Infant Feeding For Your Emergency Preparedness Plan, by LizzyQ

As a mother of two young children, including an infant, I have considered the possibilities of emergency preparedness when it comes to how my baby will be fed in times of emergency. I’ve decided that breastfeeding your baby from the beginning is the best and safest option for parents when planning for their emergencies based on economic cost, the quality of nutrition, and the safety of breast milk when water quality is questionable. I have experience as a breastfeeding counselor and help mothers learn and prepare for nursing their babies on a daily basis. I have made a list of how mothers can best prepare to have success with breastfeeding as a part of their family’s emergency preparedness plan. 

There are several ways moms can get a good start with learning to nurse her baby. Some of these include:

  1. Breastfeed right after birth. It is best to nurse within the first hour of birth, preferably with skin-to-skin contact. Mothers should also consider the environment they are birthing in. Is it a hospital that encourages breastfeeding? Do you have a certified nurse midwife? Is there a lactation consultant available? These are important considerations when planning a successful beginning to breastfeeding. There are many options for mothers to consider, and it’s not my place to say what is “best” but only that it does matter.
  1. Watch for baby’s signs of hunger, instead of the clock. Sometimes nurses will tell you to feed every two hours, however every baby is different and you should nurse on-demand instead of timing feedings. Two hours is a minimum amount, and most babies will want to nurse more frequently. It is also important not to let your baby sleep all the time and make sure they are nursing often. A very sleepy baby could be a sign of trouble that needs to be looked at by their doctor.
  1. Breastfeeding is “Supply and Demand” The more you nurse, the more milk you will make. Many new mothers have a hard time believing they are making enough milk because they are unable to measure it in a bottle, but the vast majority of women are capable of making plenty of milk for their babies; it is very rare for a mother to truly not be able to produce enough.
  1. Get support from your family, friends, and support groups. There are breastfeeding support groups in many communities. La Leche League is a great one, and they are all over the world. Husbands, partners and friends should know to offer support instead of telling the mother to “just give them some formula” when things get difficult. If a serious problem occurs, there are lactation consultants who can offer solutions.
  1. Don’t set yourself up to fail. New moms sometimes receive formula, bottles, pacifiers and breast pumps for baby shower gifts from well-meaning friends and family. All these things can set a mother up to fail in those harder early weeks of learning to breastfeed. An exhausted mother may see a cupboard full of formula and give in while she is tired and has sore nipples, thus setting herself up for supply issues. Because making milk is supply and demand, every ounce of formula given to a baby is telling her body to make that much less breast milk. Sooner or later there will not be enough to meet the demands of the infant and he or she would be fully formula fed (this is not always the case, but I find it happens all too often).

The major reason women stop breastfeeding, in my experience with working with new moms, is lack of information and support. It is critical that mothers receive support from their family, especially their husbands/partners, if they are to be successful. Often fathers want to feed the baby themselves and they believe that this would be helping the mother and so they can bond with their baby. This is not necessary for helping mother and bonding, and can, in fact, be harmful to the nursing relationship. It is important in the early weeks to not give a newborn baby a bottle because they can develop what is called “nipple confusion” or “nipple preference.” Rubber/artificial nipples and mother’s nipples are very different. Babies must work at getting milk from their mother, whereas with an artificial nipple the milk flows out. Some babies may prefer the milk that flows out because they don’t have to work for it, this can and does cause babies to stop nursing and only accept milk from a bottle. Parents who want their baby to be able to take a bottle and still nurse should wait 4-6 weeks before introducing a bottle or pacifier to their baby in order to avoid this.

Now that you know some ways to get a good start with breastfeeding, here are some reasons why it is important to include breastfeeding in your emergency preparedness plan for your infant.

  1. Formula is expensive, breast milk is free! In times of economic hardship breastfeeding is the very most economical way to feed an infant. Even in disaster situations where formula companies are more than willing to give free formula to babies in need, mothers will eventually find that when the formula runs out, so has their breast milk! Continuing to nurse, even with free formula around, is ensuring that your baby will have adequate nutrition as long as he or she is nursing.
  2. Breast milk provides complete nutritional needs for infants. Breast fed babies do not need anything but mother’s milk for the first six months of life. After six months solid foods can be introduced, but babies should still be getting most of their nutrition from breast milk until the first year. The World Health Organization believes that all children of the world, both in third world countries and developed countries, should be breast fed until age two and then as long as the mother and child want to continue beyond the age of two. That may sound like a long time to most Americans, but it is very normal to breastfeed past two years in many parts of the world.
  1. Breast milk is sanitary, and it provides immunities to prevent illness. In times where water supplies are scarce or contaminated, breast milk is the safest option for infant feeding. Formula needs to be mixed with clean water in sanitized bottles. If there is not enough clean water or fuel to sanitize the water, the baby may be put at risk for illness. Furthermore, breast milk contains important antibodies to keep the child as healthy as possible during these times.

It is also noteworthy that lactating mothers require slightly more calorie intake than non-lactating mothers. This is approximately 500 extra calories a day. Lactating mothers should also consider a prenatal multivitamin for the duration of breastfeeding. Therefore, it would be wise to plan food storage accordingly.

There are a couple book recommendations that pregnant and lactating mothers might want to purchase or check out from the library. My favorite “How-To” books are, “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding” by La Leche League and “The Breastfeeding Book” by Martha Sears.

