just couldn’t.

After a wonderful dinner and a drink or two I headed for the bed and slept the night away, Molly seemed to be happy with the place too.

Morning came and I was up and dressed and heading out to get the mules packed. Their loads were heavier but we were steadily moving down to lower elevations and I’d be lightening the load daily.

Once again I was saying good by to good people, the kind that would be needed to rebuild a nation from the ashes of stupidity.

With hand shakes from the brothers I mounted Buck and headed out of the compound and back onto the road. I had told them of my promise to return after things settled out and I’d stop and see how they had faired .

With a final wave and good-bye we rode away into the new day. Molly in the lead, the red mules following on their own and Buck stepping out like he had someplace to be.

We were heading for a trail Harv had showed me on his map which now was my map. We couldn’t follow the road because it lead out to the Interstate system which was not a good place to be.

It wasn’t bad climbing out of the canyon and up onto the open country where we headed down the spine of the range. I knew from Harv that we were in empty country for the next several days and other then crossing some old jeep roads were not likely to see anybody and more importantly not be seen.

And so it was for the next several days. Ride all day, make camp, eat, sleep and get up and do it all over again. And to a degree it was kinda boring. In fact it was real boring but I hastened to remind myself to be careful what ya wish for!

I truly ain’t got the words to describe the beauty of the high country and how it can make one feel both powerful and small and insignificant all in a moment.

I remember some words I read once. At least I think I did, hell maybe I dreamed them but no they are to eloquent to have been a by product of my brain.

Anyway it goes…

“Nothing can compare with sitting on a good horse up high because when your do so, you can see all the way to God.”

I hope sitting on a mule don’t reduce the point…

There is a clean quality to the air in the high Mountain country that can not be duplicated by anything except perhaps being far out to sea facing into the wind. Regardless they are both wonderful and I have been privileged to have experienced both many times.

I often stop in places where the sun has warmed the boulders and just sat having a drink of water, pouring some for Molly who lays at my feet to make sure I don’t sneak off on her.

The mules enjoy it too since they can graze and often I watch them staring out across the miles of empty country and the unending blue sky that inspired the name “ Big Sky Country” which of course was back in Montana but applied here as well for is it not the same sky?

This way of life is good and if my family were not needing me and I not needing them and to be there making them safer by my presents I could stay up here and let the world sort it’s self out.

But I think this and yet I know I would not because if the good people hide from evil who then will end the evil? I’m not brave nor a self righteous person but for all my faults I know right from wrong, good from bad.

And five dead men back in Montana will never hurt anybody again because I chose to become involved, what man could call himself a man and not do so?

My how things changed. It would be so easy to say it happened so fast but in truth it started a long time ago. When fools sent fools and crooks to Washington to make stupid laws and to make themselves rich.

No, it wasn’t quick but it seems so to those who had no ability to see and understand what was being done to our nation, our people and our way of life. I knew millions were dying as I sat here on this mountain yet there was nothing I could do about it today.

Had I been braver years back and had I the conviction to do what needed doing would it have helped? Should good men die in wars started by evil men desiring to bring about changes to better control others from a seat of all power?

Should a congressman ( Person? Hahaah) be removed by force if necessary to preserve all that is right about America? The answer in my heart is a resounding “YES!!” but can one man alone bring down their army of evil men?

We should have tried and it will rest hard on our souls that we did not. I’ve often asked. Could one good man with an honest conviction of right and a good rifle have prevented WW 2 ?? 

Had Hitler, dying at the hand of a good and decent man willing to die for right have accomplished an end to the hell that was coming? We will never know but 100 million people had to die before the slime bag ended his own worthless life.

But for a nail the shoe was lost, but for a bullet all was lost for many years. Damn this sitting in the sun is cooking my brain! Best be making some miles.

I feel like I’ve been on this mule all my life yet I’m broke in to it now and I’ve lost the “Deer Gut” I packed for so many years, I know Buck can tell the difference.

We had been steadily dropping down out of the high country for days now and were getting into more crowded country. I was figuring it might be wise to travel after dark, laying up during the day but it would be a lot slower and time was hounding me yet I know I have many weeks if not months to go.

After so long in the high lonesome I was quick to notice the smell of smoke and at first thought it was a camp fire but soon it was quite obvious that it was a structure burning. Or rather that had burned just from the smell of stuff like wiring and carpeting.

It was time to become cautious. The wind was quartering from the west and a bit south and I could have just ridden on past but I also couldn’t damn my nosey ways!