The Solitary Man’s Refuge (37 page)

Fortunately he had the thing turned off when the
solar storm hit, but it was connected to the solar panels on
his roof. He hadn’t put it to a full test of a major
geomagnetic storm but he was very grateful that high
survivability was built into it by the geniuses at SUNRNR
(Sun Runner). As near as he could explain the protection
in layman’s terms was something similar to the old gas
trucks that used to drop a steel chain from their bumpers
to dissipate static electricity before they filled the tanks at a
gas station. The company said it was more of an isolation
issue but that was as far as his understanding went. A long
discussion with the friendly and informative SUNRNR
General Manager Scott French had been very beneficial to
Donald. In doing his research Donald had come across
MySolarBackup, PowerHub, Ecotricity®,
BackupPowerSource, Xantrex™, SolMan®, GoalZero, and
possibly avoided many others in his quest for a ultimate
solution to a off grid affordable solution. Based on these
companies or related websites as of May 2012, many are
less expensive than SUNRNR, but he also noted that they
offer one-third to one-half the power output and most offer
less than half the storage capability (which limits solar
input capability). They are also enclosed in plastic or
aluminum while a SUNRNR chassis is steel and protects
the user from the battery. Yes my reader, this is a major
consideration you must understand for the safety and the
wellbeing of your family. A battery under certain conditions
can go BOOM! This craftsman made in the U.S.A. product
is not some flimsy cheap and dangerous Chinese knock
off dumped on the market to achieve a price point, no, it’s
a quality made solution that is well thought out and exhibits
a reasonable price for pretty much Mil-Spec survivability.

No short cuts or flimsy crap went into this patented
design. Features such as a Rugged master on/off
disconnect switch, Steel enclosure for ruggedness and
safety, Sturdy and unique handles for lifting had already
pretty much sold Donald to invest in the unit but the tipping
point came when Scott had explained to him that the
highly efficient solar panels that shipped with the product
could be expected to lose only 12% of their power if
exposed to a solar storm and that was if you didn’t shield
or protect them with wood if you had some warning a sun
flare was going off from the many available resources
@SolarPrepper on Twitter were given as a “heads up “ to
take some precautions. The best “Rock Solid” science and
dependability was built into this thing, hell they even had
KVK Precision in Shenandoah, VA who was selected by
American Machinist as one of the top 10 US machine
shops build some of its components.

“What is the convoy order we are going to use
today?” Michael asked.

“Good question, I gave it some thought but give me
some of your` thoughts too. I figure that since I know the
way to the lake I go first, but I don’t know Ramer too well
so I am going to let Janice lead to there. I think we are
dropping off her sister to stay with her mom but that’s
going to depend on reception and conditions there. I sort
of considered seeing if her uncle would sell us a goat for
butchering but changed my mind because we need to stay
moving I think.” Donald advised.

“Extra food is always good to acquire, any particular
reason that we are not laying over? That is, I mean other
than you wanting to get bugged in somewhere?” Michael
said arching an eyebrow.

“Well I don’t have much sympathy for folks that got
warned to prepare and didn’t do anything for themselves
or their families. When does another’s neglect become my
responsibility? We got way too much stuff showing and I
don’t want to be asked to lend, barter or be asked if
anyone can follow us at the moment. So, we are not
stopping more than maybe ten minutes before we move
on. I also want all the daylight we can have to get moved
in when we get to the lake camp. Donald responded and
no longer second guessed the evacuation he had
undertaken to insure their survivability.

