Letter Re: American Redoubt Relocation Climate Questions

James,
My question is on the American Redoubt.  It’s late in the game, but I’ve got to get out of Southern California.
 
What do you think of eastern Montana as a place to settle down?  Are the snows as bad as the Western part of the state?  My parents used to have a place 7 miles outside of West Yellowstone, and they said it was the coldest spots in the continental U.S.  Is the eastern part of Montana like that?
 
I’ve been watching what’s going on in America, and even I’m getting shaken.  I need to go where they won’t allow Obamacare, where they won’t allow Obama to take our guns, and where land is dirt cheap.

Let me ask:
 
        -Montana?
 
        -Wyoming?
 
        -Texas?  (In the North, I don’t like the demographics down south)
 
        -West Virginia?
 
        -Vermont, was it Vermont that nullified Obamacare?
 
        -North or South Dakota, or perhaps Idaho.
 
I think I’ve got a few friends convinced to move with me, so we can be each other’s backup.
 
I’ve been reading your blog for years; you and Karl Denninger are the two I rely on for this crisis. Thanx for your time, – Tina F.

JWR Replies:

To begin, West Yellowstone is fairly high elevation, so that makes it atypical of the region.

Eastern Montana has some problems:

It is plains country, so it is prone to drifting snow.
The winters are brutal.
It is DOWN WIND of the Malmstrom AFB missile fields.
It is DOWN WIND of Yellowstone and the potential supervolcano. (Yes, I know, “Once each 10,000 years”, but…)

I prefer Northwestern Montana and north Idaho, because they are WEST of the Great Divide, and hence have a milder climate.

My book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” has my detailed locale recommendations.  That $28 book will save you a couple of hours of phone consulting time (at $100 per hour.)  But some of that data is also available free, here.

My top choice is the vicinity of St. Maries, Idaho.  That valley has a much more mild climate. And there is great shopping just an hour away in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane is another 40 minutes beyond.)

Economics and Investing:

The hindrance of global debt – Spain accelerating to major bailouts and bond markets react. Eurozone stock markets in major decline.

David B. sent this: Fed Plans Dollar Devaluation, New Evidence; Why Now?

G.G. suggested this: David Stockman: “The Capital Markets Are Simply A Branch Casino Of The Central Bank” (Includes a link to an insightful video interview of Stockman.)

Also from G.G.: San Marino falls victim to the eurozone crisis

Items from The Economatrix:

Greece Now in “Great Depression,” Says PM

Is Vegas Signaling the Consumer is Folding?

Europe’s Systemic Collapse…And What it Means for Us and You

Wall Street Falls As Europe Hits Earnings

Odds ‘n Sods:

H.L. sent this profile of delusion: 55 Percent Of Americans Believe That The Government Will Take Care Of Them If Disaster Strikes. The article includes this frightening statistic: “53 percent of all Americans do not have a 3 day supply of nonperishable food and water in their homes.”

   o o o

G.G. flagged this: A Nation That’s Losing Its Toolbox. Thankfully, SurvivalBlog readers are regaining forgotten skills, with plenty of hands-on experience in our gardens, in our wood shops, and under the hoods of our vehicles.

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How to stop a massacre

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K.A.F. sent: Freezing Tomatoes to can at a later time

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F.G. mentioned that there has been a bit too much “privatizing”: The Terrifying Background of the Man Who Ran a CIA Assassination Unit. [JWR Adds: For some further reading, do a web search on the phrase “JSOC Kill/Capture Team.”]

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Our character is best revealed by the decisions we’ve made and the impact of these decisions on ourselves and others. Over time, the decisions we make–large and small–become the legacy we leave behind.” – Erwin Lutzer

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 41 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 41 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Buying Inexpensive Groceries in Small Towns, by Sarah in Texas

The “extreme couponing” movement is fascinating. In larger communities than mine, people can combine coupons, sales, and store policies (like double- or triple-coupon days) to walk out with free or dirt-cheap groceries, hygiene items, and other goodies. When you’re trying to build a survival stockpile, every dollar matters; it’s great to get a years’ worth of toothbrushes for the entire family for just a few dollars, for example, and to stock up on canned vegetables for twenty cents apiece.

However, I live in a small town. This rural part of Texas includes a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a local grocery store, and a small supermarket. All have sales, and they accept coupons (no doubling or tripling allowed, though, and they won’t accept most online/home-printed coupons), but it’s difficult to get fantastic deals like twenty-five-cent tubes of toothpaste or fifty-cent bags of flour.

This doesn’t mean that Mom and I pay full, retail price for most of our groceries and other essentials. Mom and Dad are living on his Social Security retirement, which doesn’t go very far. Also, we’re still building our survival stockpiles, so we end up spending the same amount of grocery money—we’re just coming home with a lot more these days, a good chunk of which is stored for later.

Our process is a bit time consuming, but we’re motivated to make the investment, especially with recent word that drought conditions in Indiana will affect food prices. We have to eat no matter how expensive or scarce food becomes in the future, so we figure that having a buffer now, when the biggest pain is investing time in the stocking-up process, is best.

We’re Wal-Mart Shoppers
For ninety-something percent of our grocery shopping, we go to Wal-Mart. Regardless of how anybody might feel about that corporation—we can all agree, I’m sure, that they don’t have a perfect track record—they’re the go-to source for groceries where I live.

