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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 18, 2022 12:52:17 GMT -6
It’s Not That I Don’t Like You….
Prologue
Mitch Baker arrived at the GPS coordinates, got out of the restored Series III Land Rover and looked around. The large machine shop looking building looked desolate and uncared for. He walked through the weeds, unlocked the heavy padlock, opened the side entrance door and the interior showed that it definitely was not unkept. The place was clean and the two tractors, though old, were in pristine condition and somehow dust free. Someone had been caring for them. He walked around inside the building and everything was neat and orderly. Mitch left the building and locked up, returning to the Land Rover. Driving the last 200 meters up to the house, Mitch stopped and stared for a moment. As he was getting out of the truck, the older man came out on the porch.
“Welcome home, Mitch.”
“Hello Bailey.”
Chapter 1
Before, during and after World War II, Davis Baker watched the change in America’s freight business. His grandfather before him had run freight businesses, hauling goods from the railheads to outlying towns. He had gotten rich off of that. As the early 20th century saw the rapid transition from mule drawn freight wagons to motor freight, the Baker family was ahead of the transition, even having trucks built to their own specifications. They suffered with everyone else through the Depression with barely making ends meet, but they paid their bills and fed their families, much from the livestock and truck gardens they grew. As the climate for war heated up, Davis Baker watched the movement of cargo essentially stayed the same. Freight was moved by trains and delivered to its destination by trucks. Davis was quick to get into the early government contracting on moving supplies for the war before America lost its first son.
After the war, the need for more trucking didn’t dissipate. Returning soldiers had seen a lot of different places other than the farms of Iowa and the streets of Buffalo and they were itching to see more and the migrations away from the railheads began. Davis and his sons expanded until they had a virtual trucking empire under several different names and that grew into even more companies with offices in every state and representation in every major port. In the mid 50’s something went wrong. The Baker Family were no longer living long and bountiful lives. Oh, they were still making millions, but the family members were slowly dying out before they reached their 50th birthday. Davis himself, lived until he was 90 but his grandchildren were dying before their time. But he had a plan to keep the family line from disappearing.
It was a simple, but smart country doctor that came up with the first answer. There was something wrong with Baker bloodline after a certain period, of that, they were certain. Orphanages were abundant so Davis had private investigators search out two male babies and had two of his grandsons bring them into their families. After a time, you would never have known they weren’t blood relatives. They were absorbed into the Baker family and from an early age, were trained in the businesses of the family. Each summer, from the time they were 6, they would spend time at one of the many poultry, hog or cattle operations the family expanded into. They were introduced into scouting before the perverts took the program over and were trained by family members in hunting fishing and surviving on their own. And it wasn’t only the manly things they were trained in. The farm women also trained them on how to cook a decent meal and how to take care of a home.
The Bakers could never be called ostentatious, no matter what the family was worth. Davis made sure of that. They all were hard workers, and they lived well. But as far as anyone knew, they were all middle income families.
Both embedded boys became true Bakers, even if not of the true bloodline. Many said they were the spit right out of their grandfather’s mouth and Davis was proud of them too
Back in the late 50’s Davis bought up a lot of land in areas that looked like would see growth in the coming decades, and some that probably wouldn’t but Davis snatched it up because it was dirt cheap, no pun intended. After seeing what had happened in the Depression, he wouldn’t touch the stock market and invested in his businesses and real estate. One of the properties of around 3600 acres in the northern part of Missouri, became instrumental in the life of one of his grandsons in the coming years.
In the tense climate of the Cold War era, the U.S. Government was constantly reinforcing its security infrastructure. Hardened missile silos were built. Sites for the continuation of government were built. Civil Defense was instituted and communications were expanded and hardened.
In the 1960’s AT&T built a series of underground terminal and repeater stations for the hardened analog L4 carrier cable (coax) that went from the east coast terminals to major cities and military bases in the middle of the United States carrying general toll circuits and critical military communication circuits. Each site housed an AUTOVON 4-wire switch as part of the switching fabric of that critical global military communications network. Towers were built at each site for the microwave relay system that was a part of the AT&T Long Lines network that covered both civilian and backup military communications. The government decided that a portion of the Baker’s land holdings were needed for one of the sites.
Davis was smart though. He leased, rather than sold them the site for $1.00 but with the stipulation that they would turn the site back over to him when it was no longer in need. The short-sighted bureaucrats laughed because there would always be a need for national security. What they didn’t see, and Davis did, was that technological changes are like dominos, when one piece falls the whole bunch falls. Davis had faith that in a few years, technology would leave such sites obsolete in the big picture of things. So, he waited. The site, costing a few hundred million dollars, was built on 50 acres in northern Missouri, the closest town was 12 miles away with a population of less than 2000 people. The closest town of any large size was over 124 miles away. As some of the workers at the site would often repeat, “It was in the middle of no-where.” Normally, these sites occupied around two acres of land, had 1,800 square feet worth of bunker and a 200 foot microwave tower. This site had been some type of node of some kind and was a heck of a lot bigger.
“Have a good trip?” Bailey asked.
“Yeah, I took it easy. I was in no hurry.”
“Want a beer?”
“Yeah, I could use one, but first, I want a glass of that cold well water I remember.”
Bailey chuckled. “It ain’t changed not a bit.”
Mitch sat down on the steps and leaned against a post.
Bailey came back out with two tall cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and a tall glass of cold well water, the condensation already forming and running down the sides of the glass.
“Bailey! Are you still drinking this rot-gut crap?”
Bailey chuckled. “It’s a man’s beer! Biddie brings me out a case every couple of weeks.”
“She’s old enough to buy alcohol?”
“Mitch, it’s been awhile since you’ve been back here.”
“Where’s she living now?”
“She’s living down in Kansas City. She co-owns a flower shop there. She was up here last week. When she found out you were coming home, she got a couple of women from somewhere and they went through the cabin, cleaned and aired it out and even stocked the freezer. It’s all ready for you.”
“Well, I better go and check things out. I’ll need to go into Unionville and stock up on perishable and such. Is Harley’s still there?”
“Oh no. He retired a few years ago. They now have a Hy-Vee and Bob’s Food Mart. Even have a restaurant, Leo’s Café.”
“Oh! Coming up in the world. What’s the population now, around thirteen hundred?”
“I think the last count was around 1700 or so.”
“Well, I’m going to drop my stuff at the cabin and go grocery shopping. Anything I can pick up for you?”
“No, Biddie keeps me up on groceries.”
“Okay, I’ll see you later.”
Mitch got in the Land Rover and drove on up through the trees to the cabin. The cabin sat on the foundation of what once was the entrance building of the underground complex. The architect had designed the one story cabin to cover what was once the foundation and now you couldn’t tell anything else had ever been there. After the government had moved everything out that they were going to, they still left a lot of stuff behind. The emergency 60KW generators were still in place, all the wiring was complete and a lot of the big storage cabinets were still there. Brad Baker had talked to the government into letting them arrange for the microwave relay tower to be taken down instead of the government going to the expense and they had been given 90 days to take it down. Normally the government would let some military unit come in and destroy it with explosives for practice but they still had to go through the expense of removing the debris. Brad had a tower company come in and dismantle the tower and the pieces were still stacked under the trees. The steel had been used for various things over the years and there was still a lot of it left. Now, you could barely tell, unless you were looking for signs, there had been a multi-million dollar installation lying right under your feet. Native trees and shrubs had been replanted after the construction was complete and it looked like part of the forest. With the tower gone, the was no indication of anything else being there, other than the cabin and three other buildings being noticeable.
Mitch pulled in front of the door and got out. He unlocked the door and went in, noting that everything was clean. He opened some windows for cross ventilation and began unloading the Rover. The only bed that was made was in the master bedroom, so that’s where he put his bags. He went out to the kitchen and checked the refrigerator and it was bare, as was the pantry. Still in the pantry was the laminated checklist so he sat down with it and made a list of things to buy on his phone. Mitch was like Bailey in that he didn’t want to be going into town that much. He was going into buy what would tide him over for the remainder of the week and make his big haul on Saturday. Mitch was going back to his old ways.
It wasn’t until the more advanced studies in heredity diseases began to take place that the Baker family had an inkling of what their short life span was being caused by. Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1) is a genetic (inherited) condition – it is passed from parents to their children through their genes. Alpha-1 may result in serious lung disease in adults and/or liver disease at any age. All the members of the family were tested and it seemed the ones effected were the second generation after Davis Baker and practically everyone after that. Only Mitch and his cousin Perry didn’t have the Alpha-1 gene. The family had been coping by having as many children as they could. Some of the descendants weren’t affected for some reason, but that was the exception, and lived long lives. The rest rarely lived to 60 years of age.
Both Perry and Mitch finished college and joined the National Guard. Perry was a Captain in an engineer unit and Mitch flew helicopters with the 135th Aviation Regiment of the Missouri National Guard. Both did tours in Afghanistan, only Mitch made it back alive.
After Mitch got back his obligation to the Guard was up and he got out. He went to work in one of the freight hauling companies and was doing well when Davis, getting near the end of his life, decided to sell the trucking companies and divvy out the other companies to the family. It didn’t bother Mitch. He stayed with the company when it was sold but he only worked to keep from being bored. He already had more money than he would ever spend as long he remained sensible. When Davis Baker passed away, even more money was added to private accounts and Mitch ended up with the cabin and land on Blackbird Creek. The closest relative he had owned one of the pig farms about 20 miles away.
Mitch needed to come here. There was nothing left for him back in Springfield.
Mitch finished his list and didn’t even lock the door when he left. He drove at a moderate speed into Unionville just taking in the scenery. Not much had changed since he was last around here. Hy-Vee had everything he needed so he didn’t bother going to Bob’s. He got a few staples and some fresh vegetables along with some ice cream and on second thought a Styrofoam cooler to keep the ice cream from melting. A couple of small frozen pizzas went into the cooler also. He got enough groceries to last him until Saturday and then he would take a trip to Des Moines and pick up more things to fill the pantry. He would just take the pantry inventory list with him and pick up more vegetables and other perishables when he came back through Unionville.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 18, 2022 12:56:21 GMT -6
Chapter 2
When Mitch got back to the cabin he put the groceries away and took stock of the kitchen. It was well equipped and had had mostly cast iron cookware and a couple of stock pots. There was a stainless steel 8 cup percolator and all kinds of utensils. He went on the back porch and there was a grill there but it was a cheap one and he didn’t think he would be putting any meat on that grate. That was one thing he would take care of soon. He walked out to the closed garage and went inside. There was a 6x10 trailer parked inside. He walked around inspecting it. The tires were good, it had a permanent tag, it was just dirty. He’d clean it up and take it with him when he went to Des Moines and could haul more back. Mitch left the garage and walked back to the cabin, He almost laughed at the description. The original building covered 120x80 feet on a slab foundation. Now THAT was a big cabin, and being only one story covered a lot of square feet, but that also covered the garage area. The cabin had four bedrooms, three and a half baths, A Great Room, big country kitchen, dining room, a breakfast nook, utility room with washer and dryer, a large pantry which held one of the entries to the bunker below (There was another bunker entrance in the detached garage.) and a home/office and kind of a library, or at least there was a wall of bookshelves.
