Chapter 10
The next day we stayed around camp all day doing little things to make it a nicer stay. A distance back in the woods I dug a trench latrine and wove some branches together to make a nice screen for privacy.
Jan saw the heavy blanket inside my tent on the floor and asked me about it.
“It’s a moving blanket. It is used to pad furniture and such when it is being moved. I bought this cheap at a thrift store. It makes a nice pad on the floor of tent and I just shake it out every couple days to keep it clean.”
“I’ll have to try and find me one. I can see it would be nice to have in a tent.”
We each picked up small branches and brought in to use for firewood. We would be having no big bon fires. I was somewhat surprised when Jan made the small cooking fire the previous night instead of the big fire most people make to cook on.
After a light lunch we both listened to the crank up radio for awhile. There was nothing good on it. In the afternoon I took a long hike circling our camp sight just to see what’s what in the area.
While I was gone Jan rearranged the contents of several of the totes to make things easier and handier for us. When I got back I saw she had found two large rocks with fairly flat tops which she had placed close enough together so a pot or a fry pan could be placed on top but still had some room between them for a small fire to cook with. Looked like it should work very well. Especially since we did not have a grill rack to use over the fire.
When I got back from my hike I opened the heavy rifle case I had gotten from the dead guys. Inside was I though two AR15’s then I saw that one was actually a Ruger twenty two auto that looked very much like an AR. There was also some ammunition for both guns in the case though I did have quite a bit of the 223 ammo already for my rifle.
I asked Jan if she had ever shot an AR rifle and she said no. So I spent some time with her showing her the ins and outs of the rifle. We did not shoot it but she practiced loading magazines and inserting and removing them from the rifle. We both had to learn about the twenty two rifle because it was new to both of us though it looked so much like the AR rifle.
Over the next several days we got camp life down pretty well. We used the stream for all of our washing including washing our clothes and bodies. We often went hiking together and would soon cover several miles on each trip. During all this time we saw no one at all which suited both of us just fine.
When Jan saw me working out on some martial arts routines she asked if I could teach her. So daily training and workouts became the norm for us.
After two weeks in the same location we were very comfortable with each other and there was no friction between us. We talked some but more often we sat or walked in a companionable silence with no need to speak just to hear ourselves talk. I was now not sorry I allowed her to come with me.
A couple times I shot a rabbit for us to have for supper. Jan not only ate the rabbit meat but cooked each of them after I had skinned and gutted them. We both enjoyed having the fresh meat though Jan said that she would pick up a few spices next time we were in a town to enhance the taste. She also suggested that we should buy a fishing rod and a little bit of tackle in case we had the opportunity to fish at some point.
We still listened to the radio for a short time just about every evening. Terrorists had downed three more jets and one of them had been in Pennsylvania with the other two in different countries. Rioting in the bigger cities had gotten worse just like we both thought it would. There was talk of banks stopping the use of credit cards and debit cards soon. If that happened the EBT cards used for food stamps would also no longer be functional. With no food stamps the riots would be unstoppable.
Even now National Guard troops were guarding many grocery stores. Because of the riots and looting of many types of stores a large number of stores in every city had been closed. As expected when you had fully armed troops in the cities there had been many cases of rioters being shot. And not with rubber bullets either. In the worst case twenty seven rioters had been shot and killed in one night. Over sixty others had been wounded at the same time.
Supposedly Congress and the White House were working together to come up with plans to ease tensions and get everyone back to work. That is what they said but no evidence was coming out that they were really doing anything at all. There were many protests everyday in Washington DC. Not that they were doing any good that anyone could see. Some were wondering if the President and Congressmen were even in Washington anymore as they were making themselves scarce and unreachable. Which had people even more worried. Everyone was used to Congress doing nothing but usually they would still be around trying to bolster their image. But now no one was seeing hide nor hair of them.
We stayed another week where we were before packing up again. It had been a very nice and secluded campsite but we could now use a little more supplies and were ready for a change of scenery even though it was very pretty here. Though it had been peaceful at this camp we had both wore our pistols everyday. We packed very carefully and tried to place things so if we wanted to camp out somewhere for only one night it would be quick to grab just the items needed for a one night camp.
When we had things to our satisfaction we got in the pickup and headed out. The night before we had again gone over the road atlas carefully trying to decide where we should go and talked some about longer range plans of where to go or end up. The thought of winter coming at some point was discussed also.
We had decided for now to head for Colorado and spent the next three days getting into the state. We could have driven it in one day but we were in no hurry and drove on mostly secondary roads bypassing all the larger towns which were very few anyway in this area of the nation. The land became wide open and you could see for miles most of the time.
We stopped once at a likely looking out of the way spot and Jan shot the AR 15 rifle we had acquired. She did well enough with the gun. She also shot the twenty two rifle some which she really enjoyed. We had plenty of ammunition for all the guns but when we had the opportunity we bought considerably more of the twenty two ammo plus a little more for the AR rifles also. Even another box for Jan’s carry pistol. We did not know if ammunition would be available in the future so we now had plenty to last quite some time.
We stopped the first day and bought enough groceries to last us awhile. When we crossed Interstate Forty we stopped at big truck stop and we each took advantage of the showers that they had available there. It was certainly way nicer than washing in a creek. We had lunch there to and listened to the truckers talking amongst themselves. Apparently there was very little work for truckers now. With so many stores shut down and so many people out of work and broke there was not much buying and selling happening so trucking had slowed tremendously apparently.
We did have a little altercation at the truck stop. Jan and I were apart and I happened to see her and it appeared like three guys were talking to her. She did not appear agitated or worried but I headed in that direction anyway. When I got close enough so I could hear the conversation I stopped to listen.
“I think we will take you with us little lady. We need some entertainment and you look like you have some potential.”
“Sorry boys I don’t have time to play today. So if you will excuse me I’ll be on my way.”
“You don’t understand. It was not a request. You can come with walking or we can drag you. It is your choice.”
I was about to get involved even though Jan still did not look worried even though she could not see me where I was standing.
“Please don’t come any closer. It would be sad to get your blood stains all over this nice clean place.”
I could see the three guys were confused because they obviously expected her to start screaming in fear or something instead of standing confidently in front of them and giving them orders. I was curious myself so I just waited to see what would happen.
When one of the guys stepped forward Jan calmly reached into her purse and pulled out her pistol that I had not realized she had with her.
“So you will be the first one to start leaking blood. Well good enough let’s see just how fast I can do all three of you shall we.”
Her confidence was amazing. And the three guys were now all quite sure they would need either serious medical attention or a casket if they continued. They all started to back off quickly at almost a run.
“We were just kidding around. No need for violence lady.”
One of them shouted as he was at a fast trot in retreat. I saw Jan then calmly put her pistol away and high tailed it without her seeing me. She mentioned nothing about it the rest of the day and seemed to be her normal smiling self.
When I saw a Harbor Freight store in one town we stopped and Jan picked up a moving blanket like the one I had for the tent floor. I picked up just a couple things while we were there too.
For camp spots we just drove off on small side roads and picked remote spots to camp. We were never bothered by anyone.