So I spent most of the last two days messing around with the jeep. I found a note in it too, above the sunvisor.

"Heard the sirens, didn't believe till we saw a mushroom cloud to the south so we're leaving with the Mennonites for the national park, can't get the jeep to start back up anyway.

Jill and Jimmy"


So anyway, I learned that it runs on diesel, or any reasonable substitute for that, dunno why I thought it ran on just oil, dad was talking about bio diesel and using it at the farm a couple months ago I guess I just sorta forgot with the apocolypse and all. It took me five tries to figure out how to push start it, I'm really glad the road wasn't filled with cars, I guess things were pretty quiet when it all started. I then started figuring out what exactly was wrong with it out front of the napa store.

Put a new alternator and starter on it, battery still has a charge and the amperage is where it should be, I also replaced the inline fuel pump, after a bit of work I got the ignition to work.

The electrical harness is shorted out, the good thing is the engine is an older cummins and doesn't have electronic fuel injection, not to mention is no more complicated than the tractors I worked on at my dad's farm.

 I grabbed a spool of electrical cable an electricians kit that has cutters, strippers and fuses and a few other odds and ends and used the old harness as a template. The new one works and the jeep fires up easily enough.


I'm not sure why but I think it's going to rain tomorrow.

I keep seeing that dog occasionally. I think it's stalking me.

I've been thinking about it more and more, and I'm going to see if I can make it across the valley to my hometown. I know that my hometown was full of people ready for something like this, between the correctional officers and the ranchers, and some of the hillfolk I know, as long as it wasn't hit directly that it should be safe, but I need to make sure.

I did some more scouting today and I think I found a prospective vehicle to use. It's a stick shift jeep, 4 door and a rag top rather than a hard top and it looks like someone converted it to run on vegetable oil because it has a "I run clean on french fry oil" sticker on the bumper. I found the keys under the front seat. I'm going to keep an eye on it for now. It also has a couple "I Heart Hemp" stickers.... I didn't know we had hippies here. I'll see if I can get it running tomorrow and I'll also see if I can get something setup for a mobile web hotspot. I've got a couple leads on what to do thatnks to some how tos I found on the internet, but I'll need to find a satellite bag phone and a few other things. Like what my dad used in the 90s after we stopped using the radios and the base station.

I did see some of those solar lawn lights, and it looks like they're still working, so I might be able to get some of those from the hardware store and use them for something. I'll need a sauntering iron though, but it shouldn't be too hard to find that.

Picked up that Chinese radio signal again for a few minutes but it faded out before I could write the phonetics down.

So tomorrow, unless the weather gets bad I plan to go looking for stuff to build something silly, like a solar powered satellite modem. If the weather sucks, I'll look at news stories regarding my hometown. Time to sleep I guess.

So I spent today in longsleeves wandering around town, well the one became sort of half longsleeved half short sleeved.. more on that down below.

Still a ghost town to my best knowledge, but I found signs of life. A couple of the Mennonite churches, the signs out front said "Congregation in King's Canyon Park" so I'm assuming that's where all the Mennonites went to ride out the apocalypse.

I spent most of today looking around for and older model car or truck, something I can push start. No luck so far, all I've seen are newer ones that are dead. Tried hotwiring one, not even a spark.

Got chased by a dog today and it god hold of my arm. took part of my shirt off with it, just the sleeve. Scraped the skin but didn't get a good hold. I ran all the way back to the apartment after that. I think I'm going to take one of the pistols with me from now on because I saw it around some but didn't really think till it was running at me.

Going to get some more sleep. Been scanning radio channels. Picked something up in Chinese around 103.9 fm for a bit before it faded to static.

I think the fever broke mid-afternoon.. I'm not sure, cause I spent most of today asleep. I don't evene remember yesterday. Everything aches, and the noise of..well nothing is so annoying..I mean nothing. No engines, no people no background noise of the city. I don't even hear any animals. that's what's worrying me the most. This close to the mountains I should hear something, birds even. I don't know how long it's been quiet. Maybe it's always been quiet and I never noticed. Aside from the radio, though I haven't had that on lately.

