The truckers came back for another load today. Matt rolled in with them. His hand is wrapped up but he said its fine. The doc said to keep him off strenuous duty for a while till his hand heals up. We loaded up the two excavators and a 5 ton truck to go back. They didn’t plan to stay. Just before we left I asked them to come down to the shop with me and I gave them the table and dart board. They were stoked to say the least. They loaded them up and with much thanks pulled out.

Jed did a little fishing today. He ended up draggin up two dead heads off the river bottom and no fish. Sigh.

The governor himself came on the radio today. He thanked us for the equipment and said he would send the trucks back for more and send a fuel tanker as well. We were getting short of diesel.

The mechs worked all day on another excavator. Basically the same problems as the first except both tracks were seized and there were electrical problems with this one. It seems sitting outside for over a year with zero maintenance isn’t exactly easy on equipment.

Me and Jay mostly worked with the mechs. Jed held down the fort. The kid is growing up fast. He plans to put in a large garden and wants to start a fish farm too.

The river is open now so fishing may be an option. Id KILL for some fresh walleye fillets.

Heavy rain kept us inside most of today. the mechs came over and we played cards for several hours hoping it would slack off but it was steady all day today. Meh, just another lost day i guess.

The mechs helped us set up the radio this morning so we could get in contact with Pierre. After contact was established and verified, we asked about Matt. The doctor said while he couldn’t save the finger, He had sewn up the stump and given some time would be fine. He said Matt was in good spirits as well.

We all breathed a little easier after hearing that. An injury like that can be a killer in this day and age.

We worked hard today and got the excavator fixed up and ready to go. The mechs don’t know it but im fixing up a surprise to send back with them. I went down to the old shop and fixed up a pool table and dart board to send back with them. They said none of the bars survived the outbreak and there wasn’t much to do for entertainemnt unless the governor invited you in for a movie night. I thought some pool and darts would go over well. Jay helped me get it all ready.

A few dead heads showed today, but they are getting pretty ragged. Given another season i don’t think there will be too many left barring a fresh outbreak somewhere.

Bad day today. Matt lost a finger when we were loading the trucks. His hand got caught in a load binder and pinched off the pinkie finger on his right hand. The driver felt awful as he was on the other side adjusting his chains and had cuased the binder to jerk. He and Matt immediately loaded up and headed for Pierre. That kind of injury is beyond my abilities and the driver said they had good doctors at the capital. I put together a pack for Matt and handed his FPW to the driver. They moved out ASAP. The remaining two trucks finished loading, we shook hands all around and the left. The mechs decided to stay and keep working on equipment.

Spent most of today working on the equipment. The bulldozer and front end loader were easy. The took right off as soon as we had fresh fuel in the tanks and the batteries charged up. The excavator proved a tough nut to crack. The left track was seized and we had to rock it loose, then several hoses on the boom arm split when we tested it. it’s a mess. We got some of it fixed but we’re short on hydraulic parts. The radio gov Rounds sent back with us hasn’t been set up yet so we cant ask. The mechs made the call to leave it for the next trip and move onto something else. They chose two. A light duty backhoe and a pavement chipper. The chipper choice I thought odd until they explained their main source of concrete had been old concrete they tear up and re-use. The chipper would make it easier to dig up. Those two were running in a short tiem as well. We had ot change the back tires on the backhoe as they were badly weather checked and poor. We’ll load everything tomorrow and get the truckers on their way.

We found a nice trailer for the workers today. 40 foot long deluxe bueaty. Sleeps 8 according to the books we found in it. Good thing the folks that owned it don’t need it anymore. We set it up inisde the secondary barricade and now have the house to ourselves.

We went down to the sand and gravel outfit and assessed what we could get going. The mechs decided to prep and return with a D8 bulldozer, hitachi track excavator and a caterpillar front end loader. It should be relatively easy work to get them rolling. Fresh fuel, charge the batteries and air up the tires on the front end loader. A little priming and grease here and there and they should be good to go.

