Category: Retreat Locales

SurvivalBlog Reader Survey: Conveniently Bypassed Areas

When working with my consulting clients, I often discuss channelization and lines of drift. Most major routes out of major cities will become very dangerous places to be in the event of a massive involuntary urban exodus. Imagine the situation WTSHTF in small towns on either side of the Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, or near I-80 across the Donner Pass in California, or on the Columbia River Gorge (that divides Oregon and Washington), or virtually every other stretch of interstate freeway that is within 150 miles of a metropolitan region. These channelized areas (also called “refugee lines of drift” by …


Letter Re: Atheism and Choosing Your Neighborhood

James: I am a new reader to SurvivalBlog and a big fan of “Patriots” ., I have been reading all the archives and old posts, and I would just like to clear one thing up. I am an atheist. I don’t believe that there is sufficient evidence to prove the existence of a supreme power. This does not make make me a bad person. There have been some posts about choosing your neighbors that have said Christians and Jewish people make best neighbors because they are “God fearing” etc. Just because I don’t believe in a god does not mean …


Letter Re: The Mexican Drug Wars Come to the United States

Jim, As the economy gets worse, crime of this sort will only increase. Small towns that have secondary and tertiary highways are not immune. Often these secondary routes parallel the primary highways that have the heaviest enforcement which leads the traffickers to use the secondary routes to evade Law Enforcement. We have had first hand experience with interstate drug traffickers in our Midwestern town of 1,300 people that has a parallel secondary highway running through it. I shudder to think what will happen to our borders, cities, and towns when bankrupt states and cities are forced to confront the stark …


Cooper’s Color Codes and Bugging Out Before the SHTF, by H.I.C.

Colonel Jeff Cooper once wrote that he was born in another country. Born and raised in the US before the Great Depression, the country of his youth was no longer. It had been hijacked by pointy headed socialists with academic degrees and not a trace of common sense. At 50 years of age I not only agree, but maintain that the “New America” based upon a globalized economy, Federalized powers, and an Urban-centered society is dying. Our great country is dying and our great cities will burn in the funeral pyre. Most Americans know that survival in our great cities, …


Letter Re: Offshore G.O.O.D.–Do You Have Your Papers?

We all know that many Jews saw the handwriting on the wall in a pre-WWII Germany, but failed to leave, or could they not leave? There was obviously a window of opportunity for most to leave but why did so many miss it? Some were not wealthy, but were able to escape. Some had the money, so why could they not leave? If one only has a few moments in which to leave a foreign country, is the house in order? My sister dwelled on this problem and then looked at her own family. She was the only one with …


Letter Re: Viability of Central America Retreat Locales?

Hi Mr. Rawles, I thank you sincerely for all of the great information that you have made available to us all, for all your years of experience and knowledge. I have what I hope will be an interesting question for you. I am young, 25, and currently work for an NGO in Nicaragua and previously did the Peace Corps work here as well. I have been pondering over how reasonable Nicaragua would/could be as a retreat location, for numerous reasons, such as, in any given area: Rich topsoil and annual rains Extremely low population density (lowest in Central America) Low …


Letter Re: Mining Claims as Retreat Locales

Dear Jim, My closest neighbor works in our local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office. He told me that the lady in the cubical next to his handles mining claims. She has told him that there has been a significant increase in new mining claims. What she is confused about is that where many of the claims have been made, there is no evidence of any minerals. She told my neighbor that she researched to law and there is no requirement to prove that there are minerals to be mined at a claim site. My neighbor feels that people who …


Old Frontier Forts as Alternative Bug Out Locations?, by R.D. in Wyoming

I wish to present an alternative prep situation that I have not really seen talked about on your blog and at other other sites. First a small bit of biographical background and anecdotes to explain my reasons for what I (now recently we) are doing. Ten years ago, I retired from the military (26+ years, Life Scout (in a younger form) and an ex-scout leader (both Boy and Girl Scouts), fixed income with a part time job, never lived at one address longer than three years (requirement of military lifestyle), hobbies oriented to colonial/fur trade eras (see anecdote), recent earnest …


Letter Re: The Challenges of Prepping While on Active Duty Military Service

Hi, I just finished reading the Profile on Mr. & Mrs. India. I had planned to write earlier and this truly motivated me. I am in the military with 24 years in. I discovered your web site last spring and have been a dedicated reader. I have learned so much. Unfortunately right after I discovered your site I was transferred overseas. I am almost midway my tour but have been very frustrated in that so much of what I could do in terms of preparation is hampered by being overseas. Ordering staples for the pantry is the easiest thing I …


Letter Re: An Impromptu SurvivalBlog Meet-up at Front Sight

There was a bit of a ‘covert’ Survivalblog gathering at Front Sight recently. Along with Tim R & Tantalum Tom I was also in attendance earlier in March. I have two grown sons, both of which had expressed a desire to have a handgun for home defense. As a law enforcement officer and former SWAT team member I am familiar with the operation of and responsibility with owning a gun. I am confident in my training and ability to defend my home and family through that training. My two sons, however, had barely even held a gun, let alone fired …


Life’s Lessons and the Foundations of Preparedness, by A.B.

We may soon depend on all of what we have learned over the years. Putting all of the threads of knowledge together into a tapestry of self-sufficiency, and survival capabilities, is part of the lifelong quest for our family’s security. We learn from many sources and experiences such as: family, church, friends, teachers, teammates, co-workers, reading books and SurvivalBlog, and hopefully from our mistakes. Preparedness Skills from our Grandmas and Grandpas The foundation for preparedness begins with my childhood in Michigan. We lived in Lansing where my great-grandmother was next door and my grandmother lived next door to her. My …


Letter Re: Private Gated Communities May Not be Gated After All

Dear Mr. Rawles, I read Brad S.’s letter with interest today. About ten years ago I was working in property management for an apartment community in Lakewood, Washington. Not exactly a low-crime area, to say the least. One of our selling points was the gates at each entrance of the community. My manager and I took over the property not knowing the sort of people the previous management team had rented to. Over the course of four months, we evicted dozens of tenants for being months behind on rent, among other things. When this process began, we noticed that we …


Cold and Dark–An Account of an Ice Storm, by Steve S.

Preparations In January, 2008, the outlook for people in the United States appeared bleak. I told my wife that we needed to stock-up on food because I felt that the supply lines were thin and vulnerable. I began my preparations by Internet search. I found JWR’s SurvivalBlog and I bought a copy of his novel. In the meantime, I started buying cases of canned goods. I bought food that we generally ate. I looked at the expiration dates of every purchase. I tried to buy what would last through 2011. Not much would, so I bought with the idea of …


Letter Re: Private Gated Communities May Not be Gated After All

Hi Jim, Due to the real estate slump and the poor economy, my wife and I are trying to unravel our mess of real estate investments. One thing we did, was to abandoned our McMansion in a rural area near Seattle, Washington. It was a new four thousand square foot custom home in a gated community. All the other houses were as large and some significantly larger. We had abandoned the house about a year ago after failing to sell it for what we owed, and have not made any house payments since then. We also chose not to pay …


My Tale of the Hurricane Rita Evacuation. August, 2005, by Dan G.

I was working in a pawnshop in Aransass Pass Texas, about 20 miles North of Corpus Christi, Texas. Two days earlier my wife and I watched the destruction of New Orleans on National Television, the news coverage was continuing around the clock as the drama unfolded. Gasoline had shot up from $1.56 to $2.99 a gallon overnight and of course I had to fill up that morning to get to my menial low paying job. Late that afternoon a rich looking couple driving a huge brand new pickup truck, came into the pawnshop. They spoke very loudly about how their …