Why? Wally World honors competitors’ sales ads. Each store has its own policies, which you can check out by calling or visiting the customer-service desk. In most cases, a local competitor’s sales circular is acceptable as long as an actual price is printed; Wally World won’t generally honor sales like “Buy one, get one for a penny” or “Twenty percent off X item.”
One huge advantage is that Wal-Mart substitutes its own, store brand for generic or store-brand items in circulars. The catch is that they must be the same item as far as weight and contents are concerned. I can’t get a fifty-pound bag of Ol’ Roy dog food (Wally World’s brand) if the advertised, store brand is forty-four pounds. I also can’t get Neufchatel cheese for the sale price if the advertisement is for cream cheese.

However, because most Supercenters stock a large selection of groceries and other goods, finding a comparable item in the store isn’t difficult. Wal-Mart also carries quite a few national brands, which often go on sale somewhere. It’s rare for me to find something I want in a sales ad that I can’t find on the shelves.

Finding Ads
On Wednesdays, I get online and look at the sales circulars for other stores. If the supermarkets are nearby, these ads will show up in the mailbox. That applies to the supermarket and local grocery store I mentioned earlier; the other dozen-plus stores don’t mail us anything, as we live too far away, so I use the Internet.

My Wal-Mart honors ads from stores up to sixty miles away, which includes a very-large, well-populated region. The sprawling metropolis has supermercados (Hispanic supermarkets), which tend to have excellent sales prices on meat and produce. They’re also good for deals on paper products, various soaps, and cleaning items.

I visit the supermercados’ sites first. That’s where I find sales like:
Tomatoes: 5 pounds for a dollar (Wal-Mart price: $1.98 a pound)
White or yellow onions: 5 (sometimes 8) pounds for a dollar (Wal-Mart price: at least $1.49 a pound)
Cantaloupe: $1 each (Wal-Mart price: $1.98 each)
Boneless, skinless chicken breast: $1 a pound (Wal-Mart price: $2.99 a pound)
Eggs: $1 a dozen (Wal-Mart price: $2 a dozen)
Other supermarkets also have great sales. Mom and I like McCormick’s Grill Mates seasonings for some cooking. They’re $2.50 apiece at Wal-Mart, but we have a few dozen of them in storage. They were $1 apiece at one grocery store about fifty miles away, so we stocked up by “comp shopping” at the local Wal-Mart. (Try the Montreal Chicken next time you grill chicken breasts; it’s delicious.)
Also, we can combine sale prices with coupons. When that happens, we do our best to stock up on those items. Coupons aren’t easy to find out here unless we buy the newspaper—people aren’t interested in setting up a coupon swap, for some reason—but we do what we can.
Since we started doing this more than two years ago, Mom and I have learned that ads run in cycles. The first week of the month, for example, is not a great time to go stock-up shopping; stores tend to have fewer sales, or worse sales prices. That, I suspect, is because lots of people are paid around the first of the month (retirees, for example). They’re going to do the bulk of their shopping that week, so why offer them the best sales prices when they’re going to show up to buy food no matter how much or little it costs?
Sales cycles run throughout the month and, in some cases, by seasons. The third week of the month, for example, is a good time to stock up on toilet paper and paper towels, as this is when stores tend to have the best sales. Why? I have no idea. All I know is that the pattern is rather consistent, so Mom and I buy our paper products for the month (and for the long-term stash) that week of the month.
Making Menus and Lists
When I’m finished writing down sales prices for items or printing the pages of ads that we want to use, Mom and I plan the weekly menu. Most of what we make around here is based on what we found on sale, at least for fresh goods like meat and produce. Even perishables like vegetables and meat are preserved—we have a Food Saver, food dehydrator, and freezer—but some of the fresh food goes into this week’s meals. Basing food on what’s inexpensive this week saves money and, because Mom and I have loads of recipes that we all like, there are few complaints about the menu. Fresh, homemade meals can be inexpensive but nutritious, especially if you don’t pay full, retail price for the ingredients.
Using my ads or notes, Mom makes the grocery list. She’s shopped at the local Supercenter so long that she knows exactly where to find each item, so she writes the list in that order. We hit the pharmacy first, so those items are at the top. We hit the produce section last, so those items are at the bottom.
Mom’s list, usually on notebook paper, includes several columns titled “Item,” “Description,” “Store,” “Price,” and “Other.” For example:
Item: Canned corn
Description: Store brand, 15 oz.
Store: Dave’s Fiesta Mart
Price: 50 cents
Other: Limit 5
This way, she doesn’t have to go through a stack of ads, which we regularly see other shoppers doing. Why not spend some extra time, while we’re at the house, to organize the list into one, neat page? (Mom writes on the front and back side of the paper; it’s rare for her to need a second page, but it does happen.)

The Shopping Trip
The entire trip to Wal-Mart, from entering to exiting the front doors, takes an hour and a half to two hours. That seems like a long time, but we’re shopping for both the week and our stockpile; it’s common for us to push two carts full of goods out to the truck.

When we first started, trips took longer—up to four hours in a couple of cases—because we weren’t as efficient as we are these days. We’ve learned, mostly through trial and error, to plan things before we leave the house so that we aren’t wandering up and down the aisles, spending what seems like forever trying to find one stupid thing we need.
While we’re in the store, we separate sale items from the rest of the things in the cart. Sometimes, Mom and I both push a cart: one for sale items and the other for the rest. Either way, staying organized while we’re going up and down the aisles makes things go faster when we get to the cashier.
The main problem with shopping competitors’ ads at Wal-Mart is the extra time involved with checking out. Mom and I have cut time from that process by keeping everything separated while we’re in the store, but that does only so much.