Kinda cold, but I'm tolerating it a bit better. I still have a bit of a cough but it's not bad. the food in the fridge went bad, I think there was another power outage, or maybe the milk soured and everything else soured with it.

Turned the radio on in time for an announcement. The Secretary of the Interior is still alive. Some person by the name of  Glauchester, so until things get sorted out I think he's actually president. I think I remember something in the news about him going to inspect the work being done on one of the forest fires up in the Sierra Nevada's.

Gonna go back to sleep now.Maybe I'll have less aches in the morning.

Been feeling a little under the weather, so I made a a run out to the Rite aid to get some cold meds.

It looks like someone was driving by when it all happened and their car went through the front wall of the store. I didn't see a body and the power was off. Got some dayquil and nyquil.. I think it's just a cold or something. Dosimeter says I haven't been exposed to enough radiation to be poisoned that way. so it's either a cold or something I ate.

Coughing a little too. Going to curl up under a blanket and sleep.

Finally got a chance to go outside and smell "fresh" air.

The radiation levels have dropped a lot, but so has the temperature too. My computer says that it's Saturday the 17th now. 

I think the town is for the most part abandoned, I didn't see or hear anything while I was out.

So anyway, it was mostly constant rain since Tuesday so I didn't get a chance to go outside till yesterday, and even then it was wander a bit, find cover from the rain, wander a bit find cover from the rain. I got to the surplus store and found a nice vest with a hood, and some waterproofing materials. I think I might stop by the fabric store and see if I can take a shot at  making it into something like a longcoat or something.

Anyway, my haul from the surplus store, based off what I've been reading in the survival guides:

Black Canvas Mossad style duffle bag

Thirty MREs mixed, didn't really take note of what I got. I've found  that with how little activity I've had lately one of them can last me a day and a half or a bit more before I get hungry again. 

Two tins of Snow Seal waterproofing sealant (need to get a hair dryer)

Two long knives.

A pair of 8 inch high top boots, walked out in them cause my sneakers were soaked.

14 pairs of hiking socks

A small parachute

two hundred feet of parachute cord

A military guide to reading maps

A first aid kit

and a hatchet.

I didn't have any money on me but I left an IOU note at the counter for if the owner comes back.

When I got back I thought about it some and realized I probably should have taken one of the pistols with me in case I'd run into a pissed off dog or something. I guess I got lucky.

Well I'm going to get a drink of water now then go get some more sleep. If it clears up enough to go outside again tomorrow, well today. I'm going to go to the hardware store. I've got a couple ideas that I want to check out. you know those solar lights that people were putting in their gardens and everything? I saw some working in one of the yards I passed. I think I might be able to do something with them.

So the rain let up for a bit and I took a chance today.

Made tracks down the road to one of the orchards nearby, probably looked like an idiot, stopping every five or ten feet to take a reading on my Geiger counter. Got to the orange orchard  not far from "the roundabout from hell" as I like to call it cause most people in this town had no sense of what to do at a yield sign...Ever.

Saw a couple cars just abandoned in the middle of the road, and I didn't see anyone else.

It's still getting colder, but I don't mind as much...I think. Kind of sleeping a lot lately to I guess keep my mind of things.

Oranges are good. Probably the best crop I've seen in a while, sweet and juicy with no frost bite damages. that or I just got lucky with picking out which ones to take.

If this rain ever lets up I'm going to head into town.

My plan is to go to the army surplus store, the grocery store, and  then one of the thrift stores with any luck I'd find some more food, cold weather clothing and some random odds and ends that I can use. I've got a silly idea that might work. I blame watching a ton of MacGyver as a kid.

So I was going to go out today, the radiation's dropped down enough that I can go outside for a couple hours, well according to the field manuals in the footlocker, and it's well below the levels civil defense said are safe. But it's raining again.

I've been playing cards, and a lot of cards.

I didn't realize it till my fifth shuffle but I'm missing three cards from my deck.

It's also getting colder. I don't have a thermometer in the apartment, but it's been nippy, and I don't want to risk the air conditioner and blow in a bunch of irradiated air.... well..I don't know if it works that way. If someone sees this and knows does radiation work that way.