I hope that families who are expecting a child, either now or someday in the future, consider this article as a helpful incentive to breastfeed their babies. There are so many reasons to breastfeed and emergency preparedness is just one of the many, but should absolutely be taken into consideration when planning for your family’s needs for any potential disaster; economic, natural, or otherwise.

About the author: Lizzy is a La Leche League Leader and breastfeeding peer counselor, as well as a mother with personal breastfeeding experience. She is in the process of completing her clinical hours to become an IBCLC certified lactation consultant.

Letter Re: Concealing Gender in a G.O.O.D. Situation?

James,
As a wife and mother of a pre-teen daughter, how important is it to hide the fact that we are female in a G.O.O.D. scenario?

In considering this idea I realize that in the “flee natural disaster” situation it would be less of a concern. Perhaps it only applies to a bad TEOTWAWKI evacuation. What are your thoughts, ideas on this? When would it be necessary, how far would we need to go to disguise our female appearance, etc?

We have thought of everything from mildly sticking to athletic/hiking clothing that are form fitting but don’t show skin, to cutting our daughter’s hair before heading out and calling her by a male nickname that is close to her real name and buying all her BOB gear in masculine colors, and so forth.

We have also considered the pros and cons of letting it be known that I am a female to draw attention away from my beautiful daughter while she is “hidden”. As a mother I would suffer anything to protect my kids, especially if we were without my husband (geographically separated, killed…) We also thought we might appear more sympathetic if they can see we are just a mom and kids instead of what appears to be armed men and boys coming at them.

Please tell me if this is something our family needs to consider in our planning. Thank you, – R.

JWR Replies: The last thing that you want to become is a refugee, moving cross-country on foot. But God forbid that ever happens, then yes, it would be wise to make females look like a teenage boys. BTW, in addition to butch haircuts, some judicious use of eyebrow pencil should help.

Economics and Investing:

Damon sent this: Impasse Over Derivatives Slows Senate Banking Bill

Also from Damon: U.S. health insurers’ Credit Default Swaps widen after reform

From G.G.: Sales of New U.S. Homes Dropped in February to Lowest on Record

Items from The Economatrix:

Stocks Fall After Agency Cuts Portugal’s Debt Rating

New Homes Sales Hit a Low; Durable Goods Orders Up

Oil Settles Below $81 on Jump in US Crude Supplies

US Has Lost 2.4 Million Jobs to China

The Tipping Point at Zero

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson forwarded this: Record numbers now licensed to pack heat; The “right-to-carry” movement has succeeded in boosting the number of licensed concealed-gun carriers to about 6 million. Mike’s favorite quote from the article: “Because the gun death rates parallel an overall drop in crime, Hemenway suspects that the decline ‘has nothing to do with concealed-carry laws.'” Mike’s comment: “Did a PhD actually say that?”

   o o o

Attention Coloradans: Reader P.M. in Colorado suggested a “private party” sales venue where he has both sold and purchased guns. Note that interstate sales of post-1898 guns without using an FFL is illegal, but intrastate sales between private parties are perfectly legal in most states. (Be sure to consult your state laws, first!) JWR Adds: In my experience, two other good sources for private party guns are GunsAmerica.com and GunBroker.com.

   o o o

Eric S. sent this item: Amid budget crisis, California makes parole easier – Yahoo! News. Eric commented: “24,000 prisoners released in one year due to budget cuts, not rehabilitation. and this will not affect the public’s safety?”

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves." – D.H. Lawrence

Note from JWR:

Reader Jeff D. mentioned that he noticed that SurvivalBlog is now in the top 7,500 US web sites’ traffic ranking, on Alexa. Thanks for making the blog such a great success! Every link helps.

—

Today we present another entry for Round 27 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 HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Luger, 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo. This is a $249 value.

Second Prize: 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 $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 27 ends on March 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.

Kids and Sleep During a Crisis, by AK. in Texas

We live in Tornado Alley which means we’ve had more than a few opportunities to break out the 72 hour kits and find out what works and what doesn’t. However, one thing we were surprised to find was that we hadn’t figured out what to do when the crisis extends through bedtime, or when it occurs while the kids are asleep. If you have to “hunker down” during a crisis, it’ll take a while for you or the kids to get sleepy. For the adults, this isn’t that big a deal, but when children miss sleep, they have a tendency to become cranky and irritable. Since that is the last thing adults need, here is some things we learned, both from emergency situations and from co-sleeping with our children when they were younger, that might help give other folks some ideas to take care of this aspect of preparedness.

* Let them snuggle up to you – touch helps many children feel more secure. I’ve had children fall asleep with their back against mine, or with just the top of their head touching my leg. It helped me calm down as well since it helped me keep tabs on them while they were asleep (I’m a light sleeper when my kids are sleeping in the room with me).

* Light massage – Depending on the child, a light massage on the neck or even brushing hair away from the face can relax a child enough to sleep. I’ve found it works well with toddlers and young children. I think my older kids would look at me funny if I tried that with them now.

* Smaller babies can be held or swung – My husband would hold our babies in his arms and gently swing them back and forth in front of him. This was the only way he could put them to sleep when they were with him. I couldn’t duplicate that effect, but in a way I had it easier. All I had to do was hold them on my chest and they would fall asleep.

