All the animals now watered and relived Lida, Bill and Lenny get them all back in the truck.
"I'll drive Lida. I know right where Comfort Suites is." Bill says.
"Alright." Lida says.
"Truck doesn't smell much better back here you know?" Lenny blurts out. "And now along with that I smell wet dog." He adds.
"Thanks Lenny, like I don't have a nose?" Bill answers sarcastically.
"Please guys, let's not start up again, O.K.?" Lida asks them.
"Sure Sweetie, anything for you." Bill answers with a lecherous smile on his face.

Back in the Weiner Mobile I'm just outside of Indianapolis. I think to myself,
"I've never been to Indy. Why not?" I stop and look at my map. Once I've figured out the way I drive to Indy. About an hour later I pull the Weiner onto the starting line. I rev the engine.
"It's the One Time, One Man, One Weiner Mobile Grand Prix." I say to myself.
"Sweet." In my mind I see the green flag drop and I stomp on the gas. For a few minutes, I'm the fastest pickleman in history.

Approaching the hotel Bill says,
"There it is." and points. Then drives under the car-port and parks the truck at the front entrance.
"Let go." He says as he opens the door. They all get out and go in. Bill goes behind the front desk and picks three keys and hands one to Lenny and one to Lida, all adjoining suites. They go up to their rooms and take a nap. WHEW!

After a few hours Lida wakes up and remembers the animals in the truck. She forgot to bring Baby Tongue and Kes with her.
"Aww, Crap." She says as she leaps off the bed and runs down the hall to the lobby. Then out the front door to the truck. She opens the door and finds all the animals asleep. BT and Kes still on the dashboard. She takes them out along with the lap-top and the cell phone and goes back to her room. Now she dials my number.

"Hi" I say as I answer.
"Where are you?" She asks me.
"I'm just north of Indianapolis. I'm gasing up the Weiner now." I tell her. I fill her in on my Weiner race. She laughs.
"I should be in Lafayette soon. The next town on the map is Lebanon I think." She tells me about the hose incident earlier.
"Wow. I would have thought those two would be better behaved." I remark.
"You're telling me. I feel like I'm babysitting two overgrown children." In the background I can hear Lenny and Bill shouting at each other.
"Give it to me. You know I always get the Butterfingers from the honor bar." Bill demands.
"Not this time larda**." I hear Lenny respond. "I've been waiting 30 years for this candy bar and you can have it when you pry it out of my cold dead hands."
"That can be arranged you skinny a**ed putz." I hear furniture crashing.
"Oh God. I'm going to kill both of them." Lida says. "I've got to go Sweetie. I Love you."

"Get out of my room you two!" Lida yells."And stop arguing over stupid things! There must be a thousand candy bars in this hotel, why are you fighting over one crummy candy bar?? I'm going for a swim! And you two better not follow me either." She growled. Lida went down to the indoor/outdoor pool. Put Baby Tongue and Kes in the childrens' wading pool and she went into the whirlpool.
"AHHH, Peace and Quiet." She said as she layed her head back on the side.

HB had left the room for a drink. Yeay! I love hotal hotal rooms, especially these big ones. The bed are really cool. Boing Boing Boing...bouncy too. Better get comfy, it might be awhile 'til I go to bed. I decided to take a stroll, maybe find a kitchen or a vending machine. As I hit the second floor staircase, I hear music. Wow, HB found a music system. I could go for a little music. I turned the final corner and found myself in the Lounge, and there was HB playing at the piano. "Dude, this is better than a music system...it's a live show." I thought. I didn't want to scare him, because he looked very "into the music" and I didn't know if he wanted an audience, so I hid behind the bar and just listened to the music. About forty-five minutes later I decided to make myself know. (Mainly because I was numb in all the wrong places and HB had fallen asleep.)
"Hey HB, wake up. I"ll help get you to your room." He puts up no fight and comes along. After I get him to bed, I head to my room. A few hours of sleep and I am ready to go, but I was worried about HB.

I stood on the platform in my blue jumpsuit at the back of the orbiter cabin. Looking out the top window of the cabin, I could make out the docking ring of the ISS. I could also make out the badly damaged Soyuz spacecraft.