We have to tell the cashier where that item’s on sale and how much it costs. He or she might have to verify by looking at a copy of the ad, which management puts at each register. The cashier must manually override the computer every time he or she scans a sale item which, even with an experienced employee, eats up time.
When I’m pushing two Wal-Mart carts full of purchases out the door, after paying all of $200 for them—including non-grocery items like pet food, laundry soap, and the like—I’m fine with the extra time spent on all this. We don’t have much money around here, but we have extra food and other essentials because of comp shopping. If I have to spend thirty minutes looking ad ads and then an hour and a half shopping for those goods, that’s what I’ll do—and keep doing as long as there’s money to spend at the store and items on the shelves to buy.

Some Myths About Seeds, by M.J.E.

I keep coming across misinformation on some of the prep sites I’ve encountered and thought it would be helpful to set some things straight with regard to seeds, seed storage and growing food and other useful plants. Here are some myths I’ve encountered and my attempts at clarification. While the misinformation may not endanger you, it can prevent you from using all resources available or create some false expectations.

Myth 1: If you save seeds from hybrid plants (commercial seeds, not heirloom), you’ll starve.
Seeds from hybrid plants, in my experience, will not fail to grow – they’re just not likely to produce what you expected. Hybrids do not breed true because a certain proportion of the off-spring will revert to the type of the parents. What you get will depend somewhat on what parent plants were used to produce the hybrid and what pollen your plant encountered when it was blooming. The resulting plants may not be hearty or continue to prosper after a few generations, but some will do just fine. It’s a bit of a crap shoot what you’ll end up with. I’ve had volunteer plants of various kinds grow in my compost heap, and it’s always amusing to see what strange and interesting produce appears from the seeds of hybrids I grew the year before. I got what looked like a white acorn squash one year and another volunteer was a particularly weird kind of melon of uncertain origin. They were still very tasty. You can pollinate your plants by hand (with a little paint brush substituting for a bee to carry the pollen) if you want to control what your plants encounter, or you can trust nature to find a stable strain that works for you. Open pollination encourages genetic diversity, and that’s a good thing in the plant world. 

Myth 2: You should keep fruit seeds and nuts for growing trees.
Fruit trees can produce wildly different types of fruit from the same tree’s seeds. Fruit trees for sale from your nursery are not produced from hybrid seeds. Fruit trees and some other fruits like grapes are made to produce consistent fruit by grafting the desired plant from a single source onto a hearty root stock. All the trees are exact clones of the original. You can grow fruit plants from seeds, but there’s no telling what the fruit will be like. If you have a tree that has fruit you really like, you can perpetuate it by grafting. Grafting isn’t very difficult, but may require a little practice. A sturdy, disease resistant base plant is essential (in the 1870s France’s vineyards were saved from near total destruction from a parasite infestation by grafting their plants onto resistant grape vine root stocks from Missouri). Another thing about fruits: some will not self pollinate (apples, for example) and a second plant of a different variety (called a cultivar) may be required within a specified area to allow you to have fruit. Of course, you will also need pollinating insects to carry the pollen between trees, and ideally the trees shouldn’t be further than 300 feet apart. Mulberry and olive trees are wind pollinated, but for mulberries you need a male tree to pollinate your female, fruit bearing trees. Nut trees aren’t as much of a problem with regard to breeding true, but nut trees that grow here in Missouri must be about 10 years old before they begin to produce useful nuts. It’s best to have mature trees scoped out on or near your property or to plant them now to get them started before you need them. Nut trees are wind and self pollinating and should be within 50 feet of each other to allow good pollination for successful production.

Myth 3: You have to have a garden to produce fresh food.
The quickest way to get something fresh into your diet, especially in the dead of winter, is by sprouting. Seeds and beans sprout within days and are loaded with nutrition — far more than the seeds alone. Sprouting requires a little water, a tiny bit of daily attention, and a container that lets you wet the seeds without allowing them to mold. I use a large glass honey jar with a bit of fine mesh (a scrap from a wedding veil) held in place with a rubber band. Spicy sprouts like radish can add snap to bland preserved food. You can even sprout seeds while you’re bugging out by using a mesh bag to carry the sprouts (hikers sometimes do this — a sort of garden on your back).

Myth 4: You have to buy seeds.
If your plants are heirloom varieties or you’re sprouting potatoes from your existing harvest or you’re growing herbs, you can perpetuate your plants nearly indefinitely. As I said before, if you’re willing to take some risks, you can get seeds from hybrids as well. Annuals like mint grow almost like perennials because they reseed themselves so readily. Herbs grow happily from seeds you gather or from the ones the plants themselves drop. Perennials like asparagus, rhubarb, garlic and cane berries such as raspberries only require a bed and occasional fertilizer like manure (human will do) to keep feeding you for years. Some perennial herbs don’t even need fertilizer and are hearty and drought resistant – you’re more likely to be beating them into submission to prevent them taking over your garden than worrying about how to keep them growing. Many plants can be grown from cuttings, runners, tubers and other asexual reproductive processes making plants that are genetically identical to their parent source. This has a bit of danger in that if all your plants are only one variety and a disease hits them, your whole crop will be wiped out (as happened during the Irish potato famine). Diversity is never a bad idea. Having at least two varieties of any kind of plant you like is preferable.

