Lessons from Nashville, Tennessee–That “Oh My Gosh” Moment, by Cheryl C.

I live in Nashville, Tennessee.  Most people have heard about the devastation of the recent flooding of  our city –what a  lot of folks don’t know is that there were over 1,400 boat rescues of stranded people who could not (or would not) evacuate their homes before the water overtook them.  The events of these past few weeks has heightened my disaster preparedness and has proven to me once again “that being prepared” is paramount “to surviving” any natural or man-made disaster.

This brings me to share with you what I call the “oh my gosh” moment.  When the forecast for Nashville was for heavy rain on Saturday, May 1st it was just that –heavy rain.  I work at Opry Mills Shopping Mall right next to the OpryLand Hotel.  Saturday it was pouring cats and dogs.  I worked from 2:00 p.m. till our normal closing time of 10:00 p.m..  A lot of the employees were hoping that we would close early not only because of the torrential rain – but because we were also in a severe storm warning.  The roof was leaking in several spots so we had to keep bringing buckets from the stock room to hold the water.  The store was busy – we even had customers until the last register closed. I live 10 miles from work but had no trouble getting home.

The next day Sunday, I was scheduled to work at 1:00 p.m..  I had heard on the news when I got up that we had had 6 inches of rain – a near record amount of rainfall for Nashville and it was still pouring like crazy and was predicted to rain all day. At 9:30 my husband asked me to go to the store for a pack of cigarettes.  Well that ½-mile trip to the store scared me half to death.  Because of the heavy rain, every low spot in the area was filling up and with no place to go was now gushing over the roads. And not slowly – very fast. Small cars were having trouble going through it and even with a large car, I could see how this would very soon get out of hand. The road in front of Opry Mills- Briley Parkway -is a low spot and I knew that if I went to work it would be very dicey coming home.  When I got back from the store I told my husband I would not go to work no matter what – in fact I decided I would wait till noon and call out. I thought: “Well, I didn’t have to do that.”  At 11:00, my supervisor called and said the store would be closed because Briley Parkway was starting to flood and that tomorrow the managers would call the employees if it was safe to come in.

Later that night, my husband and I were eating dinner and the local news station was showing pictures of cars stranded on the freeway – people being evacuated from homes and the like. The announcer said ”Someone has sent us a picture of Opry Mills”  Well it showed the shopping center –the parking lot and the road completely under water and our store under three feet of water!  The Cumberland River had overflowed and would not crest for 12 more hours!

That was it- that was my “oh my gosh” moment when it hit me that this was not just some rainfall –not just some flooding – this was really a very serious situation. About one hour after that, I heard they were evacuating Opryland Hotel – a major feat since they had 1,500 people in the hotel and no place to go.

I had experienced this same moment about 15 years ago. I was living in Chattanooga, Tennessee. and was in the worst tornado that ever hit the city.  I remember that night- it was not storming- not even raining. We did not have any severe weather predicted.  Just all of a sudden, the wind started howling – I looked outside and all the trees were leaning almost horizontally because the wind was so strong. That’s when it hit me “oh my gosh” –this is serious- I got to the safest place I had access to and within  minutes a tornado fell from the sky and completely destroyed four of the eight buildings in my apt. complex.  I am happy to let everyone know that I was not injured and never experienced any loss of property in either disaster. After seeing the chaos and what happens in the aftermath of these situations there is one thing I learned: You need to try to get out of any bad situation as soon as you have that “Oh my gosh” moment. Why?  Because you may not be able to do so afterwards.  After the tornado –within about 10 minutes the apt complex was surrounded by police and fire trucks. You could smell gas in the air and I found out very soon that a main gas line had broken.  The chief fire marshal came in and did a door-to-door evacuation.  He knocked on my door and said I had to leave, immediately!  It was dark in the apartment and I couldn’t find my purse – he said to me – you must get out Now!  Okay – no purse, no driver’s license, no money – I had to go.  We were told to walk to the front of the apt. complex and that we would be taken to shelters.  I realized that even without my purse, I was one of the lucky ones – I had on sweats and a pair of moccasins.  Most people were in their pajamas, nightgowns or underwear, with no shoes.  The tornado had hit at 1:30 in the morning and many had been thrown out of their beds (literally into the parking lot.)  Everything was very chaotic – people were injured- many had cuts on their feet because over one hundred cars in the parking lot had imploded and there was glass and debris everywhere. Even with no experience about shelters and FEMA, etc. I knew I was not going to a shelter.  I had a friend that lived 3 blocks from the site.  During the confusion – when the fire marshal turned his back — I started to walk away — not fast but very controlled – no one saw me. I got to my friends house and stayed there.

One of the articles this week in the Nashville paper told of one neighborhood that was flooded out.  The lady that they interviewed told the reporter how they had called the police and emergency agency and asked if they needed to evacuate.  They could get no answers. Finally, her cousin that worked on one of the dams called her and said Leave!  They knocked on the doors of their neighbors and evacuated – just as the water was almost blocking their exit.

I thought to myself, “Why did she wait? She was concerned enough to call!  She doesn’t need permission to leave her house.  Why did some of the other people wait?” (Not leaving even when the water was 3 feet, 4 feet, some not leaving even when the first responders were there to help them.)  It reminded me of 9/11. When the plane hit the first twin tower someone called the police from the other tower to ask if they should evacuate- the police told them “no”.

Remember when you were little and something bad happened?  Maybe it wasn’t the end of the world, but it was disturbing your little world. You probably cried or screamed very loudly.  Then what happened?  Probably your mom or dad came and said – it’s okay – nothing is going to happen.  All the adults would “discount” your gut instincts and then through the years you no longer listened to your gut instinct.  You may have heard that“oh my gosh” this is serious -in your head initially but shortly after that you heard the words- It will be okay!  Well I want everyone to start listening to their gut instincts.  If you think it is be a bad situation, get out immediately!!  The worst that could happen is that everything will be okay and you can return home.  But if you don’t seize that opportunity, it may not come around again.

For all the people that have little hideouts outside the city there is a lesson to be learned. In Nashville both interstates I -24 and I-40 had areas underwater and were impassible as were many side roads.   I’ve had to re-do my evacuation plan to not just include the best routes out of the city but to include every route out. You never know which roads may be affected. Since this flood included 30 counties even into Kentucky, this made escaping extremely hard.  Like I said – if you want to get out it has to be done before things get out of hand. Fortunately, this disaster was local and was handled very well by our mayor and city officials.  Opry Mills went completely underwater and the Opryland Hotel had 6 feet of standing water – if you go to youtube there are some amazing pictures of the flooding of our city. We are without work until the rebuilding- 2 to 4 months.  Opryland Hotel may not open for six months.  It was very scary and will make me work harder to get my survival plan in place.  The next event could be worse, much worse.