Mitch went into the cabin and straight to the pantry. He was trying to remember …yes, there is…Mitch pressed the section next to the cabinet and he hear a click. Pulling the cabinet into the room, he walked into the dark opening and felt for the switch on the wall and the lights came on, illuminating the 8 steps down and the passageway disappeared to the right. He walked down the steps and around the corner and came to the illuminated room and on the opposite wall was the blast door. Mitch walked up to the door and looked at the keypad on the door and numbers floated up from his memory, or rather numbers that were almost tattooed on his memory if you could do something like that. He entered the numbers and pressed the “OK” key and spun the wheel to the right and the wheel, spinning freely turned a few rotations and came to a sudden stop. Mitch grabbed the dull gray handle and pulled the door open to see a metal stairway going down into the bunker. Mitch headed down the two flights of stairs, his footsteps echoing on the metal stairs to the bottom. The bare approximately 20’x20’ room must have been where the communications cables came in. The 6” conduits coming through the concrete wall had been cut of flat against the wall. He counted 8 separate cables housed in the conduit. He would have hated to have been the person who had laid all that cable. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any dampness down here.
Mitch turned around and went back upstairs. He would explore later. Returning up the stairs, he secured the blast door and went back up to the pantry, moved the cabinet back in place and went to his bedroom to unpack his bags. When he finished, he closed the bags up and took them to a large storage closet down the hall.
Mitch browsed through his phone and found the closest dealer for HughesNet services was in Lawrence, Kansas. He called the number and set up an installation for the next week. He would just have to burn up some hot spot time until then. The next call he made was to DirecTV to get satellite TV installed and set that appointment for after the HughesNet installation. He’d have to pick up a TV when he went to Des Moines. Mitch walked into the great room to look for a place to put it. Wall mount looked like the best option.
Mitch went through the utility room into the garage, opened one of the garage doors and backed his Rover in. Closing the door, he went back into the house and took up the book he had been reading.
Mitch slept like the dead and didn’t wake up until almost 8:00 AM. He got up, showered and put on some clothes. He needed to get some casual clothes. His slacks he usually wore wouldn’t cut it out here. His most casual pants were a couple sets of khakis. He wanted to be outside as much as he could. A clothing change was definitely in the future. Comfortable blue jeans sounded good. Mitch made his bed then went into the kitchen and set up the percolator, then got out a frying pan and turned on the gas burner to heat the pan. He added four strips of bacon to the pan and set the bacon press on it and got three eggs out. Scrambling the eggs and adding a little cracked black pepper, the turned the bacon over and placed the press back on it. He turned off the heat on the perked coffee then turned on the burner under the stove-top griddle to heat it up and took out a couple of slices of bread and the butter then checked the bacon and it was to his liking. He laid the bacon on paper towels to drain, laid the bread on the griddle to toast and poured the eggs into the pan to scrambled them up. Just before the eggs were ready he flipped the toast and finished the eggs, raking them out onto a plate. He took the toast, buttered it, went to the refrigerator and got out the jar of strawberry preserves and placed everything on the table in the breakfast nook. Pouring a mug of coffee, he winced. He’d have to find something else. He only drank two, maybe three cups of coffee a day and making an 8-cup pot of coffee was a waste, and he just made the worst cup of coffee ever. The rest of the breakfast was good, chased with a cold glass of well water. It came out of the same aquifer that Bailey’s did and it flushed his mind with memories.
After finishing breakfast and cleaning up, Mitch decided to explore the bunker. Retracing his steps from the day before, he started at the first room. It looked like someone had started to renovate the bunker but stopped for some reason or another. As Mitch wandered through the bunker a plan was forming in his mind. He would renovate the bunker and make it something that would survive fir hundreds if hears. Perhaps someday someone with would discover it and be amazed at something that had survived from the 21st century.
Mitch began at look at the bunker in a more practical way. If disaster did come and the cabin was destroyed He could set up a home down here to live in until he could rebuild, or if someone really did attack the country with nuclear or dirty bombs he would certainly save down in the bunker. He would have to do a thorough inspection of the bunker and see what he needed to do, although he wasn’t sure he wanted to survive alone after something like that. He would just fix it up to be as comfortable as he could make it.
He suddenly felt like checking out the cabin a little more. The bedrooms were basically identical with heavy bed frames and dressers. Each had a big walk-in closet and two of them shared a nicely equipped bathroom, Jack and Jill style he recalled. The third bedroom had a door to a bathroom but there also was a door from the bathroom into the hall. The study/library was occupied by the empty shelves on one wall and a large desk. New, the desk and leather chair must have been expensive. They still looked good but carried the patina of time. Mitch walked around and sat in the chair. Comfortable. A child-like curiosity had him opening the drawers. They were all empty except for the top center drawer that contained a large, folded sheet of paper. He took it out, unfolded it on the desktop, and saw it was a map of the property. It showed Bailey’s house, the shop where the tractors were, the cabin and the three outbuildings. The property boundary went north all the way to Blackbird Creek and west to what was labeled “Crossfire Road.” He thought the state called it something else now. The boundary followed the road south to State AA and south along the highway where the boundary zig-zagged back north to the creek. A trail followed the boundary around most of the property. He needed a four wheeler to even begin exploring the property…and a GPS. You could get lost out there. The open areas intrigued him. There was one area that the contour lines showed it was relatively flat and a perfect place for an airstrip. Mitch Had flown helicopters but he also got his fixed wing rating and civilian license. He had almost a thousand hours in fixed wing aircraft including military aircraft that transitioned over to his civilian qualifications. He’d always wanted to own one of those STOL aircraft. In the air, he had always felt like an eagle looking down over the countryside. It was one of the greatest feelings in the world. He had two more things to add to his “To Do” list. Get a four wheeler and check out that area for a possible landing strip.
Mitch refolded the map carefully. He wanted to get copies of the map copied. For all he knew this was the only copy in existence. He wanted a copy so he could put his own annotations on it. Another addition to the List. He decided to go down and visit with Bailey.
Bailey was at the back of his house in his little garden picking tomatoes from the four vines he had there. When he heard the Land Rover, he straightened up, picked up his basket and walked to the porch. He came around the corner of the house just as Mitch got out of the vehicle.
“I haven’t seen one of those in a long time. The just don’t make them like that anymore.”
“It was a ‘barn find.’ I probably paid a little more than it was worth at the time but I’ve never regretted it. It was one of the few things I’ve indulged myself with.” “Yep, you did good.”
“Bailey, I found a map of the property in the desk. Do you know if there other copies?”
“I know the map you’re talking about. To my knowledge, that’s the only copy.”
“Well, I’ll just get more copies made. Say, do you know where I can buy one of those 4-wheel utility vehicles? I want to explore the property.”
Bailey rubbed his chin. “Well, I suppose the closest would be Des Moines.”
“That’s what I thought. Nice looking tomatoes.”
“Yeah. I planted a couple of vines to many this year. Those vines had made more this year than ever. Want some fresh tomatoes? They are just going to go to waste. I can’t eat ‘em all.”
“Sure, I’ll take some. I love home grown tomatoes.”
“I’ll put some in a paper poke for you. You want a glass of that well water?”
“Sure!”
“Be right back.”
Mitch sat down and leaned against the post and gazed around.
Mitch’s father hadn’t beaten the odds. He also died at the age of 56 of Emphysema. He had never smoked a day in his life. Before he died, he had set up Bailey here as a caretaker, probably knowing Mitch would inherit the place someday. Bailey had been almost like a…
“Here ya go!. I sometimes think this well water has kept me alive all these years. I can’t remember the last time I was sick of anything…even a runny nose.”
“Might be.” Mitch said, taking a long dink of water.
“So, what are your plans.”
“I’m still thinking on things. I wanted to get the 4-wheeler to go check out an open area I saw on the map that I might could use for an airstrip. I want to get a STOL aircraft.”
“YOU STOLE AND AIRPLANE!”
Mitch chuckled. “No, I didn’t steal an airplane. STOL is the acronym for Short Takeoff and Landing. Some of them can take off in only a few feet.”
“I think I know the area you’re talking about. There actually was an airstrip where they used to land a plane on once in a while. You’ll probably need to bush hog it.”
“I expect so. Anyway, I want to explore around some.”
Well, be careful. There’s timber rattlers around and I’ve occasionally seen massasaugas down near the marshy areas along the creek and the lake.
“There’s still fish in the lake?”
“Oh yeah! Big ones too!. I had to put up a gate and post no trespassing signs all over too. Teenagers found it a convenient place to come and get a little until I put that gate in. I picked up all the trash they left behind and haven’t seen any sign of anyone since. Oh I’m sure young ‘uns come in and catch a fish or two once in a while, but that’s just kids having an adventure.”
“Well, I need to get back and wash the trailer down. I’m headed to Des Moines in the morning and load up on staples and see about a 4-wheeler plus get copies of the map done.”
“Okay Mitch. Mitch, it’s good to see you back.”
“It’s good to be back.”
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 18, 2022 12:58:10 GMT -6
Chapter 3
Mitch was up early the next morning, fixed breakfast and was getting ready to eat when there was a knock at the front door. Mitch got up and opened the door and there stood a thin young woman.
“Yes?”
“You don’t even remember me, do you?” She said, grinning.
“Bridget?”
She laughed. “You can’t even call me ‘Biddie’ like Pap does?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, the last time I saw ‘Biddie’, she wore pigtails and wasn’t as ah...grown.” Mitch said blushing and trying not to look at her ample chest.
Bridget blushed and looked away.
“I apologize for my manners, come on in.” Mitch said, stepping back and holding the door open for her.
“I was just about to eat breakfast. Can I make you something? A cup of coffee?”
“Pap and I ate earlier but I will accept a cup of coffee.”
Mitch followed her into the kitchen and filled a mug a coffee for her. She took a seat across the table from Mitch.
“Thank you for cleaning the cabin.”
“Oh, it was no problem. I would come up once a month and dust. We just gave it a little extra cleaning and made the bed.” Bridget said then took a sip of coffee and grimaced.
“Coffee okay?”
“It’s a little….shall we say, BOLD?”
They both laughed.
“I know, I’ve got to get used to a percolator.”
“Why not just get an electric coffee maker?”
“…and when the power goes off?”
“You got me. Pap said you were going in to Des Moines today.”
“Yeah, I need to stock up on some things, see about a 4-wheeler and so on.”
