Chapter 19

 

 

 

 

It snowed hard for two days and that pretty much closed the road to all traffic.  Three days later I was surprised when a snow plow made a pass through on the highway but realized that with the highway closed no one would be getting any more food deliveries or any other deliveries for that matter.  Apparently whoever was in charge thought that was unacceptable and had at least one lane opened on the highway.

Winter continued just like that.  When we received too much snow a plow went through on the highway to keep one lane always open.  Towards the end of March I was able to shoot another elk so we had plenty of meat for most of the summer months I think.  Most of the meat was made into jerky.  When Jan said the jerky would make a good trade item or even something we could give to those in need I shot another elk and we jerked almost the whole thing.  It worked good jerking the meat in the kitchen oven.  It warmed the kitchen up nicely and we took our time and processed the meat over several days.

Over the long winter we started listening to the one radio station that was available to us.  Gradually they started to have some real news again. In many areas of the northern United States people were having a very hard time surviving due to the winter cold and snow.

Many lives were lost over the long winter months and that coupled with all the lives lost previously meant that now the population of the United States was much reduced from what it had been just one year ago.  On the radio they admitted that no one really knew what the current population was and all anyone could do was guess.  By closer to spring the US government said that by their estimates the population had fallen by at least twenty five percent possibly by as much as fifty five percent.

The government also admitted that stored food supplies were now dangerously low across the country and they were urging everyone, everywhere to plant and tend their own gardens for their future survival as soon as the weather permitted that gardens be planted in their areas.  Garden seeds would be provided free of charge and would come with instructions for planting, tending, harvesting, and seed harvesting. 

The government said that commercial farming would be promoted and fuel would be provided to those farmers for that food production.  Even with that citizens were told to rely on their own gardens for the bulk of their needs.  In no uncertain terms everyone was told that they would have to be personally responsible for their own well being.  The government would provide limited help to everyone but that help would be very limited. 

Neither Jan nor I was familiar with gardening and neither of us had ever grown garden or even helped someone else with a garden.  When the announcement came that everyone should plant a garden and that seeds would be provided we decided to again make a trip into town.  The snow had melted off enough (thanks to early spring rains) so we could now get out to the highway without problems. 

Before we left for town I told Janet that I did have one more very important task to do and it had to be done before the trip.  I asked her to marry me.

Luckily she did say yes and we agreed that we would try and get married while in town on this trip.  She seemed both excited and relieved that I asked her to marry me.  I guess I was feeling the same things because she had said yes when I asked.  With a twinkle in her eye she did say that it would have been a much warmer winter if I had asked her last fall instead of waiting for spring.

When the radio said the government sponsored seed was now available in our area we made an uneventful trip in to town.  Once there we presented our driver’s licenses to receive our gardening kit.  The kit was only a selection of seeds and several pages of detailed instructions on how to raise a garden from start to finish.  There were several boxed kits and the one we received had a number two stamped on all sides which we guessed was because we had a family of two.

After we had our seeds and had asked about a local church we made our way to a nearby church where the Minister agreed to marry us on the spot.  He said that he could not provide the legal documents because the county courthouse was not functional.  We assured him that if we were married in the eyes of God that mattered much more to us than being married in the eyes of the government.  It was a very short and simple ceremony that was only attended by the three of us.  The Minister asked for nothing for performing a duty he took pleasure in as it showed promise of the future but we gave him a donation in the hopes he could continue to provide what he could for everyone in the area. 

Before coming to town we had searched all four of the properties near us and had found plenty of hand gardening tools along with adequate garden hoses to water our future garden.  We stopped at the grocery store and were shocked at just how little they had in the way of food.  We bought nothing with the money we had brought with us.  We would use what little we had left at home and hope for the best with our gardening skills.

We talked to several people in town about news, both local and elsewhere.  Like we guessed after a look in the grocery store they all said that supply trucks were now few and far between.  Many had died in town over the winter from starvation, disease, violence, accidents, and mixed other causes.  Everyone also assumed there was considerable loss of life in the rural areas over winter due in part to most of the roads being impassable all winter long.

Everyone expressed real concerns for all our future survival but most also expressed hope and determination to get this country back up and running.  We actually stayed in town most of the day having brought plenty of food and water with us. 

There was a flea market type thing going on in the parking lot of the open grocery store.  While cash was used most items were purchased by barter or trading.  Items for sale ran the gauntlet from valuable to about worthless but overall there was really very little there.  We found nothing we wanted.  We understood that people were just trying to get by anyway they could. 

The soup kitchen was still open though we did not partake for ourselves.  We asked about it and were told that it was just supplying enough calories to each person to barely survive everyday.  Many wondered just how long they could depend on even that meager food supply to be available to them.

Sentiment among those in town varied widely from despondent to hopeful and some just happy to see spring arrive on more time.  Looking over the people we saw way fewer older people than before the crisis and thought that it was very likely that many older folks just did not survive over the winter.  We had been told that drugs were about non-existent now and that likely caused the deaths of many people.

We also saw very few kids and hoped that was just because they were at their homes.  Neither of us voiced that fact both the very young and the very old were usually the first to lose their lives in survival situations.

Finally we returned to the truck and drove back to our home.  What should have been a very joyous day because we had gotten married was tempered somewhat by everything we had seen and heard while in town.