Lessons from Nashville, Tennessee – Small Windows of Opportunity

I talked to you about the need to evacuate an emergency as soon as you realize the situation or that “oh my gosh” moment.  Now I want to tell you about the small window of opportunity you may have immediately following a disaster.  Although my home was virtually cut off from the main road (we live on a peninsula on the water).  We live in the very center of the peninsula and on the highest ground in the area.  That meant that although there was drama all around us – my husband and I were safe.  Nashville virtually came to a standstill on Monday after the rain.  Most businesses were closed- the Mayor asked everyone to stay home so they could assess the damage and the worst  was not over because after all the small rivers flooded and were receding the big river – the Cumberland would not crest until later that day.  People set glued to their television sets all weekend- the local channels broadcast the news 24/7.  There was so much damage over such a large area it took a long time to see everything that was going on.  The Cumberland River finally crested at 8:00 p.m. in Nashville 10 feet above flood level.  In Clarksville Tennessee, an area lower in elevation- the Cumberland crested at 20 feet above flood level.  It seemed strange that the worst flooding came after the rain on a beautiful warm and sunny day.  The next day –Tuesday I got up early.  People were venturing out of their houses for the first time and wow what a site.  Even though some water was receding it was awful.  Our local park was a mess – five feet underwater and every ballpark fence down.  So many roads were still flooded it was almost impossible to drive without being detoured. 

As people were gawking at the site, I had an agenda.  The first thing on my list was to get to the grocery store.  My regular store was closed – they lost power during the storm and lost all their frozen foods.  I went to the other store expecting it to be crowded. To my surprise and delight it wasn’t.  Being a prepper I already had a stocked pantry and freezer but my intent was to get some milk, bananas, fresh produce and bottled water.  Even though I did have some I knew it would be in short supply very soon. (At the time of this writing 20 days after the storm we are still on water conservation because one water treatment plant went down with the flood.)  I was right about the water – they had sold out of my brand. I left and went to another store and got what I needed but noticed that as I was leaving – people were getting up and figuring out they better get stuff before it is gone.  My husband needed cigarettes and when I asked for a carton I noticed the girl pulled the last one of his brand off the shelf. Hmmmm  I thought maybe I should go get another carton.  My next stop was the gas station where I topped off the car and bought the other carton of cigarettes. Now on to the bank(s).  We have four bank accounts for a variety of reasons.  I went to each of them and pulled out the maximum amount that you can get for one day at the ATMs.  I do keep cash at the house but decided to get a little more than usual just in case. I purposely did not go into the banks so as to not let my tellers think I panic in situations such as these.  Besides by having multiple bank accounts you can get so much more out without drawing attention to yourself.   By 9:30 when the majority of our neighborhood was just venturing out I was on my way home with everything we would need to be comfortable for at least a month- even longer in the event we would go into “emergency mode”.  Fortunately for our city the Mayor and city officials were very much on top of everything and even though there was widespread destruction there were only minor incidents of looting. Maybe it helps to live in the Bible belt.  At any rate you need to be aware that you have to act fast in any emergency and take advantage of these small  windows of opportunity.

Letter Re: Establishing a Veteran’s Bona Fides in TEOTWAWKI

Captain Rawles:
I am a fairly skilled soldier in the U.S. military. Without going into details suffice it to say that I am extremely capable mentally because of my military experience as well as a healthy desire to educate and train myself in my free time. However, I travel most of the time. I have no stored food and don’t own any possessions that won’t fit in my car. Due to travel I don’t even own my own firearm, even though I am trained in the use of dozens of arms and explosives. Assume that I’m am the perfect soldier for hire. How do I convince someone that is ultimately prepared for any scenario, specifically extra armaments and food, to allow my assistance? How do I make myself a walking resume in a time of crisis? Would a well-prepared person have any reason to accept my assistance? Is there some sort of “secret handshake” between survivalists that couldn’t be faked?
Sincerely, – Andrew S.

JWR Replies: Yes, a well-prepared person would want to accept your assistance, if you can document that you have specialized skills–particularly in field medicine, sniping, and field demolitions and improvised weapons.

I recommend that you make two full-size laminated copies of your DD-214. In a double Ziploc bag, also carry copies of your commendations, OERs (or EERs), and at least two letters of recommendation from your current and recent commanding officers (COs). To get letters of recommendation from your COs (or perhaps your CSMs), tell them that you are thinking about working as a Personal Security Detail (PSD) contractor in the Stans, with a company like Xe Services (formerly known as Blackwater.) That way, their letters will highlight your tactical skills.

I also recommend that you assemble a full-blown Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) kit–also called a Bug out Bag (BoB). Think of it as a “sustainment load” for TEOTWAWKI. In your circumstances, you should try to fit most of this gear into a large backpack, plus a dufflebag or two. Keep in mind that since what makes you marketable is your skills, you consequently need to have the references to back them up. That means that you should be carrying copies of books like these:

A few key tools, such as a full-up medic’s bag (the bigger the better) would also be a comforting sight for someone that might hire you. Also, a pair of cap crimping pliers (or a Leatherman tool with a cap crimper) and a small blasting machine might also prove useful.

One last suggestion: Wearing a SurvivalBlog Operator’s Cap might also prove to be useful for introductions. In some circles, it is the next best thing to a “secret handshake”.

Letter Re: Conjecture on the Value of Silver in Barter Transactions

Hi Jim,
I would like your thoughts on something. I have been stocking up on silver for many years, but I’m wondering what you think will happen to the value of it at TEOTWAWKI. Here is my thinking, right now silver is worth around $18 U.S. dollars per [Troy] ounce, that is easy to understand. But if the dollar goes away then how do we put a value on the silver? I have been told that silver will go way up if the dollar fails but I can’t seem to understand how it will work. Currently I could trade silver for cash, but if there was no [functional] cash how would I know what the silver would be worth? So, right now an ounce of silver is worth, two laying hens, or $20. But what happens after the SHTF? Will an ounce of silver be worth twenty hens? Or maybe just a can of beans? How will it all work? Any insight? Thanks for all you do. – M. in Utah

JWR Replies: I think that a better long term perspective on “prices” versus “values”, we should examine four points of reference: Wages, manufactured goods, services and real property (houses.) First, let’s look at wages. Back “in the old days”–say before World War I–the average wage for a working man was around one silver dollar a day. One day’s wage right now for someone that works at a minimum wage job (at $7.25 per hour) is $58 for an eight hour work day. A more typical wage for a workman with experience is around $11 per hour ($88 per day.) One dollar (face value ) in 90% silver pre-1965 coinage contains 22.5 grams of silver, or 0.7234 troy ounces per dollar face value. Today’s spot price of silver is $17.55 per Troy ounce. So that makes a pre-inflation Dollar (a true dollar in silver coin) worth $12.79. (Or just think of it as roughly 13 times $1 in face value — “13 times face”, whether it is silver dimes, quarters, or half dollars.) So, to put things in perspective, it takes $6.76 in Pre-’65 silver coinage to equal one typical day’s wages ($88 in the current fiat paper money). Thus in terms of wages silver should have a spot value about five or six times it current value. By this measure, silver appears to be grossly under-valued.