Maneauvering thruster control had been diverted to the service console. Grasping the t-shaped handle, I twisted and pushed slightly. After several minutes of hard concentration and minute adjustments to the control, the orbiter's rotation matched that of the ISS. I heard Commander Foale's voice crackle over my headset.

"Endeavor, I copy your omega-dot ten dps. R vector is nominal, you may commence your aproach."

With the shuttle now rotating at the same rate as the space station, I began to push the control stick slightly forward. I heard small hisses and felt barely preceptible vibrations, as the compressed fuel pushed the shuttle towards the station.

"... We copy negative z-dot, Endeavor, aproach vector on the center peg...." Looking through the top cabin window I could see Gennady taking pictures from the port of the ISS. His five-day growth casting a dark shadow on his face.

As I made minute changes to the thrusters, my nose itched. My feet - clamped into a small platform to keep me from floating away - were aching slightly. The itching in my nose grew more intense, and I tried to ignore it as both of my hands were occupied.

".... three meters and closing Endeavor... you speed is good...." Foale informed me over the comm channel.

I couldn't help the sneeze that erupted from my body. Jerking forward, I pushed hard on the nose thruster control. The shuttle lurched upward, and I could hear Gennady swear in Russian over my headset. Foal screamed as the cabin of the shuttle slammed into the docking ring of the ISS.....

The lights in the cabin dimmed to a flashing red and a buzzing siren sounded. A soothing feminine voice sounded in the cabin.

"Simulation terminated....." The voice repeated. I exhaled sharply and stepped off the platform, kicking my foot into the air. I opened the door of the simulator and stepped into the large hangar. Sitting down at a control console, I pushed the flashing red comm button. Foale's voice crackled from outer space.

"So what the heck happened?" He asked. "Everything was going well, and you slammed into us. Pull that for real, and it'll be a short ride home!"

"I sneezed." I muttered into my headset. "How close was I?" I asked.

"Two or three meters." Gennady said.

"Dammit!" I punched the console.

"Don't worry about it." Foale said. "Everything else is automated. You still got two months to do this. How's the Endeavor?"

"Halfway to 39-A." I said. We had been extremely fortunate that the Endeavor had been prepped for launch before the Columbia disaster and had been sitting attached to the SRBs and EFT in the VAB since then. Getting it prepped meant moving it on it's large trawler to the pad and attaching the umbilicals. I had spending nights reading up on launch prep and days in the simulator. We were at T minus 60 days.....

She layed in the whirlpool, resting her head on the coping. She closed her eyes. Kes and Baby Tongue had climbed out of the wading pool and flanked her head on either side on the concrete floor. All was silent except fpr the sound of the whirling water around her. It was night and the indoor/outdoor pool was illuminated from below with a soft blue-green light. The lights were dim in the huge room and she could see the outlines of the palm trees that lined the walls and the glass sliders all around the room. When out of her near sleep she was awoken by the sound of the retractable roof opening. It must have been on a timer. The sky opened up above her and music began to play softly over the sound system. "AWWKK! She said outloud. Not Barry Manilow." She got up out of the whirlpool and walked to the adjoining office. The sound system was obviously on a timer as well. She looked around and found the CD player with the display shelf of CDs on the wall behind it. "Let's see now." She said to herself as she scanned the titles. "Aha, this is good." She said as she put the first of 5 CDs on the player. She continued until she had all 5 slots filled. She pressed the play button and walked back out to the whirlpool. She saw the lizards had decided to sleep in one of the palms that overhung the pool. Getting them down was not something she wanted to think about right now so she let them sleep. She slid back down into the whirlpool. which was also illuminated now with that soft blue/green light.

As "Why Worry Now" played on, she once again began to drift into a sort of semi-slumber. She opened her eyes to look up at the stars. The familiar sight was visible to her. The International Space Station was directly above her in the night sky and she watched it glow with the suns reflection in the black velvet.