“I agree, no sense hanging around if it’s possible it
could cost us in anyway. That route you are going by skirts
the major towns but what do you think status of the law
enforcement is at the moment?” LowBuck added

“The ones that are functioning at all are already
probably thinking of dividing up the last of the
commandeered gas and food and staying home to protect
their families by now. I am guessing some of them will be
forming up their own little rogue survival and defense
communities and that can be dangerous to whoever lives
near them. Cops are outnumbered at least a 100 to 1 as
for hungry folks being armed now so
I doubt anyone will want to be wearing a uniform anymore.
There are a lot of cops that are preppers to remember.
They all are probably bugging out or have already done
so. We are in dark and desperate times now, we protect
our convoy and tribe and its full steam ahead from now on
until we can find a reasonable refuge. It sucks that we
can’t stay around here but with who knows how many
thousands of acres burned around us, bad water and too
many possibly violent and armed folks heading our way it’s
time to go I must say.” Donald concluded looking over the
heavily armed group listening to him.

“Janice might know the way better, but I call point
man” Michael said. “ I can recognize a roadblock or
ambush quicker than her and can be out ahead of you all
on my motorcycle but still keep her insight and she can
signal me if I am about to miss a turn. You should follow
her leading the rest of the cars and LowBuck can take up
the rear with that battle wagon of his. I would put him in the
middle or up front but you can’t see around that
motorhome and I don’t want anyone straggling or not
knowing what going on in front of us.” Michael advised
from an experienced military point of view.

“Well if you’re going to be up scouting ahead, how
about putting Janice in the Motorhome to direct him. All
those damn sand bags he has in that thing makes it sort of
like a tank and if for some reason we got to turn around he
needs the most room and I would rather have a tank in
front of me to bust through or behind me to protect my rear
if we happen to run into a problem.” Donald suggested.

“So are you going to take rear guard?” Michael said
rubbing his beard?

“Yea that way if you see something disturbing up
ahead you can get him turned around and then zip back
around him and pick point position back up in front of me.”
Donald offered.

“Sounds reasonable I think Donald. Swap guns with
me and Amy though. That AR of yours is lighter to carry
than this AK and give Amy that short Mossberg cruiser
model 12 gauge you got. She is riding with me on the bike
until we clear the town of Ramer. Who is driving in back of
Bubba?” Michael asked Donald.

“Good question, we got to keep in mind that for this
kind of driving we need somebody other than my mom
driving her car. If Janice’s sister is driving her car, that only
leaves Cat or Amy to drive my Mom`s . If Bubba is playing
tank we need Cat in there with him and Janice for the extra
firepower so that leaves Amy needing to do it. I know you
would appreciate her extra firepower with you but we can’t
drop a vehicle full of preps and she is our only extra
driver.” Donald reasoned.

“Sorry Babe, you just got drafted.” Michael
remarked to Amy.

“That’s Ok, Donald can let his Mom ride with him
and he can protect her.” Amy said thinking it was nice that
Donald could take care of his Mom.

“ I got a bit of a problem maybe with Mom riding
with me I am sorry to say. Sorry Mom, I got to think
something through here out load for a minute. The two
most dangerous positions in this convoy are point and
drag. I might get a bit compromised to put it delicately to
do my job in either position if necessary if I was looking out
for her as a son instead of soldier. I am not expecting any
trouble but, knock wood, if I do need to respond to
something I don’t want to have you freaking out dodging
hot brass from my rifle and me trying to drive at the same
time. I know Mom you are tough and resilient but I would
rather have you riding in one of the other vehicles if you
don’t mind.” Donald said with some trepidation.

“ I understand.” Donald’s Mom said a bit meekly
and a bit horrified that her son was talking so freely about
maybe shooting someone.

“You ride with me.” Amy said smiling at his Mom
and drawing her attention.

“Thanks” Mom said showing a small smile despite
her anguish over yet another bug out trip amongst all the
health problems she was concerned with. She had another
thirty day of meds left and she had overheard Donald
talking to Janice about a little known fact that geomagnetic
storms affected a lot of heart patients adversely for some
yet unidentified reasons.

Donald had stocked some substitute herbals for her
but no one knew their effectiveness and he had just
winged it as for how to wean her off the prescription meds
by slowly introducing some alternatives he hoped could
sustain her.