“When was the last time you were in Des Moines?”
Mitch took a sip of water and grinned. “Can’t remember ever being there.”
Bridge rolled her eyes and laughed. “Then I’d better go with you to make sure you don’t get lost.”
Mitch didn’t say anything, just kept eating. “Bailey said you owned a flower shop in Kansas City.”
“Co-own. I wanted to try the big city life and it’s not what some say it’s cut out to be. I work in the shop because I’m not a partier and don’t really care for most of the people.”
“Then why stay?”
“I ask myself the same thing sometimes.”
Mitch finished his breakfast and washed the few dishes.
“Ready?” He said.
He had hooked up the trailer earlier so all they had to do was get the make and crawl in the Land Rover. As they started down the drive Bridget asked him to stop by her Pap’s place so she could tell him where she was going. He stopped and ran in and Bailey came out on the porch.
“Don’t let her get you into no trouble!” He said, grinning.
Mitch waved and grinned back at him as Bridget got in the truck.
Mitch took out his phone, brought up a navigation app and started to type in “Des Moines.”
“You don’t need that. Just drive. You tell me where you want to go and I’ll get you there.”
They headed on down the drive and turned right onto the paved road. As they got toward the center of town Bridget said, “Turn right at that red building ahead. That’s Highway 5. It will take you all the way to Des Moines.”
“Well this is easy. I didn’t need you with me to keep from getting lost.”
“You need me all right.” Bridget muttered.
As they arrived on the outskirts of Des Moines Bridget asked, “Where do you need to go first?”
“A printer, I guess. I need to make copies of a map and if I get there early enough, hopefully they will be ready when we’re ready to leave.”
Bridget used her phone to pull up a list of printers, looked at the addresses and called one. “How big is the map?”
“Three feet by five feet.”
“Yes I need some copies of a map that’s three feet by five feet. You can? Great! We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She put down her phone. They have a plotter they can print it on.”
Bridget guided him to the address which wasn’t far off the highway. The lady told him they would have the six copies ready by 2:00 PM. Mitch and Bridget returned to the Rover and got in.
“Where to next?” Bridget asked.
“Well, I need to go to Sam’s Club, Bass Pro and somewhere I can get a TV. I’m having DirecTV installed next week.” Mitch replied.
“Bass Pro is right up the road about a mile.”
They pulled into the parking lot and went in. Mitch grabbed a cart at the entrance.
“What do you need here?”
“I want to get something different than the city clothes I have, something more casual.” Mitch said.
Bridget led him over the men’s clothing section and Mitch picked out three pairs of 8-Pocket Hiker Shorts, two pairs of Bugstopper Pants, six pocket T-shirts, and four collared short-sleeve shirts, two of which Bridget put back and selected different colors. In the shoe area Mitch picked out a pair of 2-Eye Boat Shoes for casual wear around the cabin and a pair of RedHead Wildcat Hiking Boots. Bridget handed him a pair of Ranch Wellingtons and told him to try them on. Mitch sat down and pulled them on and walked around.
“These feel great!” Mitch said.
Bridget added two four packs of boot socks to the basket. Mitch looked for the GPS displays and got a Garmin 66 handheld GPS. As they were heading toward the checkout, they were passing the outdoor cooking area and Mitch spied a grill. He detoured to it and looked it over it was a KitchenAid Stainless Steel 8-Burner propane grill. He got the attention of a customer service person and he brought a flat cart over and they loaded a box on the cart. As they were about to continue to checkout, right there in front of him at eye level was the answer to his coffee dilemma… a manual coffee maker brewer for Keurig K Cup singles. He took the box down off the shelf and put it in the cart. Off another shelf he grabbed a camp tea kettle and added it to the cart also. They continued to the checkout, he paid for everything, and the customer service rep helped him load the boxed grill into the trailer. Everything else they put into the back of the Rover.
“What’s next?” Bridget asked.
“A four wheeler.”
“When you get to the street, turn right then to the left at the next light. There’s a Polaris dealer down that street.”
When they looked at the UVs the Rangers looked good but not exactly what he was looking for. Seeing his dissatisfied expression, Bridget asked what was wrong. Mitch told her what he was looking for and she started smiling. “Let’s go. I think I know what you are talking about. I’ve seen them at the nurseries.”
They ended up on the edge of Des Moines at a farm equipment dealer and there sat exactly what he wanted. A 4-passenger Gator. The model they were looking at had the hard shell roof and sides and had both heating and air. Mitch grinned.
The salesman came over and Mitch bought it on the spot. The he hesitated. How was he going to get it back? Fortunately, it fit inside the trailer and the double-axle trailer could carry the weight. They helped Mitch stand the grill box up and were able to back the Gator in. It would be tight for Mitch, at 6’2” to get in to drive it out but if Bridget was careful with her girly parts, she would be able to squeeze in and drive it out. They could stack a lot of stuff in the seats and in the cargo box too. Another thing to scratch off his “To Do” list.
At Sam’s Club, Mitch started with a flat cart, Bridget got a buggy. They started down the first few aisles and finally Mitch got a 2-jar pack of peanut butter, two jugs of maple syrup and two 2-jar packs of grape jelly and strawberry preserves. He picked up two large containers of oatmeal, a big box of raisins, a couple of cases of mixed fruit, toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, plastic cups, paper napkins and so on. Beans. He picked up two 15-lb bags of pinto and 2 of black beans. Two cases of Gatorade and Bridget filled her basket with large plastic bottles of spices. Mitch loaded a 25-lb bag of cane sugar, 15-lb bag of salt, 10 pounds of brown sugar and 10-gallons of high temp cooking oil. Bridget added a twin pack of PAM and a big bottle of extra virgin olive oil. When they ran through checkout, they rolled the carts out and inspected the trailer. Selecting things out of Bridget’s cart, they packed as much into the Gator as they could. Once everything was packed inside, they still had some room left.
“Well, what else can we pack in here?” Mitch asked.
Bridget looked down his pantry list. “Flour, you forgot flour. I don’t see baking powder, shortening or baking soda. If you have any room left over then fill it with toilet paper. Remember back when there was a shortage? You can never have enough toilet paper.”
They went back in a got enough stuff the fill the trailer and have enough room to slide a TV in. They had spent two hours at Sam’s and both were getting a little hungry so they went to a deli sandwich next to Best Buy to eat lunch then went to buy a TV, wall mount and a DVD player at Best Buy. They spent the rest of the time in Best Buy browsing and picking out DVDs until it was time to pick up the maps at the printers.
As they were driving back down Highway 5, Mitch looked over at Bridget and said, “Thank you for keep me from getting lost. It has been an enjoyable day.”
Bridget smiled at him. “Yes, it was an enjoyable day, wasn’t it.”
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 18, 2022 12:59:59 GMT -6
Chapter 4
When they arrived back at the house, Mitch raised the garage doors and backed the trailer on the side closest to the utility room then unhitched and parked the Rover in the other bay. There was nothing perishable inside and he could wait until the morning to unload the rest. They unloaded the Rover and carried everything in to Mitch’s bedroom; he would sort it out from there. He began taking tags off the clothing and was going to run them through the wash. Meanwhile, Bridget was making Minute Rice and microwaving a bag of General Tso's Chicken. By the time Mitch had started the washer, their meal was ready. They both drank water with their meal because there really wasn’t anything else to drink except some powdered Country Time Lemonade. After finishing eating they cleaned up and and sat on the back porch in the gathering darkness.
“I’ll unload the trailer tomorrow and get the Gator out. I want to go and check that old airstrip site out.” Mitch said.
“Why?” Bridget asked.
“I’m thinking of buying a plane.”
“A plane!”
“Yeah, I’m not going to be a complete hermit. I’d like to get out once in a while. We are a long ways from anywhere and the bright lights of Unionville aren’t much of an attraction, except when pork and beans are on sale for two for $1.95 at the Hy-Vee.”
Bridget giggled. “Yeah, you’ve got a point there. What are you thinking of getting?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ve got some researching to do.”
“Well, I’d better get back down to Pap’s. I’ll come up in the morning and help you unload the trailer.”
“Well, here, take the Rover then.” Mitch said, tossing her the keys. “It will save me the trouble of driving you down.”
“La-a-a-z-z-z-y! I’ll be up in the morning after I fix Pap’s breakfast.”
“Okay. Good night.”
“Good night.”
Mitch went back inside and opened up his laptop. Logging into his hotspot on his phone he did a search for STOL aircraft and made notes on desirable specifications on a notepad. Around midnight, he stretched, yawned and shut down the computer to go to bed.
The next morning Mitch had already eaten breakfast and rolled out one of the copies of the map. The map had longitude and latitude tick marks on it so he would be able to plot the probable location of the airstrip. The legend was labeled “Baker Tract” and said the property consisted of 580.87 hectares. He didn’t know what a hectare was and had to find a conversion app online to calculate that it was 1,434.12 acres. He studied the contour lines and guesstimated where the airstrip could be. Opening the GPS box, he put the batteries and put in the geocoordinates and named the saved location. He had to go outside and let the GPS connect to a couple of satellites then recorded his location and saved it as “Home.” He had started back inside when Bridget drove up.
“Good morning!”
“Good morning! Have you started unloading yet?”
“No, just messing with the GPS.”
“They went inside and Bridget headed for the utility room. Mitch stopped in the study and put the GPS on the desk. They unloaded the trailer and stacked the cased things on the floor temporarily to be placed on the shelves later. Although it was heavy, they managed to get the grill out and sat it against a wall with the flat screen TV. Mitch hooked the trailer back up and pulled it back outside the garage and Bridget carefully squeezed into the Gator to drive it out of the trailer. Mitch closed up the trailer and moved it back to the detached garage.
“Want to go exploring?” Mitch asked.
“Sure!”
Mitch went and got the hydration packs and filled them from the kitchen faucet. He handed one to Bridget, retrieved the GPS and they went to get in the Gator.
“Crap! I forgot to get a fuel can! Well, they gave me a full tank. I don’t know how much diesel this thing uses so I’ll have to keep an eye on the fuel gauge.”
Mitch turned the GPS on, secured it in the holder on the dash and off they went.
Where Mitch believed the airstrip used to be was only about 500 meters northwest of the cabin but he couldn’t go straight there because of the trees, so he had to work his way there. He could see what could be a trail to the east of the cabin so he went on that trail and at the first trail that turned north, turned onto it and finally came to an open area that extended west So he turned left into the open area and followed the arrow on the GPS to where his GPS beeped, indicating he was at his destination. Mitch got out and cursed himself. He should have brought a metal bar and prodded until he found the hardpan of the airstrip. He gazed to the north and northeast and could visualize a runway running to the northeast. It was funny. He would have expected the open meadow to be overgrown trees but the meadow was just knee-high grass.’ He would come up and bush hog the whole thing. He had maybe 35 acres to cut. It was doable.