An echoing argument, two male voices, woke her. Just in time too, she was so relaxed she might have gone under the water and drowned. Lenny and Bill had come down to the bar which was right across the atrium from the pool. She could hear Bill getting more and more angry with Lenny. Bill's voice was becoming increasingly high pitched and shrill. "Where'd she go?" She could hear him ask Lenny. "I've been with you the whole time, asking ME that question is illogical Bill." Lenny retorted. "Get away from me!" Bill yelled as he burst through the double doors of the pool area. He walked over to Lida in the whirlpool, crouched down and said. "I'm going to leave now, I just wanted to say good-bye." Lida stood up in the water and said. "So soon? I thought you might stick around for a while so Fen could meet you both." Bill responded. "No, honey, I'm worried about the horses I really need to get to the airport and borrow a plane." Lida felt bad for Fen now so she asked Bill. " Are you coming back?" Bill thought for a minute then said. "Yea, I, I mean we could come back in a few days. You'll still be here with Fen won't you? "Bill, if I know your coming back, we will wait for you here, alright?" She asked. "Yea, we'll be back, we've got no where else we need to be, why not?" Bill answered.

Lida started to come out of the water when Bill said. "No you don't need to get out now, stay there. We can get ourselves a vehicle from the lot outside, there are plenty out there, don't worry." Lida sat back down and Bill left with Lenny still yapping in his ear.

{ I want to thank nik for alot of help with this post, thanks nik }


Bill and Lenny stood outside the fence to the West-Lafayette airport. Bill ran back to the car. Opening the trunk, he began sorting through the items. After several minutes, he removed a pair of wire cutters. Running up to the fence, he began cutting fence links, attempting to make an opening to crawl through. He struggled to cut through several of the links as Lenny stood bemusedly by and watched. With sweat trickling down his face and his armpits stained with sweat, Bill looked up at Lenny and spoke exasperatedly.

“A little help, maybe!” He said.

“Of course.” Lenny said calmly. He walked over to the unlocked gate ten feet away, and opened it, gesturing for Bill to walk through. With a huff, Bill dropped the cutters and walked in, followed by Lenny. As they approached the tarmac and hangars, they spotted several small planes lined up. Lenny began walking towards a Piper Seminole twin-engine sitting near the terminal.

“Given our range to upstate New York, estimated cargo,” He emphasized the word "CARGO" as he glanced at Bill’s gut, “weather conditions, and flying skills, this craft should be sufficient for our trip.” He gestured at the small twin-prop aircraft sitting in front of them. Turning, he noticed that Bill was gone. Looking around, he saw Bill walking towards an open hangar. Inside was a brand new Learjet Challenger 300. The nine-passenger jet with its set of Honeywell HTF7000 turbines sparkled in the setting sun before them. Bill stood and smiled. After several seconds, Lenny joined him and the two surveyed the pristeen, white plane before them.

“You are, of course, aware,” Lenny began, “of the complexity involved in flying such a craft. I needn’t point out that neither of us have training in the avionics equipping this vessel. Besides the fact that we do not require a plane that can get us to Europe, the handling of a craft traveling at 540 miles per hour is much different than that of a craft that can travel at just over 150 miles per hour.”

“Yeah, I know.” Bill said distractedly and ran towards the plane. Lenny sighed and followed.

Climbing into the plane, Bill rushed towards the cockpit and wriggled into the compact Captain’s chair. He surveyed the equipment and smiled. Lenny worked his way into the co-pilot’s chair, hitting his head on the ceiling as he did so. Rubbing his head, he sat down.

After looking at the controls for several minutes, Lenny began working with the navigational avionics.

“I believe that this aircraft is equipped with the navigation tools necessary to plot a course from here to Albany, as well as plot our progress and monitor course deviations.” Lenny began to initiate the onboard flight-plan computer and map. He set the ADF frequency for Albany and turned on the redundant GPS system. As he worked, he quietly described his actions to Bill, who scanned the dashboard with his eyes.

[attachmentid=1688]


“Perhaps you can begin to learn to operate the fuel balance switch, de-icing system, landing gear, general hydralics, wing tip –“

“This ought to do it!” Bill interrupted and punched the turbine ignition switches. The low hum of the turbines spinning up increased to a high-pitched buzz. Lenny looked over at Bill with a startled look on his face.