Myth 5: You can’t store seeds forever.
Well, this isn’t quite a myth, but seeds that are dry and stored away from moisture, excessive heat and light in air tight containers can last years. The germination rate may go down a bit after a few years so you might want to plant a few seeds per pot when getting them started, then transplant when you know what you’ve got. You can always check your germination rate by wetting seeds and sprouting them to see what percentage will be successful. I’ve had years old seeds that looked dead germinate a week after they would ordinarily been expected to. I guess they just took longer to wake up than fresher seeds. While seeds can germinate after years in storage, it’s ideal to periodically grow some new plants from your old seeds and save a fresh batch of seeds from the resulting produce. Always label the seeds with the date and rotate out your seed stores periodically if you can, but don’t panic if the only seeds you can find are from five or ten years ago. Chances are pretty good some of those will germinate and even one successful plant can produce many new seeds with good germination rates. After all, the oldest seeds to germinate have been 1300 (lotus) and 2000 (date palm) years old.

Myth 6: You should have seeds for these plants: (someone’s list follows)
Maybe, but if it includes things you and your family would never eat, that list is not very useful. Some things may not grow in your area or in your soil. If all you can grow is a container garden, some varieties of plants won’t work for you at all. Your personal list should be plants you can use and you have experience with. Add a few new plants to your garden each year if you can, or if your space is limited, rotate in new plants and retire out previous successes. Experiment, let things go to seed, learn as much as you can about the life cycle of your plants so you’ll know what to expect. A few years with a variety can teach you a lot about what changes in temperature and water can do to your harvest. Like me, one year you may be dumping cucumbers on anyone who’ll stand, still then begging for the favor returned the next year. On the other hand, my tomatoes and herbs never fail, my eggplants never succeed.
Having said that one list will not serve for all, I believe some plants are incredibly versatile and really deserve your consideration. Radishes make great sprouts, both the greens and the roots are good to eat, and the seed pods are a spicy treat that can be used like snow peas or other pod vegetables. Flax seeds can be sprouted or used for oil (linseed oil) for cooking, burning in lamps, or in wood finishing; and the fibers from the plant can be used for lamp wicks, rope and cloth; and an added bonus, flax flowers are quite pretty.
There aren’t too many things that corn hasn’t been used for including as a vegetable, a source of oil, and for meal and flour; but other grains and plants can be equally versatile and are often less resource intensive. Nuts can provide butters for eating, and the oil that separates out can be used for cooking or burning in oil lamps just as the ancient Romans used olive oil. These lamps are not as bright as kerosene but burn with little or no smoke or odor. If you remove enough of the oil from a nut, the flour remaining is high in protein and can be used to supplement grain flours.

If one final myth you believe is (Myth 7) you must grow domestic garden plants, let me say a few words in praise of the more nontraditional garden.  I need not mention the “weeds” growing in your yard that are good to eat as this has been handled by other writers, but don’t forget dandelions, wood sorrel, violets, and other edibles. You can also have mushrooms in your basement, a key lime tree on your sun porch and pots of herbs on your kitchen window ledge. But there are other plants that might be in your yard that are sources of food, too. Day lilies are grown as an ornamental, but you should experiment with eating them as a vegetable. They require no attention and come back every year. All parts of the plant are edible, as are all parts of the cattails that are growing in your pond or water feature – just make sure the water they are growing in is not contaminated. Rose hips, the red fruit on the rose bushes after the flowers have gone, are loaded with vitamin C, an essential nutrient that can be in short supply in some preserved foods. Redbud tree blossoms and seed pods are edible, and the trees are hearty and self sustaining. Many plants that are grown as ornamentals are good food, as long as you’re careful to identify them correctly and not confuse them with the sometimes toxic things that also can grow in yards and gardens. Experimenting with edible landscaping can increase your available resources without much added effort to your gardening as well as helping to disguise your supplies to protect them from thieves. There’s no reason why food can’t be beautiful, sustainable and very nearly free.

Letter Re: Vehicle Radiator Ballistic Protection

James:
In your novel Patriots, you describe a 1968 Ford Bronco getting its radiator shot out. The only reason that the radiator was put in the front of early cars was because they did not have effective water pumps in the beginning, water flowed through and was cooled. 90% of the air that cools the radiator comes from under the bumper. You can totally block off the upper portion without any overheating issues. So a series of slats if you do not trust it, could be welded behind the grill if you wanted to.

If you are still afraid of overheating, a trick I learned years ago is very effective, and that is to add another windshield washer tank and pump, with the sprayer aiming at the front of the radiator. You then get evaporative cooling that is so effective you have to see it to believe it.

I would think that your mechanic in the book would certainly have foreseen that weak point and taken care of it. A metal plate could be welded at an angle from the bumper to the top of the radiator. It would then have functioned fine to bounce bullets up out of the way. Granted, weight saving is important, so you again could have used Lexan for half the weight, I would have also reinforced the floor, firewall and sides with either Lexan or Kevlar laid up as fiberglass panels. – Steve D.