Well we got everyone together and made our plans this morning. We will build a second barricade, contiguous to ours to house the trucks and equipment. Matt also forwarded the idea of moving in a trailer of some kind to house all the workers while they are here. (It is getting crowded in the house) We decided to enclose a section to the east of us. Matt pulled the party poppers out and the mechanics made short work of crushing and stacking the cars needed to build the walls. The gate was constructed the same as the original barricade gate. Several dead heads made their preence known as the project consumed the day and we made short work of them. The mechs and drivers proved themselves excellent shots. We finished the project in a single day except for housing. We’ll leave that for tomorrow

We drove down the main drag in Pierre and saw no one and nothing that moved. We figured if anyone was alive it would be around the capital building. We weren’t wrong.

There was a military checkpoint about two blocks from the capital built into a dirt and debris berm, topped with steel sheeting and concrete. The checkpoint was manned by SD national guard troops. Jay opened his viewport and spoke to them. He told them who we were, and where we came from, and that we were looking for his family. The guard nodded and waved to the gateman. The gate swung open and we drove indside the compound.

Our arrival made no small amount of commotion. We handed Ed and Mark back their weapons and bid them goodbye. They thanked us for the ride and left. The guard troops were suspicious of us and kept us discretely covered all the time. A man came up and asked who we were and what we were here for. We explained ourselves and asked if Jays family had made it. The man said hed check into it but in the meantime Governor Rounds had requested the visitors be brought to him.

We trooped inside the capital building where the guards requested we turn over our personal weapons. There were some small moments of tension when we both refused and said we would leave if required to be disarmed. Then a booming voice from the end of the corrdor silenced the guards.

“You let them boys by! If they made it this far they certainly arent going to go gunning down anybody who don’t need it!”

Apprently Gov Rounds still had his rather cavalier attitude about life. He invited us into his office. A M-16 leaned on the desk and he had a 1911 .45 pistol on his belt. Pretty much everyone we had seen was heavily armed.

“You boys drink?” we both nodded and he poured a stiff drink for us. He stood and offered a toast.

“To meeting new faces.” we clinked glasses and drank. It was mightly smooth ill say that. Packed a wallop too. He sat and leaned back.

We filled him in on the events that had transpired in the months since the outbreak. He seemed quite disturbed when we told him about the dead head horde that besieged us. When we finished he mulled things over for a bit and then spoke.

“well id say you boys did one hell of a job keeping yourselves alive. Putting together your barricade and that mighty dangerous looking vehicle speaks to your ingenuity. We have around 450 people here now. Most are state workers and military but some are civilian. We evacuated the civilians south in the first stages of the outbreak. There is a large tract camp in the dry lands in new mexico that is secure and most of the refugees are there. “

Jay asked about his family at this point and Rounds called for his aide. Jay gave him all the names and addresses he had and the aide left.

“We’ll do our best to find your people but you understand records and communication is spotty at best.” Jay nodded . “I just want to know more than anything.” Rounds nodded back. “ I know the feeling.”

“Heres the deal. You boys are just fione where you are and with what youre doing. Hell its far more than most people have accomplished. Most people just hid out in their basements until someone showed up to get them. You boys have a functional, defensible and most importantly heavily armed fortress. Plus you have plans to expand and pacify. We have the same plans but lack enough heavy equipment to do so. Heres what we need to do: you guys have acces to a bunch of heavy construction equipment. If you can get it running and functional we’ll get it here. We can get you whatever supplies, fuel, weapons and ammo you need. We’ll send trucks and operators when you tell us you’re ready. We NEED that equipment in short order. Our defenses here is rudimentary at best. If a horde like you describe would come here we could be over-run.”

“Let me and my partner here talk about this for a bit.” I answered. We retired to an anteroom where there was food and drink. We ate a bit and discussed. This would put us back time wise on our plans for expanding the barricade but the return of fuel ammo and supplies would far offset it. We put together a proposal and wrote it all out.