* Keep a routine as much as possible – Routines help children feel secure, not to mention learn that everything has a time, including sleep. In a crisis, this need becomes even more pronounced, so try to keep routines the same as much as possible, even if the location is different.

* Create a transition time – Create a space between regular activities and bedtime when the television is off, communication equipment is turned down or moved so that the kids won’t focus as much on it (very difficult that one), any games are quiet, and bedtime is clearly acknowledged as coming soon, even for parents.

* Be aware of their security or lack thereof during the day – Watch to see how your children are handling the changes that come with a crisis. Doing what you can to make sure they feel secure during the day will help when the darkness arrives, visibility is lessened and the only security they see is their little group in the glow of the lantern.

* If children are used to sleeping alone, give them some space before bed – Sometimes, again depending on the child and most definitely with older children, it might help to create boundaries, even if it is just “their space” around their sleeping bag. Our kids go through this in phases, though this need for personal space seems to grow as the children do.

* Try to all go to sleep together as a family – Though there may be a need to stay abreast of information or keep watch, try to make sure one parent or adult member of the family goes to sleep at the same time as the kids. Kids live by example and if you don’t make sleep a priority when the time comes, they won’t put much emphasis on it either.

There are also a few things we’ve found help in non-crisis, day to day life that make sleeping or just resting more feasible in a crisis situation.

* Have a routine – We have seven kids, and I’ve learned that the freewheeling schedules I grew up with don’t help when life truly goes crazy. One would think it would go the other way, but our experience has been that when you don’t have a scheduled bedtime it is far too easy to let all sorts of things slide in a crisis. And if the kids have been taught that any time is good for anything, it puts added stress on the parents who may need that time to talk or just relax for a moment (not to mention possibly getting a few winks in themselves). This is true of more than just bedtime. Meals made at the same, general time every day, traditions that surround little events (like prayer before meals or a small routine regarding when a person leaves the house) and other regular, scheduled events give a child structure and a sense of control in a world that has far more chaos than order in it. These schedules and routines should have some amount of flexibility, obviously, but when a tornado warning is announced or a flash flood is creeping along your street, you’ll have something to modify as opposed to chaos and the terror that comes with it.

* In line with this, have a consistent nap time – Sometimes we let it go, depending on the child. But every time I let a kid fall asleep at 4pm I regretted it that night.

* Make clean up part of bedtime – I didn’t grow up in a house that made at least clearing a path through the room part of the evening routine. I’ve tried to do that with my kids and it’s been a lifesaver when a tornado warning came in the middle of the night. I can’t imagine trying to herd sleepy kids to a safe location while trying to step over toys, clothes, and/or assorted games. Because the floor has been clear, I’ve been able to pick toddlers up out of bed with minimal wake-up, giving them and me a greater chance they’ll fall asleep again soon (this depends on the kid but at the very least it provided a smooth transition to waking up and kept them calm… at best we have had children fall right back asleep once settled in).

* Turn off the television as much as possible – We all know these things (television, video games, Internet) are highly addictive. Much has already been written about that, but I’ll just add that when we keep television restricted to the weekends our kids sleep better, especially our boys. One son in particular has a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night if he watches too much television. I have no idea why but for our family this is true.

* Spend time with them during the day – I know in our current culture it’s very difficult to spend time with your kids. I’m lucky in that I get to stay home with my kids while my husband works. Getting used to being around kids all day (and often at night if they aren’t feeling well) is another essay in itself, but I just want to add that whether or not you stay home with them, it’s very easy to push them aside — yes, even stay-at-home parents. Spending time with them during the day, whether it’s making a meal together, playing a game, teaching them a skill or just doing chores, teaches you more about your individual child’s temperament (very useful in a crisis situation) and, we’ve found, makes bedtime less of a problem.

* Get some sleep yourself – I know I mentioned this in the earlier section regarding a crisis, but I mention it again because kids really do live by example. Our kids never had any illusions about fun and exciting stuff that went on after they went to sleep because once or twice I would let the kids stay up while I got ready for bed (I made it clear that when I went to bed, they did as well). They learned pretty fast that nothing exciting happened after their bedtime, and that mom and dad got tired just like they did.

Two Letters Re: Semi-Anonymous Internet Access

Sir,
Introductory Note: Some of the activities suggested in this letter may not be legal in your country or your US State. Please ensure that you are familiar with any related laws before attempting any of the methods outlined below. They are therefore provided for information only:

With regard to the recent article on semi-anonymous Internet access and the use of wi-fi, by Jeff T:

I agree with many of the suggestions in this article, but also wanted to expand on these and identify a number of possible additional risks associated with using wi-fi connectivity.

Ben from Tennessee is quite right that one of the biggest “finger prints” left behind on public wireless networks is the MAC address of the wireless interface within the PC, indeed many pay-to-use public wi-fi systems use the MAC as part of the browsing session validation process, so linking and storing details of the MAC used to any account details (when, where, how long, and more importantly what public IP address was used connecting to the Internet). The MAC is “burned” into every network interface at the time of manufacture (wired and wireless) and is unique to that device – effectively its DNA or finger print.