“We should really learn to operate the safety and guidance features of this craft before we even attempt to operate the thruster.” He said worriedly.

Bill looked at Lenny with a huge smile on his face. “Well just…… wing it.” He shrugged his school-boy shrug and pushed the engine throttles forward. The plane lurched out of the hangar as Bill grabbed the yoke.

“Perhaps I should operate the controls.” Lenny said and grabbed his yoke.

“I’ve got it Len!” Bill said agitatedly.

“You are hardly qualified.” Lenny said. The two struggled against each other to control the craft. The plane zig-zagged across the tarmac in the general direction of the runway as each fought for control of the plane. As they each tried to wrest control of the plane from the other, Lenny’s elbow hit the switch for the emergency locator transmitter. Finally, Lenny spoke.

“Let’s take turns.” He offered, releasing his grip on his yoke.

“Fine.” Bill said as he lowered the flaps on the plane. Lenny busied himself with the navigation controls. Turning onto the runway, Bill pushed the throttles quickly to maximum, sending Lenny sprawling as he was leaning over in his seat. He glared at Bill as he put his seat harness on.

Halfway down the runway, Lenny spoke. “We have more than passed the stall speed… you may pull back on the yoke and commence our takeoff.” Bill pulled back and the plane shot into the air like a dart. Several seconds later, the landing gear warning began beeping, followed by a stall warning. Lenny quickly raised the gear and flaps for Bill, who smiled as he looked out the windows. With the throttle too far forward, the plane lurched up and down as Bill fought to keep the flight level. The onboard Flight Management System (FMS) flashed in large red letters across the screen that the throttle position was too high and perhaps should be lowered, which Bill paid no attention to, and Lenny complied with. After several minutes, the plane reached an altitude of twenty-five thousand feet, and was heading level towards the Lake Erie shoreline.

“Is it my turn yet?” Lenny asked.

Nik was onboard a different 747 on his way from Houston space center to LC in Florida. The commute was necessary as Houston had several mock-ups, trainers, and simulators. If this plan was to work, he really had to know what he was doing. On the other hand he had to return to LC to get the Endeavor the rest of the way to Launch pad 39A and figure out how to prep it for lift off. The NASTAD weather broadcasting system was intermitten lately with the continuous stream of power outages sweeping across the planet, so Nik had only intermittent information on the hurricane headed for Louisiana. He decided to stay well out of the Gulf of Mexico and divert his course northward ito Arkansas and Kentucky. Reaching into the duffle bag beside him, he grabbed a few sandwiches and some of the dexatrine pills he
had picked up at a deserted pharmacy. The pills did a fine job of keeping him awake and alert, but he had to be sure to stay hydrated and eat a lot to keep from losing weight.

As he crossed the Arkansas border, Nik heard a beep coming from the comm panel. Setting the plane for autopilot, he went back to the panel to see the problem. His jaw dropped as he saw the characteristic signal of an ELT beacon. He pulled the satellite phone from his bag and dialed.

"Foale..." came the answer.

"Foale, this is Nik. I'm en route to Canaveral, but I just picked up an ELT beacon set for 800kHz." Nik glanced a the NAV panel. "It's not stationary, so I'm guessing someone is piloting a plane with their beacon lit up." It never occured to Nik that someone else might be on the planet, so he never thought of activating his own beacon. "It's over Lake Erie right now. Course heading..... zero-three-five degrees. .... at 540 knots......" Nik looked at the NAV computer, which took him two days to learn, but was much easier than the paper charts. "Albany...." The Nav computer also told Nik what was at Albany. He could land there, but never take off again; the runway was too short.

"I'm going to have a look." Nik reported. I'll be back at Kennedy tomorrow.

Nik dialed in the ODB for Albany and the autopilot automatically made the necessary course correction. He would never catch up to the plane before it landed, but maybe he could communicate with it.