We returned to the governors office with our proposal.

“Here is what we can do and what you need to do in return. We will head back to Mobridge and we want you to send the follwing with us.

3 semi truck lowboys with drivers and a full fuel loads for a trip there and back
5 fully qualified mechanics to assist us with getting the equipment running
Fuel, oil and misc shop supplies
Food
Ammo
Body armor

And the trucks needed to transport said suuplies and equipment. We’ll house and take care of the people and keep them safe inside the barricade when they are not working. We will keep them there as long as you keep us in fuel, ammo and supplies. We will provide you with whatever heavy equipment there is to be had save what we need for our own use. “

Rounds mulled it over and stuck out his hand. “You got a deal.” We spent the remainder of the day picking out supplies and equipment. We spent the night in the governors mansion in the guest room. We had a DELICIOUS supper of locally grown vegetables and venison steaks after which Rounds played a movie neither one of us had seen before in the entertainment room and the cooks even made us popcorn. It was ahell fo a good night.

SUNDAY

Most of the day was spent preparing the convoy for the trip back to mobridge. The drivers and mechanics would ride in the three low boy trucks and the two remaining mechs would drive two five-ton supply trucks. We loaded down heavy with dehydrated food, 7.62 and 5.56mm ammo. We did take time out to go to church as well. It was a rather bizarre affair that was a mixture of almost every religion. We sat through it for the others sake. Afterwards we were approached by several people wanting to ride along. They had the look of leechers to me and we told them no, maybe next time. We made sure to tell gov rounds that unless he authorized them to go we didn’t want any extra people except those we required to come. There wasn’t enough supplies as it was.

Late in the day the governors aide showed up and talked to Jay for a time. Jay seemed happy and sad at the same time. He came back and talked to me. He said his folks had made it to the camp in new mexico. His dad however later died from a cholera epidemic that swept the camp. His mother and sister were there and in good health. The aide said he would send word to them the Jay as alive and well. Jay said he was happy thye made it but sad he couldn’t see them. I knew the feeling.

MONDAY

We left pierre early Monday morning. The hard part of the trip would be getting the trucks over the road we had blown. No roadblocks, gunfights or anything else deterred our trip. It had rained heavily it appeared as we got cloder to Mobridge. We halted at the bottom of tower hill and we rode death metal forward to inspect the road. Surprisngly, the hole was possibly passable. The rain had washed the edges down and made a ramp into and out of the hole. The trucks could cruise right through if they took it slow. We went back, appraised them of the situation and took it slow. We all made it through with no problems save some sweaty palms.

Matt and Jed were on pins and needles (and manning the M-60s) when we rolled up with a convoy of trucks in tow. They whooped and hollered when we started unloading the supplies we brought. We got everyone squared away and bedded in and let Matt and Jed in on the plan.

Jay Drove over to his family’s house. There were the FEMA markings on the door but we didn’t understand them. The door was ajar and we entered cautiously. The carpet was rotten and squished under our feet. I was unfamiliar with the layout and kept tight on Jay’s back. The ouse was stripped of any valubles or supplies but Jay found a few pictures and some odds and ends to take back. When we left I could see the dissapointment in his eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder.

“lets see if we can scrounge some fuel huh?”

Jay nodded and We drove back to where the two men lived and asked about gas. They said to try the stations. Most of the fuel was still there but they couldn’t find a way to get it out. We had brought along a pump and hoses so we were set.

The conoco yielded plenty of high octane and we filled all our cans and tanks. We also scrounged six five gallon gas cans, filled them and lashed them to the back bumper. Night was getting close and we needed tp find a place to laager up for the night. We picked the city park. Jay set up the cans and wires to alert us to intruders and we buttoned up for the night. We ate some chow and I bedded down in the cargo area while Jay took the first watch. I slpet until 2AM when Jay woke me and I took his place.