Letter Re: Observations on Post-Tornado Cleanup

James,
We have been volunteering at the remains of a home of a prepper here in Ohio for the past two weekends.  Their home was destroyed by a tornado.  I have some simple suggestions that you might incorporate into your future work.
                1.  Store / Organize photos and documents in Ziploc bags.  In this case, they had the preverbal box of pictures stored on the second floor of a three story 1860 brick home with brick interior walls located flood plain.  The tornado remove the upper story plus half of the second floor.  The box of pictures was found in the remains of a closet.   The subsequent rains degraded the condition of the photos and other documents.  If they had simply used Ziploc bags as a means of organizing their photo they would have been in good condition even after ten days in the weather.
                2.  Recovered clothing needs to be washed as soon as it is recovered.  They really wanted as much of their clothing back as possible…  We sorted  through piles of rubble (bricks, plaster and mortar) looking for clothing.   The recovered clothing was bagged and taken to a laundry facility to be washed.  The learning here is that you need to have a means of washing all of your clothing in a mass grid down situation.  Washing by hand in a galvanized tub would have been unmanageable.  Lehman’s in Kidron has some possible solutions…all of which would be major work – assuming you had time you could devote to it.
                3. Recovery tools need to be stored somewhere other than in the structure you intend to work on.   The list is long of tools used to recover items from a home.  First off you need to be able bodied, then you need tools and knowledge of how to use them. The tool list needs to include – bolt cutters, spud bars, wonder bars, a Hi-Lift jack, chains, wheel barrow, saws, 5 gallon pails, plastic bags, shovels, gloves, dust masks, hand tools and lots of tarps.  If these tools are all in the basement of your home you will be at a huge disadvantage. 
                4. Food storage – We recovered less than 1/8th of the year’s supply of food that was on hand.  The storm took most of it and the rest was in poor condition due to exposure the weather and falling building materials.  Lots of dented cans, ruined bags, broken glass and wet paper goods.  Items that faired the best were dog food, can goods and bulk bagged items.  If here were 5 gallon pails they were lots along with the 3rd floor.
                5. Security –  the home owners were very concerned about looters.  No one can watch a destroyed property 24/7.  A community fire watch needs to be established.   On the second weekend we heard nothing about actual looting taking place.
 
Lastly, I would encourage your readers to go and work disasters in their area.  There is a lot to learn about tools, recovery, helping people in real need, understanding what damaged is possible, how that damage can affect everyday goods and understanding that it is enough to simply prepare.  The government has professionalized the first responders.  There may be a day when the professional first responders are busy with their own families and you will be the only responder that will ever be on hand.  – Stev

Letter Re: Prepare to Share

I have been reading your articles for quite a while now and I have a comment on the article Prepare To Share. This has been a difficult subject to deal with. I have been prepping for 2 1/2 years. At times my wife thinks I’m going a little over board. Last winter when we had such mild weather ( I work on heaters) we lived off the food I had stored due to the lack of work and income. This was eye opening and it has set my resolve to store more for the coming problems while I have work and money. In my efforts to prep I’ve talked with my brother and other family members to encourage them to prepare. As of now they are taking a laid back approach and plan to rely on the Lord for their needs. God is awesome and great and can do all things, but I believe he expects me to do my part. So the dilemma starts with my family. If I have enough stored for my wife, son and myself for when things un-zip, how can I take care of my brother and his family as well. This would add another 12 people to the mix. And what about the wonderer who come to my door with kids who are crying because they are hungry. Soon I will not have enough for my own family. I’m reminded of the story of the ten virgins. Half prepared for the unexpected and the rest didn’t. The ones who did not prepare were not evil bad people, they were just unprepared. The ones who prepared weren’t able to help them and have enough for themselves at the same time when the unexpected happened. This is the point I struggle with.

One idea is something I am reminded of from the great depression. Those without went looking for help while those who had offered to help in exchange for work. I live in the country, and I have a big barn. My thoughts have been to offer help to those who seek food, shelter & water in exchange for work. I heat with wood, I will surely welcome the help. If some one is un-willing to work then I might not have anything to share. If they help then I can share. These guest will sleep in the barn and I will offer food shelter & water. This is not slavery… I am reminder of the scripture “If a man will not work then he shall not eat.”

With my family and friends who might need a hand, I have another thought: I have some super pails I made up for my-self with various items. While preparing these the thought occurred to make a pail to share. I have included some basic food items like noodles and sauce with a couple cans of meat down to two rolls of toilet paper and a P-38 can opener. There are matches, a candle and a inexpensive flashlight with some inexpensive over the counter meds. These 5 gallon pails are filled to the max. My wife is excited about these and she wants me to make 10 more. This is something I can do for my family members and friends without taking away from my wife and son.

I do not know if this is the right way to prepare and share with those around? I pray that when I am faced with this decision he will provide the means and the wisdom.

In His Service. – Keith R. in Kansas

Economics and Investing:

Reader B.B. sent this: 8,753,935: Workers on Disability Set Another Record in July; Exceed Population of 39 States

Federal Government’s Debt Jumps More Than $1T for 5th Straight Fiscal Year

More mainstream media Pollyanna nonsense: Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Housing Bust Is Over. (Thanks to C.D.V. for the link.)

Sue C. sent this: US poverty on track to rise to highest since 1960s

J.B.G. suggested this article: Blaming the Spanish victim as Europe spirals into summer crisis

Items from The Economatrix:

Five Banks Fail, 2012 Tally at 38

Gold Shaping Up for a Major Uptrend

Gary North:  Central Banks Are Doomed, Thanks to The Fed’s Criminality

Odds ‘n Sods:

A reminder that another Self-Reliance Expo will be held in Dallas, Texas, July 27-28, 2012. Their most recent event (in Colorado Springs, Colorado), was a huge success. OBTW, wear your SurvivalBlog T-shirt or hat and see who you meet.

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Greg C. suggested an essay by one of my favorite talk radio hosts: Are We There Yet? A short term look at the road ahead, by Brian Wilson

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Reader C.D.V. mentioned a post-collapse Christian novel audiobook that is available free for just the month of July, from Christian Audio: The Sword, book one in The Chiveis Trilogy by Bryan Litfin

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Jeff H. recommended some recent Chaos Manor commentary by Jerry Pournelle: A Tale of Two Massacres

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Paul B. recommended this but of modern COINTELPRO: The Gentleperson’s Guide To Forum Spies

Notes from JWR:

Today is the birthday of Simón Bolivar. His full name: Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Blanco. He was born July 24, 1783 and died December 17, 1830. Bolivar will always be remembered as an early abolitionist and as “The Liberator”–the man who led Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela to independence.