Backstage Synopsis

By Date:
September 15th, 2004

06:23 am cdt- everyone except stf members & astronauts aboard ISS are abducted by alien space craft, which then warps away.
Nik: unknown
LSB: camping in Mn
Fen&JW: Both discover everyone missing..except stf members.
HB: Moves from Mauston, Wi-Chicago, IL
WAB: Unknown
DrWho: goes to his favorite bookstore in Rod Sterlingville City, Ca spends night there.
DL6: wakes up to find everyone missing, and no school, but discovers people are still at STF.net
BC: unknown...but Daniel didn't call home.

September 16th, 2004

Fen&JW: decide to meet in Lafayette, In...late that evening JW "borrows" a Lexus wagon.
HB: Spends day in Chicago, freeing animals at the Zoo then relaxing in Donald's Penthouse.
WAB: Unknown
DrWho: goes home and plays music of the 30's.
BC: still no word from Daniel
DL6: in Arkansas
Nik: unknown

September 17th, 2004
Nik:unknown
DL6: in arkansas
Fen&JW: unknown...planning& packing?
HB: Moves from Chicago, IL -Arkansas...stoping in St.Louis to free animals at Zoo.
WAB: sets at home eating fruit, being bored goes for a little drive...which ends at East Town Mall
DrWho: Unknown
BC: still no word from Daniel

September 18th, 2004

Fen&JW: What A Day- too much to report---but they own this day of "the days after"
HB: In Arkansas
WAB: East Town Mall-Dallas, Tx
DrWho: unknown
BC: no word from Daniel
Nik: unknown
DL6: in Arkansas

September 19th, 2004

BC: is driving east toward West Virginia looking for missing husband at 2:33 am.
HB: In Arkansas
WAB: sets in Mall eating Big Mac's
DrWho: unknown
Nik: unknown

September 20th, 2004

Nik: studies 747 flight manual.
HB: In Arkansas
WAB: Discovers only STF members are still around( must have been playing on those computers at the mall)
DrWho: unknown
BC: unknown
DL6: in Arkansas

September 21st, 2004

Nik: crashes 747 off the coast of San Diago, California...vows to try again tomorrow.
BC: unknown
HB: In Arkansas
DrWho: Sets atop the tallest town in town, begins the job of hacking into City's central computer

September 22nd, 2004

Nik: flyes 747 from San Diago, Ca up into Canada then south over Chicago, Il seeing a car heading out of city on I-94, lands in Orlando late that evening?
HB: Picks up DL6, they see a plane, drive towards Dallas-stopping in McAlester, Ok.
BC: finds husband's truck late that evening.

September 23rd, 2004

Nik: unknown
BC: wakes up in Truckstop diner at table, begins having hallucinations of Danial.
HB&DL6: must have spent a day in McAlester, Ok...(.sorry guys I goofed)

September 24th,2004

Nik: enters Kennedy Space Center in a Mustang(kool..Nik) discovers Astronauts are alive onboard ISS.
DrWho: has taken control of Rod Sterlingville City, Ca.
WAB: says HB&DL6 are coming to get me...
DL6: takes HB's dog and the Hummer and goes shopping.
HB&DL6: Leave McAlester and arrive at East Town Mall between 10-11 pm

HB&DL6&WAB: Check in at Embassy Hotel-Dallas, Tx

September 25th, 2004
HB&DL6&WAB: leave Dallas toward Ft.Hood

September 26th, 2004
September 27th, 2004

Nik: ISS loses it's life-boat, now there's no way home for the astronauts.

September 28th, 2004

Nik: flyes to Houston to begin training on shuttle simulator.

September 29th, 2004

Nik: practices on simulator

September 30th, 2004

Fen&JW: Bill and Larry take off toward Albany, N.Y. in Lear.
Nik: on flight back to Kennedy Space Center discovers a locator beacon activated of a plane headed for Albany, N.Y. decides to investigate.

Sept.26

Is everyone in the world gone but me? In order to keep my sanity, I have decided to keep a journal.

The last two weeks have been worse than a nightmare.

It all started out as a great vacation. My wife and I had left our home in Northern Missouri on Sept. 12th. For months, we had planned our vacation - a camping/hiking/fishing trip in the backwoods of upper Minnesota. We had stopped in Bemidji to see the giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, then on to Leech Lake. By the 14th, we had established our campsite off a remote little bay and were enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature. We had planned a little fishing for early the next morning, so we snuggled up to go to sleep early, lulled by the mournful cries of the loons.

