Chapter 2

"Jim's World"--Chapter 2

Jim turned to the stunned audience and asked, "Does anybody want to back out?"

After a short silence, he continued, "I thought not! Good. Susan and I will be married in three days and we would like for you to attend. We'll put you up while you wait.

"I would like to leave on our expedition about the middle of January. It'll take that long to get everything ready. I don't know how long we will be gone, but it may be as much as six months, or more. Please arrange to be away for that much time.

"We need to decide on our personal weapons and how much ammunition to take; there will be NO resupply. If you run out, you're out! Jasmine, figure the same on medical supplies. Now, don't everybody groan at once, we'll survive on what we can hunt and MREs. So be sure to be well stocked on Tabasco sauce!

"The Humvees have been ordered and are promised to meet military specifications. They were ordered with a .50 caliber machine gun ring on the roof. The ATVs won't have any special armament, the drivers will depend on what they carry. The one deviation from mil standard is that everything, including uniforms, will be in international orange. Studies have shown that animals ignore any threat that they aren't used to, so they should leave us alone if we wear bright colors.

"Any questions?"

There were no questions, so everybody went back for more beer.

The wedding was a resounding social success. Even the governor showed up. The reception was held in the largest auditorium in Birmingham and that was packed. Susan was thrilled and Jim survived.

They didn't go on a honeymoon, there was too much to do to get ready for the big expedition to Dahlonega. The Humvees arrived and everybody laughed to see them in the incongruous bright orange; there was no question that they were easy to see. However, there were groans all around when Jim modeled the bright orange jump suit they were to wear as their uniform. Harriet Mason complained, "I look hideous in orange!"

Jim had no compunction about leaving in the middle of January—he was told that there was a fairly warm spell 50 million years ago. He had kept a close eye on the weather in Alpha-2, as they were calling their target, and it had been warm enough for comfort in the jump suits the whole time.

He had experimented with a clock and found that there was no practical time shift between Alpha-1 (home base) and Alpha-2. This was a relief; Jim had been worried about having to reset their clocks every day. He had arranged for the view screen to be activated from 11:30 AM until 12:30 PM every day while they were gone, in case they needed an emergency pick up. Also, they didn't know exactly how long they would be gone, so they needed somebody to be on hand whenever they showed up at Alpha-2 for pickup.

Finally, the big day of their departure arrived. Doug Bogart led off in the first ATV, followed by Jasmine Conner, driver, and Alice Jackson, machine gunner, in the first Humvee, with Jim and Susan as passengers. The second Humvee had Jack Smith as the driver and Harriet Mason as the machine gunner. The drag ATV was driven by Joe Everett.

All four drivers were in constant radio contact with Jim, who was acting as navigator. Jim had to ask the drivers to pipe down so that he could think! Also, the channel had to be kept clear for emergency traffic. Suitably chastened, the chatterers shut up. Jim estimated that Alpha-2 was somewhere near Haneyville, Alabama, so they had to cross half of Alabama just to get to Georgia.

They headed northeast, not sure where, or if, they would hit the rivers shown on their map. After all, 50 million years was plenty of time for rivers to come and go. Jim wanted to stay on open grassland for as long as possible; it made it harder for predators to sneak up on them. He hoped that the experts were right in their claim about animals ignoring bright orange; it was too late to change, now.

They had traveled about 20 miles and everybody was beginning to fidget. They needed a break, and this looked like as good a place as any, so Jim ordered a halt. The men stood guard while the ladies relieved themselves and then they returned the favor. The women all praised Jim for his foresight in ordering that the jumpsuits be fitted with a trap door; that made life a whole lot easier!

They mounted up and were about to start out when Alice Jackson, because she was standing at the machine gun position in the first Humvee, spotted a predator bird heading their way and shouted a warning. The vehicles were ordered to bunch up until they could tell what the bird had in mind. They simply sat and waited as the bird trotted past, completely ignoring the humans and their accouterments. Well, it looked like the experts were correct, for a change.

