He climbed down, and as all pilots do, headed off to the bathroom in the main office after saying a quick hello to everyone. He looked at his watch and remembered that he had gained two hours of time. It was Mountain Time here and only just mid-day.
Lunch was ready for him in the Officers Club, and they were all steered in that direction while the mechanics re-fueled his aircraft, checked the oil levels and gave the Silver Bullet a wipe down. They didn’t have much else to do.
“It is very good to see you again, friend Carlos,” stated Lee Wang when they sat down with the commander for lunch.
“I’m happy to see you are safe, and your wife and daughter,” replied Carlos. “We have much to catch up on, I hear.”
“I think we have,” Lee Wang agreed.
“Lee and I have had long chats about what’s happening,” added the base commander. “He wanted to talk to you first about several top secret things. General Allen, I’ve been told, is coming in later today, after visiting his naval buddy in Norfolk. He’s there right now. The general is coming here, refueling, and then he’s heading out to Edwards for a meeting. I’m going to go with him. We have a couple of small generators up and running, have landing lights, and just enough for a little warmth and basic necessities. I was told that we might get a bigger one—an old truck generator?”
“That’s on its way, thanks to the general,” replied Carlos. “He’s been given four—one for Andrews, one each for you and Edwards, and one for Seymour Johnson in North Carolina.”
“I was told that he will be returning here by nightfall,” added the commander, “and then giving all of you a ride back to North Carolina. Captain Watkins and her backup pilots are dropping off gear at Andrews, then Seymour Johnson, then back to Andrews to pick up some passengers and then you are all meeting for breakfast in North Carolina. So let’s have a quick lunch, and then I will show you your ride up the mountain. You will have the pleasure of flying our old 1960s base snowplow that we used to clear the runway in the old days,” laughed the colonel. “We have it on a trailer behind an old troop carrier in the museum over there that we were able to start. With a dozen troops, you can go and get whatever General Allen wants you to get. Captain Watkins gave me orders from the general when she came in last night and we have worked all night to get prepared for your arrival.” Carlos thanked the Colonel. They all looked a little exhausted.
The food was served and they ate quickly. Carlos couldn’t leave until Buck arrived.
“I heard something about F-4s?” Carlos asked.
“General Allen has his semi-secret pet aircraft project stationed here. Mine, too. We have two F-4s rebuilt to flyable conditions, as original as Tom, Jerry, and Mother Goose are. Mother Goose is supposed to fly into your buddy’s airfield in North Carolina. She is an HC-130 tanker from the Vietnam era, and the only one flying at the moment. Two more tankers will be operational within the week. Again, she is totally original and was to be stationed here in our museum. She is currently ready to fly and looking good. Mother Goose is one of the old in-flight refueling Hercules, and was especially fitted to service F-4 Phantoms in Vietnam. Her engines were increased in power to get up to 330 knots and be able to refuel the jets, and she was the general’s project for the next Oshkosh fly-in. Mother Goose is the only aircraft we have at the moment that can fly coast-to-coast non-stop and can either refuel helicopters, AC-130 gunships, or F-4s. All our aircraft here are heading out tonight for Andrews and will be stationed there going forward. We have the second and third HC-130 and a third rebuilt F-4 on display at Edwards. All three are fully functional and they will be flying within the week. We have tons of munitions for the F-4s and they will be our primary fighter wing. I hear the DC-3 coming in,” added the Colonel. “We have a minute or two before you head out of here. There will be two more Hueys and a couple of other bits and pieces. We are getting ourselves together, and I’m interested to know what the Navy has functional, as well as the Coast Guard. They should have a couple of old C-130s on each coast, and they could be our early warning system if there’s an attack.” He got up, and so did Carlos and Lee Wang.
“I’m coming with you to the observatory,” said Lee, and Carlos nodded, looking at the janitor in surprise for a second.
Lady Dandy taxied up and stopped where Carlos’ Mustang had stood an hour earlier. The P-51 had been pushed back into a warm hangar and was being checked out by several mechanics that had little to do. A tired Buck and crew got out of the plane, and Carlos did the introductions before stating that he and Lee were leaving. The hungry pilots headed off to lunch.
Buck had installed two RV porta-potties in the back of Lady Dandy—one called Lady Dandy and the other called Lord Dandy. Both had a curtain on a rail that could be pulled around for privacy and the usage of the stalls made for more comfortable flying. Therefore, the crew of this plane was not so desperate to relieve themselves. Lady Dandy was attacked by several personnel who went about refueling and checking her out for her return flight. Several men unloaded the small generator and lifted it manually into a troop carrier standing by.
Carlos smiled at the small snowplow on the trailer behind a truck. It was about half the size of the usual snow plows found on ski slopes, had an open cab, and the plow feature had been removed and a newly installed machine gun installed in its place above the small windshield. There was room for four—it was about the size of a small car and had a flat rear bed for luggage. He jumped into the cab with the driver, Lee got in with him, and they drove into Salt Lake City, one soldier sitting on top of the cab with an M16.
Much like the rest of the country, there were dead cars everywhere, and twice they saw old vehicles driving on smaller side roads but not on the highway. People seemed friendly and waved. The weather was rather warm for January. The temperature had risen above freezing and the highway was wet and slippery but just passable traveling at 20 miles an hour. They covered the distance to the mountain pass within an hour, and the truck began its steep climb up. The idea was that the troop carrier would go as far as it could and then they would travel with the snowplow.
Parley’s Canyon was always a pretty dangerous piece of road at the best of times, with a steep 6% gradient for several miles. The old troop carrier was pretty old, but a powerful piece of machinery. It could be shifted into six-wheel drive if needed, and had been built for tough conditions. It ground its way up the canyon, winding around several crashed vehicles, many of which had dead and frozen bodies in them or twisted and broken lying around them. It would have been disastrous for anybody traveling on this piece of road going downhill and losing control in the middle of the night. A couple of trucks had skidded on the steep slopes and were burnt-out frames draped up against the sides of the canyon walls.
It took half an hour, but the military vehicle slowly made it up Parley’s Canyon and all the way to the turnoff to the road that would take them another four miles to the observatory. Here, the road had a steep downhill slope and the entrance to the road had several feet of snow piled up by the wind, creating a barrier for any road vehicle. It was time to test the snowplow.
The men got out of the troop carrier and set about getting the plow off the trailer. Carlos had no idea how to drive it but he was told he didn’t need to. Within minutes, the driver was ready, the snowplow was started up, and a second man got in behind the machine gun. Carlos and Lee were offered the rear seat, and a set of goggles and warm gloves were given to each of them as they took off over the mound of snow at a quick pace. As Carlos gave directions the snow, now about a foot thick underneath them, crackled as they moved forward at 15 miles an hour.