Looking for input on the Prepping mindset

[ghost]

Follow up after reading your OP again...

Well my friend, when SHTF don't even think about any kind of "help" from the establishment.  Do you remember Katrina?  You better end up in a state with plenty of water and game and growing plants because your asses are on your own.  You need toothpaste and walk into a wally world you may not be getting out.  Eyes open.  Keep awake of your surroundings.  Trust your gut and go deeper into the woods, but avoid any help or transportation offered to you.  You have to know how to boil water (without gas fuel) Solo Stove... and keep yourself alive if you go deep.  You really have to already be in good physical shape when this goes down otherwise you are at the mercy of those trying to "help" you.  So get started with the cardio, and explore your areas where you dwell now for resources so you're not freaking out when this scenario plays out.

Peace,

Matt

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I've been wanting to buy a Model 52 or 54 for years but have yet to pick one up. Or any other RWS gun for that matter, I've been so pleased with mine i've always wanted to try another one of their guns.  Finding it for 225 was a great buy! I should check ebay or craigslist and see if any pop up. 

I think the model 34 was my all time favorite bday present.......I remember watching the clock at school counting down the minutes waiting to go home and shoot it.  I actually got to the point I could break tooth picks in half at about 40 feet with a scope.  Couldn't do it every shot, but every second to third i'd hit them.  Doubt I could do that now. I don't think I have the time or patience to spend the few hours required to get the scope lined up that accurately.  Back then I was on the junior rifle team at the local sportsmen's club too, so I was doing a lot of practice.

 

[gcal]

Follow up after reading your OP again...
Well my friend, when SHTF don't even think about any kind of "help" from the establishment.

The mess after Katrina was the result of incredible civilian stupidity and an incredibly disorganized and irresponsible admin. People were told repeatedly to leave. Some did not have the ability. But many were in denial. It just could not happen to them. I will let you draw your own conclusions about the mindset of the government admin.

If you are ever in a place where that threatens to happen, for Pete's sake, use your head and leave. Do it early, before the roads get clogged. Your home is on wheels. Even for those who stay in a localized disaster, government help will start to come in a week or two at most.

In the global apocalypse scenerio that hardcore preppers get excited about, most of us are going to die and it makes little difference what you do before hand. Once you remove modern drugs and medical care delivery from the pictures, people will start dropping like flies. Human life spans will go back to what they were before anti-biotics and vaccines and the ability to do surgeries such as appendectomies. That is not even taking into account the current diminished stocks of fish and animals available as food, the massive reduction in them by further slaughter of them as people struggle to survive, or the damage that has already been done too clean water sources. Hundreds of thousands will freeze to death or die of heat stroke, depending on the season, as soon as utilities fail.

There will be a thousand Chernobyls as nuclear plants can no longer be maintained. Dams will fail, power plants will fail, and sewage treatment plants will fail. Banking and monetary systems will fail. You can hoard gold if you want to, but you probably won't be able to buy anything with it. Prepare as you will, you may be caught hundreds of miles from anywhere with a modicum of safety, with no way to get there. It will be the luck of the genetic and geographic draw who lives and who does not.

 

[gcal]

The scariest thing in the global, long term scenerio is the loss of knowledge. The internet would quickly fail. Communication would be cut off. The loss of the engineering, physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, ship building, geology, architecture, and other fields of knowledge which made civilization possible will leave a gap that myth and superstition will rush to fill. We would be driven back to the Dark Ages in a single generation.

 

[Cammalu]

I think, since man first started writing, there have been so many times that people lived as if doomsday was near and imminent. I can recall several dates just in my small span of life that there were mad scrambles because S was certain to hit the fan.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RVTravel]

These survival forums are pretty good.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm

 

[SoulRaven]

I think everyone should always, if they can afford it, have emergency supplies, but I decided after the 2000 scare, that a lot of this emergency preparedness has become a racket, slip some money in a pocket to create a need for ones' business. Being prepared for a temporary emergency situation makes sense. Preparing for the "big" one, there will be no effective way to prepare.

Becoming obsessed to the point of being so afraid of what may come in the future ruins the present is where I draw the line. If one goes back through history of all the times the "end" was coming, it can give you a lot of peace and is quite interesting.