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Today we present another two entries for Round 41 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 41 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Bug Out Trailer, by  Allen A.

If things go bad do you bug in or do you bug out.  This decision will probably be made at the time depending on the expectations of what the emergency will be and just how bad you expect conditions to become.  Are you expecting a hurricane or other disaster sizable enough to worry about?  Will you be gone for a week then return and open the house back up?  Are you expecting a Katrina size event or might it unexpectedly turn into a long term emergency where the only things you have will be those things you take with you.  

What is your home like, is it standard wood frame construction?  I remember a picture taken after a wildland fire in California.  The picture encompasses what looks like the remnants of hundreds of homes.  In the middle of this devastation is one intact home.  The home owner had anticipated the hazard and had prepared for it.  He had built a fireproof home.  If I remember correctly he rode out the fire at home. Now I’m not saying that I wouldn’t want to bug out in this situation but this guy could have moved back in the next day even if he did leave.  He had prepared for this eventuality, everyone else had to find a new home for several months or years till they could rebuild.  If memory serves  this guy was an architect.  I wonder how many or his neighbors hired him to design their homes.  Are you worried about civil unrest?  Just how defensible is your home over the long term?  Certainly, bugging in will have the advantage of the volume of supplies you can have on hand.   Other considerations may make this option untenable.  

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that your bug out location is a family members residence in the mountains.  There is a chance of a forest fire so your home is their bug out location.  This means that both places should have an abundance of supplies.  You will want to carry as many of those supplies with you as possible, especially if you expect an extended stay.  Most bug out bags are intended to sustain you for up to three days.  This is to allow you to get back to your supplies.  A longer dislocation will be better served with a different solution.

One answer might be a bug out trailer.  Think of all those people after Katrina, or any number of other emergencies, looking for a place to sleep.  Would a FEMA camp be your first choice?  I’d rather have a root canal.  You might have to drive a long way to find a motel room.  Even if you did find one how long could you afford to pay for it.  Would they be willing or able to take your credit card?  Having a significant portion of your bug out supplies already loaded can mean getting out of Dodge faster with more.  I have used tents before but I find trailers, campers and motor homes more comfortable especially for a protracted stay.

If you don’t want to live at a FEMA camp then you had better have a bug out location or at least a bug out vehicle.  Do you have another property in a safer spot?  Fine, install a septic tank and possibly a well there and you are set.  Nothing to steal or burn down, just park your trailer on your pad and you are good to go.  If your home is the bug out location for your friends or family you might want to install a Y in your sewer line so they can have a convenient sewer hookup for their trailer or for your trailer if it becomes a spare room.  Setting up a sewer dump for a trailer is a relatively easy project now.  Later it may be difficult to find the materials and equipment.  Even if the ground is easy enough to dig by hand leaving home to acquire the materials could be a security issue.

Do you have family or friends you could stay with?  Would you be more welcome if you had your own bedroom, bath, and food?  I personally would be more comfortable if I could get away from my host for a significant amount of time.  If living with them was my first choice I would have moved in already.  If they have to bug out it might be easier to put them up in your trailer rather than displacing one of the kids.  After all if living with you was their first choice they would have already moved in.  When I was a kid my grandparents came to visit for a month or more every summer.  We had a few acres so my dad and I built a septic system just for their trailer.  Every year they parked in their spot.  We ran a garden hose and electricity, they set up their awning and deck chairs and in an hour everything was set.  

When do you bug out?  This has been covered many times by many authors but generally the sooner the better.  The less traffic the faster you will move and the easier it will be to get fuel and other supplies.  Whether you will look like a fool if you bug out too soon is something you will have to figure out for yourself.  If you leave too late it could get to the point where you are better off bugging in.

So what are you looking for?  The bigger it is the more space you will have for yourself and your supplies.  The smaller it is the more maneuverable it will be and the less power it will take to pull.  Your decision will also be based on the vehicle you have to tow it with.  If you have a Prius then you are probably reading the wrong article, unless you plan to tow your Prius with your motor home.  If you have a 4X4 one ton pickup then you can tow quite a bit.  All this applies to a motor home also if that is the way you want to go.  Much can be accomplished with an old horse trailer or U-Haul type trailer also.  I had a cab over camper that set in the back of my pickup once.  With that and a small tow behind trailer you could carry a lot.  I prefer the pickup option.  My grandparents towed with their car.  My uncle had a van that he towed his trailer with.  A buddy of mine had a camper van that we traveled across the country in.  What you already have, what your personal situation is, and what you preferences are will all factor in on your final decision.

Let’s take a look at the trailer.  You will want enough beds for the immediate family, a bathroom, and a kitchen.  The bathroom does not have to  be grand but there are times when you do want privacy.  Being able to close off the master bedroom from the kids is also a bonus. 

In the kitchen you will want a two fuel refrigerator.  Propane, 12 volt, 120 volt  are the likely options and if you can find a unit with all three so much the better.  Multiple energy options means you are more likely to have refrigeration.  In the novel One Second After, the daughter of the main character died because he could not refrigerate her medicine.  As we all know the fridge is a very useful item and being without one would be a bit cumbersome.  If you had a power outage that lasted days then you could move the refrigerator food into the trailer and use the small fridge if you had to.  If your freezer finally gave up the ghost you could turn down, all the way, either the house or trailer fridge and at least delay the thawing process while using the other fridge for cool foods.   With a mobile survival shelter you will have options as to the best way to use it.

