James,
As a regular SurvivalBlog reader and a prepper, I would like to say western Nebraska is as close to the American Redoubt without being there. I have considered the reasons you have not include Nebraska, and though they are valid for eastern and central Nebraska, I believe if you stick to the western section, the Platte River Valley and the Sand Hills offer an attractive option.
The main things I find appealing, inexpensive fertile crop land, good plentiful clean water, a plethora of wildlife (Elk, Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer, and Turkey) great fishing holes everywhere, and few people per square mile. Having relocated here from western Montana, I discovered many folks are a hardy lot, and for the most part rugged individualists.
I started building my local retreat in 2001; I purchased five acres of pasture land with a tree belt and a shallow well for watering critters. The cost was $20,000. I have it pretty well established, and was getting settled in to ride out the coming storm. In September, on an outing to view some merchandise offered in a classified, I stumbled on an opportunity to good to pass up. I ended up negotiating for a small 40 acre farm (that includes 5 acres of woods) with an old propane heated 5-bedroom farmhouse, a 40′ x 60′ steel “Chief” building with concrete, electrical and water. The place is all hog wire fenced, broken into different size parcels, with a corral, all steel fenced with chute and 3 heated water bunks. It has a nice 30′ x 40′ wood barn, a 6-stall horse enclosed stable with tack room, two hay barns, a chicken coop with run, a rabbit hutch with run, out house, garden shed, and full water rights off the North Platte River. I ended paying less than $200,000 with 3.75% 30 year financing, it was an affordable option.
After living three years debt free it was difficult to jump back in to debt, but we have rented the new place on a short term month to month agreement, and it covers the payment. We plan on hammering the mortgage hard and having it paid off three years, with the plan of building a newer “off grid” home and selling the current “off grid” home by 2015. Since it is 15 minutes from our current home, we believe worst case scenario, we can be on the place and make it work, if need be.
These types of deals are out here, and Nebraska has a low unemployment rate, so if you want to work there are jobs to be had. The biggest negative I see and feel every year, is the tax rate. Though I don’t think there are too many more years it will be a huge issue. When the wheels come off the applecart, most “revenuers” will probably be wary of old “gun totin farm folk”. I just wanted to give your readers a bit of ”Husker” perspective. By the by, two other things I find advantages to Nebraska over Montana, are the severity and length of the winters, and the length of the growing season. My gardens produce earlier and longer, and as Nebraska is the number two cattle producing state, fertilizer is readily available, in bulk and at the local cafe.
In closing, I finished “Survivors”