a trip to town to reprovision amidst the zombie apocalypse
Note: when prepper people talk about “zombies”, undead are a metaphor for any challenges one might meet. It’s not about literal zombies.
As (I think) I mentioned earlier, I am camped outside Pahrump, NV on BLM land:
There is snow up there on the peaks though it’s a bit hard to see. Easier to see in this pic.
Anyhow, I went into town to reprovision food and water. In general I make my WM runs on Sunday mornings or during sporting events; both of those tend to reduce the density of shambling hordes in the aisles.
That approach served me well this morning as there was ample parking and a full complement of carts inside.
food
Certain shelves really were empty: paper goods, bottled water. The paper goods makes sense, but it’s unlikely the water supply will be disrupted. The other thing that was clobbered was convenience foods: canned meals, kids’ cereal boxes, etc. Instant oatmeal was gone but old fashioned oats were still present.
I also noticed that the top (overstock) shelves still had stuff on them. I often bemoan being tall in a van, but I had dibs on anything I wanted on the top shelf.
water
I had a few gallons left, probably ~4. Time to start paying attention. My first instinct was to find a water kiosk where one can get water for 20-25c/gal. Kiosks are a little tough for me since I have no 5gal water bottles – no place to store them. So I was going to use a collapsible 5gal water bladder to collect the wet stuff and xfer to the fresh water tank.
While driving to the kiosk’s location on Maps, I noticed a public park. The pavilion area had industrial grade water spigots for celebrants. I celebrated and lugged the bladder back and forth a few times until the 35gal tank was full. I made one more trip to fill up the bladder again.
The actual filling didn’t take long; the spigot pressure was immense and filled the bladder in about 10 seconds. 30gpm? It was threaded on the end for a hose but I couldn’t have got the van close enough to use it.
To quote a forum poster:
“…you really appreciate every drop of water if you have to schlep it.” – gcal
Yup.