I would prefer a trailer with a couple axles.  You will be adding extra weight so spreading that to more than one axle will make your trailer more reliable.  You will certainly want to be packing spare tires but being able to drive a mile down the road before dealing with a flat could mean the difference of escaping a sticky situation or being forced to deal with it.  Remember, the best way to win a fight is to avoid it.  Also more axles mean more brakes thereby reducing the wear on your main vehicle.  If you find a used trailer with less than optimum axles, moan and groan to get the price down while inwardly smiling that you can use the money saved to put in beefier axles and brakes.   At some point you might want to consider an upgrade to the suspension system.  There are a number of air suspension brands out there that would give you the option to enhance your suspension as you add weight to the trailer.  These products have a 12 volt air compressor that you pipe into the system.  As you add or reduce weight you can change the pressure in the air bags thereby taking some of the weight off the springs.   You may want these for your vehicle as well as your trailer.  Many trailers are designed to carry a heavy load so this may not be necessary.  You will also have to consider the tow hitch.  Each hitch type has a maximum load capacity.  You will want to mount a hitch on your vehicle that is compatible with your fully loaded trailer.  The strongest is a fifth wheel setup.  If you go with the motor home option the hitch may well be a moot question unless you tow a trailer behind that.

The great thing about a travel trailer is that they are made to store an abundance of stuff.  The trick will be finding all the little cubby holes that were built into it.  If you give some thought to provisioning then you should be able to live with just this storage for a fortnight or two without any problems and probably much, much longer.  One thing you can put in a bug out vehicle or trailer is a number of tools.  You might be able to get a Swiss Army Knife or a Leatherman in a bug out bag but you will need a lot more tools than that to survive for an extended time.

You will need everything from toilet paper to tonight’s dinner.  You will need water, fuel, a way to start a fire and so many other things that no list would ever be complete.  One of the storage areas often overlooked is the skirted area under the trailer. This is not a readily accessible area but for many items that is not important.  Most travel trailers come with a couple small propane bottles on the tongue.  Leave them in place and use them first.  They are the easiest to steal so you are better off if the empty or partly filled tank disappears. They can also be removed and refilled without having to take the entire trailer.  In a pinch they could be used as a barter item.  They make horizontal propane tanks that you can mount under the trailer next to the frame.  One or more of these tanks will give you a significantly increased storage capacity.  You may want to set up some sort of a valve system so that if a thief takes one tank you can still use the others.  A thief may think it faster to cut your propane line than to use a wrench so having a way to isolate each line is important.  Anything mounted out of sight will likely be out of mind and even if a thief becomes aware of their presence the complication of removing something mounted under the rig should deter most.

Water is another critical concern.  Here again you probably have built in water and sewer tanks.  Additional water storage is easily added thereby expanding your time between replenishment.  Do you already have a bunch of water jugs in the basement?  That is great but another hundred or more gallons might sound pretty good.  I would want to drain and replace the water on a semi-regular  basis to keep it fresh but you could use that water for the lawn, or to wash the car if you were concerned about wasting it.  Most trailers are designed with slightly larger sewage tanks than water tanks.  If you add more water storage it is nice to add more yuck tank capacity but it is probably going to be easier to get rid of the sewage than it is to find clean water and water is necessary for life.  The dish water can also be used to flush the toilet and if necessary an out house can be built.  Remember to bring plenty of paper plates to minimize the water usage.  I built a motor home once where the gray water and black water were in separate tanks.  In a pinch I could dump the gray water in a ditch then close the dump valve, open both tank valves and double my black water storage.  Not my first choice but dumping some shower water in a ditch is a minor sin.  Road side trailer parks usually have a dump site that you can use for a fee.  City sewers can be accessed by removing the heavy lid covering the access port.  Some cities have designated sights to dump your sewage but all would rather have you use the sewer system than to dump your sewage out in the open.

You will need, or at least want, electricity.  A small generator can be mounted underneath the rig.  This saves space inside and it is not as readily accessible to a thief, as a generator sitting on the ground, especially if some thought is taken on the installation.  When I was in the Army a radio was stolen from a squad member, while he was listening to it.  It was sitting in the window and someone reached up from outside, grabbed it and took off.  Anything you can do to make stealing your equipment or supplies more time consuming, noisy, or difficult for a thief is to your benefit.  You will need fuel for the generator but  here again that can go underneath.  This is another case where your bug out resources can be used to bug in.  If the power is out you can use your generator to power the fridge, freezer, heater, and lights at your home.  If you show up at the in-laws with a power source you might be doubly welcome.  You may have to rotate these items depending on the size of the generator but a freezer run for an hour a day and rarely opened will stay frozen.  As soon as the freezer or refrigerator drops to the set point it will shut off and you can move to the next appliance.   Generators can be set up to run in concert with each other.  Some are designed to do this easily.  The advantage is efficiency.  If you have an 1800 watt load a two kilowatt generator will be more efficient than a 4KW gen. set.  If you get to your friends and they have a larger generator then you can run your unit for the times where the load is light and theirs when the load is heaver and both if you have a really heavy load.  A multifuel generator or multiple generators where each can run on different fuels gives also has the benefit to be able to adapt to what ever is available.  Those solar panels you have been thinking of can be installed on the roof of your trailer.  If you bug in you have that power available and if you bug out then the power source is already packed.  