With much relief, Jim ordered the column to return to the march. The lead ATV pulled about 30 yards ahead and the drag ATV dropped a like distance behind. The two Humvees stayed about 15 yards apart, making the column stretch out about 75 yards. This gave everybody plenty of maneuvering room, but kept them close enough to provide mutual support.

They averaged about 15-20 miles per hour, a grueling pace for the ATVs to maintain over rough ground. They stopped ever hour for a potty break and to relieve stiff muscles. There was so much weaving around to avoid obstacles that they traveled 20 miles to make 12 in a straight line. They had forded one river and had lost a lot of time in working out how to do it. Jim estimated that they had made it to the vicinity of Wetumpka by the time they stopped for supper.

They all were so pooped that they ate their MREs without complaint or Tabasco sauce. The weather looked so good that they decided to sleep on or in the Humvees and not bother with tents. Jim and Susan were satisfied with a good-night-kiss that night; neither one really missed their usual nightly tumble. Not knowing what to expect from the local animals, they all slept with weapons handy, just in case.

The next morning, they woke up to the sounds of animals nearby. Jim immediately cursed himself for being lax in not posting a guard last night. He resolved not to make that mistake again! When they looked around, they found themselves surrounded by an animal species they did not recognize. It was about the size of a dog, but definitely was not a dog. Finally, Susan came up with an identification: a primitive horse! She decided that they looked something like an eohippus, but not exactly. In any case, Jim decided to see what they tasted like.

Jim was able to walk up to one and cut its throat. Susan cringed, but the other members of the party applauded. Jim bled out and butchered the animal while the others prepared a fire and got ready to cook their first local meal. It took a bit longer than it should because he was out of practice, but Jim had the meat ready for cooking in a reasonable time and they were able to taste the result of his handy work. They all agreed, even Susan, that the meat was very tasty and they could easily live off it if they had to. They had not provided any way to preserve meat while on the move, so they left the remainder for scavengers.

They got a late start that morning, but made up for it by not having to dodge so much in their travels that day. They almost stopped beside a river that night, but there were alligators in evidence, so they moved on a few miles. They slept in the Humvees again that night, but Jim posted a guard routine this time.

There was a gunshot early the next morning that woke them as one. They grabbed their weapons and looked around to see what could be the trouble. Joe Everett had shot a snake that was climbing over the engine of his ATV. Apparently, it was still warm enough to be attractive. Despite the "snake eater" joke about the Rangers, they settled on MREs for breakfast.

Morning ablutions taken care of, they started out on the third day of their trek. They were doing pretty good until they came to a river they had to ford. The problem was that the banks were steep in most places, and there were alligators where they weren't. For a while, they simply followed the river bank, since it was going northeast, but it looked like the banks were just going to get taller and steeper. They had to cross as soon as they could find a place.

They eventually came to a place where the banks were gently sloping, but there were a lot of alligators around. Jim was afraid that they would run out of good fords as they moved farther northeast, so this place looked like now or never. He really wasn't worried about the Humvees, there was plenty of protection in them; the real worry was the ATVs. They decided to try dragging the ATVs behind the Humvees while the ATV drivers rode in the Humvees.

There was a real danger of getting water inside the ATVs' engines, which would be their death knell. They resorted to going slow and hoping for the best. The alligators attacked, all right, but more from the point of view of defending their territory from an unidentified invader than from looking for a meal. The slow trip did a good job of keeping water out of the ATV engines and it was possible to drive them as soon as they were clear of the alligators. If only all problems were so easy to solve!

They now ran into the first rain they had encountered. It was a gentle, soaking rain, rather than a driving storm, so the only problem it caused was to make the grass slick and to produce some traction problems for the ATVs on the steeper hills. The rain lasted for about an hour and then went away; now they had a problem: the humidity rose to the point of causing a blinding fog. It was simply impossible to see more than 20 feet! Jim called in the other vehicles and they stopped to wait it out; they had no alternative.