“Is this the place?” Bridget asked.
“I’m pretty sure it is but I need to define the edges of the runway and forgot to bring anything with me to check. I can come back later. I can just get a lay of the land. There should be a trail over by that tree line that goes to the lake. Let’s go take a look.”
Mitch found the trail that wove through the woods and 600 meters later came out at the lake. It looked to be about 25 acres with a slow runoff. They road ran across the dam and on down to the highway where Bailey had the heavy gate installed. Mitch then winced. Not only had he put in a gate but also had placed shrubs in a low hedgerow covering any area that a vehicle could possibly get through. On the lake side of the shrubs were anti-vehicular hedgehogs. Posts with large no trespassing signs on them were displayed along the hedgerow but if someone tried to bust through the hedges with a vehicle they’d end up jacked up in the air with a piece of I-bean jammed through their oil pan. If they were on a trail bike they wouldn’t liv to tell about it. WOW! Bailey didn’t mess around!
They turned around and went back to the lake and walked around for a while then sat down beneath a large oak and sipped from the hydration packs.
“Mitch, what brought you back here?” Bridget asked.
Mitch took a deep breath and let it out slow.
“There was a woman. We were together for 18 months and 14 days. I found out by accident she had been seeing someone else on the side while we were living together.”
Mitch took a long drink out of the drinking tube.
“I pretended I was still ignorant and I planned. I started planning on maybe getting both of them mugged and maybe to destroy their property, but I quickly realized those ideas would just blow back on me. There were stupid ideas like flattening all their tires, putting bleach in their gas tanks, flooding their little love nest which was and apartment that his company kept their visiting VIPs, and a bunch of other silly ideas. The more Ideas I came up with for revenge, the more I realized how ridiculous most of them were. I found no way to gain the revenge I wanted.
Ironically, it was a bartender who sat and listened to me off and on for two hours who made me see the light. He explained to me that the hurt from Carol’s cheating wouldn't go away with any kind of revenge. No matter how much I hurt my ex-girlfriend or her boyfriend, the pain would still be there inside me. His advice was really pretty simple for a person with my kind of pain. He told me that only time and distance would heal my heart. Well, I’ve got the distance and now I’ve got plenty of time.
So, are you healed yet?
“Hell no! I’ll never be healed from that. That scar will be with me forever, but I’m going to live to fight another day. I need a fuel trailer.”
“What?”
It just hit me. Yesterday as we were coming out of Des Moines, I saw a farm implement company that had fuel trailers they use to refuel combines and tractors in the field. I was thinking of how I could get fuel for the plane. I’d have to pay a premium to get fuel delivered way out here. I could just pull the trailer to the depot, have it filled and park it at the hangar.”
“What hangar?”
“The hangar I’m going to have built. I could even get another trailer for diesel and keep it for refueling here.”
“Well, if you can go from telling a morbid tale to thinking about fuel trailers, then you must be close to healing.”
“How do you know I’m not just diverting? Anyway, I think I’ve made up my mind on what plane I’m going to get. Now, I’ve just got to find one.”
When they got back to the cabin they got out and went in.
“”Want some iced sweet tea? I made some this morning.” Mitch said.
Yes, please.”
“Mitch got down glasses and filled them with ice and lightly sweetened tea.”
Bridget cautiously took a sip and smiled.
“Thank you. Most times the tea has no sugar in it or it tastes like they dumped half the bag of sugar in the pitcher. This is good!”
“Well, for one thing, I use Stevia, not sugar. Sometimes agave syrup if I can find it. I didn’t see it in the Hy-Vee and I kinda doubt Bob’s carries it either. Let’s go sit on the porch.”
There was one straight chair and one old rocking chair; both creaked. He let Bridget sit in the rocking chair.
“I need some porch furniture. I saw some out by the road when we were going to Des Moines. I can’t remember where it was.” Mitch said.
“It was at that shed place on Highway 5 right before you get to Lake Thunderhead.”
“Too bad it’s Sunday. I’d go get some.”
“The guy that owns the place lives right across the road. I guarantee if he sees you out there he’ll come running to make a sale.”
“Want to go with me?”
Bridget looked at her watch. “I’ll need to leave by three to go back to Kansas City.”
“We’ll be back before then. I’ll go hook up the trailer.”
When they got there, Mitch pulled into the lot and they walked around looking at the furniture. Sure enough, they hadn’t been walking around three minutes and the owner came over. Mitch wanted furniture for both the front and back porches and with a little guidance (actually, Bridget picked the pieces out) Mitch got two Adirondack chairs, a matching Adirondack table with built-in cup holders and two matching Adirondack foot stools for both the front and back porches. Bridget said she knew of a place in Kansas City she could get cushions to fit. When Mitch offered to pay in cash the man’s eyes lit up and gave him a 20% discount. They loaded everything in the trailer and went home. They placed the furniture on the porches and Mitch got them refills on the iced tea.
“Thank you for your help this weekend.” Mitch said.”
“Don’t mention it. I had a good time. Bridget replied.
“I’m glad. It was fun for me too.”
“What are you doing this week?”
“Well, I’ll start bush hogging that clearing . When I get it done, I’ll head back to Des Moines, pick up a fuel trailer and find a steel building company to build a hangar. Another thing on my “To Do” list is to take the cabin and Bailey’s house completely off the grid and go with solar or wind or maybe both, but I want off rural electric power.”
“I need to go.” Bridget said.
Mitch took her down to Bailey’s and he and Bailey sat on the porch talking as she got her things together. He and Bailey stood when she came back out with her pack. Bridget gave her grandfather a hug then hugged Mitch.
“You comin’ back next weekend?” Bailey asked.
“I think I will.” Bridget said, briefly glancing at Mitch.
“Well, you be careful drivin’.”
Both men stayed standing as they watched her drive out of sight.
“Well, whether you like it or not, that girl has taken a shining to you.” Bailey said, grinning.
“I’m going to bush hog the meadow where the airfield was.” Mitch said, changing the subject.
“Well, the equipment is in the shed. Fuel cans are back in the corner. They’ve had stabilizer added. There are shade umbrellas somewhere in there, I think in a cabinet. It can get hot up there in the sun.”
“Okay. I’ll be down in the morning.” Mitch said, getting up.
“Have a good evening Mitch.”
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 18, 2022 13:03:49 GMT -6
Chapter 5
Mitch attached the flex-wing rotary mower to the tractor and lifted the mower up. The blades looked good and he hit all the grease points with the grease gun. Finding the shade umbrella, he opened it up and put it in the holder. Mitch hung the hydration bladder up on the umbrella pole and headed to the airstrip.
Bridget’s hands had been shaking as she left Pap’s. She kept telling herself over and over, ”You are out of your damn mind!” By the time she’d reached I-35 she had gotten herself together. It was déjà vu. She had been 12 and he had been 16 and she had fallen madly in love with him. If she had known what to do she would have done anything with him. When he had gone at the end of the summer she had physically hurt inside. Now he was back and she had fallen under his spell again and he wasn’t even trying! It’s nuts! Bridget stopped at a rest stop and paced the parking lot for a while. "What was she going to do? She couldn’t lose him again!" Bridget finally calmed down and continued on to K.C. She would figure it out.
Mitch had found a 2-lb hammer, some surveyor’s tape and a five foot length of rebar and had taken it up to the airstrip with him. He soon found the edge of the airstrip and tied a piece of tape on a tuft of grass then walked a ways in the direction he thought the strip ran and did it again. After that, he just eyeballed it and had the strip marked out. The strip back during that time could have been 1500 to 2500 feet but if he got the plane he wanted, he would need less than a thousand feet. He got a estimation of the width of the strip then started cutting, leaving the tied tufts in place. Mindlessly, he cut on and on and before he knew it, he had finished. He had just enough fuel, he thought, to get back down to the cabin. He could tidy up the cutting later. In the morning he’d go pick up a fuel trailer, get it filled and have a refueling station set up. Another thought hit him. With a 990 gallon filled fuel trailer, he was going to be reaching the limits of the capacity of the Land Rover. He was going to need a heavier truck, and soon.
Mitch drove the tractor back to the cabin and parked it under the trees next to the detached garage. He went in the cabin to get a drink of water. He drank the first glass down too fast and got brain freeze. Nevertheless, he drew another glass and took it out to the front porch, sat down and propped his feet up on a foot stool. Once the headache went away, he sipped his water. He didn’t know what made the water right out of the ground so naturally cold, but to him it was better than any that came out of a refrigerator. Mitch took another sip of water and heard the Gator coming through the trees and then caught sight of a grinning Bailey driving the Gator. He pulled right up in front of the steps.
“That thing is right handy.” Bailey said, coming up on the porch.
“I don’t have any beer, want some water?” Mitch said, thinking ”Need to keep some PBR on hand.”
“Naw, I’m good. Did you get done?”
“For the most part. I’ve got some cleaning up to do yet but I was running low on fuel and decided to call it a day. I’m going to go pick up a fuel trailer tomorrow and fill it with diesel and park it here. I’ll get one of those garage shelters from down at that storage shed place on 5 to park it under.”
“I’ve got a couple of boys that are right handy I call on now and again to do some work. I can call Harold and they can pick you a shed up and put it up for you, if you want.”
“Harold?”
“Harold Messer. He owns that place.”
“Oh, okay. Well I’ll give you a credit card to pay for it.”
Bailey waved him off. “I’ve got the one your daddy set up to pay for things like this.”
“Okay, well, if you get that done, I can go in the morning and get the trailer. I’ll have to take it easy coming back because the trailer I’m thinking about is about 1000 gallons and it’s going to be a little bit of a chore to haul back loaded with fuel. I’m going to look for a bigger pickup for things like that.”
“Well, you probably do need a truck but you need something more like a 2 ½ ton for haulin’ stuff. Looks like you’ve got some plans in mind.”
“Yeah, probably so. You know of one?”
“Well, I know a guy...”
“Okay. I trust you that it’s something reliable. Set it up. Will that card handle it?”
“Oh sure. I won’t be able to get it before you head to Des Moines.”
“That’s okay. I think I can handle this load. Bailey, about Bridget…”
“Now don’t be going there. You are both grown now. What goes on between you two is your business. When Biddie first took an interest in you, back when she was like a new colt in the springtime, I had my concerns. That gal thinks for herself and doesn’t let anyone walk over her. If you two were to get together, I would be far from sad.”
“Is she coming back this weekend?”
“She said she would and that girl keeps her word. I would be surprised if she didn’t show up early Friday.”
“I’ve got people coming in Wednesday and Thursday to put in satellite systems for the TV and internet. Can I get your help to put the TV up? I’m hanging it on the wall and that’s a big TV.”