There are a number of ways that you can “hide” your real MAC address online (wired and wi-fi – and you may want to consider the wired option if staying in hotels with wired only connectivity etc), but one of the simplest for users of Microsoft Windows is SMAC. I have no relationship with this company, other than having paid for and used their products over many years, both personally and professionally). This tool allows you to change the MAC address of your wired and wireless interfaces’ through a Windows based application. Regular changing of your MAC address is the first step to reducing the audit trail of wi-fi connectivity you leave behind – especially if you use free to access/non pay-to-use/no-need-to-register systems.

There is a “feature” of Microsoft Windows, when wi-fi is enabled, that a lot of people do not know about! (Yes, I know we should all be using some form of Linux, I prefer Ubuntu & Gentoo, but this is aimed at those who are happy with “Bill” and lack some of the technical ability required to move to a Linux based system – at least initially).

When a wireless enabled PC running Microsoft Windows is unable to find any wi-fi access point (hot spot) with which to connect, it can (at least in its default configuration) actively seek one out. To do this it sends out provocative wireless signals attempting to connect with a network it has previously connected with. It will cycle through all of the network identities (names) it has previously worked with. All of these packets are sent in the clear and can be captured by anyone with a simple wireless tool running in “sniffing mode” nearby. The key issue here is that all of the network names you have connected with are disclosed cyclically over a few minutes. Coupled with an online resource such as WiGLE, this information can be used to establish a profile of the PC owner – where you live, work, eat, drink coffee, go to the gym etc, anywhere you use your portable PC with wi-fi. You may want to check to see if your home or employers wi-fi access point is on WiGLE?

Another aspect of wi-fi seldom considered by most people relates to OPSEC [and COMSEC]. In a localized grid down situation it is pretty obvious who has power in my neighborhood, as their wi-fi access point is clearly powered up and sending wireless signals that reach several hundred yards away – those access points on higher floors of high rise buildings, or those up the hill with a clear line of site to my house, go even further. Since the central office is still up on batteries or generator, these people keep their ADSL router on to maintain access to the Internet, and since they normally use wi-fi to connect with their PC’s, they continue to do so. Whilst this may not be so much of an issue for those “in the wilds” it is an issue for those in urban and sub-urban environments, where the neighbors, or more correctly their battery powered laptop powered up to watch a DVD or listen to a CD, spotting your access point could bring unwanted attention to your front door?

In my neighborhood with the majority of wi-fi hot spots (>98%) off due to the power failure, the signals from the few that are still working appear to go that much further, due to the greatly reduced interference. You may want to try this the next time the power goes off in your neighborhood – you will be amazed when you see all of these new, but very weak, wireless signals from those with UPS systems and back-up power within ~½ a mile of your home. Those that use their business names as the wireless network identity really stick out, as do the people who name their home wi-fi networks after the family name or home address (e.g. “Holmes home network” – I can look you up in the phone book, or even worse “128_Western_Avenue” – I can read a map!)

You also need to remember that even with the access point turned off, the client PC (or Macintosh etc.) will be sending out those provocative wireless signals in an attempt to connect with “something”. These signals can also be detected and give your location away, along with the fact you have access to power & working technology! This is especially a problem if your PC is set up to allow client to client connections over wi-fi (also known as “ad-hoc” connectivity – you may have this turned on by default) A simple Windows PC nearby will spot this device easily – and what did you call your client PC, another possible OPSEC leak? I did wonder if this could have been an issue with “movie night” in your novel, “Patriots“, though the remote location probably reduced the risks?

To prevent any wireless signal becoming a problem you should always be sure to turn off any wireless capability (Wi-fi, Bluetooth, WiMax etc) if you are not using it, if only to save on the battery drain, and remember to do it at both ends of the link. This is equally true for PC’s, Mobile phones, PDA’s, and if you have a much newer car – its integrated Bluetooth/hands free capabilities too !

On a more general level, there are many PC related problems with achieving anonymity on the Internet, with processor IDs (turn this off in the BIOS), TPMs (Trusted Platform Modules – an embedded secure crypto-processor on the latest models – turn it off), License ID’s – Operating systems, including automatic software updates etc, and a whole host of other “meta data” that gets sent with all of our network traffic. Ask what is your online media player or virus guard/firewall downloading for you in the background whilst you thought you were being anonymous? For the more technically minded and PC savvy, downloading a copy of Wireshark to your PC can be quite enlightening, and frightening when you see what it is doing “in the background” over the network to which you are connected.

Certainly buying an older laptop PC and using this (with an ever changing MAC address) can go some way to achieving local anonymity when using wi-fi, but you still have issues with data remaining on the PC that is resent at a later date, and this is less than ideal. It is possible to run most PC’s without a hard drive – just physically remove it yourself, delete it in the BIOS, unplug it – leaving it in place in the laptop, or just buy a used PC from a company that has already removed it as part of their disposal security procedures.

Using another working and Internet connected PC you can download and “burn” a bootable CD or DVD (sometimes called an “ISO image”) that will give you a complete operating system with Internet access and an email client. It does everything your “normal” PC does, but when you switch this off it will not retain any historical data, and when you restart it, it will always boot “clean” with no residual meta-data from your previous online activities – you can transfer any data you wish to retain to a USB thumb drive, suitably encrypted of course, but never import this back onto the “anonymous” PC!

