March 30,2012

11:30 A.M. Woke up with a throbbing head. Serves me right I guess for finishing off that bottle. So I just grabbed some cereal bars and got rolling. I'm about 100 miles from the river now, made pretty good time on the side roads. My outlook has improved over yesterday, just a bad day I guess. Not my first, and I'm sure it won't be my last. Anyway, time for a quick bite, then get on the move again.

2:15 P.M. I had to stop. Up in the sky, I see what looks like a jet trail! It's very high up, higher than airliners used to fly. A military aircraft maybe? I don't know. Maybe they had a plane stored somewhere that it would be protected from the CME that fried everything? Or maybe some part of the world was not effected? Or it could be a meteor I guess. Or some space junk reentering the atmosphere. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. I won't know unless I keep going...

6:30 P.M. Found a nice campground to stay at tonight. It's small, and tucked up in the pine trees. Looks like it was a peaceful place to stay once, but it's a bit overgrown now. It will serve.

I don't know why, but I pulled out the awning and broke out a camp chair to sit in while my dinner warms. Maybe I wanted to feel like I'm actually camping out, just for the hell of it. Either way, it's rather pleasant. There's a bit of a breeze blowing through the trees, squirrels are running around all over, and a skunk waddled by, thankfully at a respectable distance. A mischievous looking raccoon is eyeballing me from atop a picnic table across the road. But there's something missing. No chirping and chattering of birds. This place should be loaded with birds, yet I've not heard or seen a single one. It's eerie. Were it not for the other critters out and about, I'd think there was a predator of some sort nearby. Or maybe a major storm approaching. There's no sign of either.

Which sets my mind to wondering... I've heard of "bird flu" before. Could that be what happened? Could some kind of "super bug" have gotten loose when the lights went out? Was it carried by birds and spread to humans? And what makes me immune to it, but nobody else? Surely it's impossible for one single person to be immune. There must be others! There has to be. Somewhere there has to be. Supper's ready...