Chapter 5

Miles loved riding the scooter in the first light of day. For the first hours of his trip it was just him, the scooter, and mother nature alone on the road. He was between towns when the morning traffic of jerks hit the road. It went from peaceful to just plain dangerous in a few minutes.

His scooter lacked the speed to hit the super duper highways, so he made do with the roads that meandered through the almost abandoned down towns of small crossroads villages.

By noon he was stiff, so he decided to stop for a last real lunch. He was over halfway on his trip to the city campground. He had more miles to go, but at the moment the crossroads diner came into view he knew that he was too stiff to continue without some walk around time. He also needed to stop for gasoline again. Since the diner shared on a broken pavement parking lot with a convenience store. It was a natural stopping place, Miles used the single gas pump even though the gas was ten cents more a gallon than the national average. He told himself he only needed two gallons, so it would be less than a quarter more.

Miles ordered a large cheeseburger with mustard chili and slaw. He was taking the chance to raise his body's level of fat. He figured an indulgence once a week wasn't too bad. Since he wasn't close enough to the destination town, he just settled for conversation about the newly legal Marijuana Farms in the area.

"They are about my only customers," the well worn waitress said. "Them guys leave their tips in baggies of pot."

It sounds like a pretty good tip," Miles suggested.

"they are the third trimmings, burns hot and tastes awful, but it helps me sleep," She said. "I boil it and make tea to drink before bedtime. The taste take a little getting used to."

"Whatever works," Miles suggested. The tip he left was green, but it was made of paper.

Miles rode two more hours before he found the town with the campground. It was another hour before he found the ten space campground. They were all developed so it wasn't the place he wanted. Nonetheless it would do for the night. He knew he could find something more to his liking the next day.

After paying at the office he assembled the plastic pipe frame of his one man nylon tent. Though much smaller than the prospector's tent, the small tent kept the rain and cold off him. Fortunately it was neither raining nor was it really cold. That being the case he slept with the ends open.

At six PM he left the tent for the office. He knew from the sign that the office said the office closed at dark. He decided to use what might be his last opportunity to hook into the cities WIFI server. He had no idea whether they closed down power in the office or simply turned off the lights. He piggy backed on the WIFI and sent the message, 'package has arrived'. He sent the same message to both his partners in the venture.

He also check his messages. He found one from Ada. Her message read, 'three days QE2 arrives'. His response was Cool.

Miles went to dinner at the one fast food restaurant. He had burgers and fries again. Hell he would eat burgers and fries every meal for a year, he expected. He also brought two large coffees then poured them in his own thermos. When he arrived back at the campsite, he sat at the large picnic table to drink the coffee and think about the day to come.

The plan was to take two samples at three sites along each of the creeks. Making a total of twelve samples he planned to collect.

After the long ride he was suffering from joint pains, so he took a couple of aspirin and a couple of Tylenol, then went to bed on the hard ground. Under his light blanket he had a yoga mat to ease the worst of the sticks and stones.

He never slept soundly on the trips, but he sleep lots of hours. Since there was nothing else to do at night, he went to bed with the sun and woke when it returned.

Miles was ready for the ten mile drive to the first creek. The access point according to his map was another five miles up the county road.

Since he packed up the campsite before he left, it was almost nine when he left the scooter alongside a county fire road. He knew he had a couple of miles to the creek and probably another mile or so to the fast water.

He arrived at the first of the fast water before noon. After securing his two samples he headed back out to retrieve his scooter. He found it right where he left it on a fire road just off paved county road.

He didn't stop for lunch he went to the second location where he collected

his two samples. The next site called for a hike of ten miles up the creek or hike five more miles back to the county road. He chose the road since his camping gear was there.

He decided to cold camp at the third location rather than return to the town's campground. It his opinion it would just be a waste half a day.

It was headed toward dark when Miles arrived at the fire road where he intended to park over night. He noticed the road was in pretty good shape even for the scooter.

He parked in what was no more than a ten by ten clearing on the side of the road. The fire crews must have used in as a meeting place. He only intended to stay the one night, so he put his tent frame together and ate some room temperature peanut butter and jelly crackers, then went to bed. It was a pretty spartan existence he lived on the road.

There was a vague nagging noise he only noticed after he lay down to sleep. The woods should have been quiet, but there was the distant sound of a gasoline engine. It was either a generator or a pump. Neither would be good news for him. He decided that he was likely to walk up on a moonshiner's still when he broke camp tomorrow.

He spent the night sleeping even lighter than he had the nights. He also slept with the old Colt wheel gun in the tent with him. No only that he had rigged a trip line using elements of his mining gear to make a noise.

The next morning nothing had been disturbed, so he went prospecting. He walked to the creek a couple of miles from the road, then he walked up the mountain. Even the fast water was to slow for the liquor makers. He found their garden hose at the start of the fast water. The pump noise was better than trying to reroute the creek. Miles understood that since there was no cover near the creek. He was taking his second sample when the old man called to him.

