Their reception there was friendly, but it was obvious that food was in short supply. One of the men at the airport confided that Mormons from all over the country had descended on Utah just as the Crunch set in. “They all had relatives here, so it seemed safe. The problem is that Utah consumes more food than it produces locally. So even though a fair number of families had stocked up, in accordance with the church guidelines, all that stored food is gone by now. People are gardening like crazy, but a lot of places have very limited water. So unless those big Albertson’s and Safeway grocery trucks start rolling again soon, there’s gonna be starvation here, plain and simple. That’s why everyone’s so anxious to see the Provisional Government.”
Ian and Blanca spent two days in Brigham City. In three separate transactions they bought forty-one gallons of gas. This cost Ian eleven dollars in junk silver, two hundred rounds of 9mm hollow point ammo, a hammer, a pair of snap ring pliers, and a Fluke brand volt-ohm meter. Ian was troubled by the quality of some of the gasoline, which had not been stabilized. There were paraffin streamers visible in it. So he laboriously took all the gasoline and filtered it though a chamois car polishing cloth into a large drum. He then added a bottle of Gold Eagle brand “104+” octane booster and part of a bottle of alcohol. The alcohol, as he explained to Blanca, would absorb any water in the gasoline. They let the gasoline settle overnight. The morning before they departed, Ian pumped it out of the barrel-again through a filter-and filled their various tanks, bladders, and bottles. They left the last two gallons of the gas behind in the bottom of the drum just in case it was water-contaminated.
The next day of flying brought them to Grangeville, Idaho. Seeing the patchwork of fields on the Camas Prairie reassured Ian. He toggled his mic switch and said: “Ay, mira, conchita. This is big time agricultural country. I don’t think anybody is starving up there.”
The airport sat at the north edge of town. After several inquiries, they were able to barter for just twenty-three gallons of gas. For this, Ian spent their last ten dollars in junk silver and traded another 120 of their 9mm ball cartridges. Again they spent the night in a hangar. Blanca mentioned that their breakfast brought their food supply down to just a couple of days. “You know, Ian, at the rate we are burning through our silver and ammo, we are cutting this little venture pretty close,” she warned.
“I know, I know. We just have to pray hard and trust that The Fongman and Todd are still there.”
The next day there was foggy weather, but the fog looked thin. They climbed into brilliant sunlight and continued north over the Camas Prairie and then over the Clearwater River Valley to Bovill, Idaho, on the eastern fringe of the Palouse Hills.
Approaching Bovill, they saw that the terrain was rolling and mostly wooded. Low on fuel, their planes were now considerably lighter. There was no airport at Bovill, but they were able to land on Highway 8 just west of town. The hamlet was so small that they just taxied up to the junction of Highway 3. Landing so close to town got everyone’s attention. A swarm of children and teenagers ran up to the planes, just after they shut down their engines. In answer to the Doyles’ queries a local woman said that she knew Todd and Mary Gray, said that they were safe and well, and explained how to find their ranch house. A few minutes later she brought the Doyles a road map and a Clearwater National Forest map. On the latter she pinpointed the ranch.
The flight to the ranch took only three minutes. Blanca spotted the Quonset-style barn that was opposite the Grays’ property. As they circled, they could see a woman armed with a rifle in a large fenced garden behind the house.
Ian thumbed the mic switch for his Icom transceiver and said delightedly, “There it is, Blanca! That’s definitely Todd’s house. It’s just the way the Fongman described it.”
Eyeing the trees below, Ian judged that the breeze was light. They circled and sequentially touched down on the gravel county road, with Blanca taking one extra orbit. They taxied until Ian’s Laron was opposite the Grays’ lane and mailbox. As they shut down their engines, Blanca radioed, “I sure hope we’ll be welcome here.”
Ian touched his mic switch and responded, “I trust that we’ll be. We just have to live by faith.”
Glossary
?: Ham radio shorthand for “I’m going to repeat what I just said.”
10/22: A semiautomatic .22 rim fire rifle made by Ruger.
1911: See M1911.
73: Ham radio shorthand for “Bestregards.” Always used singularly. (Not “73s.”)
88: Ham radio shorthand for “Hugsand kisses.”
9/11: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which took three thousand American lives.
AAA: American Automobile Association.
ABT: Ham radio shorthand for“about.”
ACP: Automatic Colt pistol.
ACU: Army combat uniform. The U.S.Army’s “digital” pattern camouflage uniform that replaced the BDU.
AK: Avtomat Kalashnikov. The gas-operated weapons family invented by Mikhail Timofeyevitch Kalashnikov, a Red Army sergeant. AKs are known for their robustness and were made in huge numbers, so that they are ubiquitous in much of Asia and the Third World. The best of the Kalashnikov variants are the Valmets, which were made in Finland; the Galils, which were made in Israel; and the R4s, which are made in South Africa.
AK-47: The early-generation AK carbine with a milled receiver that shoots the intermediate 7.62 x 39mm cartridge. See also: AKM.
AK-74: The later-generation AK carbine that shoots the 5.45 x 39mm cartridge.
AKM: “Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy,” the later-generation 7.62 x 39 AK with a stamped receiver.
AM: Amplitude modulation.
AO: Area of operations.
AP: Armor-piercing.
APC: Armored personnel carrier.
AR: Automatic rifle. This is the generic term for semiauto variants of the Armalite family of rifles designed by Eugene Stoner (AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, etc.).
AR-7: The .22 LR semiautomatic survival rifle designed by Eugene Stoner. It weighs just two pounds.
AR-10: The 7.62mm NATO predecessor of the M16 rifle, designed by Eugene Stoner. Early AR-10s (mainly Portuguese-,Sudanese-, and Cuban-contract, from the late 1950s and early 1960s) are not to be confused with the present-day semiauto only AR-10 rifles that are more closely interchangeable with parts from the smaller caliber AR-15.
AR-15: The semiauto civilian variants of the U.S. Army M16 rifle.
ASAP: As soon as possible.
ATF: See BATFE.
AUG: See Steyr AUG.
B&E: Breaking and entering.
Ballistic wampum: Ammunition stored for barter purposes. (Term coined by Colonel Jeff Cooper.)
BATFE: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, a U.S. federal government taxing agency.
BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation.
BDU: Battle dress uniform. Also called “camouflage utilities” by the U.S. Marine Corps.
BK: Ham radio shorthand for “Break,” this means “Back to you,” with no need to use call signs.
Black rifle/black gun: Generic terms for a modern battle rifle, typically equipped with a black plastic stock and fore-end, giving these guns an “all-black” appearance. Functionally, however, they are little different from earlier semiauto designs.