Next, let’s discuss manufactured goods. As I mentioned once before in SurvivalBlog: In 1964 (the last year that silver coins were in general circulation in the U.S.), a basic blued steel Colt Model 1911 .45 automatic pistol cost around $65 retail. Today, a comparable Colt M1911 (a Series 80) costs around $775 retail. So if you were to sell $65 face value of your cache of silver coinage at your local coin shop, and they offered you 12 times “face”–that would net you $780 in the current funny money. You could then easily go buy a .45 at your local gun shop with the proceeds. The bottom line: it is not autopistols that have gone up in “price”. Rather, it is paper dollars that have gone down in purchasing power.

How about services? In 1964, a haircut cost around 75 cents, or perhaps $1 in the big city. Today it costs $14.

Now let’s look at the relative values of silver coinage and real property: In 1964, the median house price in the U.S. was around $18,000. Today, it is around $170,000. (A 9.4x increase.) If you had set aside $18,000 face value in silver coins in 1964 (18 bags of $1,000 face value each), and held them until the present day, they’d net you around $216,000 if you sold them to a bullion coin dealer. That is enough for an above average house. So obviously silver coins have held their value far better than paper dollars. Anyone who sits on paper dollars for very long–at least dollars that aren’t earning much interest–is a fool.

In my opinion, you can trust tangibles (like silver and guns), but you shouldn’t put much trust in paper currency in the long term. To safeguard your net worth in the inflationary days to come, always remember: Don’t leave your earnings in paper money for long. As quickly as possible, convert it into tangibles, to protect your savings from the ravages of inflation. Consumer price inflation is mild now, but that probably won’t be the case in the near future. Adjust your monetary mindset and you modus operandi!

Yes, I realize the foregoing is simplistic. Among other things, it overlooks factors such as compounding interest and stock market values. But the essence of it is clear: In the long run paper currencies that are not genuinely redeemable for specie lose value. Inflation is a hidden form of taxation. Cui bono? Who benefits from currency inflation? The organization that runs the printing press.

In closing, let’s return to that hypothetical practical barter in a Schumeresque world. You asked: “…how would I know what the silver would be worth?” I surmise that it will probably buy you about the same value goods or services as it does today, give or take. The exact value is not important. Those things sort themselves out rapidly, in a free market. (Free markets reach price equilibrium very quickly.) Within a few weeks after a currency crisis, the “in silver” price of beans, rice, .22LR and gasoline will already be established and become common knowledge. The important thing to remember is that the relative values of precious metals and irredeemable paper currency. Metals hold their value, whereas paper currencies do not. You know where I stand, and where I suggest that you place your trust.

Three Letters Re: Use the Ground You Live on for More Than Walking

Jim
Explanations about constructing homemade slow sand filters are on numerous web sites and have been for years. Typically, they use 5 gallon buckets with layers of sand (sometimes they specify the size of the grains of sand), gravel and charcoal. A little bit of research will show how to construct one to experiment with and to maintain for use in an emergency. Typically these are not very effective against water that is contaminated by chemicals. While barrels will allow you to filter more water, you will not be able to move it and there will be the problem of bringing enough water to fill the barrel in the first place. Five gallon buckets of water will weigh about 40 lbs and that is a safe amount of weight for most adults to carry. Alan W. in Maryland

James,
For slow sand filter designs, see the OasisDesign.net web site.

The critical point is that the surface of the sand supports a film of slime that does the heavy lifting of the filtration. Disturb the film and you degrade the filter. Pouring 5 gallons of water into the filter from a height of 3 feet will degrade the film, so you need a way to drip the water in. Also, keep in mind that the slime is a biologically living film of bacteria. It takes some time to develop and will starve if it is not fed (used). Regards, – J.H.

Jim and Family:
See the Wikipedia page on slow sand filters. I used to work in an office that shared space with a water treatment engineer. They talked about using 60 foot deep sand pits to filter water for an entire town. The more sand it goes through, the cleaner the water coming out from the bottom is. It scales up nicely, and its very cheap to setup. Best, -InyoKern

Economics and Investing:

Reader Brad S. spotted this: PIMCO’s Gross: Markets exhibiting “flight to liquidity”. Mass inflation is coming soon, folks. Transition out of dollars and into tangibles now, while it is still affordable!

FDIC: Problem banks at 775. “A total of 775 banks, or one-tenth of all U.S. banks, were on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s list of ‘problem’ institutions in the first quarter, as bad loans in the commercial real-estate market weighed on bank balance sheets.”

K. in Montana sent me this one: Whatever Germany does, the euro as we know it is dead

Items from The Economatrix:

Regulators Shut Small Minnesota Bank

Jobless Claims Rise By Largest Amount in Three Months

Oil Settles 2% Lower After Wild Swings

Leading US Indicator Drops Unexpectedly

Worldwide Stocks Fall for Sixth Straight Day

Behind the European Drama Lies a Global Crisis

Mish: Meredith Whitney Sees Bleak Second Half in Stock Market, Small Business Credit Crunch, Double Dip in Housing, Says European Banks in Worse Shape

Odds ‘n Sods:

D.J.A. sent this article that illustrates how the mainstream is catching on: The Prepper Movement — a Growing Network Preparing for the World’s End

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For those of you that–like me–up until now have just been mildly bemused at the sight of people walking around with their prized Kindle readers, here is some good news: you can read Kindle books on PCs and most recently announced, on Mac desktop and laptop computers. And even better, the requisite software is a free download. Of course once you’ve done that, you can get the Kindle software editions of various preparedness books like “Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse” and “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It“. (Hint, hint.)

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A reminder that Safecastle is running a special sale from May 16-29 only, with 25% Off All Mountain House #10 Cans, and free Shipping to the Lower 48 States. There are additional freebies, depending on the quantity that you order. (See their web page for details.) There are just five days left in this sale, so order soon!