“When do you want to do it?”
“Tomorrow after I get back, I suppose.”
“Just give me a yell and I’ll come on up.”
“Thanks. Take the Gator back down and keep it. That thing has your name on it. When Bridget gets back, we’ll go pick up another one.”
Bailey grinned. “Well thank you. The air conditioning will be nice on a hot day.”
Bailey walked back down off the porch with a lighter step and headed back home.
Mitch smiled to himself and unconsciously nodded. “That felt good.”
Mitch looked at his watch. The hardware and lumber place should still be open. He needed some simple tools to hang the wall mount for the TV and to put the grill together. Getting into the Rover, he made quick time to Lockridge Lumber and got one of those big household tool kits, a drill and drill bit kit, level, a mechanics tool set, a decent screwdriver set, pliers set and a boxed set of assorted screws. When he got home, he was a little tired and just fixed a couple if ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner.
The next morning Mitch was on his way early. He figured a farm equipment dealer would have their doors open first thing each day. The two hour drive went by quickly and before he knew it, he was pulling into the dealership. He headed straight to the fuel trailers on display and began looking them over. The salesman had no sooner walked up to Mitch when he made his selection, a 990 gallon double-wall fuel trailer with a 12 volt fuel transfer pump.
The salesman grinned. “Well, I guess you know what you are looking for.” They got the payment settled and the paperwork done and when Mitch asked about a bulk fuel dealer, he was directed to one over near the airport. Mitch found it and asked about getting the trailer filled with diesel. The man at the counter asked him whether it was for farm use or over the road use, and without smiling, winked at him. Mitch took the hint and said it was for farm use. The man showed him where to get the trailer filled and in a short time he was driving away with a load of fuel. But stopped by the office and inquired if they sold MOGAS also. They did and a plan formed in Mitch’s mind.
On the way out of Des Moines, Mitch remembered seeing a General Steel building company. When he saw the sign he pulled in. In two hours he had signed a contract for a 60’ hangar to be installed, turn key. That out of the way, Mitch headed on down Highway 5. Another thing to mark off his “To Do” list. The trailer worked beautifully, his worries about being run down by the heavy trailer were for naught. The electric brakes were wonderful and with the baffled tanks, there was no sway whatsoever.
Mitch was surprised when he went to park the fuel trailer. Six men were there assembling the metal carport for the fuel trailer and they were almost finished. It even had a shed at the end of it. Bailey was there watching them.
“Bailey, this was sure quick!”
“Mennonites. You want something done right and quick. Hire Mennonites. They won’t be much longer. They’ve done many of these sheds and know what they are doing.”
Mitch went into the house and went into his secret stash and came out with six $100 bills. Mitch fisted the bills to Bailey.
“Make sure they know I appreciate their work.”
Bailey nodded then they walked over and examined the trailer.
“This is pretty good. Solar pump? How’s it going to charge the battery setting under the shed? Bailey asked.
“I’ll find a solar panel and mount it on the roof and connect it to the battery.”
“Hey Jacob! Can you come over here a second?” Bailey yelled.
A tall man with a straw hat came over.
“Jacob, this is Mitch Baker. This fuel trailer has an electric fuel pump and this solar panel on this box charges the battery. He’s going to need another panel to mount on the roof to charge the panel. Where can he get another panel around here for that?”
“Car Quest. They have those solar battery maintainer kits. You might have to extend the wire and add some battery clamps or connectors though.”
“Perfect. Oh, and here’s a little something extra for you and your guys your work.” Bailey said, handing Jacob the $100 bills.
“Well thank you so much!”
“We appreciate your quick work Jacob.” Mitch said.
They were soon finished and picking up what debris there was and bagging it.
“Bailey, what do you do about garbage around here?”
Bailey motioned for Mitch to follow him. Mitch had noticed the little building but hadn’t checked it out.
“This is your incinerator. Anything that burns, you just toss it in. anything that can be recycled, you put it in this chute. If it’s cans and such that can be crushed, you put it in here, pull this lever down and it crushes the cans and when you release the lever the cans drop down into a garbage can to be recycled. When the can is full you call the number painted on the door and they come and haul it away. Mennonite built and Mennonite serviced.”
“Jacob?”
“Naw, but probably some of his kin. Now, when you get ready to burn your trash, turn this knob here, like turning on a stove burner, press the igniter button and that lights the burner that preheats the catalytic converter and when it is hot enough, the burner for the trash automatically ignites and your trash burns. There is virtually no smoke and you just need to clean out the ash pit every so often.”
“That’s pure genius!”
“Mennonite.”
All the men thanked Bailey and Mitch for the work and left. Mitch parked the trailer under the shelter and they went inside and got the TV mounted on the wall. When Bailey left, Mitch went into town to get some perishables and decided to spread the wealth and went to Bob’s. They had some nice looking icebox melons and he got one also and picked up a couple of 6-packs of PBR to keep around for Bailey, two bottles of Merlot and two of Chardonnay. When he got home he looked at his watch and wondered where the day had gone. While it was on his mind, he called the Deere place and ordered another Gator, just like the one he had bought there before, to be picked up Saturday.
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Post by biggkidd on Aug 18, 2022 14:33:26 GMT -6
Another one with a good start. Thank you for sharing.
Observation I see a few typo's and other small errors if you ever want a proofreader or such let me know I'll be happy to help.
I do seriously enjoy your writing.
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Post by danielsga01 on Aug 18, 2022 14:40:44 GMT -6
This is going to be another good one also, thanks.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 18, 2022 16:43:43 GMT -6
Off to the races again. Looks like a fine start.
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Post by bluefox2 on Aug 18, 2022 18:19:39 GMT -6
Biddie done set the hook already. I do like your stories
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 19, 2022 7:04:12 GMT -6
Chapter 6
The next morning Mitch sat there with his perfectly brewed cup of coffee and looked at the rough drawn sheet before him. He had made columns and put the names of aircraft he was considering in the headings. Pros and Cons were checked for each one and as it turned out the aircraft that came out ahead of what he wanted was the Maule M-7-235B, a taildragger. For rough fields that was what he needed. Close behind was a Highlander but it didn’t have the seating and cargo capacity of the Maule. Mitch looked at his watch and figured they would be open by now and called the sales office outside if Moultrie, Georgia.
“Maule sales, Jerry speaking.”
“Jerry, this is Mitch Baker and I’d like to inquire about buy a M-7 taildragger.”
“Well, we don’t have any ready just now and won’t get another off the line for about another 10 weeks. You wouldn’t be interested in a used one would you?”
“What kind of condition is it in?”
“It’s almost cherry. Got less than 500 hours on it. Guy up in Chattanooga scared the crap out of himself and decided to ground himself.”
“He crash it?”
“Oh no! He parked it and walked away. You could get it reasonable. This thing is loaded too!”
“Can you email me the specs?”
“Sure can. You need to get on this. You’re the first one I told about it. He just called yesterday afternoon.”
“Well, if you would, keep it close to your chest until I can go over the specs.”
“I sure will. Give me your email address and you’ll get them in a few.”
“Okay, its MitchB8456@ktrack.com.
“Got it. On the way.”
“I’ll call you back in a few.”
Mitch opened up his laptop, logged into the hotspot, and downloaded his email. He opened the email from Maule and it definitely WAS loaded. Mitch immediately called Jerry back and had him set up the sale for Tuesday morning. He would meet the man at Crystal Air at the airport in Chattanooga. Mitch would have to arrange transportation down to Chattanooga. He finally found a guy with a King Air down at Kirksville Regional he could charter to fly him down there and set it up to fly him down Monday. Mitch grinned in excitement and puttered around, waiting for the HughesNet installer to arrive.
When the installer left, Mitch now had internet and 60 hours of streaming movies a month. He logged in his computer and browsed for fun, reading news sites and humor pages, then he did a search for AT&T communications and bunkers and started reading the history on them. Then he started reading about people buying them a making bunkers to survive an apocalyptic event. He did further searches on people buying missile silos and read about what they did and went back to the communications bunkers and started taking notes. When the light from his computer screen was brighter than the light coming through the window, he shut down the computer and stretched. He needed to check out the bunker below more thoroughly.
The next morning the DirecTV guy called to ask for directions. He had just turned onto 129 and wasn’t sure about the address. Mitch gave him directions to get him on the main roads and told him he’d meet him at the driveway. Jumping into the Rover, Mitch drove down to the highway and pointed the nose of the Rover in the direction the installer would be coming from. When he saw the van coming, he got out and waved and the van slowed down and turned in. Mitch got back into the Rover and led him to the cabin.
“You’re quite a ways out here, aren’t you?
“You hear that?” Mitch said, cupping his ear?
“What?”
“That’s the sound of happiness.”
The guy chuckled and started taking boxes and his tool bag out of the van. Mitch show him where the TV was and left him to his work. Taking his computer to the table in the breakfast nook, he logged in and began reading about renovating bunkers.
Two hours later the TV was connected and the installer walked him through the basics of the system. When the installer left, Mitch scrolled through the channels and ended up selecting a Zen music channel and went back to the computer and searched for solar power companies in Missouri and Iowa.
He finally selected DASolar out of Des Moines and called them to talk about what he wanted to do. The offered to send someone out to do an inspection and when he told them where he lived they asked him he had the geographical coordinates and he had the guy wait until he could go get his hand-held and turned it on. He read the coordinates for “Home” to him and the guy asked him when it would be convenient to send someone out. Mitch told him he only had tomorrow this week and had to go out of town but would be back by the next Thursday. The guy said he could be down the next day and Mitch told him to come on. The guy said he would be there by 10:00 AM.
“Wow! They are real go-getters!” Mitch thought. Mitch went out to the garage and saw the grill against the wall. He wanted to put that big sucker on the back porch but how in the hell was he going to do that? Then he remembered seeing a furniture hand truck down at Lockridge Hardware the other day. He hated to make a trip just for that and looked around but couldn’t think of anything else he needed. Maybe if he took his time and looked around there, something might trigger his mind. Oh, Carquest. He needed to stop in there and get one of the solar maintainer kits. Which brought to mind he needed to put fuel in the Rover He took the Rover out back and filled it up at the trailer then headed into town.
Carquest was on the left side of the road so he went on past it. He would stop on the way home to pick up the stuff from there. Lockridge was kind of a smaller version of Lowe's or Home Depot. Their prices were a little more because it was the only thing for miles around. He took a cart and walked slowly down the aisles and got some electrical tape, a couple of rolls of gorilla tape, a little jar of liquid tape…enough tape. He threw in a 50’ extension cord, a soldering iron kit. He saw the hand furniture truck and went on by. He would pick it up later. When he had gotten anything he could possibly use he parked the cart in the front and went back with another cart and got two different sizes of those ladders that folded up into all kinds of configurations and would wash your dishes too, and the hand furniture truck. They probably closed the store after he’d left because he was sure they’d made their daily profit off of him that trip. Mitch lashed the ladders and the hand trucks on the top rack of the Rover and headed back toward town and Carquest. He went in and found the maintainer and with the help of one of the guys there got extra wire and a set of quick release battery connectors. When he got home he put everything aside and moved the grill box to the back porch and removed the cardboard shipping box. It really wasn’t that bad putting together the parts they take off for shipping and an hour later, had the grill together. He looked at it and….CRAP! There was no propane cylinder! He hadn’t seen any down at the hardware store either, at last not that he’d noticed. He called Bailey.
