Category: Retreat Logistics

Carter County, Montana–Talk About Elbow Room!

I was recently doing some relocation research for a consulting client, and I came across a pretty amazing 960 acre ranch in the south-east corner of Montana.  It looked quite promising, but unfortunately it is down-wind of Yellowstone (with a remote chance of becoming a super caldera) downwind of Montana’s missile fields, and just a bit up wind of South Dakota’s missile fields.  The client decided to pass on this one–given its locale, and his personal TEOTWAWKI scenario. Thus, it put me at liberty to mention it here in SurvivalBlog. If you are not concerned about a full scale tit-for-tat …


Letter Re: Washington’s Retreat Potential

Sir: I may have something to add concerning Washington’s [retreat potential] ranking. I just left there last year and my experience has shown it have not only the Cali- syndrome but a lot of [liberal out-of-staters that have moved there are] are “Washingtonians In Name Only” (WINOs.) For married folks who have a relationship that is faltering, it is not good to be a man in Washington right now. The recent Brame shooting has given a wonderful opportunity for immature, greedy spouses to dump their hubbies into the prison system on trumped up domestic violence charges. Finding conventional work and …


The Flea Market Survivalist, by C.G. in N.C.

Skill and etiquette in the process of bartering can be a plus today or in a future time when the world could be completely different. In that future time your local mass marketing chain may not be in business. You may have to resort to barter. I loved the scene in Mr. Rawles’s book, “Patriots”, when the group goes to the local barter faire with a handful of .22 cartridges and some pre-1965 dimes. I can’t recall everything they got, but for their initial, pre-TEOTWAWKI investment, they came out way ahead. I have to confess to being a flea market …


U.S. Government Issues Guide to Pandemic Preparedness

As reported at NewsMax.com, the Bush Administration had just issued a Guide to Pandemic Preparedness. See:  http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/5/215956.shtml It is interesting that they mentioned both self-quarantine and home schooling. What radicals!  They musta been reading SurvivalBlog or sumthen’… OBTW, why do I get the feeling that if John Kerry had been elected that the message on this topic wouldn’t be quite the same?


Letter Re: Recommended Spare Parts For AR-15s and A Planned Move to Wyoming

Great site Mr. Rawles! I view it most every day. Have also passed your book (“Patriots”) on to two friends after having my two sons read it. I have a general question for your readers. I just purchased a Bushmaster .223 [AR-15 clone] with Eotech site system. I am wondering during a TSHTF scenario what parts to this weapon should I have in backstock? [JWR’s replies are in-line, in bold.] Ideally, it would be best to a have a complete spare carrier assembly, to provide a quick “in the heat of battle” replacement in case you break a firing pin …


Letter Re: The Importance of Firewood or Coal Storage

James: My brother in law in New York uses a coal pot belly stove to help keep his heating bills down. He usually buys a ton of coal in june of every year and stores it in his garage in a coal bin that he built. He buys it in June because the price of coal in cheaper in June, imagine that. As for storing a three year supply of coal, why couldn’t someone dig a trench, fill it with coal and then put something like two inches of dirt on top of it. It’s not like the coal will …


Letter Re: Okay, You Have Moved to Your New Survival Retreat Home. What’s Next?

Jim: Many people are strategically relocating, getting settled into their new homes, preparing for the economic crash, and war that is surely coming. As the gent from Argentina said with hindsight: "more food" and trade goods. In addition to obtaining the obvious water, food, seeds, preparing the ground for a large garden, and protection there are some additional things all of us need to consider. Remember you are simply investing in your future. Here is my list: * Get to know the old timers, people who are active but advanced in years. Go visit them. Have them to your home. …



The Importance of Firewood or Coal Storage

I cannot over-emphasize the importance of having a large supply of fuel for home heating on hand. Ask anyone that has ever been through an ice storm in the northeast. Big ones happen  on average once per decade. These can be really nasty, knocking down hundreds of power lines, inducing power outages that can last for weeks. Those that heat their homes with natural gas, propane, or home heating oil furnaces find themselves out of luck when the power grid goes down. Even if they can keep their heater’s main burner on, there is no electricity to run the circulating …


Two Letters Re: Considerations for Longer Term Survival

Jim: Norman has it right-on in his Wednesday’s post about taking things further out than one or two years past TEOTWAWKI. How about plans for the rest of your kid’s lives? Not stockpiles, mind you, but plans. That means forethought, how-to manuals in the old ways for people to read when they have run out of modern technology (and options), or when they need to use unfamiliar technology-free appliances, and so on. For instance, I have just ordered a spinning wheel made in Holland, foot powered, that will be possible to repair with even hand carved wooden parts and simple …


Letter Re: Considerations for Longer Term Survival

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have become increasing concerned that many survivalists do not take longer term survival seriously and in many case appear to give it no consideration at all. They seem to be more concerned with stocking their retreats and being able to hold out against all until things return to normal. The majority of what has been written about survival originates from the USA but there is literally none of this information that considers the longer term. By longer term I mean after surviving the initial disaster, whatever the cause. I am also talking about an event that …


Letter from “Hawgtax” Re: New Years Resolutions

Merry Christmas All, As 2005 draws to a close, I look back and ask myself “Am I better prepared than I was at this time last year?” Quite honestly, a lot of what I accomplished was attributable to “SurvivalBlog.com”. A fine bunch of folks who trade practical information. Anyway, here’s what I did/added during 2005: 1. Installed a wood burning stove in the house. 2. Insulated and dry walled the outbuilding which functions as reloading area, ammunition storage and shop. A separate room within a room provides climate controlled food storage area. (8 below zero this morning outdoors, but in …


Discipline and Balance by Hamilton Tyler

There is always talk about the ‘survivalist mindset’ and how important it is to anyone who is going to prepare themselves and their family for whatever crisis they foresee. Some people get this mindset from previous experience (like Katrina survivors who we can hope will become advocates of personal preparedness), others from their religious convictions (Mormons, awaiting the Tribulation, etc), others get this mindset from objectively viewing world events and decide the world is risky place, and many others get this mindset from other places. All of these people, however, have at least one thing in common in their survival …


Rourke on The Survival Retreat Condo Development Concept

When most people think of a “condo”, they usually picture a flat or apartment in a high rise. Think instead of a more rural a recreational condo like a multi-family mountain ski chalet or some vacation condos on the beach or lakeside. Now consider the possibility of putting such a condo development in some rural rolling hills countryside adjacent to some farm land and combining the concept of a recreational retreat with a survival retreat. In this way, your survival retreat becomes a group endeavor, which offers several cost-saving advantages, establishes clear rights and responsibilities, and, also importantly, an operating …


CONEXes, Not Rolexes

In person at guns shows and at public speaking engagements, as well as in e-mail, I often have folks mention some of the odd, if not bizarre things that they have purchased for their survival preparations. They run the gamut: Ostentatious: The reader that blew virtually his entire preparation budget on a brand new BMW 4×4 SUV Impractical: The gent who said that he owns just one firearm: An AR-15 with five 100-round Beta C-MAGs, a rail-mounted white flashlight, a rail-mounted IR flashlight, PAQ-4 laser target designator, a Gen 3 PVS-4 starlight scope, bipod, and a pseudo-M203 (37mm) flare launcher. …