I was up bright and early the next morning, making breakfast and enjoying the crisp, clean scent of the pine trees. Suddenly this brilliant light swept through the forest.
“What the….Hey, Honey, are you awake yet? … Did you see that?”
No answer. “Honey?….” I ducked into the tent and stared at an empty bed. Puzzled, I knelt down and found her clothes were still inside the sleeping bag. “Sweetie, this is cute, but the fish are waiting!” Her shoes were still sitting by the tent flap where she had placed them last night. Surely she didn’t have to make a mad dash for the bushes in the buff? “Amanda, where are you?” Still no answer, so I decide to finish the morning coffee. She’s probably off in the trees somewhere, giggling and relishing her little joke. If she isn’t back by the time coffee‘s done, I’ll go looking for her.

LOONS??? Did someone say "LOONS?"

{We had planned a little fishing for early the next morning, so we snuggled up to go to sleep early, lulled by the mournful cries of the loons."

O.K. HB, I'll stop it. Velcome Lt_Starbuck

I searched the surrounding woods for 4 hours before I decided to call for help. Something was definitely wrong…people don’t just disappear! I got back to the truck and tried the cell phone. GREAT….no signal. I remembered seeing a Park Ranger station back near the park entrance. I left the campsite set up, just in case my wife showed up again. I grabbed a few essentials and headed back towards civilization.
I couldn’t help but worry, this just wasn’t like Mandy.

I felt a sense of relief when I spotted the Jeep sitting at the Ranger station, but it didn’t last long. The station was empty. “Terrific…where’s Smoky the Bear when you need him?” A phone was sitting on the desk, so I tried 9 - 1 - 1.…….NO ANSWER??? I tried my son‘s number, then my mother‘s…again, NOTHING!!! “What in the world is going on!!!”

An old television was sitting in the corner, so I turned it on, looking for an early morning news show. An empty news desk and nobody’s talking????
Some of the preprogrammed shows were still running, but all the ‘live’ shows were deserted. Now things are just getting too bizarre! I’m heading back to Bemidji to see if I can find any help there.

Finally back on Route 65 heading into Lafayette. It was dark and I had been driving most of the day. I managed to get myself off-track again looking for hardware store to get some solvent to try to remove the green dye from most of my body from the PickleSuit. I didn't think it would make a very good first impression on Lida to see me in that condition, even thought I know she loves anything green and I did tell her green was my favorite color. My skin raw and on fire now I found a pharmacy and went behind the counter and got myself some heavy-duty pain killers, took a couple and got back on the road again.

As I approached the exit for Lafayette, I dialed her cell phone.

"Hi" She answered. "I'm almost there Lida. Can you meet me out front?" I asked her. "Sure" she answered. Lida hung up. Lida ran to her room to put on her dry clothes and went out to the front door and stood there waiting for me to arrive. as I approached the hotel I could see the figure of a woman standing at the front entrance. I pulled the wienerMobile up to the front door and looked at her. She looked at me. Was the look on her face at the sight of the WiernerMobile that was parked in front of her. She walked towards me"Nice ride Aaron." She said. I laughed and got out, came around the front and stood next to her. "Finally we meet." I said to her. "Yep" She answered. We hugged each other

"You hungry?" She asked me. "Starved." I answered. "Well, there is a whole restaurant full of food in there. Let's go raid the kitchen." She said. "Sounds like plan." I answered and we walked in the front door and down the long hallway to the restaurant. Now in the kitchen we stand in front of the open double-doored refrigerator with anticipation. "Eww, look." Lida said as she picked up a plate of filets covered with clear plastic. I picked up a large bowl of something that looked like spagetti sauce and another bowl of cooked pasta. I removed the wrap and took a sniff. "Smells fine to me." I said so I asked Lida to smell it too. "Yea, I think they're edible." She said. "I'll take care of this and you cook the steaks, alright?" I asked her. As we cooked we found bowls of other things and started snacking away as we cooked. I watched her move and how she did things, carefully not letting her see me watching her. A few times I turned my head and she turned away quickly so I knew she was doing the same thing. Finally, everything was cooked. We piled up our plates and went out into the restaurant to sit down at a table and eat.