If you do not feel confident with doing this yourself, you can download or purchase bootable disc’s that are sold as simple “data recovery” tools – these are mostly Linux boot disks that help you to recover your data from the hard drive if Windows fails. They work quite well as anonymous operating systems if you take the correct precautions and should only cost a few dollars at most. You do not want or need professional level tools, and many are available pre-configured for your specific make and model of laptop (these are the ones you typically pay for). Put the disk in, hit the power button, and less than a minute later you have something that looks a bit like Windows, and after a few minutes getting familiar with it you should be browsing the Internet.

Finally there is a “whole other article” on anonymous proxy methods (e.g. TOR) which should be used in conjunction with all of the above methods when attempting some form of anonymity on the Internet.

The reality check with all of this is: If you are being specifically targeted by the authorities (or “hacker community”) there is little you can do to prevent yourself from being monitored, especially if you repeatedly conduct all of your online activities from a specific location (e.g. this could be a single wi-fi hot spot in the library, or a wider town area with multiple wi-fi connection points).

Only the “perpetual traveler” without a known itinerary or means of having their travel activities traced can hope to begin to achieve true anonymity online using these techniques, but that should not stop us from taking the most basic steps to maintaining our where possible.

Kind Regards, – Ian

 

SurvivalBloggers:
In response to the letter, Semi-Anonymous Internet Access: Connecting to publicly available wireless networks (or piggybacking on an unsecured, private wireless network) does add a degree of anonymity – but comes with a few caveats.
1) It may be illegal where you are. Anything illegal you do may put the owner of the access point into legal trouble as well. The law is generally poorly worded or undefined when it comes to the area of ownership of wireless access. Do your research.
2) Professionally maintained wireless access points will have audit logs, which may include time and date of access, MAC address, computer name or user name, customer identifier (if any), and what sites you visited. Never do anything that would connect your identity to that audit trail.
3) Unless secured by another method (such as HTTPS, used by e-mail providers and online vendors) connecting to an unprotected wireless access point exposes you to the risk of someone eavesdropping your internet activity, or possibly even infecting your computer with viruses. Be security minded.
4) Just like using the public computer at the library, you lose anonymity if you establish a routine. Connecting to the same network every day means, should someone be trying to find you, they just have to watch that network and wait for you to attach yourself to it.
5) As JWR’s son mentioned, doing anything which connects to your personal identity, or engaging in a routine you engage on elsewhere, will eliminate your anonymity. Criminals have been prosecuted for crimes because they paused long enough to check a friend’s facebook page. Limit the work you do during that session to what you must do, preferably downloading it to your hard disk rather than reading it “live”, so you can disconnect and leave. The more time you’re connected, the more you’re vulnerable.

Using someone else’s wireless internet access is perhaps the easiest way to greatly decrease your internet signature. There is the problem of the MAC address. A MAC address is a code programmed into your wireless network card. The easiest way to change it is to buy a new network card, but that gets expensive. For many cards, it’s possible to find a utility (oftentimes not by the vendor) that changes the MAC address on that card. Find it, download it, learn to use it. There is nothing illegal about changing your MAC address.

JWR’s son was also correct that the easiest way to sidestep data leakage is to do as the government does it – one computer for sensitive (personal) data, and one computer with no personal data. You may take data from the non-personal over to the personal, but never ever transfer anything from the personal computer to the non-personal, and never ever use the non-personal to visit your favorite web sites (e-mail, facebook, gaming sites, work-related sites, blogs, etc.) Your web visiting habits are as individual as a fingerprint. Wear gloves.

Some other ways to get privacy – download and use The Onion Router (TOR). TOR is perfectly legal [in most locales], but jumps your connection through 10 or 20 other random connections, so the data is effectively scrambled. It isn’t a cure-all, because it can be circumvented, with the right know-how.

Use a minimalist browser. “The more plumbing the easier it is to spring a leak” is very true with computers. Tomcat is an example of a browser that permits text-only. Using it in combination with tools like TOR is a force multiplier.

Consider joining a darknet. A darknet is a private network – imagine it as being its own, tiny Internet. The best would be to have wholly independent network cabling, but that is rarely a possibility. A properly made darknet is like a virtual speakeasy – encrypted access to it, and a wide selection of sensitive information, all protected from outside prying eyes.

Learn about encryption. PGP is available, for free, to anyone smart enough to compile it, and it has beaten federal investigations before. Unless it is encrypted, you should consider it unsecured.

Finally, take care of your passwords. Learn how to make a good one (in the case above, the user encrypted his entire computer with a page-long passage – making it effectively impossible to crack through conventional means), learn to change them regularly, and keep them secret. – “Dieselman”

Letter Re: How to Remove Your House Image from Google Maps Street View

James,
Your readers might be interested to know that the street view of their house can be viewed by anyone using Google Maps.

If they do not wish to have the view showing all your expensive SUVs and G.O.O.D. vehicles, do the following:

1. Using Google Maps, find your address.
2. Activate the Street View for that address.
3. At the bottom of the view is a link that says “Report A Problem.”

By clicking that link, you are taken to a form that allows you to request that your house photo be removed. Simply follow the directions on the form.

I did it for my house and it took about a week. Even then, the view was only partially blocked. I send another report and they changed it so that my house is completely blocked out from the front view.

Watch your top knot, – Jim H.

Letter Re: Northeastern Colorado as a Retreat Locale

Dear Mr. Rawles:

Having read both of the letters about Northeastern Colorado Retreats and having personally lived the general area since 1967 I wish to offer the following comments. I believe there are merits in both letters.