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Kevin S. sent this: Backyard gardens become income generators in lean times

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K. in Montana pointed me to a great series of posts over at the Rural Revolution blog, edited by Patrice Lewis: Preparedness 101.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 28 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include:

First Prize: A.) 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com. (A $275 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Federal 5.56mm XM193 55 Grain FMJ ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo. This is a $199 value, and includes free UPS shipping.

Second Prize: A.) 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 $400, and B.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 28 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Motorized Survival Bikes, by JIR

When you mention bicycles in the context of survival preparation, most people roll their eyes. I used to feel the same way. The image of pedaling through the apocalypse with mushroom clouds in the background is almost comical. But, after buying a motor kit as a toy and trying it out for a while, I have completely changed my opinion. These are serious machines that may fit a niche in your survival plans. They fit my plans perfectly.

We are much more likely to experience a severe economic decline rather than a collapse. In fact, a lot of people would argue that we are already in the middle of it. High gas prices and chronic shortages are more likely than a total meltdown of society. Blocked or debris-filled streets are much more likely than the end of the world. If you live in a good area for bikes, and expect extreme gas prices, bikes start to make a lot of sense. Even without a motor, bikes are not a bad emergency form of transportation, but if you mount a small motor, they suddenly become a very viable transportation tool. Without readily available fuel or working phone lines or when roads are blocked by debris, face to face meetings and short errands around town become a real problem. A motorbike can be a perfect solution.

I commute to work on a motorized mountain bike. I bought the kit on Amazon for under $150 and it moves my bike along at about 25 mph. Since I built it myself, I can repair almost anything that goes wrong with it. Spares are currently cheap, so I keep quite a lot of spare parts on hand. In fact, I have two bikes now and spares for both. They get over 100mpg and I expect I can keep them moving long after all the SUVs are off the roads.

The engine kits I am talking about are made in China and mount onto most bike frames as long as there is room inside the frame (no ladies bikes or rear suspension types). They are basically a big chainsaw engine with a drive chain and a better muffler. They generate about 2.5 to 3 horsepower. They are available via mail order and cheap and easy to mount. They turn a normal beach cruiser into a mini-dirt-bike.

Advantages and disadvantages:

1. Speed. Pedal powered bikes are not as useful because they are slow and require a level of fitness and commitment that may be beyond many of us. A 20 or 30 mile trip becomes an ordeal on a normal pedal bike, especially without paved roads. Motor bikes can move 10-20 MPH on almost any road or trail all day long without breaking a sweat. On a level paved road, they can cruise along at up to 30mph (with a speed sprocket). (One of my bikes is geared for a maximum speed of 25 MPH and high power at lower speeds, the other is geared for 35 MPH). This is comparable to a car inside most towns and allows you to cover serious distances without serious effort. Your bike carries well over 50 miles of fuel in a 2 liter tank and you can easily triple that by carrying a one gallon gas can. (You could easily get over 75 miles per tank, but I am being conservative.) A 50 mile round trip is not an excessive distance for one of these bikes.

2. Economy. This is the biggest reason to choose one of these bikes over a small motorcycle. The cost of a new bike and motor kit is well under $300. A full accessory and spares package including cargo system, cables, tires, spare carb, inner-tubes and everything electronic on the bike will cost less than $300 more. You can even store a whole new kit for less than $150. Buying a systemized kit with full spares will cost less than $600 total outlay. This is half the price of a commercial mo-ped with no spares or accessories.

Adding 2 stroke oil to gasoline raises the price by about a dollar per gallon. This is more than offset by the added mileage you enjoy. These bikes get between 100-150 mpg on the average. Economical speed is roughly 20mph and can get a little better than 150mpg. If 2 stroke oil becomes hard to find or too expensive, you can use regular motor oil by just changing the mix ratio a little. While this is not as efficient as real 2 stroke oil, it works just fine and won’t damage your engine. Buy a 1 gallon gas can and store all your fuel in larger cans. This allows you to easily mix fuel by filling the 1 gallon can half full, dumping a 4 oz bottle of oil into it and then topping it off with gasoline. One gallon will fill your tank twice.

These engines burn any kind of gasoline a car will burn and then some. They are not very choosy about fuels. They will burn E-85 or you can even mix up to 1/20 kerosene or heating oil and they will burn it without even noticing the difference.

Last, but not least, you can (and have to) do all of your own maintenance and repair work, so you won’t ever be paying a mechanic (or looking for one). This sounds discouraging until you realize just how simple these machines are to maintain and repair. The ability to keep these bikes running in a crisis is a major selling point for me. I understand everything about them and can keep them on the road without help.

These engines are not designed to last as long as a car. You can expect about 10000 miles or so from an engine, depending on how hard you ride it. Or another way of looking at it, I can commute to work for over 2 years before I need a new $70 engine. The bike tires and brakes won’t last nearly that long.

3. Easy maintenance. You can tear your bike and engine apart and do maintenance that would be impossible on a car, or even a motorcycle. Replacing a head-gasket on a car requires a fully stocked garage and trained mechanics, but I can do it on my bike engine in about an hour and even make my own replacement gaskets out of junk laying around the house. Notice I said easy maintenance rather than no maintenance. You will have to maintain your bike and that requires about an hour a week if you commute on it. This is much more trouble than a car. If you are afraid to get your hands greasy, these bikes are not for you.

4. Simplicity. There is not much to go wrong. These engines use a carburetor that is little more than a sliding valve made up of a pin and a bigger hole for air. They also have a bowl to hold gas and a little float valve to regulate fuel. They suck the fuel into the crank case (this lubes it too) where it vaporizes and gets sucked into the piston. During the next compression stroke, most of it is burned. Whatever doesn’t burn gets spit out the exhaust. If your mixture is wrong or you have water in your fuel, the bike coughs a little, spits out the water and keeps right on moving. They are air cooled by fins on the engine block. The simplicity is elegant. You can repair it easily if it ever goes wrong.

All the electronics on the bike (one chip) are contained in a Capacitor Discharge Ignition (CDI) unit smaller than a pack of cigarettes that costs about $15 counting postage. Keeping a spare CDI unit insulated with aluminum foil in a metal ammo can pretty much makes your bike EMP proof.

Buying a kit:

If you are considering building one of these, I recommend you start out by visiting the Motor Bicycling web site. This is a motorbike blog where the fanatics go to talk. They are an excellent resource if you run into issues building or maintaining your bike. Check out their sponsors to get a look at current prices. You might be surprised at how low the prices are.

