side of the highway so he crossed the median and got off
the bike at the rear of the truck. He was surprised to find the rear double
doors were not locked. He lifted the long metal latching arm and swung open one
of the doors.
He put his rifle on the floor
of the truck and climbed inside. There were boxes of various sizes stacked
about halfway to the ceiling. He cut open one box after another and found
crackers, peanut butter, jelly, canned soup, beans, peas, and other vegetables.
He dumped out the contents of one of the boxes and began re-filling the box
with a variety of the cans and other foods. He found a large stack of bread
crates but the bread was stale and moldy. He found boxes of chips pretzels and,
candy. When he found a box of packaged candy apples, with nuts on top, he could
not resist opening one of the packages and eating one.
He finished the candy apple
and was half way through eating a second one when he heard purring and clucking
which he instantly recognized as a flock of turkeys. He leaned out the back of
the truck and saw a flock of about a dozen hens and gobblers feeding along the
edge of the tree line only fifty yards away.
He slowly picked up his rifle
and put the cross hairs on the chest of the lead gobbler which was walking with
its head down eating something in the grass.
When the bullet hit the bird
it flipped over backwards and flopped in circles scaring the others away.
When he got back to camp, he
held the turkey and sack of potatoes high for all to see and declared,” I hit
the jackpot on this one. Someone get a fire going. Cameron and I are going to
skin dinner.”
Even though it was still
drizzling that night they had the best meal they had had since the power
failure. The potatoes were a little burned from being in the fire too long, but
the turkey was delicious. Everyone was happier about eating the wild turkey
than they had been about eating squirrel.
Between his bites of the
turkey, John repeated the story of how he got dinner. “As I was riding towards
and exit ramp and gas station I found a large food delivery truck stopped along
the road. I looked inside and found it full of food. As I was loading the food
onto my bike I saw a wild turkey walking along the edge of the road. One shot
dropped him in his tracks. This was a lucky day.”
The rain stopped sometime in
the middle of the night and the air was fresh and the sky was cloudless the
next morning.
The ride south on I65, the
morning sun seemed special. The sky was blue and there was no wind. It was a
fabulous day. They passed into Alabama before noon.
As they neared the roadside
rest area a few miles into Alabama a Saturn rocket sat on display and there was
a small group of people standing in the road. The people seemed to be standing
guard at the rest area. There was an even larger group gathered around the base
of the rocket under the shade of the nearby trees.
John and David stopped about
a hundred yards from the group. The rest of the family stopped about thirty
yards behind them. As David and John stood beside their bikes watching the
people, two of the men in the group began walking towards them with their hands
raised.
John handed his rifle to
David and told him to stay there and walked out to meet the approaching man.
John held out his hand to
greet the man when they met. They were being cautious but seemed friendly. One
of the men, a tall thin man of about fifty introduced himself as Bobby Wright and
the other man as Bill Rockford
Wright asked, “Where are
y’all heading?”
“I live on Smith Lake just
outside Arley. This is my family. We have been on the road from St Louis. We
are going to my home.”
“Are you folks carrying guns?”
John hesitated a couple of
seconds and said in a firm voice, “Yes we are, and we are not going to give
them up.”
“I don’t want your guns, I’m
just asking. There has been a lot of trouble,
the bike at the rear of the truck. He was surprised to find the rear double
doors were not locked. He lifted the long metal latching arm and swung open one
of the doors.
He put his rifle on the floor
of the truck and climbed inside. There were boxes of various sizes stacked
about halfway to the ceiling. He cut open one box after another and found
crackers, peanut butter, jelly, canned soup, beans, peas, and other vegetables.
He dumped out the contents of one of the boxes and began re-filling the box
with a variety of the cans and other foods. He found a large stack of bread
crates but the bread was stale and moldy. He found boxes of chips pretzels and,
candy. When he found a box of packaged candy apples, with nuts on top, he could
not resist opening one of the packages and eating one.
He finished the candy apple
and was half way through eating a second one when he heard purring and clucking
which he instantly recognized as a flock of turkeys. He leaned out the back of
the truck and saw a flock of about a dozen hens and gobblers feeding along the
edge of the tree line only fifty yards away.
He slowly picked up his rifle
and put the cross hairs on the chest of the lead gobbler which was walking with
its head down eating something in the grass.
When the bullet hit the bird
it flipped over backwards and flopped in circles scaring the others away.
When he got back to camp, he
held the turkey and sack of potatoes high for all to see and declared,” I hit
the jackpot on this one. Someone get a fire going. Cameron and I are going to
skin dinner.”
Even though it was still
drizzling that night they had the best meal they had had since the power
failure. The potatoes were a little burned from being in the fire too long, but
the turkey was delicious. Everyone was happier about eating the wild turkey
than they had been about eating squirrel.
Between his bites of the
turkey, John repeated the story of how he got dinner. “As I was riding towards
and exit ramp and gas station I found a large food delivery truck stopped along
the road. I looked inside and found it full of food. As I was loading the food
onto my bike I saw a wild turkey walking along the edge of the road. One shot
dropped him in his tracks. This was a lucky day.”
The rain stopped sometime in
the middle of the night and the air was fresh and the sky was cloudless the
next morning.
The ride south on I65, the
morning sun seemed special. The sky was blue and there was no wind. It was a
fabulous day. They passed into Alabama before noon.
As they neared the roadside
rest area a few miles into Alabama a Saturn rocket sat on display and there was
a small group of people standing in the road. The people seemed to be standing
guard at the rest area. There was an even larger group gathered around the base
of the rocket under the shade of the nearby trees.
John and David stopped about
a hundred yards from the group. The rest of the family stopped about thirty
yards behind them. As David and John stood beside their bikes watching the
people, two of the men in the group began walking towards them with their hands
raised.
John handed his rifle to
David and told him to stay there and walked out to meet the approaching man.
John held out his hand to
greet the man when they met. They were being cautious but seemed friendly. One
of the men, a tall thin man of about fifty introduced himself as Bobby Wright and
the other man as Bill Rockford
Wright asked, “Where are
y’all heading?”
“I live on Smith Lake just
outside Arley. This is my family. We have been on the road from St Louis. We
are going to my home.”
“Are you folks carrying guns?”
John hesitated a couple of
seconds and said in a firm voice, “Yes we are, and we are not going to give
them up.”
“I don’t want your guns, I’m
just asking. There has been a lot of trouble,
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