Chapter 1

[West Georgia]

The next few days after moving into our new home went by in a whirlwind. Shirley and I worked on details of the house making it our home. Janice came over to help out and was asked to stay. We talked to the guys on the radio in the evening usually with Janice. Many days, she and Matt enjoyed talking before the regular net would start. Janice drives herself using my old school car.

After the radio talk, Shirley said, “I talked to your mother today. Day after tomorrow, the whole family is coming over to celebrate the newest Mathews home with a pot luck dinner.”

“Okay, dear. Do I need to do anything special to get ready?”

“Just help me prepare.”

“I can do that.”

“Also, Janice will formally move in with us.”

“Well, we had talked about that before and you had wanted some alone time which we had. She’s been living here now.”

“I am willing for her to move in permanently. She was not happy at your Mom’s because of what happened to her there. I don’t think your aunt really wants to stay at her place either.”

“We have three spare bedrooms and all are separated from our room by the rest of the house.”

“I know,” she said, “I believe that our suite was an add-on because of how the rest of the house is built.”

“I agree. It probably is. When does Mary want to move in?”

“Tomorrow,” she replied.

“Oh. Well, I guess that’s okay with me.”

“I thought you would be agreeable. If you weren’t, I would bribe you with my body.”

“Now, that sounds good.” We chuckled together. “You can start tonight.”

“What?”

“Bribing me with your body.”

“Oh.” We both laughed a lot. We laughed often then and still do now.

The next day, we rode over to Mary’s house and helped Mary load her personal items and bring them to our home. We spent most of the day getting her moved in and set and finishing details of Janice’s room. Shirley told them both that they would have to learn the radios and would be expected to handle our little net. She also said that we needed to work on searching for other hams on the airwaves. To do that, we would need to learn more and put up some additional antennas. That evening, we introduced Mary to our radio group. They were quite glad to hear another female voice. That was particularly true when they found out that, unlike Shirley who was married and Janice who was young, Mary was a widow and more their ages. We did not mention the unfortunate circumstances regarding the Ed’s.

Charlie was almost ready to leave Columbia. He would to go to see Jack first but really planned to join us. Jack was trying to decide what to do. Robert, on the other hand, had left Mississippi heading for Montgomery that day. Ted was going to come over tomorrow for the get together.

As I look at this later, it feels like a news report which, in a way, is what a journal is. Shirley and I go over these journals as a way of reminding us where we came from and where we want to go in the future. It’s also part of our teaching to children.

The next day came bright and clear. Georgia in the springtime and early summer is beautiful. By eleven, people were already gathering for the meal and party. We toured the grounds. The men folk talked about what I should consider to make the property into a proper farm. I was taking notes in my mind as I thought I would have to do most all of those things myself. I tried to get the subject to power and fuel for the future. No one really wanted to go there as it had fearful prospects for all of us.

The dinner was delightful. My grandmother, mother, and aunts were all good cooks and a potluck luncheon was a great opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. After everyone left, the four of us sat in the living room and talked. Mary and Janice were more willing to talk about future issues than others in the family. Shirley and I decided that we would start checking out the utility company’s offices to find maps and other information. We didn’t even know how the power we were using was being generated in reality.

After running the net on the radio, we went to bed. I noted that Robert didn’t check in. I mentioned it to Shirley. She said that maybe conditions weren’t right or he was busy. I let it go.

The next morning, we rose and looked up power offices to decide where to go. We plotted them out on an Internet map and headed out on our way after a quick breakfast. The first place we found was simply a sales office and provided us with no information. The second one was more helpful and provided mapping for power grids in our general area. Using those we determined the track on a paper map for our particular grid. We were also able to trace Dad’s house and Ted’s as well. We had a good idea regarding where to look for the rest of the families’ grid information. Taking the information with us, we went to the next stop that was the track point for our particular grid. We went inside and found more information that told us where our power originated on the bigger grid. The more I looked at this, the more I felt we had to develop our own power source and get off the grid. In the long run, this was where I thought we should be. In the short run, it was going to mean a lot of work.

I put on the list that we should start searching our property and close by areas for a water source to use to generate electricity. There was a nice creek coming down the hill behind the house but I didn’t know if it was sufficient. We would have to do some research on what exact kind of water source we would need. I made a note on that, also. We saw no one all day. We talked to Ted once and Janice twice both by two-meter repeater.

I remarked to Shirley at how deserted the area seemed to be. She agreed and said that there should be more people around if there was a three percent survival rate. She agreed with me that it might be more like three tenths of a percent. We saw no new signs that anyone had been anywhere.

As we rode back, I suggested that we set up two-meter rigs with some simple instructions on how to operate them and see if anyone gives a call. That would keep us away from people if we didn’t like what we heard or saw. As we entered our road, I suggested to Shirley that even more important would be making a natural block on the drive and make it look unused. She looked at me and I said that there had been looters and we didn’t need someone taking our place over without our knowledge much less our permission. Shirley nodded slowly and reluctantly in agreement.

We got home and prepared supper. After eating, we out to the radio room and called to every one on our net. Robert didn’t check in again. Charlie was ready to leave Columbia for us via Pooler. While it was a bit out of the way, he was going to see Jack both to meet him and, I think, to see if Jack wanted to come over here. We talked about being careful since Robert had not checked in for two days. At that point, we heard, “Contact.”

I had learned some of the procedure and said, “Go, Contact.”

“This is K4TLQ, Mitch in Talladega, Alabama. I’m sure glad to hear someone out there. Where are you folks?”

“Mitch, this is Jack. We’re located in west central Georgia south of I-20. My family came through fairly well. My wife, Shirley, is a ham and we are using ham radio to communicate with others. On the air with us are Ted, who lives in our area, Charlie in Columbia, South Carolina, Tom in Montgomery with his son, Jack in Pooler, Georgia, near Savannah, and Fred in Macon. The only one missing is Robert from northern Mississippi who was headed this way when we last talked to him. We get together at this time each evening. We are looking for other survivors to better understand our common situation and to help each other know there is someone still around in the world.”

“Jack, that’s great! I’m just glad to hear that someone is out there. It’s been very quiet around here. I’m close to the racetrack and I-20. I have heard nothing on the interstate in a while.”

“I understand, Mitch. How are you doing right now?”

“I’m well though it’s lonely. I am pretty well fixed for supplies though that situation won’t last forever. It looks like very few people survived. I have been out most days where I can see I-20 and the surrounding area. There are no moving cars on any roads. The smell can be pretty bad from the bodies. There are two small hospitals here but I haven’t been able to stomach getting close to them yet.”

Chapter 2 »