If you want, you can buy a complete kit with a bike ready to assemble for well under $300 from Bikeberry. I bought my last kit (A 66cc Grubee Skyhawk kit) from them and was very satisfied with the quality of the kit and the service. They are highly thought of in the motorbike community. You can save a few dollars by ordering from a mail order company. The service is mostly what you are paying for. I have bought two kits from two different companies and the products are the same and have nothing to do with the price. Both of them are mostly identical and both worked just great.

5. Lack of red tape: While these kits are EPA approved, In most states, motorized bicycles require no registration, tags, taxes or special licence to operate. They are just bikes. In my State, they require a helmet and a driver’s licence to operate and cannot be operated by minors. That’s all. Check your local laws before you buy one though because some states are more restrictive. (The People’s Republic of Kalifornia, for instance, has outlawed 2 stroke engines for road use, so if you live there, forget about a 2 stroke and look into a 4 stroke kit at the web sites I just mentioned).

6. Too dangerous to use after a total meltdown. If society crumbles and law enforcement fails, riding any bike or motorcycle will become dangerous. Any travel after law enforcement fails will be hazardous, but it’s suicidal on a bike.

Assembling your kit:

Get some decent instructions! The instructions that come with the kits are horrible. They are poorly translated from Chinese and not worth reading unless you need a laugh. You can get good instructions at these sites:

LiveFastMotors
ZBox.com
Cablespeed

All of these engines are similar and all bikes are slightly different, so feel free to improvise. You will need some mechanical aptitude and a few tools to assemble one, but nothing spectacular. My first kit took 9 hours to assemble, including a lot of searching on the Internet to find instructions. Building my second kit took maybe 2 hours (really 3 hours because I also had to assemble the bike).

I bought a pretty good tool kit at an auto parts store for $30. It included a full (metric and USA) socket set, hex key set, pliers and a complete set of wrenches. That’s all you will need, but an electric drill and hacksaw might be useful too. This is a good weekend project for a complete beginner. Check out the instructions at the links above to see the scope of the work, but don’t get discouraged. It’s easier than it looks.

Tips for getting the most out of your bike:

Buy a heavy steel frame bike. All expensive bikes are optimized for low weight and high speed, but many of them won’t carry any cargo and won’t hold up to this level of abuse. You will be adding 20 pounds to the bike with a motor kit and may be hauling over 400 pounds counting yourself, so saving 10 pounds by spending more for a weaker frame makes no sense.

Don’t worry too much about weight. Your bike is going to be almost as fast as a racing bike anyway and you won’t be pedaling it much. Schwinn makes a “beach cruiser” frame in several configurations that are strong and cheap and work great. The cheapest Schwinn cruisers work about as well as the more expensive models. You won’t need more than one gear unless you just want more or anticipate pedaling long distances without the motor. The 7-speed models are a little easier to convert to a motorbike than the single speed models with coaster brakes, but either will work. You will want a better rack on it than Schwinn provides, so why pay for it twice? The object is to buy a frame that’s strong enough and large enough to make a good cargo hauler.

The big tires on cruiser frames are pretty good on dirt tracks, sand or mud and still give you a smooth ride on streets. I don’t advise mountain bike “knobby” tires unless you intend to ride off road on rough trails most of the time. You will probably prefer staying on roads to take advantage of higher speeds and you will appreciate the smoother ride. You can customize your bike for either purpose by getting an optional speed or power sprocket, but the standard 44 tooth rear sprocket is a pretty good compromise, with a top speed of something like 25mph and enough power to pull a trailer. (With the speed sprocket, you may find that your bike moves faster than you want to go on a cheap cruiser bike anyway. 25 mph is fast on a bike, but 35mph is scary on a bike.)

Get a good cargo carrying system. I have used both panniers and baskets and like them both. A pannier system is sort of like a large laptop case on each side of the rear wheel and perhaps another day-pack sized bag on top. If you choose baskets, you can mount a large one on the rack and two more bolted along the rear wheel. Whichever system you choose, A good rear rack is essential, so don’t scrimp and buy a cheap one. I recommend the “Topeak Explorer Bike Rack” which costs under $30 on Amazon. It’s not the best, but it’s inexpensive and well built. A good rack allows you to carry quite a lot of cargo. Don’t try to wear a backpack on a bike. It makes you top-heavy and unstable and tires you. I can fit a fully loaded day-pack or patrol pack easily in a basket on my rack and hardly notice the weight. The same weight on my back would be unsafe.

To be truly useful in a long term or EMP emergency, you should probably have a trailer for your bike. Even a baby-carrier allows you to haul at least four bags of groceries or a couple of Jerry cans of water or fuel with ease. You can fit a very heavy bug-out bag in one of these trailers with room and weight to spare. These bikes behave pretty well with a cargo trailer, you just have to keep your speed low enough to keep the trailer from self-destructing. I recommend the “Aosom Bicycle Bike Cargo Trailer-red and Black ” which costs about $130 on Amazon and carries up to 180 pounds. This trailer shouldn’t be hauled much faster than 15-20mph with a heavy load or it may break. Go easy on the throttle when you are hauling a trailer and really slow down if the road is bad.

Make sure your brakes are up to the task, especially with a trailer. Most bikes are made to go a maximum of 20 mph with a normal cruising speed of about 12 mph. You will be moving much faster than that. Accidents at 30mph are much more serious than accidents at 10mph. If you can find a bike with disk brakes, it will stop better, especially on wet roads. Be sure to wear a helmet and long pants.

Get an aftermarket spark plug. In fact, get a couple so you have spares. They are cheap. These bikes use a cheap Chinese plug and get a little better performance with a name-brand part. Spark gap is not critical. Gap your plug anywhere between .025″-.035 and it will work fine.

NGK B5HS or B7HS
Champion L86C
Autolite 4093 or 425

Clean out your gas tank before you mount it…at least look in there and see if it’s full of rust or dirt. One of my tanks was coated inside with motor oil and was full of metal filings. If the tank is rusted, put several hundred BBs or a length of chain in there and shake the tank for a few minutes to remove any loose rust and then wash the tank out with about 1/4 cup of fuel mix (being very careful! Gasoline is explosive.)

Remove the covers from both sides to expose the magneto and transmission and clean out any metal shavings you find. Re-grease the gears. You have to lube the gears periodically anyway, might as well start out right. You should grease the gears every 50 miles or so or they won’t last. You don’t need anything special. Any grease will work, but lithium grease comes highly recommended. A tube of grease will last you basically forever. You only use a tiny amount each time. In an emergency, you could probably use Crisco or tallow.

