From the journal of Carol Evans, April 5

April 5, 2017

     It has been really hard to travel across the desert, even sticking to the main roads. Water has been scarce and food even more so. I am really glad that I found that stash of protein bars in that gas station a couple of days ago.  This morning I woke up and found some wild flowers and they were a welcome site. The bright red and deep purple color was like a taste of the best chocolate for my eyes. They have given me hope that there will be something other than this drab landscape around me, at least some day.
     I still have no idea exactly where I am. The maps I found at the same gas station were not very helpful. I can't really tell the difference in the hills and mountains, so I have not been able to pin point where I am. I have estimated how many miles I might have walked since leaving Vegas and think I am somewhere near the Nevada and Utah borders, not that it really matters anymore. There is no Nevada or Utah or even really a United States. No anymore.
     Now I have made my thought turn to chocolate and other things that will not be around for much longer. Once the candy that was made and shipped out last is gone, there will not be anymore to eat. The factories are gone and the farms that raised the cocoa beans are more than likely gone too. Even if they aren't, there is not way to get the raw ingredient to the places that used to process them into candy. Wow, it's hard to think that there will be no more M & M's or Snickers. Shit, there won't even be sugar since it is no longer being manufactured. Well, once it is gone, I might consider giving up coffee since it doesn't taste as good without it. It is already not as yummy without the half and half, but the sugar makes it palatable.

      When I just read that back, I laughed. Coffee is another one of those things that is going to disappear too. Shit. I don't think I really thought any of this through. There are a lot of things that are going to be gone soon. Man, the Mad Max movies were right about gas and water becoming worth more than gold. Without electricity and all the people to keep everything going, there will be no more made and what is already here won't last forever. No pumps to pull the water from underground will make water much more valuable too. Food production is gone. All the fresh food spoiled months ago, but even canned foods won't last forever. I guess I should have watched the Walking Dead so I could see what they did when all of this started to run out.
     Shit. I was so happy to see those flowers this morning and now it seems so hopeless. I am going to have to look for somewhere that I can grow food that has access to water. Maybe, if I am lucky, I will find a place with solar power and it will have a water pump that works. While I love camping, I am not a mountain woman. I don't know how to hunt or live off the land only. I am going to have to watch for a book store or library so I can read about how to do what I am going to have to do to stay alive. This is a lot for me to think about in the days ahead while I am walking.

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