March 27, 2012

6:00 A.M. It's cereal bars for breakfast this morning, because I need to get going. The John Deere would serve my purposes, but I'd much rather find something a little more "enclosed". The pop up camper was comfortable, though the sound insulation leaves a little to be desired. Every howl, every bark woke me up throughout the night. I slept with my shotgun in my arms...

10:30 A.M. I might have found a candidate. It's an older crew cab 4x4 that looks to be in pretty good shape. Good tires, a winch, and a solid hitch. Time to go to work.

12:30 P.M. After charging up the batteries with the tractor, she fired right up. All the belts and hoses look good, no major leaks anywhere, and a standard transmission. Perfect. So long John Deere, and thanks.

7:00 P.M. Made it back to the trailer. I tried out the winch on the Blazer after I unhitched the camper. Works like a charm. After transferring all my gear into the truck, I hitched up to the camper and pulled it a few miles while watching all the gauges, and everything looks good. Found a cozy little picnic area beside the road and decided to stay here for the night.

On my way back with the "new" truck, I noticed more dead birds. I've also realized that I haven't heard too many singing in the mornings the last week. It just struck me that maybe the birds are carrying the disease that killed everyone. Maybe it's some mutated bird flu. I sure wish I knew. And I wish I knew why it hasn't killed me. Or any other animals. I wish I knew if it will kill me yet...

8:30 P.M. There's a pond behind the picnic area here, and I saw fish jumping. Fresh fish sounded wonderful after eating packaged crap the last couple days. There are a couple rods and reels in the camper, so I decided to make good use of them. Caught two beautiful catfish, cleaned them, and fried 'em up in some cornmeal that was in the camper (along with the oil). Absolutely delicious! Sure wish I had some hush puppies and 'slaw to go with the fish, but no such luck. That's okay, the fish was good enough, along with some canned green beans.

Well I found a new truck, I'm back in my camper, and I've got a belly full of fresh fish. Should sleep really good tonight.