While you have the covers off, take a good look behind the magneto flywheel- there is a seal behind it, and if it is not properly seated, do that with a wooden dowel, not a screw driver. Just gently push it in evenly all the way around. Wipe out any dirt or metal shavings.

Use a fuel filter. Buy one if your kit doesn’t come with one. As TEOTWAWKI transportation, you never know when you will need to burn really dirty fuel. A fuel filter costs about 2 dollars and mounts in seconds. These engines don’t mind a little dirt, but sand in the fuel line can ruin them. Even a really cheap 80 cent filter makes your fuel system worry free.

A better aftermarket air filter might be a good idea if you anticipate riding in dusty conditions. They cost about $10 at any auto parts store or you can order it when you order your spare bike parts.

Make sure your chain is aligned and lubed. Take your time when you mount the rear sprocket. Keep it perfectly aligned and you will have a smoother ride and less wear. You can do this by spinning the wheel and holding a pencil against the sprocket. Tighten bolts next to high spots until the pencil makes a complete ring around the sprocket. It takes an extra 5 minutes but it’s worth the effort. After you ride the bike a couple of hours, check it again. Once your sprocket is aligned, put a drop of Locktite on each bolt and you can forget about your sprocket. It will stay aligned.

Don’t ever use WD-40 or other penetrating oils on your chain to lubricate it. They wash out the remaining real lube and then evaporate. Use any good chain oil or motor oil if you must and then wipe off the excess so the chain won’t pick up dirt as bad. The same goes for the pulley/tensioner. Don’t make the chain too tight. About 1″ of play is fine. You should probably wipe down and re-lube your chain about every 50 miles to keep road grit from wearing your sprockets and chain.

Use a thread-locker such as Locktite (or at least nail polish) on every bolt you ever touch with a wrench. Without it, bolts vibrate loose in no time. Even bolts with lock-washers should get a drop of locktite. Never over-tighten the head bolts, or any bolt that goes into aluminum- 10-to-15 ft/lbs. is enough. The locktite will keep everything secure and trouble free.

Carry tools. This is not a car. Bikes require frequent tinkering to keep rolling. You will need to carry a small tool kit to allow you to effect repairs on the road. I carry a leatherman, hex key-ring, spark plug wrench, bone wrench, spare cable, air pump, spare tube and patch kit and pliers (also a little tube of locktite). These tools (except for the spare tube and hand pump) fit conveniently in a US Army M16 cleaning kit pouch. I carry a length of 550 cord wound around the kit to allow me to hoist the bike if I ever need to. These are the same tools I use in my garage. With these few tools and parts I find that I can fix pretty much anything that can break. I have only used the kit twice, once to help another biker, and once to replace a broken clutch cable, but it was nice to have and takes up little space.

Armor your tires. Your tires are your weakest spot. TEOTWAWKI probably won’t have clean, litter free streets. Buy some self sealing tubes and tire armor and install them. Tire armor strips are heavy plastic strips that fit between the tire and inner-tube and prevent most punctures. All of the objections bikers have to these are related to the extra weight they add. Weight is not a problem for you, so feel free to armor plate your tubes. If you get a puncture, try to remove the object that caused it and then simply rotate the tire to place the leak at the lowest point and re-inflate the tire and it will probably seal itself. You should also carry a spare tube with your tool kit, just in case. It’s hard to patch self sealing tubes, so carry a standard weight tube as a spare. If the worst happens and you have an unsealable flat, you can be rolling again in less than 10 minutes.

If you buy lights for nigh time running, I recommend a LED battery system that can be quickly dismounted and used as a flashlight. Standardize your batteries with the ones you already store. Old-school generator lights are a pain to keep adjusted and running a light off the magneto is not as easy or useful as a system that dismounts.

SHAKE IT DOWN!
All bicycles need to be ridden before they are reliable. When you first buy a bike everything seems to go wrong for the first hundred miles or so. Things fall off or vibrate loose. You find that the seat hurts your backside, or the mirrors aren’t properly aligned. Put a couple of hundred miles on it so you break in the motor and get all your accessories working. At the end of the break-in, you will have a safe reliable ride. At that point, if you want, you can drain the fuel and mothball the bike for emergencies by letting some of the pressure out of the tires and hanging it up on hooks in your garage. It will be ready to fuel up and ride when you need it.

Spares:
To “systemize” your bike, you will need some spares. Any time you have to buy a part, buy a second one as a spare. You will want to keep spare inner tubes and a couple of tires, a spark plug, several spare brake cables and brake pads. You will want clutch pads too. A spare chain make sense. Ride your bike for a couple of hundred miles and you will have a good idea of which parts are starting to wear. You will also need some lubricants such as chain oil and grease.

Buy at least enough 2 stroke [gas mixing] oil for the gasoline you store. Five 5 gallon cans of gas and 25 x 4 oz bottles of oil will carry your bike 2,500 miles, or about 4 months of moderate (150 miles a week) around-town use. I would recommend storing twice that much oil and rotating it to allow you to continue another 2,500 miles range if you have the opportunity to fill your fuel cans occasionally. That way, you won’t have to resort to burning motor oil for a long time. You can lower the ratio of oil to gas slightly and gain some engine performance, but I use 1:32 mix (4 oz oil to a gallon of gas) and it works well enough.

If you ever have to burn motor oil, use normal 10W30 and increase the amount of oil to 1:16 (double the amount compared to 2 stroke oil). It will create clouds of gray smoke, and reduce your power slightly but it won’t hurt your engine. This is the recommended ratio from the manufacturer and is supposedly a common practice in China.

When gasoline is scarce or too expensive to afford, or the roads are choked by debris, a motorbike can give you the ability to move around your community freely even when cars can’t. In a pinch, it can haul a surprising amount of cargo over almost any terrain for very long distances. They are simple, cheap, durable and sip gas. You may be able to keep one rolling long after the cars stop. A motorbike may fit a niche in your survival strategy.

Three Letters Re: Four Great Preparedness Myths

JWR:
Reading over all the responses to Dan B.’s article, there seems to be a common misunderstanding of the foe we are facing. I have seen several failed states and disasters up close and they are nothing like a “B Movie”. Please don’t expect to face a disorganized mob of lightly armed refugees. The refugees are going congregate in a town nearby. They are not going to storm your cabin, they are going to vote in a town meeting to send professionals to do it.