Actually I don't even know if the air conditioner even works, or if I should try it. Gas supplies seem to be working for now, the water heater's still running.

I guess for now I'll just keep wearing a jacket.


If you're seeing this and didn't hear, some remnants of the government are coming out of the shelters now, no reports on major stuff, but there's been some fema and national guard announcements that Radio Auberry has patched through. Stuff about keeping calm though. No actual information about the state of the rest of the world.

I also read through a couple more field manuals and found a cache of maps and a compass in a manila envelope, the envelope was labeled "Other Cache Locations".

Here's the rundown of the maps:

There's a U.S. map with a few states marked in red pen and other writing that I have no idea what it means.
A California map with six blue circles, and a red circle, and a green circle around the town I'm in.
And seven maps that I haven't looked at yet. I'll look at them later.

No the universe didn't off me, yet.

Power went out a few days ago. Didn't think it was ever going to come back on.

So the drop in the radiation levels slowed to a crawl, and it's safe to go outside for a little bit at a time, I'm going to give it a couple more days.

I saw a cat wandering around outside yesterday.

 I'm not sure what I'm going to do when it's really "ok" to be outside for more than a couple hours. Should I stay here? Or move off to somewhere else and try to meet up with other people? Most everyone had moved out of the complex I live in before this all went down and I don't think the neighbors were home when it happened. I hope they're ok, and I hope my parents are safe.

Phones are still dead and I've started making a list of stuff to go and get when I can cause some of the stuff went bad while the power was out.


It just dawned on me last week would have been elections. I think the last poll I saw was Johnson/Gingrich up by 25 with Bush/Bush (Jeb and George Jr.) and Davis/Kennedy tied evenly...more or less. I find it interesting that a libertarian and a conservative ticket flipped the election on it's ear, I don't think anyone would have called that, or even bet money on that last year during the primaries.

Happy halloween, elections and with any luck I'll still be around come thanksgiving....I'm dreaming of bright christmass... under the fallout's glow....

Ok even I think that was lame.

Nothing new to report, radiation levels are dropping. Decided to do some math regarding it.If it keeps dropping at about the same level it'll be safe to go outside in two days. Though I won't chance it at 100 rad an hour and wait a couple more days.

There's also a couple army survival manuals in the stuff my room-mate left here.

Been wondering why he left it here. I know he wasn't in the know on anything. Well I don't think he was.  did some research on the pistols. The M-45 is more of a custom pistol than a stock one.

Radio Auberry as they're calling themselves now put out a shout out for a fire hand crew that was up in the mountains when it all went down, so if anyone at the Lemoore NAS was out of harms way and can read this, Engine-99 reports all hands safe and accounted for.

Wonder how well my hometown rode things out. It's sort of out of the way and unimportant, the only thing really big nearby was a cattle feed lot. Dad said when I was a kid if anything major happened we could always drive the cattle from the feed lot into the valley and close off the main roads in. only people that "belonged" would be able to make their way in.

Not Dead yet.

Wow two days went by without me noticing. Still raining. It's black with ash.

Radiation levels have gone down a bit. Still unsafe to go outside.

Been reading the survival books my room-mate made. they're pretty straightforward, basics that most anyone can follow.

"If you absolutely must have a vehicle once the radiation has gone down you have three options. 

>Human powered like a bike.

>Newer military vehicles that have been hardened to withstand an EMP

>An older (1980s or older) manual shift vehicle, preferably a diesel of some kind that's small enough that you can push start."

It also has some diagrams, basic vehicle maintenance, electrical components that might need to be changed out. It's pretty cool.

On the awesome side of things, some of the static has cleared up and I can pick of radio from Nevada. Radio Las Vegas to be precise. From what it sounds like, the TDN (Trump Defense Network) that Donald Trump had designed and built as a working concept actually did it's job and saved most of the Las Vegas area.

Wonder how long it'll take for this weather front to bring in a plume of radiation. On the Plus side. Mr. Las Vegas has a way of calming a person down and keeping them from panicking.

Saw some new posts on 4chan as well, so it looks like I'm not the only one on the internet anymore, though they were in spanish... so balls to me having any conversations anytime soon. Failed that class in high school.