Best Van Dwelling Bugout Locations

[Reverse Engineer]

My general focus is on getting away from Industrial Civilization in a projected collapse of our economic and energy systems.  It's quite a popular topic actually, with many websites, blogs and forums dedicated to aspects of this topic.

Choosing the best location for a Bugout comes up pretty often, here is one from the Urban Survival Skills website.

Do you folks have some other suggestions of good destinations for a Bugout?

RE

 

[LoupGarou]

Posting bugout locations is a great idea. I'll take note of these as places not to go to.

 

[Reverse Engineer]

Posting bugout locations is a great idea. I'll take note of these as places not to go to.

Where do you think are better locations?

 

[wagoneer]

Is this about doomsday? End of the world? Everybody buys the farm? The big bang? Blowing out the candle? You will find me in a bar having my last beer or in bed getting a good nights sleep. Or maybe my last PIZZA or my favorite this local sushi place i love. Hugging my family. Walking the dog,
the list goes on and on. I almost forgot is this about the S#(! hitting the Fan????

 

[USExplorer]

Is this about doomsday? End of the world? Everybody buys the farm? The big bang? Blowing out the candle? You will find me in a bar having my last beer or in bed getting a good nights sleep. Or maybe my last PIZZA or my favorite this local sushi place i love. Hugging my family. Walking the dog,
the list goes on and on. I almost forgot is this about the S#(! hitting the Fan????

Doomsday Preppers does not represent the prepping lifestyle. 

If you learn how to brew yourself, that beer does not need to be your last one.



In the eastern US, a farm in a remote hollow in the Southern Appalachians would be my ideal retreat location. The region has a  history of self-sufficiency, and there are many abandoned farms that can be revitalized.  

Take a page from the Great Depression. City people who lost their jobs and homes would move out to their relatives in the country, where life continued much as before.

 

[Reverse Engineer]

Take a page from the Great Depression. City people who lost their jobs and homes would move out to their relatives in the country, where life continued much as before.

Situation was different in the 1930s.

First of, the majority of the population of the era was already rural.  90% of people lived in rural areas.

Today, it is completely reversed, 90% live in urban or suburban areas.

Second, in the 1930s, there was plenty of cheap easy to extract oil in TX and OK. Today, the only oil you can extract is extremely expensive, and the extraction is being funded with debt.  Just about all the energy extraction companies you use for gas or diesel are in deep debt right now and having problems rolling it over.

Third, the total population is much larger.  There are 7.2B people walking the Earth today, vs. about 2B in 1930.

So I am not sure the lessons from the 1930s really apply here.

Where are the best places to point your van towards given these parameters?

 

[Almost There]

Situation was different in the 1930s.

First of, the majority of the population of the era was already rural.  90% of people lived in rural areas.

Today, it is completely reversed, 90% live in urban or suburban areas.

Second, in the 1930s, there was plenty of cheap easy to extract oil in TX and OK. Today, the only oil you can extract is extremely expensive, and the extraction is being funded with debt.  Just about all the energy extraction companies you use for gas or diesel are in deep debt right now and having problems rolling it over.

Third, the total population is much larger.  There are 7.2B people walking the Earth today, vs. about 2B in 1930.

So I am not sure the lessons from the 1930s really apply here.

Where are the best places to point your van towards given these parameters?

Anywhere far away from people and then start hiking or paddling!

 

[GotSmart]

Not this again~~~

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I'm not ready for all the web crawlers to find out ALL I know quite yet.
When the turds hit the turbulence everyone becomes suspect and I don't want to take time to sort them out.

 

[BC Guy]

Where are the best places to point your van towards given these parameters?

Are you compiling a list of places to hit?

 

[GotSmart]

Are you compiling a list of places to hit?

He owns a prepper forum, and is doing research here for it. Nobody from here will go on his podcast, so he is taking what we say and putting it in his own words.   :dodgy:

 

[SoulRaven]

I might hit the water instead of the road. With the right boat you could travel the world without a drop of fuel. Protein sources are all around.

Guy

I think general thoughts like yours are good.  You take into consideration what your needs would be rather than a specific place.  I am in another multi-topic forum and people are looking for "Mayberry" and, although it may sound selfish, if I lived in a spot like that, the last thing I would do is tell them where I was as there are thousands of members on that website.  I once posted the shampoo that I used and where I got it and I couldn't get anymore for 3 months.  I ran into the same problem posting about products for pets and where I purchased them.  Now, I handle questions in generalities or by pm for someone really in need.