"Who are you?" the old man asked. "And what you doing here?"

"Are you the land owner," Miles asked.

"No my cousin Joshua is," the old man said.

"Tell him I'm testing the water for pollution. If he wants to check on it call the county health department. It's all routine." Miles knew he would be gone before the man could check.

"Okay," the old man said. "He still kept an eye on Miles while Miles took the last of his samples. He added an ounce of water to the sample just so he looked legit.

Miles spent that night in the town's camp ground. He really had been a little concerned about the still. He knew that if they decided to mine the creek at that spot, he would be forced to make a deal with the Moonshiners, or roll over on them. He preferred the deal, but he wasn't dead set against dropping a dime on them either.

The second creek looked good but it was anti climactic. Just a routine walk in the woods. There was some digging but noting special. Miles actually finished the Samples by later afternoon. He was considering whether to camp along the county road or to move back to the town's campground. In the end he decided to go back to town. The office might close early, but he could find a space even if he arrived after the office closed. If he managed to get on the road early enough, he could probably save five bucks. He didn't plan to skip out on his park fee but it was possible he would leave before the park manager came to check on the occupied spaces.

The park ranger was on his site by seven am. Miles was dressed since I slept in his clothes. He paid the lady her five dollars, then broke camp without even building a fire. It had been a warm night but even so Miles knew that colder weather was on the way.

During the ride home, Miles thought a lot about their need to start the winter preparations. In order to do that they first needed to decide on a base came location.

He was determined to have a meeting the next week and force a decision. After they had decided, then someone would need to begin negotiations with the landowner for permission to build a mining shack. Nothing permanent, but more than a tent with an open fire to keep him or them warm. He wanted to build an insulated rigid frame covered by a tarp. "The shack should at the very least have a wood stove inside the structure. Nothing elaborate or heavy just something safe and useful.

Miles arrived home to news from Louise, that Silvia was in the air if not on the ground already. She was supposed to arrive sometime that same evening.

She brought with her new contracts. In Mile's absence and since the show had sold the day he left, the ladies had negotiate the financial deal with QE2. Louise explained the terms for a first season reality TV show seemed adequate to both her and Ada.

The plan was to film the actually decision of where to place the camp and also the negotiations with the land owner. Then the setup of the cabin. Since QE2 didn't want to Miles and company to putz around, they were going to pay them for a ten week season no matter how long they had to film. Once the gold digger team approved the series, the contract called for QE2 to retire all the excess footage. The agreement was to pay each of them $20,000 for the rights. The pilot was already in the can and there would be no payment for it.

Miles spent the remainder of the daylight hours cleaning and storing the equipment. "Once the contract is signed. we have to buy some equipment. I have been stockpiling some camping equipment, but there is a piece of equipment that was too much trouble for me to build without a definite go from QE2. If I have to park the pickup a couple of mile from the cabin site, it's going to be to labor intensive to lug that shit into the sight on the land sled by hand. I can build a small electric tow motor to help me along with it. It will supply the muscle for the trek in and to move around the anything we need moved while we are working.

I can probably build it for two hundred bucks. But it will take a while," Miles said.

"Can't you just buy one," she asked.

"We don't need it to be anything great just a little help for an old man. It's a pretty simple design. Or we could buy a burro but those things eat and freeze in the winter," Miles replied. "Well while we wait for the QE2 people, I can assemble the parts."

"Then do it Uncle Miles," she said.

Miles spent the later part of that night identifying the things he needed for his project. As he thought everything was on Ebay.

What he actually bought was an electric scooter for parts from a guy on Craig's List. He got a used motor and a set of wheels from him. He planned to order a controller from a supplier in the states rather than one from a factory in china. It was all about the timing. Pay a few bucks more to get it in a reasonable time frame.

Back in his bed Miles slept like the dead. He really didn't do well sleeping with one eye open. When he hit the bed he didn't have another thought until Louise was at the door.

"Uncle Miles come on we need to go to breakfast. We have to meet with Silvia and Ada. Silvia wants to get the contract signed, so she can get Eddie and Jerri down to start filming."

"Sure give me a time to take a shower," Miles took his second shower in less than twelve hours. He dressed in his work clothes but ones that had been laundered. He rode the scooter to the pancake house to meet with Ada's daughter Silvia.

Once he was inside the dining room he looked around. "That's my group over there," he said to the hostess. He walked over to join Ada, Louise and Silvia. "Good morning everyone," Miles said.

"Hello," the assembled group of ladies said in almost unison.

Miles sat down in order to check the menu. He found that the french toast still looked the best to him, so he ordered it. Before the food came everyone was sitting trying to make small talk.

"I guess I'm the five hundred pound gorilla in he room," Silvia said.

"Yes I suppose you are," Louise said. "So what are we talking about?"