We were in SE AL when Katrina hit. That was also an education since we were actually talking to people fleeing the different areas. We rode out what came our way in an RV park in a 30' 5th wheel. It was the 2nd one we had went through, the other in a 20' TT in an RV park in NC. Both had sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, we didn't know what a "sustained" wind was like until experiencing it, not at all like normal or gusts of wind. Both were an experience. Being that close to both areas, we saw the terror involved in those running from the storms, saw the news stories more close up, heard the reports of people trying to get out of FL with blocked roadways, running out of gas............

 

[TrainChaser]

Some years back, I was working at a Native American casino. One of the guys working there was living out of his van and a small trailer he towed. At lunch in the cafeteria one day, he was sitting at the table right behind me, and he was telling two or three other guys what he was doing.

He was working his way around the country. He would work for a few months, then move on. He lived in the van, and carried "useful stuff" in the trailer. At the time, he was camping on the rez on someone's property and doing some work for them as "rent".

That would probably be the best way to be ready for emergency situations: food, water, fuel, some basic fishing and hunting gear, etc. And hanging around places that had water and some game animals would be appropriate. But I could see most people hunting large animals and wasting most of the meat, and repeating until they ran themselves out of a good source of protein. But even this probably wouldn't last long in most places, because of the population density. A lot of people who already live in the "wilderness" KNOW how to live off the land a lot better than the city slickers who just think they do.

And the suggestion above about forming a group would be good...... if you had the right ones in your group, and that could be a problem. A couple of them always seem to want to be boss, some of them don't want to do any work, some are so used to being told what to do that they can't think for themselves. But it would be an interesting situation to have a group of van dweller types form a group. You just might have a good mix there.

And if you tend to hang around certain areas, having some stuff in a small storage unit could be a good thing, as someone above mentioned. Whatever you do, you'd best be adaptable.

 

[ArtW]

'Hunkering' in my little cabin during a tornado scare probably wouldn't be any safer than being in my ranger
In flood i might float away
You have to adapt to the situation, and use your head

 

[TrainChaser]

Art, your little cabin needs an underground hidey hole!

 

[ArtW]

Hahahaha! I'll buy a shovel and get right on that
Once I have 'lectricity
and plumbing
and insulation
and so much other stuff
Might get it done sometime around 2035
By that time i sorta hope I'll be on the road more than in the cabin

 

[Jack]

I love this thread.  Massive respect for everyone.  This is a subject I've thought about a lot over the last 10 years especially.  There are pros and cons to everything and every situation, whether you're living in a static location or in a van, so again, you choose what's right for you.  What's the "best way" to prep?  The answer is in the way that seems right for you.  That said, what follows is MY opinion, MY beliefs and MY plan. 

When I transition to full-time van life, I fully intend to have plenty of food and water supplies for emergencies, as well as MREs for worst case scenarios.  2-3 weeks?  I'm thinking 2-3 months.  This will be easy for me because I only eat once a day as it is.  Why?  I just don't feel hunger pains very often anymore.  As for water, a lot of van folks have 5, 7, or 10 gallon fresh water tanks.  I intend to have between 30 - 50 gallons.  (Why not?  You don't have to fill it to the top every time but it's nice to have for emergencies or for when you plan an off-grid trip for an extended period of time.  Why limit how much water you can store when you have the option to fill a 50 gallon tank with anywhere from 5 - 50 gallons?

There are also pros and cons about every location you're in whether it concerns weather, the types of disasters that area's prone to, the types of people that live there, etc.,  And not all preppers are sane!  There are insane, crazy folks who are just looking for an excuse to kill others over a can of beans or for just being visible.  A static location and all of your supplies can be taken over (by bandits or the government) just as easily as your van and all the supplies in it.  It's simply a choice.  

I'm working now to figure out what kind of emergency supplies I'll want, like fishing rods, knives, etc.,  I'm an avid and firm supporter of the 2nd Amendment and guns.  I will help support and protect everyone's (every legal person's)  right to own a gun.  But, they're not for me.  (Just stating this as a show of support, not to invite discussion as to why I should have one.  My mind may change in the future but this is how I feel today.)

Personally, my biggest preparation for anything and everything in life, whether it's a SHTF situation, a natural disaster, or even in a time of greatest prosperity, is my faith in God.  I'm not preaching, I'm stating my preparation plan and beliefs.  As a Christian, God naturally factors into every area of my life, including van life and prepping.  I trust Him... from experience.  I believe His word... from experience.  So, I have no problems trusting Him with my life, my supplies, my location, or my dwelling place.   That's not to say I don't need to use wisdom and do what I can though.  I'm saying that I trust God more than I do my own efforts, supplies and abilities.