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small family owned garage with two pumps and a small service bay.  Business wasn’t flourishing, but he was able to stay alive by trading mechanical services for goods.  Not a bad idea.  He was telling me how most people in town were trading now as food and clothing were worth their weight in silver.  I kept our conversation at the top of my thoughts as I traveled that lonely road to camp.  My money would definitely be welcomed in town, but any labor I could perform, any goods for trade, and the gold and silver I kept secretly on hand would be worth more than the green dollar I had.
     
    Sunlight reflected on the river’s surface like diamonds as I crested the hill above the small valley that harbored my camp.  Again the grass was overgrown and would need immediate attention.  As I pulled in I noticed the scarecrow was still standing jingling his cans.  I set right out to unpacking and opening up the camper to air it out.  I looked around to make sure no one had come up and taken any materials.  Luckily it was all still there.  Not a soul was present up here last summer, so I was quite sure I would be alone for most my stay, if not the entire time.  Better off that way I thought, especially the way things were.  I was pretty sure it wasn’t as bad as where I had just come from, but I wasn’t about to take any unnecessary risks.  Keeping the camp safe and secure would be my number one priority for now on.  My survival depended on it.
     
    I cleared out the area around where I was going to build the shed, then cut the grass around the camp.  I only cut away a modest amount for now so I could begin right away on the shed.  By the end of the day I had the floor down, and shed framed.  I had just finished sheathing the roof when I realized it was getting dark.  I quickly got a fire started, and put away the tools for tomorrow.  I would be able to store items in the shed tomorrow night, but for now my provisions would have to be kept in the cab of the truck and camper.  I figured it would take me about three days to build the raised shed, so I was going to store my provisions in the ground shed until it was finished. 
     
    The camper was tight that night with much of its free space devoted to gear and food.  Only the crickets and peepers outside filled the silence outside.  An occasional coyote could be heard in the distance followed by another distant reply.  It felt strange not hearing traffic.  I was used to the silence at camp, but I wasn’t use to the silence for more than a week.  This was going to be a truly sobering experience.  Already tired of the silence I turned on the new radio I had bought.  It was a dual energy radio running off either double A batteries or by winding it up.  Winding it wasn’t so bad.  It took about one minute and the radio would play for about a half an hour.  That’s what I was doing tonight in order to get use to it.  I figured I had better reserve the batteries as much as possible.  I had decided only to use the flashlights in extreme circumstances to help reserve the batteries also.  I was off the grid, and was going to live as such.  I had to come up with an idea to store meats too as refrigeration wasn’t going to be an option.  I was using the one in the camper now because it ran off the propane, but I was definitely going to want to conserve that for heat in the winter.  The heat was another factor I really hadn’t worked out yet either.  I was going to have to get on that very soon if I didn’t want to turn into an ice cube this winter. 
     
    I decided to rekindle the fire a bit and brew a pot of coffee for the night.  After the coffee was done, I went inside and enjoyed a long game of solitaire while listening to the radio.  No news tonight, just music.  I had had enough of the world’s problems and didn’t care to listen to it this evening.  Soon the day’s labor got the better of me and I blew out the candle and crawled into bed