Telltale Tracks
Having traversed a broad swath of the United States since acquiring my mighty Peterbilt steed, now scarred and battered, looking far older than its 15,000 mile odometer registered, I was coming to some hard conclusions. I might find other humans alive, but it was futile to search for them. If the meltdown of society hadn't done enough, the meltdown of all those reactors appeared to be the straw that broke the camel's back. While most died of fire, thirst and starvation during the first two years, the genie that we let out of the bottle by thinking we could control radiation in nuclear reactors, was finishing the job by insidious radiation. Three mile Island and Chernobyl had already taught us that, but we went ahead anyway, thinking that we had everything in control. We didn't. There was no failsafe for human neglect, or worse, absence, of hands, on the genie's controls.
From what I was seeing, I had no doubt that nature could adapt to a high radiation world quite easily. And the human population, might, do even better with medicine and controlling exposure like we had always done. But, we had long lifespans and we had long gestation periods with an average of only two lifetime offspring. Most of the animals in nature were different. While some fish, birds, and reptiles had very long lives like humans, they had very short gestation periods and generated many offspring, most of whom were part of the natural order of eat or be eaten that humans had escaped from by design.
What little I knew about Chernobyl came from viewing articles and documentaries. While humans had abandoned the whole area to avoid exposure, animals, either living there or passing through, seemed to thrive after all the humans left. Researchers found all kinds of evidence of radiation poisoning and mutation in the fish, birds and animals, but that did not seem to substantially affect the numbers and health of the bulk of their species. Most thrived. The diseased and ill were quickly eliminated by predators and didn't reproduce.
I concluded that all the radiation probably would accelerate evolution and adaptation. For most species in high radiation areas, a few generations would probably produce offspring that were either immune or tolerant of high radiation levels and could even thrive on it.
I also concluded from what I had observed that it was not beneficial for me to stay in the Eastern United States for very long because I did not have access to medical care and my chances were much better to avoid radiation poisoning in the Western half of the United States.
Although I must admit that I might attempt to travel back east someday just to see how the trees had grown and how things had changed. I decided that I would spend the next winter back in Palm Springs and spend the time I had left during this summer in the northern parts of the Midwest and West where it was cooler and less likely to encounter the dangerous storms that I had experienced in the East and South.
Regrettably, the coasts were out of the question. The growing heat in the Poles quickly melting the last vestiges of landlocked ice, even in Antarctica, were to blame for the rapidly rising seas, affecting coasts around the world. If everything melted, oceans would rise as much as sixty feet. Beaches had already disappeared and flooding was occurring far inland from where it had lapped shore since the last of the Ice Ages, 10,000 years before. The storms that I was experiencing were terrifying for their winds’ ferocity, lightning, hail, tornadoes and flooding rains that I encountered along the way. It seemed to me that, in a few years, many of the roads that I had already traveled would be made impassable by washouts, mud and landslides. Even trees. I was already detouring often to get around obstacles caused by weather.
Taking I-87 south the next day, I traveled through Albany, Schenectady, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and eventually, spent the night and part of the next day at Niagara Falls. All that had happened had not diminished the majesty of the falls. They were testament to the longevity of geological wonders compared to man-made ones. If anything, there was more water flowing over them with the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant no longer working and increased rainfall in the Great Lakes drainage area.
I had the sights from various lookout points all to myself with the animals and birds like the gulls and swallows that seemed to like to skirt the mist coming off the falls like they were surfing or something. Charlie, Danny and Lannie loved climbing all over the rocks that were everywhere available. I had to keep a careful eye on the sky because large raptors were circling overhead. In spite of the danger, I had trouble getting my charges to get back on the truck when it was time to go.
After pushing some cars out of the way, I was able to take the Rainbow Bridge to the Canadian side for a look at the falls from there. It seemed very strange not to have crowds of tourists there. Yet it was refreshing to just have those sights all to myself like it was in the wilderness. I didn't linger on the Canadian side but crossed back over, unhooked the trailer and took a half day exploring Goat Island. Really appreciated by Danny and Lannie for its luscious vegetation, and Wind Cave that scared Charlie even clinging to my neck. By now, Lannie was quite pregnant and needed to eat a lot as well as be milked. Got me looking forward to when she would have kids that would help me out on the milking end. As it was, while Charlie would drink some and I, a little, too, I had to throw most of her milk away. No time on the road to make cheese.
I returned to I-90 west, stopped for a bit to view the Erie Canal and then on through Cleveland to Toledo where I spent the night. Twice, off to my right close to Lake Erie that I occasionally saw in the distance, I saw the cooling towers of two nuclear plants that my information said were shut down--the Perry and Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Stations. I could only say, "Thank goodness," for that. But to the north, near Detroit, black smoke was pouring from what had been the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. I was glad I wasn't planning to go that way. The next morning, while crossing over I-75 on an overpass, I looked down and saw tracks in the dust, similar to what I was making. I took the off ramp to I-75 and investigated.
The tracks were old, perhaps a month or more, so they were weathered by wind and rain. It was impossible to tell which direction the 18 wheeler, like mine, was traveling. Alongside, probably made at the same time, where the tracks of an automobile, truck or two… Suggesting a convoy. It would be fruitless for me to try to follow. But it gave me hope of finding fresher tracks like this that would lead me to someone else. I never gave up hope, in spite of my losses so far.
I continued westward to Chicago driving into black smoke up ahead. Watching the Geiger counter.
