My Prepping Journey began in 1967 when I moved to San Francisco. Spots on the radio urged us to prepare for an earthquake, The Big One. So one day while I was grocery shopping, I threw a flashlight in my cart and then put it in my trunk. On another trip I threw a cardboard box into my trunk. In the ensuing months, I added some bottles of water, a knife, some Power Bars, and cans of soup. I later learned that the heat of the trunk would destroy the soup, so I replaced it with beef jerky and peanuts. Some time later, while in a Big-5 Sporting Goods store, I picked up a backpack. When I moved the contents of the cardboard box into the backpack, I had officially become a Prepper. But I had not yet heard the term.
Over the years, I added items to the backpack. Then, when I was at a gun show, I picked up a copy of Patriots by James Wesley, Rawles. I thumbed through it and then put it down. The seller said: “If you don’t have the money, you can have that book for free. I came to this show to get that book out to people. That is how important I think it is.” I bought the book.
I took the book home that weekend and could not put it down. I was spellbound. It laid out the future of America. I read that book several times over the coming months.
I had a 500-gallon propane tank set at my house in the hills of Napa County, California, but it had no regulator. When I went around to propane dealers to get a regulator, they gave me a hard time. Laws, rules and regulations. I was stumped.
Being an old car nut ,I had bought a 1967 Imperial that had crossed my path. I pulled into yet another propane company and noticed a 1967 Dodge Charger that was jacked up in the rear and a Barracuda. Two guys came running out to see my Imperial. I had driven into a hive of Mopar nuts and we were brothers instantly. My regulator was proffered up and I was in business.
I hooked up a ceramic heater for my bedroom and was now in the world of propane. Propane never goes bad. Ever.
I bought several hundred feet of black garden hose and put it up on the roof and took my first shower off the grid. But the water was too hot in the afternoon. So the shower had to be in the morning.
I moved from California to the family farm in the Midwest. I read JWR’s novels Founders and Expatriates. I began prepping in earnest. Back then, there were more Prepper Fairs in my region that I would go to. I began buying silver dimes, medical supplies, and space blankets. I found Dave Canterbury and his amazing products including the canteen and heavy-duty space blanket.
I had my dad’s 1986 Chevy S-10 pickup truck converted to propane, set a thousand gallon tank with a liquid leg (enabling the pressure in the tank to push out the liquid propane into the S-10).
I told people that if there was ever a Middle East war and the Strait of Hormuz were to close, I could still get around. I was deemed insane, so I stopped talking about my prepping addiction.
I dug the old family wood stove out of the barn and put it in the basement. I had plenty of firewood in the property. I began getting dogs off of Craigslist, big dogs. And kept 3 or 4 at all times. I put big lights on the house and a gate down at the driveway. I put a Mule electric opener on it. I put in ADT cameras and when they failed, replaced them with a Simply Safe security system which is better and less expensive.
I began hanging around gun stores and taking classes on guns. I learned that you needed to clean your new gun and oil it before you ever shoot it lest it be metal on metal when you first shoot it.
I bought ALICE packs, life straws, water purification tablets, and waterproof lifeboat matches. I bought Bic lighters by the hundreds at Sam’s Club and put them everywhere in my house, vehicles, backpack, and go bags. Mickey’s Surplus became my new hangout. They got the good stuff in during the fall. I got an M-65 Field Jacket like Stallone wore in Rambo. They had big bandannas and P38 can openers. They had everything.
Then I volunteered to speak at a Prepper meeting. Then another. I was catching on. I read endless articles on making up a Go Bag and they were all kind of the same. This was not Rocket Science. I followed Blackie Thomas who had been a Civil War reenactor for decades and decades. He knew where to get wooden matches (Ace Hardware). He made various haversack bags to sling over your arm. He knew seemingly everything. And his teachings were all free on YouTube.
Then I got a $37,000 settlement from a car accident. So I bought, bought, bought more supplies and tools. I had learned who had the good stuff, and then I got it. I figured that I had to have enough for a handful of people needed to hold this place.
I began buying first aid kits from My Medic [1]. And they had heavy-duty stuff — not just Band-Aids. I bought an $1,800 medical kit and put it in my car. I got tourniquets. I got Israeli Bandages. I took Red Cross classes on first aid.
I figured that when it went down and the motorcycle gang took over my house that I would argue “I’m a trained medic and if you don’t kill me, I can patch your guys up when they get hurt. And I have the medical supplies to do it with.”
I bought a lot of wilderness first aid medical books. They were pretty darn good, too. Many of these were ones that were recommended by JWR. His list included:
First Aid — (American Red Cross Handbook) Responding To Emergencies
Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook by David Werner
Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson
Emergency War Surgery (NATO Handbook: Third United States Revision, 2004) by Dr. Martin Fackler, et al.
PDR for Nonprescription Drugs, Dietary Supplements, and Herbs (See review, below)
Physicians Drug Handbook
Physicians’ Desk Reference (The 2017 edition was the last printed version of the PDR.)
The Complete Medicinal Herbal by Penelope Ody
And for people with pets and livestock, he and his wife recommended:
The Merck Veterinary Manual
Where There Is No Vet by Bill Forse
The Family Cow by Dirk van Loon
Raising a Calf for Beef by Phyllis Hobson
Small-Scale Pig Raising by Dirk van Loon
Raising Rabbits the Modern Way by Bob Bennett
Raising Sheep the Modern Way. Updated and Revised Edition by Paula Simmons
Ducks and Geese in Your Backyard: A Beginner’s Guide by Rick and Gail Luttmann
I got a propane-fueled generator. I learned that the Swedish Trangia stoves ran on alcohol and you could use automotive Heet (fuel additive) to fuel it. I bought lots of bottles of Heet.
Then a Bobcat was to come and move some brush into a burn pile. So I timidly asked the guy if he would dig me a hole to bury some stuff, and he agreed. We buried five ammo cans of boots, bullets, dimes, first aid stuff, and MREs.
As soon as the Bobcat left, I knew that I needed to bury a whole lot more, next time. So that is on my list. But next time I will put the stuff in PVC pipes with caps glued on the ends and desiccant pouches inside and i’ll get a vacuum packaging machine at BassPro to enclose these things.
I recently released a dozen quail into a wooded area on my farm.
So there you have it. My journey to prepping.
Read about the Weimar Republic to see our future. A silver dime is now worth $6. We are going to witness another 1929 financial crisis, on steroids. Prepping can be stressful, but it can be fun too. It is certainly an education. Ammunition may become the new money.
Have I made mistakes? You bet. But I have a better shot at surviving than I did before. And I have learned a lot. I have learned from each mistake.
I got a friend to buy one silver dime, now she has 7 silver dimes. We need to educate them. Most will not listen.
I have gotten every immunization available. I have a 1969-vintage car with a traditional ignition system in case of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Am I crazy? … Definitely. But it’s a fun sort of crazy. And the prepping people are the nicest people ever.
The first step in prepping is the hardest. Buy a silver dime, a box of ammo, some first aid stuff, or some canned goods. Come join us.