"Twenty thousand each at the end of the shooting. Even after the shooting we may want to come back and re-shoot some scenes. There is no time limit on either of us. When you get finished, you are finished. Maybe someone will renew the show maybe not. We will all just have to wait and see," Silvia admitted.

"Will it be Eddie and Jerri doing the shooting?" Miles asked.

"Yes but it won't necessarily be the same one each shooting day. They may switch off since there is no reason not to change it up some. I will also be here as producer," Silvia explained.

"Okay how is it going to work in the woods?" Miles asked. "There will be a small miners shack up there. I am not providing any accommodations for any of you. Our footprint on the house land had to be small. We might blaze a trail for supplies to come in and we may not, it just depends."

"We are used to providing our own facilities," Silvia said.

"Well there is not going to be a road to the miners shack. The closest road may be as far away as ten miles away," Miles continued.

"We can handle it," Silvia said.

"Okay fine, I suggest while we wait for the camera people you ladies finished your tests on the samples. I will continue getting the mining outfit together. Then when the camera crew arrives we can decide when and where to settle in. We will have to research the ownership of the land where we want to erect the mining camp," Miles suggested.

"While Louise tests the sample from the last trip, I will begin charting the waterway. I can get the satellite maps and coordinates. I will collect they addition building material and equipment that we need," Miles suggested. "Can we have everything in place by Monday?"

"No idea," Ada said. "We can try, so you should hurry up, we might just pull it off."

"I'm going to alert my people to be ready on a moment notice. Jerri will come down first, to cover the girl's research. I have feeling finding the place to mine is going to be difficult due to the need permission to mine the creed on government land and a permit for the miners shack." Silvia said. "She can always drive back if the permits drag,"

"I'm going to assume that you would be successful, so I'm going to Home Depot to buy the rigid insulation," Miles said.

"I'm not even going to ask about that," Louise asked.

For the next two weeks Jerri monitored the activities of the women. While Louise worked on the samples, Ada mapped the streams. She mapped all three as well as the second branch on the first stream.

On the forth day Silvia arrived with Jerri at Miles' house. They came to see the piles of materials stacked around the outside of his shop. "Very impressive, so what's your plan?"

"Well my plan is to pull the pickup along the closest road then unload all the supplies for the shack first. If I get lucky the maps Ada drew are correct, I looks as though I will have only a two mile hike. Since we have gone into fall it's going to be too rough to hike in. I am going to have to stop to put up a shelter of some kind for at least one night while I build. I have the heavy winter sleeping bag, so I will be warm enough with just a campfire and a shelter. That is if we get on with it. The longer those two plan the colder it's going to be on the mountain.

On Day two I plan to assemble the frame of the shack. With a lot of luck I can finish it completely. The small wood stove has to go in next. To make the roof and siding, I'm using large camouflage tarp." Miles explained.

So once I get the shack and wood stove ready, I'm going to the stream and mine. I'm going to set up the portable sluice and run some dirt through it. I have a way to stay warm while I gather the material for sluicing. The knee high boots are water proof and insulated. My long socks have a small heater built in. Since the water is only inches deep, I can use a bucket hoe. Its no more than a sharped pipe on the end of a shove handler. I tiny version of a backhoe using human power. We need to see how much gold is in the creek bed before we invest too much money. Everything is PP right now."

"What do you mean PP?" Silvia asked for the camera

"People powered. If it proves to be manageable and cost effective, I might building a robotic digger." Miles replied.

After Silvia and Jerri have filmed me doing all kind of fake shit Silvia said to Jerri, "Wait for me in he car."

After Jerri had gone she said to Miles, "I know that mom told you, I would appreciate if you kept it between the three of us."

"Kept what between the three of us. I have no idea what you are talking about?" Miles replied.

"Thanks," Silvia replied.

After Silvia's visit, it still took another week to get everything lined up. Two weeks after the Tennessee samples everything was ready for the first site. Miles packed up this pick up kissed Louise and even Ada goodbye before he left home early on a Monday morning.

The farmer whose land he was going to build the shack met him on the access rood.

"This is the closest you can get to the rapids. It won't be an easy hike, but it's not to far, maybe a couple of miles," he guessed.

"Two point two miles as the crow flies," Miles said. He knew why the farmer had met him, so he slipped him the envelop with the check inside. There was a paragraph on the back of the check. Cashing it indemnified both QE2TV and Gold Diggers against any law suit.

First off the pickup was the sled. I was six feel long and four feet wide. It was also a foot deep. After the sled came all Miles' hand tool which went into the bottom. Then there were layer of six foot long two by fours. He stopped before the pick was even close to half emptied. He unloaded his pull motor from the passenger seat of the truck. It only took him a minute to hook it to the land sled for the hike and tow to the rapids.

Eddie arrived just as Miles was ready to leave for the rapids. "Holdup there Miles I need to film you," Eddie said.