The area is best described as semi-arid with an annual rainfall in the range of 12-13 inches per year; but, keep in mind we are recovering from a 10 year drought with average annual rainfall around 8 inches. These averages are accurate as our family has farmed and have kept accurate records since 1973. We have a large garden and routinely can more food than we consume with the balance going to like minded individuals that we barter with for services and goods or to the local food pantry. Yes we have to irrigate but we have two windmills, one for livestock and one for the garden that provide plenty of water on with no electricity what so ever. These wells are 55 feet deep with the pump base set at 45 feet. Ground water level runs in the 35-40 foot range depending on the time of year. We also have a domestic well 100 feet deep with the pump at 75 feet. There is live water 1/2 mile to the east and two fresh water springs with potable water within 1-1/2 miles of the house. One is concealed. Over the years we have planted and raised close to a mile of tree lines to protect animals, the garden and buildings. An orchard provides four different fruits and three different berries. Is one able to live off the land here? Yes, with years of preparation.

While not evident, many people in this area are silently preparing. Individuals are visiting and pacts are being discussed. Multiple lines of communication and defense are being quietly developed. Looters and thieves (“foragers”) will not see a beehive but they will encounter a deadly swarm of bees. These people have been shooting and hunting together all their lives. 300 to 400 yard shots on coyotes are not uncommon. Can the area be defended? Yes, with preparation.

Incidentally, I have a friend that is actually moving out of southeast Nebraska after growing up there. He says “Do a Google search on ‘Rulo, Nebraska and look back into the 1970s. Some things haven’t changed”. I can’t comment, those are just his feelings and as 22 year veteran he must know something.

Sure the economy is poor, but what difference will that make if the SHTF.

The point I am trying to make is what SurvivalBlog is about. There is no perfect retreat location. You have to prepare. We have, in northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska, what we feel is an adequate retreat location for us. But, we have been preparing for over 40 years. You can not move into this area, or probably most areas, and be adequately prepared in the first year, two, or in some cases ten. Resources and allies take time to develop. – F.M. in Colorado

Economics and Investing:

SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate, George Gordon, sent this: Underemployment Hits 20% in Mid-March

H.H. spotted this: North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform. H.H.’s comment: “How ironic. In the United States, when a Treasury Secretary or Fed Chairman screw up the nation’s economy through back-door deals, insider trading and the manipulation of the currency, they are granted even more power. In North Korea, even if you’re just trying to do your job, you’re treated a bit differently.”

Items from The Economatrix:

Japan Joins China in Reducing Holdings of US Treasury Debt

Bonds Reveal US Losing AAA Status

IMF Warning Wealthiest Nations About Their Debt

$3/Gallon Gasoline Possible this Summer

Bernanke: Bank Bailouts “Unconscionable”

Job Loss Takes a Toll on Mental Health

Odds ‘n Sods:

Kyle was the first of several readers to mention this: Poll: Most Americans Fear U.S. Economy Could Collapse

   o o o

UN: Polluted water killing, sickening millions

   o o o

My Coast to Coast AM interview inspired a talented photographer to create this: Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids.

   o o o

SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson found a link to a YouTube video showing a nifty sandbag tool. Mikes’s comment: “Very clever. It fills them with enough slack space left for a fold or tie.”

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

Eli: “No, I walk by faith, not by sight. It means that you know something even if you don’t know something. It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s faith, it’s faith. It’s the flower of light in the field of darkness, it’s giving me the strength to carry on, you understand?”

Solara: “Is that from your book?”

Eli: “No it’s Johnny Cash, Live at Folsom Prison.” – Denzel Washington as Eli, The Book of Eli. (Screenplay by Gary Whitta)

Note from JWR:

I’m scheduled to be the guest in the first hour tonight on the Nightwatch syndicated radio show, from 9 to 10 p.m. Central time in the U.S.

—

Today we present another entry for Round 27 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 HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Luger, 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo. This is a $249 value.

Second Prize: 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 $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 27 ends on March 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.

A “10% Test” Survival Trip by C.J. in Helena Montana Edited by Capt. Barr

I work as an independent hospital contractor. Our home base is in Montana, but I am independent. I work as temporary health care staff at hospitals, being licensed in about 5 states. I usually make pretty good money traveling, but I miss having a fixed point in case of crisis.

My wife and I really enjoy living in Montana, we were having a good life: hunting in the mountains panning for gold and camping. While working at a good paying contract, the hospital I was with had asked about renewing the job for another several weeks. I accepted the renewal since the pay was adequate and my wife was taking classes locally. Suddenly, the hospital terminated the existing contract early leaving me scrambling for another job. Usually during the winter months there are more offers than I can handle. This time it was different. Business was suddenly down about 40% nationwide.

I had what I thought was an adequate emergency fund and plenty of survival tools and supplies. Most of our belongings were in storage. I had a cargo trailer which I converted to a ‘camper-survival’ shelter. We thought we were prepared to re-locate anywhere in the country where there was work.
Murphy’s Law kicked in about two weeks after the last day of my job. The head gasket blew on my Toyota Truck, making a serious dent in our emergency/travel fund. Remaining in a fixed place waiting for repairs was expensive with no income to offset the rent. It was the dead of winter in Montana with an average temperature of 20 below at night. It was not practical to camp, since we had no transportation to and from the woods. What used to be ‘fun’ was now ‘threatening’ with the money running out.

