Free The Blue Ridge Resistance by Steven Bird

a few other folks who stay behind to join in, we can be the CB radio version of 911 until you return.”
    “Outstanding,” Evan replied with a smile.
    Jimmy Lewis then motioned for the room’s attention with his hand and asked, “How do you plan on traveling? By car? Horse? ATV? Tractor?”
    “Once we know who all is going and what sort of supplies we are looking for, we can hammer out a solid plan then. Right now, we are in the brainstorming stages, but we do need to consider fuel economy and pulling power. I imagine we will take a large livestock trailer or the like to haul what we find.”
    Robert Brooks looked around the room and then reluctantly stood up and said, “I’ve not been doing so well lately. My blood pressure is through the roof without my medication. I have headaches every day, and I just have no energy at all. I can barely keep up with the work I have to do around the house to keep us going. I was hoping going back to a natural diet, like all of us have, would help, but it hasn’t. If you guys can keep an eye out for something that may help me, you are more than welcome to use my John Deere 2140 tractor. She’s a tough old beast, diesel, four-wheel drive, and even has a loader. I could take the loader off if you think it would be in the way, but if you think it would come in handy, it will lift quite a bit. No offense, Evan, but it will pull a heck of a lot more than your little two-wheel drive Ford.”
    “No offense taken,” Evan said with a grin. “Yes, that little Ford was supposed to be our starter tractor. We were gonna move up later, but well… you know. Anyway, unless anyone else has any other ideas, we will probably take you up on that. We could pull Ollie’s… um, I mean Mildred’s twenty-foot livestock trailer with Ollie’s homemade three-point hitch, trailer ball set-up. Then maybe have a couple of guys follow along with ATVs or something.”
    Jason spoke up and said, “That would probably be way better than taking a street vehicle. Those big agriculture tires will go through a heck of a lot of crap, if need be, compared to pickup truck tires. Who knows what kinds of obstacles we will come across, or the road conditions?”
    “Yep, you’ll be truly having a bad day if you get her stuck,” Robert replied.
    “Well, I think we are well on our way to a plan then,” Evan stated. “At this point, I think everyone should go home and think things through with your families, make a list of things you really need, and let’s meet back here the day after tomorrow at the same time. We can hammer everything out then, and get going as soon as the next day.”
    After a little more social chat and catching up, everyone returned to their homes, discussed the tentative plans with their families, and began to prepare for what roles they could or should play in the upcoming supply run.
    Back at the Homefront, the Vandergriff and Jones families put together a list of what they needed to complete the repairs on their new homes, as well as what it would take to adequately stock them with the things they would need for the foreseeable future. Evan and Molly also put a list together of things they needed, as well as things they thought would be valuable for the community as a whole, such as schoolbooks and other reference materials. The long-term nature of the crisis meant home schooling the children and medical supplies for Rachel, who they all now looked to as their community physician, were things that had to be considered.
    When the meeting finally came, everyone gathered at the Vandergriff home as planned. This time, several of the men brought their wives along, as they wanted to hear exactly what their husbands were getting themselves into. Everyone brought along their lists of needs, as well as lists of needs from the folks who were unable to attend the meeting and could not participate in the journey. 
    At the conclusion of the meeting, they complied the lists and Evan read aloud the