Journal Entry #5

March 23, 2011

The Jeep is as full as its going to get. Suprsingly, I was able to get nearly everything in there this morning. It’s riding low under the weight, which is noticeable to me, I hope not so much to any one else. My rough calculations put as nearly 1,500 pounds of just food. We covered the supplies in the back with a few layers of tarps and blankets and put canned goods in luggage and the like in an attempt to keep it out of sight from the all but the most prying eyes. We have personal items on the roof rack. Cloths, sleeping bags, anything to make us feel a little more comfortable. Well be heading west, mostly, away from the major highways. Thank god. The further away, the better.

Water is another story. At 400 pounds per 50 gallons, it’s significantly heavier; we can only take a little. The location we are going to has a well on the property, along with a canal next to it. Again, we are relying heavily on our Berkey filters and distillation in case anything happens.

Most stores are still open, but supplies coming in have been random at best. This is something we witnessed a few years ago during the hurricanes. There are less than a half dozen major high ways into and out of the state itself, and with many of those closed or blocked, shipping has ground to a halt. Local produce is still available, but with influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees, its slim pickings. Theft is so prevalent, particular since the depression started, that one must brave a near gauntlet of truculent savages who have it in their entitled minds that they deserve what you have, if for no other reason than they lack it.

We are sitting in the car, waiting for the official time the curfew is lifted, 6:30 AM; half hour to go. I sincerely apologize for the abruptness of my last few entries, I am writing only when I have a free minute, and the last few days have seen so few.

A free minute can so easily pass by unused and unnoticed; nothing more than a minds temporary digression, or be so fully enjoyed, so intimately realized, that a lifetime can be formed around it.