Category: Retreat Locales

Letter Re: Advice For Older Preppers With Limited Mobility

Hi James, Thanks for your many years of great work. While I was enjoying and learning so much from your books and the web site, I was also growing older and have physically “lost the edge”. More accurately, I reaped the unintended consequences of 55 years of smoking and now have a tough situation Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This is [best described in layman’s terms as] a combination of bronchitis and emphysema. I have not smoked for three years and my breathing is now stable at 51% of normal. This ailment is not unusual in the senior community, and …


Letter Re: Growing Food on a City Lot

JWR: While we all dream that perfect place in the country it is important to emphasize how much that can be accomplished on a small city lot. My home sits on about 6,000 square feet of land, a small suburban house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood . The house and garage and drive way take up about half of the lot . Of what’s left, I’m slowly converting the ornamental landscape to organic food production. My current garden consists of 48 tomato plants (4 varieties) 2 beds of sweet corn, 2 rows of cucumbers staggered 2 month s apart for continuous …


Creating a Crisis Decision Matrix, by Steve N.

It’s been said, “It takes a village to raise a child”. While I do not agree with much of anything else Hillary says, that was certainly true in my case. My upbringing consisted of guidance and council from a rather diverse group of individuals, a large segment of whom were 1970s-era survivalists, (How many of you remember Mel Tappan’s “Personal Survival Letter”?). These were self-sufficient, hard-money, common sense, salt-of-the-earth type people. A few even had underground bunkers, (I mean “root cellars”). Given the mind set of my mentors, you might assume that I’m all stocked up on beans, bullets, and …


Letter Re: Advice for Newcomers in a Community–Overcoming the We/They Paradigm

Good evening Mr. Rawles, My name is Ignacio, I’m a Cuban-born American. The three best days in my life were when I married my wife, when I became an American citizen and when my daughter was born (in this country). I am an avid reader of your blog, and working hard to get prepared, we bought a small place (1.5 acres in southwest Florida, it’s in the woods) it was the only thing we could afford to get ready. But I am very concerned that my neighbors might not like us because we are Hispanic (although my wife is blue-eyed …


Letter Re: The Top 200 Hunting, Fishing, and Low Cost of Living Towns

Jim, The June / July 2009 issue of Outdoor Life magazine is out, and they again rate the top 200 towns to live in based on the following data: 1. Gun Laws 2. Huntable species 3. Fishable species 4. Public-Land access 5. Trophy potential Their top Five? Lewiston Idaho, Marquette Michigan, Idaho Falls Idaho, Rawlins Wyoming, and Pocatello Idaho. They also rate the 30 places to live for hunters and fisherman based upon the cost of living index. (Your dollar goes further there.) This magazine is out now, and also has an excellent review on many current binoculars and spotting …


Letter Re: Prince of Wales Island, Alaska as a Retreat Locale?

Sir: I understand your comments on Alaska’s [poor] potential for survival retreats .Your logic is sound and I have to take seriously someone who has thought about these issues longer than I have. But there is always a but…What about Prince of Wales Island, Alaska? Backwoods Home magazine published an article written by a Jon Stram that I have not got out of mind. The article sold Prince of Wales Island very well, so [for counterbalance] I need an unbiased, expert opinion Thank you, – Russell: JWR Replies: You aren’t the first to suggest that locale to me. it. I …


Letter Re Advice for College Students Living Abroad

Hi, I’m a student from Singapore studying overseas in Australia and I’m also a Christian. I have been following your blog for quite awhile, and there are some things I would like to ask. First, what advice can you give to students studying overseas? As a student, I stay on my own in a rented place, and probably will have to move every six months or so, so stockpiling food and goods are only feasible for about a month or two worth of food, as I will have to shift everything I own on my own to my new place …


SurvivalBlog Reader Survey Results: Conveniently Bypassed Areas

The following are the first batch of responses to our survey about areas that might be bypassed by looters and refugees, WTSHTF: There are many islands off the east coast that in my opinion would be avoided by most and are rich in natural resources. Particularly Virginia and believe it or not New Jersey–one that comes to mind that I’ve visited in NJ is Island Beach State Park. And don’t forget Acadia in Maine. — In Arizona: The Santa Rita Mountains are south of Tucson, just east of I-17, and are used as a landmark for everyone coming across the …


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 …