Since I had to wait for the truck to be repaired, I used the time to prepare ourselves for another contract offer, I soon got lucky and we had an offer in Texas. Unfortunately, without a vehicle we were stuck indoors, unable to pack our trailer. We worried that the repairs would not be completed before the contract begins in Texas, and that was about two weeks away. The truck was finally repaired giving us about 15 days to get to Texas.

My ‘hard’ experience became a test. It was not a melt-down of society but our current problems were about as I figured it about 10% of what a real crisis would entail. We packed a chain saw, small generator, tools, clothes, and anything else we predicted we would need during the trip and while living in Texas. We had experience camping for several months with our trailer, but never in sub-zero weather. Most importantly, the stress level was high which made everything harder.

With the truck fixed we began "getting out of dodge". We hoped to go south and avoid some of the coldest weather. After packing, we realized there was too much stuff for us to sleep comfortably in our camper-trailer. We re-packed and put about 40% of our gear back in storage. I set priorities to keep, among other basic tools, a battery-powered circular saw, drill, chain saw, 700 watt generator and our sleeping bags. Cooking equipment was also a major part of our load. I left our long guns behind in storage, taking only one Benelli slide-action shotgun, a .22 [rimfire rifle] and a revolver. We would have to stay in apartments or motels so I figured that from previous trips that firing a .308 inside an apartment or populated area would be too dangerous to others during a confrontation (we counted on any work being in an urban area).

It’s important to note that we could not plan or prepare for camping in the open country with a tent, fire, etc. That would put us out of touch with possible employment and required too much extra equipment. In a 100% survival scenario I could foresee possibly camping in our canvas wall tent in a secure area, but not in the woods. The best I could think of in a serious disaster would be to make some kind of deal with a mini-storage and set up the tent behind the fence. Not very romantic.

The trip to Texas would cross into my home state of Missouri. We decided since it was the holiday week we could stay with family and friends we had not seen in 5 years. Our Missouri friends and relatives had always given us an open invitation, often asking when we would return. This was also an opportunity to save on Motel costs on the trip. The contract was to start on January 4, so remaining in Missouri would help us avoid the costs of sitting in a Motel in Texas. I don’t start to make money until the contract begins. We made phone calls to everyone telling them that after five years we would finally get to spend the holidays there.

After the truck repairs, the next major problem occurred during the trip. A winter storm had settled in the mid-west. Travel was extremely difficult, made worse pulling the trailer. Also there was the psychological ’effect’ of a deadline. With no other short-term option, we had to go. We hit black ice in Kansas causing our entire rig to slide into the oncoming lane. I managed to recover control, but the near-disaster shook us up pretty good. I drove an average of 35 MPH across Kansas in the winter storm. I was fearful that road conditions would prevent us from reaching our destination. Motel rates in one town were high and the fog was starting to settle in so we stopped early, and slept in our trailer. The fog was so thick we had trouble finding a Wal-Mart parking lot. At sundown, as my wife and I crawled into our sleeping bags we heard a loud Boom! This was the was the start of a big pile-up on the iced-over highway nearby. We had done the right thing stopping early, knowing when to quit.

The weather the next day was only slightly better, requiring very slow going. People were trying to get home for the holidays and taking the risk of driving too fast for road conditions. We saw the wrecked cars and trucks to prove it. We picked along, avoiding the Kansas City and its rush hour. We were trying to outrun another storm from the north by heading as far south as we could. When we finally arrived at our parents’ house, there was an unexpected reception. Our relatives seemed indifferent to our visit, and had no interest in the stories of our 1,400 mile trip. They did not care about hunting stories in Montana, camping, or gold panning. They spent the entire day watching sports television and talking about sports. They crowded around the television during a news report of the pile up of cars on the highway in Kansas we had experienced. When we tried to report on our first hand experiences, they ignored us. This attitude added to our stress.

We increasingly began to be viewed as inconvenient outsiders. This lack of respect started wearing on our nerves.
I tried to keep busy with constructive tasks. My portable generator was leaking gas, so I worked on it in the basement of the parents’ house, carefully laying out all of the parts searching for the source of the leak. I went back upstairs to attend to another matter and when I returned my 80 year old mother had taken the parts and placed them in random boxes. She was in the process of attempting to move the generator from the work table so the grandkids could have a place to play. She was trying to push the unit off of the table (waste high) and onto the floor. I was just in time to keep my Yamaha 700 watt generator from being smashed on the concrete. I sorted parts for two hours after that. My wife had similar stress in the kitchen, while attempting to cook for my parents. My mother had shut the stove burners off when my wife was trying to cook, somehow resenting the effort of my wife’s cooking. On the bright side, one older uncle and his wife of about 85 were highly interested in our lives, having done similar things after WW II in Wyoming.