It was late when I reached Bemidji, but I headed for the Police Station. Inside I found a couple of policemen’s uniforms, but nobody else….the Fire Station, the grocery store, abandoned cars…. everywhere I searched …little piles of clothes, but not another single soul.

I will check the campsite one more time in the morning, but at this point, I don’t really have much hope. There’s a little motel here…maybe I can find a little food and possibly, a little sleep. If I don’t find Amanda tomorrow, I’ll head for home to check on my mother, and try to reach my son at college.

September 25th

Ouch…oh my aching head.

I don’t remember anyone helping me back to my room. But I vaguely remember two people dragging me off the bed, their dialog just gibberish in my haze of a memory. The first vivid sensation I recall was the icy cold water from the shower head as it blasted over my rotting dead-for-life body. With a scream, I was semi-awake…and remember Weareborg laughing in high hysterics. My next memory is of the smell and taste of fine leather…as my face plowed the surface of the back seat and the slamming of not only one, but three distinct car doors. My advanced condition required yet another jolt to return me to ‘the land of the living’ it came from the stereo speakers. The assault on my already pounding head came in the form of a guitar section then the lyrics of Willie Nelson, “….like a band of gypsies, we go down the hi-way, we’re the best of friends, insisting that the world keep going our way…and our way…is on the road again..” I raise up, and what to my blood shot eyes do I see. But DL6 driving , wearing my ‘hat’ and she and WeareBorg are singing along to the ‘too loud’ tune. I roll my eyes as WeareBorg grins at me, now I know it…I’m dead and I’m in ‘Music Hell’. [attachmentid=1694]

WAB (taps DL6 on the shoulder to get her attention): “that did it…..told you” as DL6 turned down the volume. I glanced down at my wrist, where my watch should have been. WeareBorg still amuzed, produced his arm with my watch on it.
WAB: “Nice watch, Rollex, it’s about 3 pm.
HB: “That’s my watch!”
WAB (turns the watch over and reads the inscription): “ To Donald, with all my love, Ivana. So your name is Don?”
Knowing he had no idea ’where’ I had came by the time-piece…I lied…”yea” I exclaimed as I took back my watch. Just then I looked out the front glass, as a road sign passed by, Exit 330, then another Robinson-city limit, and I saw a ‘Best Buy’ at the exit.

HB: “turn here…we got some shopping to do…” then I notice my clothes….”Why, am I soaking wet?”

Sept. 16th
I got up early…didn’t get much sleep anyhow. I found a small café to make me some coffee and filled the largest Styrofoam cup I could find. All the way back to the campsite, I kept dreading that there still wouldn’t be anyone there.

Back at the campsite, I climbed out of the truck. I heard a noise in the tent and went racing over to it….”Honey, you’re not going to believe…” Just then a very BIG black bear poked his head out of the tent…. I skidded to a frantic halt and fell flat on my bottom!
The bear stared at me grumpily as he ambled out of the tent. Praying that the ‘experts’ knew what they were talking about, I fell over backwards to ‘Play Dead.’
I thumped my head on a rock, and although it hurt like crazy, I didn’t dare reach up to rub the lump. I held my breath as I heard the bear coming closer, and tried to ignore the pine cones digging into my back. The sunshine filtering through the trees wasn’t that intense, but I was really starting to sweat. I could feel the bear sniffing at my leg now…then...complete silence. It was as though the forest was holding its’ breath in sympathy for me. The tension was becoming excruciating.

Just when I was certain the bear was ready to take a bite out of a very vital part…all that coffee I had been drinking decided to make a sudden exit! The bear took one more whiff, snorted in disgust and headed for the woods.