The night was uneventful for the most part. A group of skunks strolled by about 6AM just before the sun came up. I was surprised to see them as they were the first small mammals I had seen in nearly a year. I woke Jay around 7AM.

Saturday

We pulled up and stowed the alarm cans and we were warming up the engine when Jay spotted the two men heading towards us on pedal bikes. They aske to ride along with us. There were few supplies here and they had no transportation save the bikes. Jay and me talked about it for a bit and decided they could ride along but they would have to surrender their weapons to us first. They nodded, relived they would be allowed to go along.

Me and jay had discussed our plans for today before we did anything else. We made the decision to drive pierre to see what we could see. I couldn’t deny Jay the chance to find his family. We had plenty of fuel and supplies and it was only another 50 miles or so.

We drove south on 83 past Onida and Agar. Both were seemingly deserted. We sped by both without stopping. We could check them out on our way home if we were so inclined. We turned onto 212 without incident and drove into Pierre.

Well we made it back. Ill try to recount the event of the past few days as best i can. its been a flurry of action and writing in my journal has been the last thing on my mind.

FRIDAY

We pulled out early in the morning about the time the sun was coming up. Jay was driving and i manned the 30 cal in the top turret. the boys watched us from the barricade as we pulled out. Matt blocked the gate back up as we left. The boys could handle themselves. We headed east up old highway 12 twoards the river road and our blast crater road block. Heavy rains and runoff in the last few weeks had turned it into a lake. we headed south down the ditch and up past the old cell phone towers. It was all Jay could do to keep death metal on its wheels. the drop off ws just ahead."Hang on tight!" he yelled as we dropped over the precipice. it was about a eight foot drop at an 80 degree angle. wicked rough. I banged my head hard on teh butt of the 30 cal and saw stars for a moment. "now i know why tankers wore helmets." i thought ruefully. Jay wrestled the wheel and worked the pedals like a pro as we skittered down the backside of the greasy hill. It finnaly leveled out by the old Simms place and we got back on the highway. Glenham was just ahead.Glenham appeared to have burnt to the ground not long after the dead heads took over. mostly just crumbling foundations and the occasional solitary chimney stood. Hoagies bar was still partially standing but looked long abandoned. Jay asked if i wanted to stop. i told him no, to keep going. Selby was another 18 miles ahead.


Selby was in much the same condition as Glenham. mostly burned ruins. the courthouse was the lone exception. The windows had been fortifed and it appeared to have been a stronghold. the walls were scarred with smoke trails and dismembered deadheads were in a shallow ring around it. I yelled to Jay to stop so we could scope it out. We shut off the engine and only silence greeted us. Jay said he would go out if i covered him with the 30 cal. I cranked the turret around, handed him one of the handheld GMRS radios and gave him the go sign. Jay popped out with his FPW ready and advanced on the courthouse. I cranked the turret around while keeping a sharp eye out teh back viewport. He did a fast 360 around the building and called the all clear. I grabbed my FPW and pulled the keys. I exited the rear hatch and closed it. Jay covered my six as i quick stepped to the Door.

"Its empty by all signs. No noise, no movement. If they're playing possum. they're pretty good at it." We made out way to the fortifid front door. Unsurprisingly it was solid as a rock. We worked our way around the outside and found a broken window to the jail visitor room. Jay looked at me with knowing eyes. We crawled inside and lit it up with out flashlights. Old scenes of carnage greeted us. Blood dried black splattered the walls and rotting skeletons littered the floor. the door to the main hall stood ajar at the far end of the room. Jay covered me while i cut the pie and called clear. We ented the main hallway and swept
the room with our lights. more carnage, bullet holes, spent shell casings, and empty M16 magazines litered the floor. several of the skeletons were wearing the rotted remains of desert camo. One of them wore the tarnished bars of a captain. I flipped it over to check the weapon underneath and the name was still legible. Andserson. Didnt ring any bells. His jacket had mostly protected his M16 so i slung it and helped myself to teh four remaining magzines in his web gear. Jat had policed up a pair of beretta M9s in serviceable condidtion and a handful of mags. A fast search of the rest of the remains yeilded another half dozen magazines of 5.56 but no more serviceable weapons. Most of the corspes here were civilians.

