July
1st was a big day for us as this was our first venture outside.
Langley had cleared out to a certain safe level and our boys went to work.
Using
Hunter’s pickup, the sortie team made five trips down to Southern Elms – one of
the more expensive bed and breakfast resorts on Grand Lake. Five at a time,
they stacked the mattresses in the bed of the pickup and the extended cab was
filled with all the pillows, sheets, and bedspread that they could shove in
back seat. They just made enough runs to get everyone their own mattress.
Fresh and clean, last
night was the best night sleep I have had in a very long while. It was the
first time in over two months that we got to sleep on mattresses. We just used
the forklift to jack them up to the top of the coolers and we were good to go.
Snipers
covered the return but we didn’t get a large contingent of zoms chasing after
them on their way back. With the parking lot clear, we sent a stealth team out
of the Produce Department to commandeer vehicles from the parking lot. You would
be amazed how easy it is to locate keys. Women carry them in their purse, while
men carry them in their front pocket. Damn near every vehicle has a keyless
entry system these days and the parking lights flash when you hit the unlock
key.
Snipers covered the
team from the roof as they went out and commandeered four vehicles. We chose
the biggest we could find: A Dodge Ram with Cummins diesel, two Chevy
mini-vans, and a Ford F-250. Stacking
them two deep and pinning them against the front doors of the store pretty much
guarantees that zoms cannot even get directly against the door.
But
the biggest get was the result of Fred’s ingenuity. Langley is home to a local
business called Mayes Propane that is located less than a mile from the store.
It is (was) a small Mom & Pop operation that utilizes a small handful of
really nice delivery trucks. Those trucks have tanks on them filled with 5,000
gallons of propane. And, wouldn’t you know it, our store features a propane
tank that powers the emergency generator in case the power goes out.
So
Fred and his team come back with an extra vehicle in tow. They brought back a
propane truck with five thousand gallons of propane and parked it close enough
to our generator so that the hoses from the back of the truck would reach our
tank.
Then we used the forklift to jack up the
truck and remove the front passenger side tire. We wheeled it inside to
guarantee the truck could not be moved by anyone living that had ideas of
stealing it. Obviously, no zombie is jumping in the truck and taking it for a
joyride. But, we need to seriously consider the desperation of people that
might be roaming around outside.
5,000 gallons of
propane should fuel us on reserve power for quite a long time. We don’t know
how long that single tank of propane will sustain us. We will have to keep a
running tally. But, something to keep in mind is that there are several other
trucks down at Mayes Propane, and massive tanks down in Pensacola, OK (about
nine miles from Langley) that we could refill the truck with if we needed to.
So thanks to this big little addition, power – even if on an emergency level –
has been secured for the year. And what is the most important development of
that fact? I will be able to keep this blog going. Yaaaa. Because that is
clearly more important than lights and cooking.
I mean I know this is
the end of the world but right now, we are sitting pretty… relatively speaking…