There may be “raiders” in the form of biker gangs or prison escapees (think The Road Warrior), ravaging your area. If so, you have a slight (but possible ) chance of standing them off with a determined armed response. Outlaw raiders suffer from all of the faults pointed out in the recent response letters. They will be too selfish to risk death, and not cohesive as a unit. They may also move on to easier pickings if you bloody their noses. The trouble is, Mutant Zombie Biker (MZB) gangs are almost a fantasy enemy. I don’t see outlaw gangs as the primary foe.

The enemy that will approach your homestead will be wearing a badge and smiling. He may be a deacon in your church. He will politely knock on your door and show you a paper that authorizes him to search your property for “hoarded food” and fuel. He will probably have a small group of workers and a truck, but may not even be armed. He will be apologetic. He’s “just doing his job”. What are you going to do? Shoot him?

If you choose to refuse his reasonable request, you are a criminal. The polity that sent him, (probably a town council) will put out a warrant for your arrest. They may not have enough food, but they have other resources, like weapons and manpower. They can deputize hundreds of men if they need to. The very fact that you are not letting them search your property will be enough justification to use whatever force they require. Remember, the Mayor or council, doesn’t have to storm your homestead. They are in no danger of being shot. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain from sending in the dogs of war.

Their “professionals” may be a sheriff and a small police department and you might even be so arrogant that you think you can beat them in a firefight. But remember, the local town sheriff is not alone. He can request assistance from the county, or state. And he will. No sheriff can let a group of nuts with rifles defy him with impunity. He must take you down or risk losing his authority or even his job. He will get help in the form of heavy weapons and troops from the national guard if he needs it. You may be facing a Bradley [Infantry Fighting Vehicle] platoon, or an artillery barrage, not a starving mob.

A local government is never going to “move on to easier pickings if you shoot a few.” That’s because they are going to systematically search every building…not just the easy ones. You literally can’t fight city hall (and expect to win).

I know this is hard to think about, but please believe me: An infantry squad or a SWAT team will defeat you if you plan to fight from a fixed defense. Dan B. is absolutely right. You can’t win, no matter how much ammo you store. You are much better off storing more food. – JIR

Dear Mr. Rawles:
With regard to the thought of BG in his comments on Four Great Preparedness Myths, I recall Bruce Clayton in “Thinking About Survival “, relating his evolution as a survivalist, finally considering securing enough wheat to feed every family in a five mile radius from his homestead for one year. (pp. 21-26). One aspect of his rationale bears on this issue: “…(my neighbors) might not form a very effective fighting force by military standards, but at least I’d know that anyone who started taking potshots at my windows would soon have one of my neighbors getting into position behind him. It wouldn’t just be (my family) and me against the world any more”. BTW, I strongly recommend this book to one and all. Very thoughtful, very thought provoking. – Skyrat

Dear Jim and Family,
Thanks to articles on Polities, defending against the Golden Horde, and Greece, I have to conclude there are some very different, and probably equally viable ways to get through this enduring crisis we call the Great Recession (which is still not over). Some of the outcomes have been rather surprising. I did not, for example, expect the price of oil to drop. Its running out, after all, so you’d think it would go up and up. Greece and the rest of the EU depression has drastically cut demand so the price has fallen. This will only happen until the oil producing nations cut production so they can hang onto what they’ve still got for their children.

Thirty years ago, in 1980, the conventional wisdom for dealing with TEOTWAWKI was “beans and bullets”. That’s not so much the best way now. This is a multigenerational collapse, but it’s not a Golden Horde MZB collapse. It’s a Great Depression type, perhaps similar to what has happened in Japan for the last 20 years. Japan has been in and out (but mostly in) Recession since 1990. The population endures long term unemployment. They tried to cheer themselves up, and have finally moved to saving their money in the mattress rather than buy things they don’t need. We are looking at much the same thing. Manufacturing jobs have moved overseas to benefit multinational corporations. Our only defense against them is to refuse to buy their products. Those same multinationals somehow convinced (Bribed?) our government to bail them out when their bets went South, but they always kept the profits when things were good. We have to hold our government responsible for that. The poll results of the primaries have certainly shown we don’t like what they’ve done. I think it highly unlikely the current president will get a second term. He’s made Jimmy Carter look successful, and that’s really saying something.

The good news is that this multigenerational collapse is so slow moving that the fears of a population panicking and turning into the Golden Horde hasn’t happened and probably won’t. They have lots of time to adjust to the new reality, a return to poorer roots. It will be hardest for today’s teenagers, raised on limitless wealth and materialism. Some here refer to spiritual defense. In this case I’d agree. A spiritual defense against materialism is definitely called for. If we fail in this, those same youth will be hurting us to get what they want via gangs and mafia and even simple burglary or falling into drugs and prostitution, which is typically a short trip into the next life, such as it is. It is easy to say: respect their choices and let them die. But we do need them. We need them to work and reshape our world into something which can exist without cheap energy and easy solutions. We can’t throw money at a problem until it goes away. That was how our parents did things, and look where that got us. We have to do better. It’s our job now.

The only ways through the current mess of enduring Recession (Depression) is 1) hide or 2) lead. Leading is easier and cheaper. Hiding may end up making you a target, once your position is known. You can build the rural complex, and call it a farm and start bartering with your neighbors, but eventually the tax man or the burglar will come and the wrong choice at the wrong time will lose the farm or get you locked away, maybe both. This is the biggest downside to the firearms collection. It has very limited utility, and a very small legal window, particularly because Rule Of Law is not suspended during our Long Recession and probably won’t be. We don’t get to have easy answers. We get to have hard ones. That’s the biggest and most unpleasant truth to this Multigenerational Collapse. If you lead you have a chance to change the course and fix the mistakes and say no when it must be said.

The good news is once the current generation of materialist twits, and the past generation that caused this collapse have either grown up or faded away, ourselves and a generation without the conceits of easy materialism can build a serious future that will actually work, one without cheap oil, celebrity worship, and cultural antagonism. Why am I so optimistic? This isn’t optimism. It’s pragmatism.

The Recession is a temper tantrum. It will end when we stop clinging to a past that isn’t going to get better. We have to embrace a future built on honest labor, clean water, local agriculture, local manufacturing, rail transport, and renewable energy. No more money to angry Middle Eastern tyrants, hypocritical Asian capitalists, African pirates, or pretentious Venezuelans. Our government has shown itself incompetent dealing with those threats. Those things aren’t our concern any more. There is no point in continuing to pay for failure.