As I lay there, sodden and embarrassed, but relieved (in more ways than one), I started to laugh…softly, at first, but as the enormity of the whole situation hit me, I think I probably sounded more like a madman…

We sat at the table for hours. Just talking and eating. We found a chocolate layer cake in the freezer and nearly polished that off. I commented on his white mesh T-shirt. He told me he could only find that in the hardware store. I asked him why he shopped for clothes in a hardware store. He said it was a long story. I just let it go.

"Want to see the animals Aaron?" I asked him. "I put them in a conferrence room down the hall. I found some huge punch bowls in the kitchen and filled them with food and water for them. I should go check on them. Want to come with me?" "Sure" He said "Let's go."

We walked down the hall and opened the door. They were all scattered around on the floor asleep. "Let's just let them sleep, O.K.?" I asked him. "Sure, we can see them in the morning." He answered. "How about a swim?" I asked him. "That sounds great. My skin is on fire and the cold water will feel good." He told me. We walked to the pool and he took off his t-shirt and I went into the ladies room and put on my suit I had left there earlier.

We floated in the pool for hours. The cold water felt good to Aaron. "Want to try the whirlpool?" I asked him. "Naa, I don't want to push it. The hot water will start making my skin hurting again." He told me. Still not explaining what caused his skin to look so raw. So we just floated and swam and talked. Looking up at the night sky.

"I'm really tired Aaron. I want to go to bed. We have to get you in YOUR room too." I said. "MY ROOM??" He said with a shocked look on his face. "Yes, YOUR room." I answered firmly. "Aww Crap!" He said. "I thought, well, you know, we've waited so long already." He said in a whinnie voice. "Stop it, Aaron. Let's not spoil things. I don't want to fight with you. Especially now. We are all we've got in this world." I told him. "O.K. Whatever you want Lida." He said.

September 25th 3:30 pm

<Break-In at Best Buy>

DL6 pulled the Hummer up outside the deserted store, we climbed out and I directed her to pull up closer to the door. Although I kicked out the glass, it was the security-gating behind it that was the real problem. The alarm started to sound as soon as the glass broke. I then proceeded to unreel the cable from the winch, DL6 began to help me when all of a sudden WeareBorg seated himself behind the wheel, revved up the engine and yelled “…let me... I’ll show y’all how it’s done!”
DL6 and I glanced at each other and the image of WeareBorg’s last car buried in Victoria’s Secret must have came to both our minds simultaneously….we yelled “….No!” then with a smile of an angel, DL6 walked over and yanked the key out of the switch…killing the Hummer’s engine before WAB could put it in Drive… DL6 gave Weareborg a stern look then and said “….Ft Hood is a long walk.”
We attached the cable around the gating and then allowed WAB to slowly back the Hummer up pulling down the steel net/gate which prevented our entrance to the store. On the way inside, I picked up a long bar of steel which was once part of the security gate…handing it to WAB I yell over the alarm “….find that thing and kill it!” WAB got a crazy happy look in his eyes, and soon we had peace and quiet in the store. I headed over to the lap-tops and kicked the glass case in beneath the display models…”lets see 2 gig …2.2 gig..2.8.…3 gig now we talking…I loaded up 2 then decided we could use a spare or two or four more. Meanwhile, WAB had gathered up a arm-load of video games…and DL6 was over in Music somewhere between L and N. DL6 then went to the cell phones, she wanted a new one, I told her that probably wouldn’t work…no one left in the office to activate it…and it wouldn’t work until activated. We grabbed some PDA’s and Cam-corders and everything that looked like it was designed for the mobile “on the go” lifestyle.
WAB disappeared then..and minutes later came crashing through the window ...he had found the keys to the "Geek Mobile" since it had only suffered minor damage on it's way into the store, WAB started loading it up too! It was getting late and driving after dark was a real hazard with all the wrecks on the hi-way just waiting for us to run upon in the darkest with our limited head-light distance. We hit a Target while we were there too, got more clothes and some more groceries…the electricity still being on. We made it as far as Temple, Tx and settled down at a Holiday Inn for the night. We tried out the micro-wave that WAB insisted we “lift” and had Pizza…maybe the last frozen pizza we were ever going to have and played Video Games on “our “ new x-box . Tomorrow, we would look around Ft.Hood for my sister, and see what else we could find.