“Yeah!”
“Bailey, where do you buy propane cylinders around here and get them filled?”
“What do you need propane for?”
“I’ve got a new grill and…”
“I’ll be up there in minute. I was cutting the grass around the maintenance shed.”
Bailey pulled up in the Gator five minutes later.
“Where’s your grill?”
“On the back porch.”
“Ah, good.”
“Instead of heading for the porch, Bailey went into the detached garage and came back with a length of hose and walked toward the back porch. There was a cutoff there that Bailey attached to the hose to then laid the hose on the porch. “Roll the grill over here.”
Mitch unlocked the wheels and rolled the grill over to Bailey and locked the wheels. Bailey unlatched an access panel in the back f the grill and fed the hose through.
“Now screw the end on tight.”
Mitch opened the front door where the tank usually sat and just like in biology class in high school took the male thingy and screwed it into the female thingy and grunted when he finished screwing.
“Light it and see what happens.” Bailey said as he opened the valve.
Mitch lifted the grill lid, turned a burner on and pressed the igniter. With a “PUMPHF”, the burner ignited.
“There’s a 2000 gallon tank buried back here. They come out twice a year to top it off.”
“Why so much for a grill?”
“Each room has a connector for a propane heater. Your dad never had them put in though. The fireplace has a built-in Heat-A-Lator the pushes heat through heating ducts under the cabin, assisted by duct fans and that heats the whole house. The first year he used it, you actually had to go outside to cool off when we had a big snow. The fans either ran all the time or you shut them off. He had someone come in and put the fans on thermostats so now it works pretty well.”
“I wondered what all that firewood was for in the woodshed. Well, that’s good to know. Want a beer?”
Bailey’s eyes lit up. “Sure!”
“I’ll meet you on the front porch.”
Mitch went through the house and got a glass of water and Bailey a beer and went out on the front porch. Handing Bailey his beer, he sat his glass in one of the drink holders in the table between them.
“These are nice chairs”
“Yeah, they are. Bridget says she’ll pick up some cushions for them in K.C.”
“Bailey took a sip of beer and grinned.
“Bailey, could I bother you to run me down to Kirksville Monday to the airport. I’ve got a guy flying me to Chattanooga to pick up the STOL plane. I’ll be back probably Wednesday.”
“So, you’re coming back with a stolen plane?”
Mitch looked at Bailey and Bailey laughed. “Sure, I run you down. What time do you need to be there?”
“Around 10:00 AM.”
“We’ll take your Rover. I want a chance to drive that thing.”
“That’s fine with me.” Mitch grinned.
Bailey, I’ve got a guy coming tomorrow to help me plan on putting the this cabin and your house on solar or wind power.”
“That would be good. Sometimes when we have storms it takes a while for the REMC to get the power back up. Wind power wouldn’t be bad. There’s no lack of a breeze around here most times.”
“We’ll probably go with a combination in case we don’t have sun for a few days.”
Bailey nodded and took a healthy swallow of his PBR.
“I imagine Biddie will be around ‘fore noon tomorrow.”
“Well, you are invited to supper tomorrow night. It’ll give me a chance to try out my new grill on some steaks Bridget put in the freezer for me and I haven’t had a chance to cook.”
“Sounds mighty fine.”
Bailey drained his can and set it on the table. “Well, I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, have a good evening.”
Mitch picked up the glass and can and took them to the kitchen. He tossed the can into the recycle bin and placed the glass in the sink. Going out to the woodshed, he picked out a piece of oak and split it into small pieces, then took a hatchet and cut it into little blocks. The grill had a smoker box on it and he liked the smokey taste of oak. Mitch found a bucket, put the small chunks in it, and carried it to the porch. He would soak them a little while tomorrow before he started cooking.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 19, 2022 7:26:28 GMT -6
Moving right along. Thanks for the update.
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Post by imahic on Aug 19, 2022 12:11:03 GMT -6
Another great story beginning. Looking forward to more chapters. Thanks for your efforts.
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Post by CountryGuy on Aug 19, 2022 12:23:56 GMT -6
Liking this new story. Can't wait to see where it heads.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 20, 2022 9:10:36 GMT -6
Chapter 7
Mitch added the detergent to the washer, started it then went onto the kitchen and pulled three rib eye steaks out of the freezer and sat them on the counter to thaw. When he was gathering his dirty clothes this morning he had a distant memory of how different the clothes smelled coming off an outside clothes line versus a dryer. Clothes dried outside always smelled so clean and fresh. He was going to make a clothes line. Mitch went back to Lockridge Hardware and Lumber and bought 4x4s, lag bolts, washers, plastic coated, steel core clothes line, turnbuckles, circular saw with assorted blades, a framing square, two carpenter’s pencils, a set of post hole diggers, a set of folding saw horses and two bags of Sakrete. He would put the posts up today and string the line and wash his sheets tomorrow. There was absolutely none of those perfumy dryer sheets in the world that made bed sheets smell like those dried in the sunshine. He picked a spot that got sunshine most of the day and dug his holes. He measured, cut, drilled and bolted the timbers together and set the posts into the holes, leveled them then poured the dry Sakrete in and ran water into the holes. He put his tools away and picked up the scrap then went into the house. He was surprised when Bridget was there with lunch laid out; club sandwiches with those big fat, hand-sliced fries and a glass of iced tea.
“HOW DARE YOU BREAK INTO MY KITCHEN A FIX SUCH A WONDERFUL LUNCH. I THINK I WILL GIVE YOU A HUG!”
Mitch picked a squealing Bridget up and swung her around. “God, I’m glad you’re not fat!” Mitch laughed.
“But if I were, I’d still have my beautiful personality!” Bridget said.
They both broke out in laughter and hugged.
“You said you weren’t coming back until tomorrow.” Mitch said, looking down into her eyes.
“I said no such thing! Pap asked if I was coming back this weekend and I said I thought I would, I just didn’t say when…”
“Okay, you win. Thank you for lunch.”
“Go wash up and come eat your lunch!” Bridget said, pushing him out of the kitchen.
When Mitch came back, Bridget had waited for him to get back before sitting down. Just as he sat, a horn blew outside.
“Crap! That must be the guy from DASolar. He is late!”
Mitch got up and went to the front door. A guy was getting out of a truck with a clipboard in his hand.
“Mr. Baker? I’m Ed Hawkins from DASolar. Sorry I'm late. There was a bad wreck on Highway 5.”
“No problem. What do we need to do first?”
“Well first, I need to check your circuit panels to see what kind of loads you are carrying, then inspect anywhere you have circuits running to.”
Mitch took him to the panel box in the utility room then through the house to check the number of outlets, lights and appliances. When they finished, they went down to Bailey’s and did the same. When they returned to the cabin, they sat on the front porch and Bridget brought iced tea out to them.
“Well, Mr. Baker, we can fix you right up. I can build you a system that will easily cover your needs.”
Mr. Hawkins, do you ever sign non-disclosure statements?”
“Why yes, I do. We’ve done several government projects.”
“Do you have any blank forms with you?”
“Ah…yes. I have them in the truck.”
“Would you get one please?”
Mr. Hawkins went down to his truck and quickly returned with the form. Mitch read over it thoroughly and questioned Mr Hawkins.
“This says me that you can’t disclose the ‘installation’, and I assume it to mean my property, with anyone, other than about the components to be installed.”
“That’s correct. All of our installers, if they have to enter sensitive areas of an installation, or your ‘property’, will also be required to sign an NDS also. All have passed government background checks.”
“I’d like you to sign this then.” Mitch said.
“I’ll need to go get another copy so you’ll have a copy for your records.” Mr. Hawkins said, going to his truck. When he had signed the other copy, he handed it to Mitch.
“Now, for the rest of the story.” Mitch said.
He took Mr. Hawkins to the pantry and down into the bunker.
“I want this covered too.” Mitch said.
“Oh my!”
For the first time, Mitch went through every area of the communications bunker. Mr. Hawkins scribbled notes as they went through every area. He took down information on the air handling equipment and on the generators. When they finished, they returned to the porch.
“This is going to be quite the project. Why don’t you just use the 60KW generators.”
“And what happens when the ‘emergency’ runs long enough to run out of fuel. They probably won’t be a chance to get any more fuel any time soon.”
“Yes, I see. So, you are planning to refurbish the ah ‘basement’ area?”
“To some extent at least. I want to have it all under the system in case I want to expand.”
“Very well. I will design you a system to handle it all. Also, there is another small project I want to add. I’m building a hangar a few hundred yards from here and want small solar system for it.”
“What size hangar?”
“60’x40'.”
“Not a problem.” Mr. Hawkins said, making more notes.
“Is there anything else?”
“I think that pretty much covers it.”
“Do you care if the battery bank is in the first room at the bottom of the stairs? It would make it more convenient for you to do what little maintenance is required.
“No not at all.”
“Very well.” Mr. Hawkins said, making more notes. “I will get started designing your system and give you a call.”
“I appreciate you coming out.”
“My pleasure. I will be in contact.”
Mitch stood on the porch and watched Hawkins drive off then went back into the cabin.
“I’m sorry, the fries were going to get cold so I put them in the oven to stay warm.”
“That’s fine. Let’s eat.”
After cleaning up, they sat on the porch in the chairs on the new cushions Bridget had brought.
“How much do I owe you for the cushions?”
Bridget waved her hand. “They are a house warming gift. I put the thawed steaks in the fridge and saw you’d put the grill together. What are you plans?”
“I invited Bailey over for steaks tonight. I’ve got baking potatoes and I need to go pick up salad makings.”
“Oh, that won’t do. Pap’s favorite steak meal is with a baked sweet potato with lots of butter and a little honey drizzled over it with coleslaw.”
“Then we have a grocery run to make. Let’s go!”
They drove into Unionville and Mitch wanted to go to Bob’s because he sold liquor also. Bridget got the sweet potato, a head of cabbage and the mayonnaise. She eyed Mitch when he picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels. Mitch noticed her cutting glance.
“I don’t use it to drink. My IQ falls dramatically when I drink too much.”
Bob had a small kitchenware’s section where Mitch picked up a small plastic pail. Mitch paid the bill and they returned home.