We really should let our leaders know that the world needs to take care of itself, and we should take care of ourselves. As is the case in business, being first is often the way to succeed. If you’ve shaken off the yoke of materialism, you have a real chance to lead the rest of your generation out of this mess and end the collapse, at least locally, sooner. I really do think we’ll end up locally bootstrapping ourselves out of this, that relying even slightly on Washington DC to fix it is childish. We have to be grownups here, because they can’t be. They’re trapped into the image of a lost age, one that’s well and truly over. Best, – InyoKern

Economics and Investing:

Volcker Says Time Is Running Out for U.S. to Tackle Fiscal Woe. (Our thanks to RBS for the link.)

Chester suggested this bit of frank commentary: The Morality of the Financial Monetary System is Really What is Broken

Brett G. flagged this bit of “recovery” news: Week’s unemployment claims jump to 471,000

Items from The Economatrix:

Ticking Time Bomb: $600 Trillion in Derivatives at Risk

Next Year’s Federal Budget Sinking in Deep Red Ink

Reforming Fannie and Freddie Will Slam Home Prices

Germany’s ‘Desperate’ Short Ban Triggers Capital Flight to Switzerland

Fading of Inflation Helps Buyers and Borrowers

Food Price Inflation to Spur Zombie Takeover

Odds ‘n Sods:

Estimate for Nashville property damage from flood tops $1.9 billion. The eventual insurance tab may surpass the New Orleans flooding, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina!

   o o o

Nic mentioned that the excellent Gun Test consumer review magazine has come out with a new online magazine – Gun Reports – to cover the multiplicity of guns and gear that can’t fit in their print magazine:

   o o o

Savings Experiment: Where better batteries meet bargain power. (Thanks to Matt in Oklahoma for the link.)

   o o o

Judy T. was the first of several readers to send this: US rifles not suited to warfare in Afghan hills. My congrats to Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic, who got the technical details right in reporting this complex issue.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." – 2 Corinthians 1:2-4

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 28 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include:

First Prize: A.) 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com. (A $275 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Federal 5.56mm XM193 55 Grain FMJ ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo. This is a $199 value, and includes free UPS shipping.

Second Prize: A.) 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 $400, and B.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 28 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Use the Ground You Live on for More Than Walking, by John Z.

I’ve learned that the best way to obtain much needed resources is to look on the ground.

Food
We grow a large garden at two sites for my family. We can and preserve what we will use later and eat the stuff from the grocery now while it’s cheap.
The fruits and veggies we consume come from the ground. We box in one area, add proper compost, manure, sand and dirt and then till until we get the proper texture for the different plants we grow. All the while the ground is the entire reason for this. Everything we use for our gardening techniques starts from the ground.
Rabbits and chickens for meat and eggs walk the same ground we use to fertilize our gardens. We feed the rabbits and chickens leaves, stalks and any inedible bits from the garden to minimize the cost of feed. Again, it starts from the ground and ends back on the ground when the critters are done with it.

Water
Of all the countries I’ve traveled during my military career, water is one of the hardest, if not most impossible commodities to come across. However, we all literally walk on water every day.
Our forefathers were able to drink from rivers and streams during their time. My grandfather was able to drink from rivers and streams as a boy because they weren’t polluted with chemical and pesticide runoff like they are today. However, some of that same “dirty” water is filtered with, well, dirt.
Dig deep enough and you will find water in most climb and place. The deserts of the Middle East have natural springs scattered throughout their vast terrain. The mountains of South America have water running through them. The plains of the central United States sit atop one of the largest water reservoirs in the world.
Again, look at the ground for what it is. It’s your helper for almost everything you NEED.
One thing I’ve realized, and it should have been common sense, is that if rain water is absorbed by the ground and filtered through layer after layer of sand, gravel, sediment and rock, we should be able to mimic this same natural process to help us obtain clean water to use during TEOTWAWKI.

I’ve seen nothing on the Internet to demonstrate how to do this, but the way I figure it, do it in stages. Filter water through a 55 gallon drum filled with sand. A drainage hole at the bottom would allow the first stage of water to flow into another container. Dump that container into another drum filled with gravel. Repeat process until you have sent it through multiple stages. I’m not 100 percent certain, but what you should end up with is usable water for feeding animals and cleaning. If all goes well enough you might end up with water that can be boiled, cooled and then used for drinking and cooking. The boiling should remove the final remnants of bacteria that escaped the natural filtering process.
This is just a thought but as of yet I haven’t found anything to prove it wouldn’t work. I’m sure with enough attempts someone will get it right and it will work for the benefit of others. And I’m also certain you have readers who are familiar if not experts in this field that can write something to help this along.

Food storage
We store most our canned goods underground in a root cellar. It’s a genuine cave that stays generally the same temperature year round, with the exception of winter when the cold air settles into the cellar. But nothing has frozen or spoiled since we’ve been doing this.
Our larder grows larger by the month because of our ability to keep our food fresher underground than in the cupboards in our kitchen. When we need something to feed our family, which all growing families generally do, we go underground to get it.

Alternate living spaces
During the summer months in the Midwest the humidity can sometimes be unbearable. Some families have adopted to live in their basements to stay cooler. Others have moved kitchens into their basements to avoid heating an entire house while cooking. Still others aren’t lucky enough to have this retreat built into their homes.

A place to escape
As much as I hate to admit it, I’m scared to death of thunderstorms in my neck of the woods because they generally create a few tornadoes.
I’ve lived in tornado alley for more than four years now and my home has so far gone untouched by one, but I’ve lost sections of fence and a couple windows from the high winds. When a tornado siren starts sounding its alarm we retreat to our basement. It offers us as much protection as we need to avoid flying debris and broken glass.
Also, a basement is a great place to store the first part of your G.O.O.D. supplies and anything you will need for the long haul if you bug out in place. Aside from escaping natural disasters, a basement offers protection from an intruder.
I would never flee in the face of adversity, but if I had to choose “run, run away but live to fight another day” I would haul tail to a place I can reorganize and resupply. My basement is that place for me and mine.

A meeting place
What a better place than a hole in the ground to meet like-minded individuals to discuss plans on how to defend your community. Where else can you think of that offers more protection or privacy than a cave or in modern terms, a basement. Where else can you store an entire supply of goods and materials that will last and you have easy access to. Privacy is preached on this site almost as commonly on how and why to store what and how much of any certain item. A quiet corner of your basement is a great place to invite friends to talk about what to do in these uncertain times. I’ve got few friends whom I trust enough to see my basement. It’s a secret place for me and my family because it offers us a place to live and breathe. So choose who you open your cave’s door to wisely.

Just a final thought
I’ve eaten from it, off it and slept on it. It grows the food I need and filters the water I drink. What more can you ask for?
I’m no ground dweller, but I see the benefits of using what the good Lord gave me to my advantage because one day I will return to the same stuff I’m made up of.