Through the scattered light of the boarded up first floor windows and our lights we cleared to the front staircase and healed for the second floor. the stairs were heavily carpeted with spent 5.56 cases an empty M16 mags. jay policed them up. he had scrounged up a semi clean duffel somewhere and was piling our finds into it. the second floor yeilded more corpses, more carnage and more scattered supplies. Jay scored a mint M203 that was propped in a corner and i found a case of well preserved MREs and canned peaches. Most of the bodies here were soldiers with dead head scattered amongst them. there was very little ammo left here. jay picked up around two dozen mags of various stripe. the office doors hung ajar and all were empty save the last office before the third floor stairs. It was packed with bodies, and one semi rotted dead head. Jay shredded him with his FPW. the office was a charnel house. blood splatter and body parts lay in a jumble. the occupants had apprantly been cut off from the stairs and died there. the third floor was much cleaner than the first two. most of those still alive had been killed by this point in the fight it seemed. A string of 40 S&W cases led across the hallway to the roof door. several dead soldiers were by the front window, all having died by thier own hnads it seemed. One still had a rusted M9 between his jaws. We follwed the trial of 40 S&W cases onto teh roof where we found a lone corpse under the overhang of the A/C condesors. It still wore the tattered leather jacket and tarnished star of the our county sheriff. at least 30 dead heads littered the roof, surrounded by spent 40 caliber shell cases and empty magazines. There was an empty Glock in each of his hands, slides locked back, magazines empty. He had died hard. Duane was an old fart when we had elected him but he still had plenty of guts when the chips were down. He had a bullet wound in his sternum and a broken thigh bone. He had fought like alion to the end, succumbing only when all of the dead heads were vanquished. Jay walked up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Theres a shovel in the back of death metal. I think he deserves better than rotting on a roof."

After buying the sheriff Jay found a heavy piece of plastic fencing to use as a grave marker. We set it deep and i wired his glock pistols and his badge to it. I found his name plate in his office a wired it on as well. We rocked his grave over well and went on our way. I hesitated before i got into death metal and Jay looked at me questioningly. I turned and gave the sheriff a sharp salute. The way a warrior honors his comrades. Hed bought his chair at the table in valhalla.


There wasnt anything else we deemed worthy of searching in Selby so we headed south out of town. the railroad overpass had been blown so we rocked over the track crossing on the south edge of town. We got back on the highway and headed south to the interesction. The road was in terrible condition. We could manage maybe 30 MPH at best. Most of the bildings were burned or falling down at the few farms we passed. We hit the roadblock just before the turn to Hoven.

It was situated in a valley in between two steep hills. we topped the hill and spotted it. Jay yelled a warnign but bullets were already pinging into the front armor. I snugged the M-60 into my shoulder and held the trigger back. A stream of 30 caliber projectiles tore into the cars used to block the road. Jay yelled to hang on and i felt him floor the gas. i continued to spray the shooters with lead. When we got close i cranked the turret around backwards and waited the for the impact. Jay rammed one of the cars right in rear quater panel and flipped it out of the way like a toy. As soon as we passed i liad a stream of fire into the now exposed shooters. They danced like marionettes as the heavy FMj ammo tore them to bits. Jay topped the next hill and i called clear and told him to keep his foot on the gas. I popped open the cover of the M-60 and loaded a fresh belt. i then linked it into the old one fro the ammo bin and was ready to go. i cranked the turret aroudn front and dropped down. jay had dropped back down to 30 MPH. His foot beat a tattoo on teh floor from adrenalin shakes. "you good?" i yelled. he nodded and waved me back to the turret.

