Now, one would have thought, you know with gas prices and all, that a vacation destination like the U.P. would be slower than normal right now. From what the Mackinaw bridge authority says, they have seen a higher than average bridge crossings so far this season.
Generally speaking we have two seasons up here in the northwoods. There is winter and then there is tourist/mosquito season. Tourist and mosquito season share equal billing. I’ll leave it at that. And because we are a bit off the beaten track, it takes a whole lot of driving expense to get here.
Yesterday we needed to go to “town” for an appointment and groceries. Our very rural community has generally has around 15,000 people that call it home. We drive about 30 miles to get to this town so each stop is carefully choreographed.
“Holy Wow” Eino said to Toivo breathlessly, “it’s like we got on da elevator, pushed da button for da terd floor and ended up at da Indy 500. Where’d all deese people come from, Toivo? ”
“Dats a good one Eino, ya want me to ask ‘em how come day moved da Indy race up here?”
“Toivo, Toivo, get back in da car. Toivo yer gonna get. . . ohhhhhh Toivo.”
Disclaimer, no actual Toivo was injured in the making of that story.
While we were in town yesterday the price of gas jumped from $4.99 a gallon to $5.19. Good thing we filled up when we got to town rather than wait until on our way out. But this all got me thinking. We live up here on the end of any truck lines, what is going to happen when the trucks stop delivering here because, a) the price of fuel is just too high or unavailable or b) all the truckers just quit driving? Oh geez, another thought just popped into my head. What kind of winter will we have if there is no gas or diesel for the snow plows? Hey, a new business idea! Dog sled rental, what a great business. Necessity is the mother of invention, so they say.
On the news last night, Isabella county sheriff in lower Michigan, announced they had used up their gas budget for the year due to rising gas prices. They would only be responding to life and death 911 calls for the rest of the year if they couldn’t get more money from the county. I wonder if they could use a dogsled team come winter? I figure this is but the first domino to fall. Most likely won’t need to worry about too much crime if we have a really bad winter with lots of snow and no snow plows. Average snowfall further up north from here is around 200 to 300 inches a season. We were lucky this year we only had 61 inches. Translated, 61 inches is 5 feet.
Now, I have read somewhere that you can tell when a country is going down the shitter, even if it’s illustrious officials say otherwise, it is an election year by the way, is when you see people spend what little money they have on luxury items. Meals at expensive restaurants, day trips with the kids, the very last vacation to the U.P. and lots and lots of booze. People just want to feel normal. Of course, this last vacation idea, could account for the huge amount of traffic in the area. And Toivos misfortune.
I suppose most folks know what is coming and have made provisions. I may be a bit naive, however. I can’t imagine what would happen to people in the prisons up here if they can’t feed these guys and they open the doors in the middle of winter. Holy wow, I hope they give them a warm coat and a pair of snowshoes at least before they let them out. We have had “walk-away” prisoners from time to time in the warmer months. They run off into the woods thinking no one will find them until it is safe to go somewhere else. After about 3 days they turn themselves back into authorities. They quickly learn what wilderness survival is all about.
For real, this world is going to and is, changing quickly. There is no stopping it at this point, that ship has sailed. So, I came to the conclusion that the word, “adaptation” is the new buzzword for the day. Those who have prepared and can adapt will win at this forced mass change. It’s where we are, where we live. “Hunger Games,” can we adapt to this change? Just my thoughts.
From Canadian Prepper survival food from where you live.