Category: Retreat Locales

This remote region was settled by cattlemen like Pete French and my great-great aunt’s husband, David Lawson Shirk. (Two of my Crow family relations each married Shirks.) The area is still dominated by large cattle ranches and some hay farms. This may sound foreign to some of the blog readers that live back east but many of these eastern Oregon ranches span multiple sections. (A section of land is 640 acres.) 2,000 to 5,000 acre or larger ranches are not unusual. Some owners use a light plane to keep track of their livestock. Advantages: Low population density. Excellent hunting and …

This region is on the east side of the Blue Mountains Statistics (for La Grande): Average high temperature in August: 85. Average low temperature in January: 23.1. Average snowfall in January: 6.7”. Growing season: 160 days. Advantages: Proximity to good hunting and firewood sources in “The Blues.” More plentiful water than in many other parts of eastern Oregon. Fairly diverse agriculture. Grande Ronde Valley crops are primarily wheat, hay, and barley, with some oats, apples, cherries, sugar beets, and beans. From the Oregon Blue Book: “The Grande Ronde Valley in Union County is nearly table flat and is covered with …

Mr. Rawles, I realize you are busy, and appreciate any response you can supply. I am residing about 20 miles out of St. Louis, Missouri. I realize my close proximity to such a large urban area is far from ideal, but I do not have the financial security to quit the job and move out to a less populated area. Now, my question is not in regard to my specific area. Rather, my question is regarding the rest of Missouri. I have friends owning land in central Missouri in a small community that have extended an offer to allow me …

The agricultural Umpqua River Valley is one of my most highly recommended regions in Oregon. Unlike the Willamette Valley–Oregon’s largest agricultural region, which may get swarmed by the masses from Portland and Salem, the Umpqua River Valley has relative geographic isolation. However, the proximity of the major population centers of northern California are troubling. The Umpqua valley wraps around west from Roseburg, Oregon. Concentrate on small towns like Melrose, Cleveland, and Umpqua. According to Oregon State University (OSU)’s School of Agriculture, Umpqua River Valley crops include: snap beans, beets, head cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, medicinal and culinary …

Concentrate on small towns that are off of Interstate 5, such as Gold Hill and Jacksonville. Josephine County crops: Hay, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, apples, cherries, grapes, peaches, pears, berries, garlic, and herbs. Statistics (for Central Point): Average high temperature in August: 90. Average low temperature in January: 30.8. Growing season: 165 days (1st of May to mid-October). Average snowfall in January: 3.2”. Median residential home price: (Rogue River): $145,000. Median residential home price: (Gold Hill): $135,000. Advantages: Mild climate with a long growing season. Upwind from all potential nuclear targets in CONUS. Disadvantages: Proximity to California’ s Golden Horde. All …

Dear Mr Rawles: Greetings from the UK. Thanks for the very interesting website. I have your book which I’ve read a few times now. I must admit to a certain envy with the potential you have over there to prepare for the possible difficult times ahead. Just as an exercise and to make some of the people living in even the most restrictive states feel not quite so bad I thought I’d do a run down in your style for England the ‘state’ in which I live. As you will know the United Kingdom is made of (leaving aside the …

Jim, Another very neat -very free resource that is out there is the Google Earth program. It is available through www.downloads.com. Many of the aerial photos that are used are substandard or old. However much of Eastern Washington and a lot of Northern Idaho contain the most up to date and detailed color aerial photos. This program also allows you to drop down to above the Earth’s surface and move around like you are flying. It also uses some topo functions to view the surface in relief. This tool may be very handy and useful for many scouting out the …

Hi, As you say, the northeast is not so good for a variety of reasons. However, if one has to stay in that area for family, work or any number of other reasons there are areas where one can be more secure than you might expect. For example, I live in Central New York State. Our place is more then 40 miles in any direction to an interstate highway. The entire county has a population of just over 51k and a population density of about 57 per square mile. Most of this is concentrated in a few larger towns at …

Dear Mr Rawles: Greetings from the UK. Thanks for the very interesting website. I have your book which I’ve read a few times now. I must admit to a certain envy with the potential you have over there to prepare for the possible difficult times ahead. Just as an exercise and to make some of the people living in even the most restrictive states feel not quite so bad I thought I’d do a run down in your style for England the ‘state’ in which I live. As you will know the United Kingdom is made of (leaving aside the …