The road was getting better the closer we got to Gettysburg and Jay had picked up the pace a bit. The interestion to highway 212 was just ahead. Jay slowed to turn onto it and the left front tire blew. Jay got it stopped and we got out to asses the damage. Jay jacked up the truck and changed the tire while I covered him from the front glacis. We had one more spare and I hoped we didn’t need it. I didn’t relish driving on rims. Jay got back behind the wheel and we resumed our journey.

Gettysburg had a large billboard just outside of town proclaiming: “GETTYSBURG Where the battle wasn’t”. Someone had scrubbed out the “wasn’t” and painted on “ rages on” in bright red spray paint. I nudged Jay with my foot and pointed. He nodded. I looked over the town carefully with binoculars and didn’t see any oblvious threat. There were several burned out cars scattered around the visible streets and some houses were damged by fire but otherwise the town was in good shape. I spotted a flurry of movement on one side street and called out “BOGIES two o’clock!” Jay backpedaled the truck into the parking lot of a hardware store and sought cover behind a rolled over semi trailer. We were bulletprrof to most small arms but there was enough anti-armor gear floating around I didn’t want to be in the open with unknowns out there.

Jay eased the nose out until he could spot the figures. “dead heads” he pronounced. “You wanna take em or leave me be?’

I grinned ferally. “take em”

Jay roared out from behind cover and I readied the M-60 We left black marks across the pavement as Jay swung death metal through turns. The dead heads loomed in front as he made the last turn and I let them hae a stream of 30 caliber. Jay let out a rebel yell and rammed into the throng of zombies. I was firing point blank into a mass of bodies as they crunched under our wheels. Jay had a grim-reaper grin on his face and As the bodies thinned out I stopped firing to let the barrel cool as Jay turned around.

Two men had come out of a building and were firing pump shotguns into the much thinned mass of deadheads. They were exposing themselves way too much and the dead heads had the jump on them soon enough. I let loose a stream of rounds and cut them down before they could reach the frantically reloading men. They had taken cover behind a stack of used tires and were pumping rounds into the mass fast and furious. The zombies were getting thin by now and we mopped up from the safety of death metal.

The two men warily kept their shotguns pointed in our general direction as we rolled to a stop. Jay poked his head out as I covered them with the 30 cal.

“Well that was a corker eh?”

The two men looked at each other and busted out laughing. Jay grinned and I crawled out the back hatch. They came up ans shook my hand. Their names were Ed and Mark. They thanked me for getting them out of the tight spot they were in. The dead head throng had gathered arounda tree where family of squirrells had nested. The noise was like a magnet the men said. Unfortuantly their house was right in the same yard as the tree. They had been trapped for nearly a week.

When asked about the remainder of the town they shook their heads.

“right after the outbreak FEMA came In here and evacuated everyone to a camp in Kansas. It wasn’t a neat and tidy evacuation either. They just shoved people in the back of trucks and semis and pulled out. If you couldn’t carry it, you left it behind.”

They said that they had hid in the basement of the grocery store under stacks of pallets while the soldiers searched. When they left they painted signs on the doors marking how many live, how many dead head and if the home had salvageable goods. Jay nodded. The two men looked uncomfortable at each other and asked if we had any other weapons. Jay warily asked why. The men said FEMA stripped the town of every weapon they could find before leaving. They had found their shotguns behind the seat of wrecked pickup that was locked in the body shop. They were short of ammo and supplies.

Me and Jay had a short confab behind death metal and deicded to give them the M16s and M9s we found in Selby. Jay got the duffel with the weapons and supplies and gave it to them. When asked what we wanted in return, They were astounded when we said not to worry about it. They hungrily slurped up a can of peaches each as we watched and I showed them how to strip and clean the M16s and pistols. There wasn’t a lot of ammo but we gave them what we found a few extra spare mags.