“
Bugging out was always a stupid proposition
unless you were going to a prepared place to bug in at.
Bugging out and planning to run out of gas going to an
unknown destination was just plain ludicrous. But what
choice did he have? Donald mused to himself. He had no
intention of actually forcing anybody out of the summer
camp and hated that he had even brought the subject up.
He had just wanted to make everyone aware of how
desperate they were going to be once they undertook this
desperate journey. Upon arrival they would have to be
seeing things quite differently from having their own
deeded land under them.” Donald considered.

“Hey I forgot to pack all those solar driveway
markers at my place. LowBuck stop at my house on the
way out and we can put them on the roof of your
motorhome with the trees. I also got a box of tools we
need to tie on up there somewhere.” Michael said while
going over a mental checklist of last minute items to load.

“I got a little bit of room left, hey Donald you got
anything else to put up on the roof?” LowBuck inquired.
“Yea I need to take down my solar garden lights but
that’s it.” Donald responded and went to fetch them.
32
The Church Yard

Donald didn’t expect much trouble on this trip. He
figured it would be pretty much like driving after a
hurricane without the storm damage to worry about. A lot
of peoples blank stares, barely any traffic and folks just
going about the daily business of surviving and trying to
recover. This time was different though and the caravan
was prepped for everything imaginable. Donald had driven
himself crazy thinking about and trying to prepare for all
the “What If`s” that might threaten them on this trip.

What if the military, the cops, a town militia or even
just some bunch of criminal yahoos had a road block up
somewhere? He doubted any official roadblocks would be
up but you can’t tell about some of these small towns or
community neighborhood organizations forming up for
protection or scavenging and looting. Everything loot able
was probably gone by now. Starving folks would most
likely be watching the highways in hopes of seeing a food
truck or relief convoy. Donald had no plans for being
mistaken for either. Protecting his supplies against normal
desperate people was bad enough but he wondered how
many official types were out and about “confiscating “food
stuffs under obscure emergency power acts? He was
hopeful they had plenty of forewarning if they run up on
any organized road block so he could try to save at least
some of the supplies. If it was a National Guard Unit or
something they didn’t stand a chance if they tried to
defend their food. Donald and Michael had chosen the
most back woods , obscure country route they could
design to avoid any possible or likely “Hot Spots” that
could jeopardize this bug out.

The big scary what if was ,what do they do if the
summer camp was burned down by wildfire already? What
do they do then? Depends on how far they got before they
found out any kind of devastating fact like that. Gas was
the big “What If” then. They could limp back to Ramer
maybe and set up some kind of living. Janice’s relatives
owned a small country family church and cemetery. Maybe
they could bunk there until they made a better
arrangement in a pinch. Nothing worse to get yourself into
than ending up a displaced prepper or road refugee about
right now Donald had pondered. The lake wasn’t an ideal
place to be bugging to in this situation. Most folks if they
had a Lake house would have already bugged in by now
thinking that at least they could fish for some food. Most of
those people too probably had an arsenal of heavily used
fine deer rifles and shotguns that had been carried to
many a hunting trip. Having that many avid sportsmen
around was problematic to think about. Most families know
their neighbors on the lake and have interacted over a
many hot summer. Donald’s little tribe of travelers would
be considered outsiders, interlopers or even possibly
criminals of some sort by the communities unless they
chose some uncontested place to bug in at. On the bright
side though folks up at the lake are generally educated
and friendly in meeting and greeting strangers. Donald had
about 5 other spots marked out on their lake map that
might be suitable bug in locations and worst case was the
state park or a Lake RV area.

“Just too many things to think about, it was all or
none now. Donald mused as they convoyed out the back
way towards Ramer.
The trip had been smooth so far and
they hadn’t really seen anyone out on the road. It had
been decided that Janice would take the lead 5 miles
before town with the walkie talkie. She could radio back to
LowBuck if she spotted any trouble and her being related
to darn near everyone in town would help out if there was
a need for introductions.