When they got to the cabin, Bridget got out the grater and began making the slaw. Mitch looked at his watch and took the plastic pail out on the porch and filled it ¾ of the way with the wood chunks. Opening the bottle of Jack, he slowly poured 1/3 of it over the wood chunks and let it sit for a while before covering the chunks with water.
When he went back into the kitchen with the partially full bottle and put it into a cabinet, Bridget’s eyes got big.
“It’s not what you think. I’m soaking the wood chunks for smoking in Jack and water.”
Bridget grinned. “I think you’re going to give Pap a new culinary experience.”
They lounged around and watched a movie until it was time to put the potatoes in to bake. Bridget tossed the slaw to let it marinate longer and cut bread to toast. They switched the TV to a soft rock channel and just talked.
“I’m going down to Chattanooga Monday to pick up a plane.” Mitch said. “I’ll be back Wednesday.”
“You’ll be safe won’t you?” Bridget said with a look of concern.
“Of course! I’m not paying that much for a plane and crash it!”
Bridget pinched him. “You better not!”
“Bridget, you have become very dear to me but…”
Bridget took her hands and pulled his head to her and kissed him.
“Bridget I...”
Bridget place her finger over Mitch’s lips. “I know. I’ve been in love with you since I was 12 years old. If I have to wait another 12 years or 24 or 36 years for you, then I will. You will always hold my heart in your hands.”
Bridget got up and went to check on the potatoes. Mitch sat there stunned. He finally checked his watch and went to stir the wood in the pail.
When Bailey arrived, Mitch already had the grill going and the wood was smoking. Bridget was buttering Pap’s sweet potato and drizzled a bit of honey on it. Her and Mitch’s potatoes got butter, sour cream and chives. Mitch brought the steaks on a platter and plated them, then poured wine for he and Bridget and poured Bailey’s Pabst Blue Ribbon into a frosted mug. When Bailey took his first bite of his medium rare steak, his eyes lit up.
“This is the best steak I have ever eaten. You two make great cooks! You make a great team in the kitchen.”
Bridget grinned at Mitch and took a bite of her steak.
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Post by biggkidd on Aug 20, 2022 10:02:05 GMT -6
Excellent work no typo's or errors that I could see in the last installment.
You are truly a gifted author and I thank you for sharing you work!
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Post by gipsy on Aug 20, 2022 10:28:02 GMT -6
Thanks for the update. He is well and truly hooked now.
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Post by bluefox2 on Aug 20, 2022 11:29:48 GMT -6
Thanks for the update. He is well and truly hooked now. To quote Mr Spock "INDEED"
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Post by paulk on Aug 20, 2022 15:38:22 GMT -6
Thank you for the new story. I really, really enjoy your writing.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 21, 2022 19:05:24 GMT -6
Chapter 8
Bridget ran Bailey and Mitch out of the kitchen so she could clean up. Mitch got another frosted mug out of the freezer and poured another PBR and carried it out on the front porch for Bailey.
“If the good Lord decides that was my last meal, then it was a good ‘un.” Bailey said, sitting down and propping his feet up.
“That did turn out good.” Agreed Mitch.
“When are they going to get that solar stuff in?”
“He’ll get back to me. They’ll have to figure out battery storage needs, numbers and sizes of inverters and so on, then get everything in. Once they get everything It won’t take long to install the components. Oh, I’m going back in to Des Moines in the morning and get another fuel trailer and fill it with MOGAS.”
“For what?”
“For the plane.”
“I thought you needed special airplane gas.”
“This one has a piston engine and can use MOGAS. If I want more octane, I can always put in an additive. The steel building people are coming Thursday to start grading and putting in the slab floor of the hangar. I should be back in plenty of time.”
“Where are you going to put the plane while they build the hangar?”
“I’ll just tie it down. It will be fine.”
Bridget came out with a glass of wine in her hand and Mitch jumped up to give her his seat.
“I’ll bring one of the chair’s from the back porch.” Mitch said.
“I’ll help you.” Bridged said, setting her wine down.
I see I need to get two more chairs.” Mitch said.
They brought a chair and footstool around to the front porch and Mitch sat down.
“What time are you leaving in the morning?” Bailey asked, winking at Mitch.
“Where are you going? Can I go with you?” Bridget asked.
He knew all Bailey was just twisting Bridget’s tail.
“I’m going to Des Moines and get another fuel trailer with fuel for the plane.”
Well, can I ride with you?”
“I suppose so. I probably need someone to keep me from getting lost.”
Bailey used her foot to push Mitch’s feet off the stool. “Hush!”
“If you’re wanting two more chairs I can pick them up for you while you’re gone.”
“I’d appreciate it. You want another beer?”
“Naw. Better not, else I’ll be driving that Gator one-eyed back to the house.”
“I’ll be down after a while Pap.”
“I’ll not worry.”
Mitch and Bridget watched as Bailey drove slowly down the drive.
“Are you still going to Chattanooga Monday?”
“Yeah. I’ll get down there, inspect the plane and if it’s in the condition they say it is, I’ll set up the buy, take a couple of familiarization flights then fly back here on Wednesday.”
“Please be careful.”
“Oh I will be. If I’m not comfortable, I’ll work it out and come back when I’m comfortable. So, you want to ride in with me tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know why. It’ll be pretty boring. I’m just going to get a trailer and fill it up with fuel and bring it home.”
Bridget put down her wine, got up, did kind of a swivel-step and plopped down in Mitch’s lap.
“You know you like having me along,” Bridget whispered in his ear then nibbled his earlobe.
“I’ll give you three days to stop that.”
“And what if I don’t?” Bridget said.
Mitch pulled her face to his and kissed her.
“Bridget, this just isn’t going to work.”
“Mitch I…”
“…These chairs just aren’t made for this.”
“Am I too fat for you?”
“I don’t think you have a fat cell in your body, except a maybe a few in your lips.”
“My lips are fat?”
“Your lips aren’t fat. They’re what I would call ‘luscious’.”
Bridget got up and sat back down in her chair. “I’ll fix that.”
“What?”
“The chair. I know just the thing.”
Mitch got up. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
Bridget got up and followed him through the cabin to the pantry and watched Mitch as he opened the hidden opening into the bunker and opened the blast door, then followed him down the stairs. He flipped some more light switches at the bottom of the stairs and the halls in each side of the big room they were standing in were illuminated.
“I knew this was here but I didn’t know where the entrance was.” Bridget said.
This first room is where the batteries for the solar system will be.”
“How big is this place?”
“I haven’t really measured the floor space but I’d guess it’s guess around 10,000 square feet.”
“Wow!”
“Most of it is empty except for the generator room and a Utility Room with the air handling equipment in it and one side room in the utility filled with filters for the air exchange unit.”
“What was it used for?”
“Well, they built this place it to handle civilian and military communications lines. There were hundreds across the United States. I read up on them and there was something different about this one. It is bigger and has space for people to actually stay down here for long periods during a war.”
“You mean a nuclear war?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Well, everything seems to work. The toilets flush, the lights work, the air handler comes on and circulates the air so I think I’ll refurbish and stock it.”
“Do you think there will be a war?”
“Anything is possible. War, economic collapse, natural and man-made disasters; we have a plethora of things that could happen. Offutt Air Force Base, the home of the Strategic Air Command, is less than three hundred miles from here. If someone were to nuke it, this is the only place that would be safe from fallout anywhere near. I’ve read some interesting things about survival and preparing for emergencies. We…I could set this place up to survive for years.”
They went back upstairs and watched a movie until Bridget went back down to Bailey’s.
The next morning Mitch stopped at Bailey’s to pick up Bridget and they were off to Des Moines. He bought the trailer, headed to the fuel distributor, and had the tank filled. The fuel already had stabilizer in it but Mitch got two cases of stabilizer to have on hand. They headed back home but stopped at a Dairy Queen in Knoxville and got a burger and a milkshake. Mitch was glad Bridget had come along. It made the boring drive a lot more pleasant.
“So, how is life in Kansas City?”
“Well, like I said, I wanted to move to the big city, I wanted to verify that Putnam County really was the center of a dull world. ‘The grass is always greener’ thing and all that. Well, I did find that the grass is greener, but only over the septic tank. I bought into the florist shop to keep me busy and to show I could make a living.”
“So, you do pretty good there?”
“Oh yes! Not as much as the dividends the trust fund Dad set up for me, but enough I could live off of if I didn’t have the trust fund. I mostly visit the nurseries and buy the flowers and Francis and Gloria do most of the work in the shop. Sometimes I go as far as California and Florida to buy flowers and have them shipped back to K.C. We formed sort of a flower brokerage for the area for the other shops too. They actually buy a lot of their flowers from us. So business stays good. Flowers make people happy and these days people need as much happiness as they can get.”
When they got back home, Mitch backed the trailer under the shelter next to the diesel trailer with little room to spare. There wouldn’t be able to refuel from the MOGAS trailer but that didn’t matter for now.
“I need to go down and spend some time with Pap. Can I come up tomorrow?”
“Of course. You are welcome here anytime. What about some BBQ Chicken on the grill with some potato salad and coleslaw?”
“I’ll come up in the morning and make the potato salad and slaw for lunch tomorrow? Tell Bailey he is invited too.”
“Sounds good, and I’ll tell Pap.” Bridget said, giving Mitch a peck on the lips.
Mitch watched from the porch as Bridget drove away.
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Post by imahic on Aug 21, 2022 20:37:16 GMT -6
Thanks for the update. I really enjoy your stories.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 21, 2022 20:38:19 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by paulk on Aug 22, 2022 15:51:27 GMT -6
More please!!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 23, 2022 3:47:58 GMT -6
Chapter 9
Bailey dropped Mitch at Kirksville Regional Airport and he was directed to the pilot who was doing his pre-flight inspection. They were soon in the air and two hours and fifty minutes later the pilot was asking for landing instructions at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. The pilot taxied over and dropped him off at the Crystal Air hangar and went to refuel then return to Kirksville. Mitch was expected and one of the counter people took him out to inspect the plane, giving Mitch the flight manual for the Maule. Using the manual he conducted the normal pre-flight then looked the plane over.
The plane, with the Observer package, seemed to have windows everywhere. There are four cabin doors. One is on the left for the pilot, with three on the right, at the copilot seat, rear seat and aft baggage/fifth seat area—the entire right side of the cabin opened up and with the rear seats removed, could provide a lot of cargo space. The backseat was adjustable through two positions—and could be removed in under a minute. The copilot’s seat could come out as well, creating a freighter that can carry long items. The seats were leather and had 4-point restraint systems. The instrument panel was beautiful, and loaded, just like he was told. Along with the auto pilot and normal analog gauges, the instrument panel had a Lowes Grey Garmin 430 GPS/ NAV Com, Garmin GI-106A CDI w/ GS, Garmin 420 GPS / Comm w/ GI, 102A CDI Indicator, Garmin GTX 330 Digital Transponder, and a PS Engineering PMA 7000B Stereo Audio Panel. Sweet!