Jay asked about his family and the men shook their heads. They didn’t know them and supposed they were hustled away with the rest of the evacuees. They had heard they were going to pierre to get flights down south somewhere but niether knew the route they were taking nor the final destiantion of the planes. Jay noddd his thanks and we were on our way.

My hands are tired from writing. More tomorrow.

well the weather looks good for pulling out tomorrow. everything is ready so we'll head out fairly early in the morning. ill take my diary along but i dont know if ill get time to write or not. i guess we'll see.

Well me an Jay made our plans. if the weather holds through tomorrow we're going for our east run to gettysburg. Matt and Jed both dont want to go and we figure they can hold down the fort.

This wil be shorter than the west run as its only around 160 miles round trip. we planned two days out, two days there, two days back. We went through death metal and finished up all the littel odds and ends. Matt and Jed are actualy kinda stoked to be on thier own for a few days.

Jay's mood has improved CONISDERABLY since we made the decision. I know i spent many nights wondering, and i have an answer. Jay does not.

Another nice day today. i could get used to this.

we cleaned again today for most of the day. the house is pretty dingy after the long winter so we mopped, dusted, sorted and trashed the day away. Matt worked the barricade, policing up brass and other odds and ends while the rest of us worked the house and grounds.

thangs have pretty well dried out (thank god) and the mud is mostly gone now. Me and Jay talked this evening about taking the trip east in a week or two. death metal is still prepped and ready to roll, so we can go about whenever we decide to.

Better weather today. lots of sunshine, warm breeze too. Jed pickd off the lone dead head of the day with his 20 ga. Me and Jay cleaned weapons and linked 308 for the M-60s most of the day.

Sunshine helps the depressing mood. intermittent clouds give us breaks over the courseof the day. we continued planning for the sweep and clear of town.

Guess what? it snowed again. gid i hate this white shit. this is just as bad as 96-97 was. heavy wet hard to shovel white shit. fuck im depressed.

well no snow today but i bet its coming. the yard drained a bit and things have made an attempt at drying out.

we cleaned house a bit today too. all four of us pitched in as we've been a bit lethargic of late. the lousy weather and cabin fever have made us all sleepy mroe than usual and the lack of dead heads to entertain us has left our minds empty.

when we were done cleaning we discussed some future matters. I promised Jay a trip east and he will get it. Period. Then when we're back from that we will commence a sweep and clear of as much of the town as we can. we talked about the moving wall method and decided it has its merits for clearing but we need to erect a barrier around the reminder of the town that isnt mobile. im in favor of shipping continers filled with rubble and debris but there arent that many around town. Jay firgured on a reinfoced dirt berm but we'd need way more fuel that i think is in town for that. Our short term plan is to block out around a five square block area with cars to begin with and after that is cleared see where we are at. the original barricade woudl act as the castle keep and the rest of the area could be put to seed growning veggtables and some small grains if i could find some. i have several boxes of seeds from the farm and fleet store to plant this year and plenty of canning supplies too.

i think spoilage is going to be a bigger and bigger problem as tme goes on. the lack of rodents has been a godsend for supplies staying unmolested, but alot of things are past the use by date. this summer will be the efining time for self sufficency for us. we have enough short term food supplies for this summer and next winter and i think that will be about it. we can supplant that with supplies we find in buildings but those are getting thin.

Fuel is another thing. some of the gasoline now has streamers in it (ethanol not so much). we have everal E-85 cars so we could set upa still to make alcahol to run them on but you need gas to mix it with. if we had more people we could put together a convoy and start gathering supplies from farther away. thats another thing we're going to scope out on our way east. if selby is deserted, we'll strip it bare.

same bullshit, different day. the snow melts some and now the clouds are building on the horizon again. the yard is a LAKE 3 inches deep or more. shit i dont think any dead heads could even move around with all the mud and water thats hanging on.