 

[WriterMs]

Where do you think are better locations?

Reverse Engineer,

I think his point.. and those posted since... is that for those who have thought about a bugout location, the LAST thing they want to do is tell others where it is. Don't you and your readers use OPSEC guidelines that say never give out details???

I get it that you are trying to find some specifics to use in a write up about where those in the mobile lifestyle might hunker down, but you are asking folks to go against the principles I"m sure you advise to your readers.

 

[Reverse Engineer]

He owns a prepper forum, and is doing research here for it. Nobody from here will go on his podcast, so he is taking what we say and putting it in his own words.   :dodgy:

Actually it's a Collapse website with a focus more on Economics, Energy, Geopolitics & Climate.  We do report on and have crossover with the Prepper sites though.  I'm doing a Podcast next week with Canadian Prepper, who runs a great You Tube channel.

It's also not true that nobody here will do a podcast, 2 Dwellers said they would chat. Just haven't had time to schedule it and they need to get Skype IDs.

Somebody also mentioned sailboats, we did a podcast a while back with Sea Gypsy Ray Jason. Very similar lifestyle, just not as fossil fuel dependent as motorized living on the road.

 

[highdesertranger]

ok first off I will not post locations on an open forum about my secret places even in the best of times. I have seen some of my secret places trashed by inconsiderate a-holes. if I did have a secret location(s) to bug out to I sure wouldn't post it up. if anyone wants to find out about my secret places they would have to tag along. highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

Since I am not much of hunter/gatherer, I would take to the ocean. Plenty of food, which can also be used to barter for other goods or services.

 

[GrantRobertson]

I have actually done a lot of thinking about this and have decided that the best place for me to go will be wherever it is pretty, that I can actually get to.

Let me explain:
When (not if) the economy collapses; I have no illusions of being able to survive it. I don't hope to be able to fight my way out with guns. Though I might take some satisfaction in killing the first few thugs who come to steal my stuff, I would eventually be outgunned or outmanned. I figure that would take less than a week, so what would be the point. I don't hope to hunt and gather to survive. There is just too much I would need to learn and I have other things I want to do with my time till then. Besides... thugs with guns.

So, I plan to enjoy my life till then and not focus on the inevitable, even if the things I enjoy don't increase my ultimate ability to survive for a few years longer. The way I see it, spending all my time and energy figuring out how to survive in a post-collapse world, is just as un-fun as doing the same to survive in this pre-collapse world.

I've already wasted far too much time on "surviving." Now I want to focus on "living."

 

[66788]

Since I am not much of hunter/gatherer, I would take to the ocean.  Plenty of food, which can also be used to barter for other goods or services.

Yes, and if that ocean is the Pacific, your food might glow in the dark from Fukushima's unleashed fury.

 

[WriterMs]

Grant, I like your philosophy in general about living your life for what you enjoy and want to accomplish now. I think the decision not to live in fear is fantastic... no matter what threats people consider likely.

However, I do think there are skills that traditional "preppers" and "survivalists" cultivate that also serve those in a mobile camping lifestyle very well. There does not have to be a collapse for emergency preparedness skills to come in very handy. Any natural disaster (or local man-made one) can be a good reason to know how to purify water in several ways, to know how to make a fire even if all your matches get wet, etc.

At the least have a good book or two on such skills.. read it enough to have some needed items on hand (iodine, magnesium fire starters, etc.). When you ARE boondocking, using a good guide book to edible wild plants can be an interesting hobby to pass the time while relaxing.

Okay.. you get the point I'm trying to make.

 

[Reverse Engineer]

Grant, I like your philosophy in general about living your life for what you enjoy and want to accomplish now.  I think the decision not to live in fear is fantastic... no matter what threats people consider likely.

However, I do think there are skills that traditional "preppers" and "survivalists" cultivate that also serve those in a mobile camping lifestyle very well. 

First of all, once again I have to make the distinction between Collapse sites and Prepper sites.  They are not one in the same thing.

Prepper sites focus on things like what stuff is good to have (and they sell a lot in Ads, they usually have tons of them), survival skills, permaculture skills etc.

Collapse sites focus on the underlying causes for what we see occuring and try to ferret out how they will play out and over what timeline.

Second, because you try to work these things out does not mean you stop living and enjoying your life.  It actually can assist in that because you gain a better understanding of what is going on and can then plan accordingly.

Note the name of our Portal, it is collapse.global, not prepper.global.  Confusing the two is like confusing van dwellers with sea gypsies.  There are similarities, but they are not one in the same thing.