The plane was equipped with 24” Tundra tires and that is where Mitch figured the guy had scared the shit out of himself. In the air, tundra tires can have an adverse effect, reducing the aircraft’s top speed, rate of climb, angle of climb, range, useful load and stall warning (buffet) margin. He had gotten nervous and put the plane down. Mitch had flown with tundra tires before and there were things you had to watch for, especially on landing. With a taildragger in rough terrain, you wanted the main and tail gear to contact at the same time or you could go nose over and upside down. With these babies though, you could run over shoebox size rocks with no problem.
The Approved Flight Manual for the M-7-235B contained only the basics required by the FAA. There is no performance data. He would have to reference the Lycoming engine manual to get power settings, fuel consumption, and then go fly the airplane and see what it did. It also meant he would have to do some homework to determine takeoff and landing performance. Mitch wasn’t crazy about the lack of takeoff and landing performance data but he could figure it out.
He was happy to see the airplane was equipped with Vortex Generators. Vortex Generators reduce stall speeds on the Maule an average of seven knots with the flaps up and three with the flaps down.
Mitch asked to take the flight and engine manuals with him to the hotel to study so the guy took the log book out but left the manuals and charts inside the pilot’s case and handed it to Mitch. The guy said that Jerry would meet him there in the morning and go over everything with him.
Mitch got a hotel room near the airport and sat down and studied the manuals and took notes. At 6:00 PM, he closed the manuals and went to get something to eat. After eating, he returned to his room and studied until 11:00 PM and went to bed.
Mitch was up early and ate breakfast before heading to the airport. He arrived at 09:00 to find Jerry in the office. They went out to the plane and Jerry observed as Mitch did his pre-flight. Mitch discussed power and flap settings before Jerry rode with Mitch as he took the plane on a test flight. They got in and Mitch went by the checklist and started the engine. There wasn’t much difference from any other plane Mitch had flown except it just left the ground quicker. They flew to an area where Mitch could practice stalls and climbed to 5000 feet. He quickly got the true stall speed with the VGs and the tundra tires. He did some turns at slow speed to see what the performance would be. It was pretty close to what he had figured. They returned to Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA) and landed. Jerry called the seller and set up a meeting for 01:00 PM to complete the sale.
At 1:00 PM they all met back at the office of Crystal Air and completed the paperwork and Mitch handed over the check. They went to the FAA office there at the airport and filled out the aircraft tail number Transfer/Exchange request on line and Mitch paid the $385.00. They all shook hands and Jerry and Mitch returned to Crystal Air.
“You feel confident?” Jerry asked.
“Yes, cautiously confident.” Mitch replied.
“That’s the way to be. If you need anything, give me a call. There’s an answering service if the call is after hours.”
“Is there a pilot’s store here?” Mitch asked.
“I don’t think so. What do you need?”
“I’ll need a tie-down kit. My hangar isn’t going to be ready for a couple of weeks.”
“Check with the FBO. They should have some.”
“Okay. Jerry, thanks for your help. I’m already in love with it.”
“Glad to help. Safe flying!”
Mitch went over to the FBO and picked up a tie-down kit, then had the tanks topped off. He had a flight plan ready to file in the morning for Kirksville with a refueling stop in Marion, Indiana. He would fly on to Kirksville, refuel then on to home. Each leg was about three hours long so that put him back home well before dark if he left by 09:00.
Mitch went back to the hotel and dropped the pilot’s case off then went out to get a late lunch, taking his tablet with him. He went to Champy’s Chicken and slowly ate their Buttermilk Fried Pickle Spears followed by their 3 Piece Dark Meat Plate with baked beans & slaw. They kept his glass filled with iced tea as he whiled away the afternoon searching for a windsock for the airfield.
The next morning Mitch filed the flight plan and was wheels off the ground at 09:00. The flight to Marion was uneventful as was the flight to Kirksville. When he got home, he buzzed Bailey’s house to let him know he was back. He had called Bailey from Kirksville to let him know he would be home soon. As he banked back around to the northeast to line up on the “runway,” he saw Bailey heading up the drive for his landing area in his Gator. Mitch lined up on his landing area, reduced speed and gave it full flaps. He touched down with the main wheels hitting a fraction of a second before the tail wheel and quickly rolled almost to a stop then taxied across the field to where Bailey would come out of the trees. He got to the tree line and turning the plane away from the trees, shut down. Bailey came out into the open and drove over to the plane.
“She’s pretty!”
“She flies good too.”
“You want to fuel her up?”
“Naw, I’ve got 73 gallons still in the tanks.”
“A guy called from that building place. Said they’d be out in the morning to grade and start setting the forms in.”
“Okay, good.”
“And…Biddie is coming back tomorrow.”
“Why is she coming back on a Thursday?”
“She says she has a surprise for you.”
“What?”
“I know, there’s more but she told me she would tell you herself.”
Mitch shook his head. Taking out the tie-down kit, he screwed the anchors into the ground and using the ratcheting straps, tied the plane down. Bailey dropped Mitch off at the cabin and returned home. Mitch started to call Bridget but decided to wait and hear it from her in person.
The construction crew arrived at 08:00 the next morning. Bailey led them in his Gator up to the airfield with Mitch following behind when the last truck had passed. They brought a small bulldozer and a skid steer along as grading equipment. Bailey and Mitch stood aside after Mitch had shown them where he wanted the hangar and watch them as they worked. The skid steer was separating some of the sod to be used later. They got bored after a while and went back to the cabin and drank cold water on the front porch.
“So, you’re not going to tell me what she’s coming up here for?”
“Nope. That’s between you and her.”
Thirty minutes later they heard a vehicle coming up the drive and Bridget’s car and another car appeared out if the trees. Bridget got out of her car and this huge, dark skinned woman got out of the other, followed by a younger man. Bridget grinned and came up on the porch.
“Mitch, can I talk to you, alone?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Oh, Mitch, this is Raelene Marks and her son Jerome. Why don’t you two have a seat. We’ll be right back.”
Bridget took Mitch’s hand and pulled him into the Great Room.
“Mitch, I’ve brought Raelene to be your live-in cook and housekeeper.”
“What? I…”
“Let me finish. Raelene had to quit her job in K.C. because a street gang, the Hilltop Crips, was trying to force Jerome to join them. Jerome is a good kid. He wants to go to college when he’s raised some funds. Raelene is an excellent cook and housekeeper and worked for a wealthy family in K.C.”
“So you trust her?”
“Mitch, she is the sweetest person. I know she looks like she’d snap your neck, but she is nervous and worried. She didn’t know where to go.”
“Okay, I’ll give her a try. But if she doesn’t work out….”
“Oh, I’m sure she will. Another thing, I’m moving back here.”
“But what about your flower shop?”
“I worked something out with Angela. I’ll still get a cut of the profits minus the salary for someone to take my place, and I am more than happy with that.”
Mitch looked at her a moment. “Well, I guess you’d better get her settled in and show her around, but not downstairs.”
“I understand.”
Bridget showed Raelene and Jerome two of the bedrooms connected to the same bathroom that were the most distant from the master bedroom and they began moving their things in. Raelene was big, but not fat. She was a little over 6’ tall and built like a discus thrower. Jerome was somewhere around 6’ and slim of build. Both were dark, almost the color if the Yaqui Indians he had seen down in Mexico.
Mitch looked at Bailey, who grinned and got up out of his chair.
“You could have warned me.”
“Biddie told me not to and a man with good sense don’t cross that girl.”
Bailey left and Mitch stayed out on the porch while Bridget showed them around. Finally, they all came out on the porch.
“I think Raelene will work out just fine!” Bridget said. “Come on Raelene, let’s go see what we can fix for dinner.”
The two women went inside, leaving Jerome standing there.
“Have a seat Jerome. Tell me about yourself.”
“Well, I just graduated from High School. I was planning on going to junior college but…”
“How did you like school?”
“I liked it. I made good grades because I wanted to learn, and it was fun.”
“So, the Crips harassed you?”
“Yeah. They beat me a couple of times and took my money I was saving up to go to school then said they’d hurt my Momma if I didn’t join them.”
“What kind of work did you do?”
“I worked at a golf course after school and on the weekends.”
“So, you know your way around tractors and mowers?”
“Yes sir.”
“Well, I’ll give you a job to make money around here. The closest college is Truman State down in Kirksville, about thirty miles away you can check out.”
“Thank you, Mr. Baker.”
“Don’t call me Mr. Baker. I look around and think one of my older cousins is around. Call me Mitch. I’ll show you around tomorrow and see what needs to be done. You just get settled in this afternoon and put your things away.”
“Yes sir. Thank you for the opportunity.”
Mitch followed Jerome inside and went to the kitchen. There was a covered pot boiling on the stove and Raelene was talking to Bridget kneading dough.”
“What are you cooking?”
Bridget turned to him. “Raelene’s making Chicken and Dumplings.”
“Won’t kneading the dough make the dumplings tough?”
Raelene smirked at Mitch.
“No, that dough is for fresh bread.”
Mitch put his hands in the air. “I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Mr. Baker?” Raelene said.
Mitch pointed his finger at her. “Mitch, it’s Mitch.”
“Mitch, you know how to cook?”
“I’ve been known to throw together a pretty good pan of biscuits.”
“I there anything special you like to eat?”
“Food.” Mitch said, blandly.
Bridget giggled. “Come on, let me get you out of Raelene’s hair. We’ll be on the front porch, Raelene.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
They sat down in the chairs on the porch and Mitch asked, “How did you get tangled up in this?”
“Raelene came in every day and bought fresh flowers for Mrs. Fletcher. She came in the other day and had been crying. She told me what was going on and I made the decision to bring her here. This place is really too big for you to take care of by yourself.”
“Is that when you decided to move back here?”
“No, I’d already decided that. We just had to find someone competent to replace me.”
“So why did you move back here?” Mitch asked, smirking.
Bridget got up and went over to sit in Mitch’s lap. Before she sat down she jumped back up.
“Wait! Come help me!”
Mitch got up and followed her off the porch and to the back of the hatchback. She opened it up and grunted, pulling out a flat box.
“Help me!”
The box was heavy but they got it over to the porch. Bridget got a pocket knife out of her pocket and cut the box open.
“We need an Allen wrench, which they provide and a screwdriver,”
“What is this?”
“A Chaise Lounge that is more comfortable than that chair when I want to snuggle with you.”
Mitch grinned and shook his head while he went to get a screwdriver.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 23, 2022 5:10:55 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
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Post by paulk on Aug 23, 2022 7:50:36 GMT -6
More, More, PLEASE.
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