While we are on the subject of fuel you might consider finding a place to put  a fuel tank suitable for extra fuel for your primary vehicle.  This would be a last ditch reserve to get you a bit further down the road.  Every few months I would use this to fill my vehicles then I would refill it with fresh fuel.  Gas and diesel do get old so rotating your fuel stock is as important as rotating your food stock.  If you don’t want to rotate the fuel as often then you might add a fuel stabilizer.  I would suggest fuel stabilizer as part of your emergency supplies.  If you are lucky enough to get some warning and can lay in a stash of fuel having the ability to stabilize that fuel could make a big difference.  Even then I wouldn’t want to go past a year on gasoline.  Diesel might fare a little better but why stretch it if you don’t have to.  I have used fuel older than a year but after a while it becomes a problem.  The engine runs rough and eventually it is useless.  If you have a truck then you can probably find a secondary tank to place under the bed and save that weight and space under the trailer.  Then again you really can’t have too much fuel.   If, for example, you take two cars or if a less prepared buddy is tagging along with you it might be better to put some fuel in his tank than to have him in your vehicle.   You will have to weigh the fuel against the loss of resources.   Remember that fuel is always traded for what we want.  We trade fuel for heat .  We trade fuel to move us and our assets from one place to another.  We trade fuel for the electricity to power a myriad of things.  If we have enough we can also trade fuel for  other supplies.

If you haven’t already filled up the entire underbelly of your once relatively light trailer, think about adding, what I will call “tubs” underneath.  These are five sided containers of appropriate dimensions attached underneath and sealed to the floor.  An access panel is placed in the floor so this additional space is accessible from inside.  You will need to put a lip at the top of the tub to attach it to the floor.  If some care is given when cutting the floor the panel that is cut out can rest on a portion of the lip of the tub to form the top.  A simple finger hole will make removing the panel easy.  Another design might be to cut the hole, drop the tub in place and use a thin plywood or other material to level out the floor around the lip.  A carpet can then be laid in place to hide the existence of this storage.  If you left some of your food, guns and ammo here you would probably still be able to survive if you were robbed.  Once the trailer is packed this will give months worth of food.  

Some thought will have to be given as to placement of this additional storage in order to maximize space.  A smaller trailer will of course store less underneath but then it will also store less inside.   Fuel and water tanks can be placed pretty much anywhere as long as the fill and drain are accessible.  The tubs need to be mounted where you have open floor space to install the access panel.  That means the tubs will do better down the centerline and the tanks are better suited down the sides.  

A VHF and/or a CB radio in both the vehicle and the trailer so you can communicate if you are separated.  You might be able to use hand held radios in place of base stations but I would prefer the hand held radios as a backup.  VHF and CB are for relatively short distance so I would consider a Single Side Band radio if you want to be able to communicate over an extended distance.  An SSB is capable of communicating half way around the world, given the right ionospheric conditions.  The size of most SSB radios will probably relegate it to the trailer or your home.  You will want to set up a primary channel where you can contact friends and family.  If you don’t know which frequency to listen on or call on then it will be shear luck if you can find each other.  Sometimes communication is better in one frequency than another so a backup frequency is a good idea.  You will also want to set up a schedule.  It might be easy for you to listen to the radio all day while you are driving but at home you will have a few other things to do, especially if you are expecting company.  You can also use your cell phone but if the towers are down or overloaded they will be of little use.  If you can’t get through on the cell phone you might try a text message.  Text takes less band width and will go through sometimes when voice will not.

Batteries are another item that will be vying for weight and space.  If you have a motor home you will want your engine battery and a set of house batteries.  After camping for a few days and finding out that you can’t start the engine because you used all your battery up running the fridge, lights, and radio will be a real bummer.

Go to trailer shows and go to boat shows.  Both are designed for maximum storage and it is a really fun way to get some great ideas not only for storage but for comfort.   Survival is certainly primary but the longer this bug out lasts the more important comfort becomes.  Do not underestimate the importance of your mind set.  The  longer a situation lasts the harder it will be to keep your spirits up.  If you allow yourself to become depressed survival is much less likely.

You can carry a motorcycle or bicycles on the back and they make boat carriers that allow you to put a skiff on top.  These are usually mounted on a truck but I have seen them on trailers.  Their design is such that it simplifies the loading of the boat.   A simple car top carrier could also provide needed space.  

Take the family on a day trip, or if you already have the trailer or a tent, for the weekend, to visit a few campgrounds. Many of these places have something to keep the kids entertained while you walk around and start a few conversations.  Most of these people are very friendly and when you tell them you are thinking about buying or improving a trailer they will probably be more than happy to have a new ear to brag to.  Some of these people have been using a travel trailer or motor home for years and they are a wealth of information.

If you live in a warm climate a car port would be nice to keep most of the rain off and to keep the direct sun off it.  If you want to use the solar panels you can park the trailer on the North side of a building which will protect the trailer from direct sun while still allowing a significant light to collect on the solar panels.  When you open the door and you can’t go into the trailer for ten minutes the food stored inside is not going to last as long.  If you live in a cold climate then a heated garage would be nice.  You don’t have to keep the garage at 70 degrees but if you can keep it above freezing then you don’t have to empty the water system for six months of every year.  If it is not all that cold parking on the South side of a building will give the solar panels better sun and help warm the trailer.

When you get done you will have created a mother-in-law apartment, pantry, and mobile survival shelter.  How you set it up will depend on your personality, resources, and perceived needs.  The options are endless.