The last straw and the strangest thing to happen, was when we threw away some accumulated trash. In organizing for next leg of the trip, I repacked food items into bags, which took up less room. The Oatmeal supply went into plastic bags rather in the bulky round box. I used the round cardboard container as a trash can in our (mostly private) sleeping room. After carefully tearing up some minor personal junk mail and receipts (I usually burn all of our mail for security reasons at home), I took the container to the kitchen to throw away , leaving it on the table. Later that day a relative who had taken little interest in our presence had emptied our shredded documents and trash onto the table. She was going through our trash, carefully sorting through the shredded documents and other trash, trying to put together the pieces as if it were a jigsaw puzzle. I looked down and she was piecing together one of my wife’s empty tampon boxes. This was the last straw. We decided to ‘try’ our friend’s homes for a few days.
We had been in regular contact with two of my best friends from Missouri over the years and looked forward to the holiday visits. Unfortunately, calls to one friend suddenly were not returned. I usually always talked to this guy. After numerous messages left I began to be concerned that someone had had a serious accident and was unable to communicate.
I told my wife, “That’s not like Tom, he usually returns calls right away.”

She said, “Maybe he does not want to talk to us.”

I replied, “That’s impossible, we talk all of the time, and he knew we were in the area.”
We never did hear from my friend until we were headed out of Missouri. I had made one last call and he answered. He said everything was ’fine’ but he was having some kind of arguments with his wife.
We visited my other friend, one I had known since grade school. He clearly stated his desire for use to come over and spend a few days. He is a lawyer with a big house and many guest rooms. He was also having trouble. His 24 year old live-in son had been arrested for DWI. His son also smashed some furniture in a drunken fit the night before we arrived. The stress of this family ’problem’ was evident. During the first night’s stay, the reception was cool. My friend did not talk much. He said he needed to go into the office the next day, a Sunday. His wife talked to us for only a brief period, spending most of the time watching television on her laptop computer, wearing earphones. I admit I questioned his ability to control his now ‘adult’ son and suggested throwing him out. Due to his son’s erratic behavior, I also felt our belongings were unsafe in the house. They had asked us to stay for several days. We left the next morning.

We re-packed our equipment , and, using our depleted funds, stayed in Motels during the rest of the Missouri ‘Holiday Family Visit’. We left for Texas earlier than planned, glad to be away from our ‘friends’ ‘and family‘. We finally arrived in Texas, mentally exhausted from the experience. It actually took several days to ‘recover’ from the trip. After I finally secured work, our financial situation began to right itself.

Lessons Learned

Our winter travel experience in my estimation was about 10% of what a real-world melt-down would be like:

1. Little Money
2. No Job
3. Bad Weather
4. Forced to ‘evacuate’ to a better place quickly.
5. Refuge with friends or relatives.

A ‘real’ melt down , I think, would include:

1. Lack of law and order, requiring more security arrangements during travel.
2. No ATM or Credit Cards, thus the need to carry large sums of cash.
3. Absolutely No Help from Others (based on what little help we did get from people we thought would help us AND the behavior of others in the household.

Knowing what we know now, in a Real Emergency the only chance would be to have a well-insulated, secure place with plenty of stored food and fuel. One would need a propane tank, wood cook stove and wood heating stove. Long-distance travel, relying on relatives or friends is ‘out’, for us. If we had to travel it would be to a motel/hotel with good security. The transaction would be in cash, no promises or favors from others. What would happen if one stayed with friends during a true melt-down and the live-in son decided to steal our survival equipment? Or vandalize our truck out of spite because he could not get his drug fix that day?
                 
Lessons Learned:

1. Have all of your equipment in good working condition. Do not expect to repair or maintain anything during a crisis trip even if you think you will remain in one place for one or two days. I had a small 700 watt generator I took along, that developed a fuel leak. I had all the parts spread out on a work table in the basement during disassembly in order, looking for the leak. I had left them out for a couple of hours only to return to find the parts thrown into a cardboard box! The reason: the kids wanted to play a game on the table I was using and my ‘stuff’ was in the way. Do not expect people to respect your property or understand why you have certain items. In addition, I could not help thinking that there was some envy or resentment by some family Members regarding our preparedness gear. I couldn’t help thinking that in a ‘real’ crisis kids or other people may attempt to vandalize, steal, or otherwise disable our gear if left unprotected. Keep your stuff locked up, no matter what or how relaxed you feel.

2. Have three portable light sources with you at all times. You have to be able at any given moment tell if your trailer chains are hooked up in a snow storm. It’s just as important to be able to read at the end of the day in a dark unfamiliar room. Few if any houses or even motel rooms have good reading or task lighting. The Dewalt 18 volt flex-light with an LED element was a very useful light source for us. We had a 12 volt charger in the truck for the Dewalt. We also both carry LED head lamps (hung around neck at night). I also had my sure-fire light. Sounds like camping in the woods? It’s harder camping in someone’s house due to the human factor. Other unpredictable people were around; including undisciplined kids. The job of camping out in someone else’s home is exponentially harder. I would also try to add to our gear a way to lock a door from the inside, any door.

4. If you like an alcohol drink at the end of the day, keep that in your personal gear, not stored away in the truck. My wife and I like a private drink at the end of the day in our bedroom away from the need to have a conversation with everyone else. It helped us unwind and plan the rest of the project, not to mention get away from impolite questions and improper behavior.

5. Bring your sleeping bags with you into the bedroom or hotel room. For some reason people do not provide enough blankets or bedding. One sister’s house provided us with a room, two small beds and  one blanket! People are used to turning up the thermostat. We like good bedding.  Also have ear-plugs. Kids and even adults in some households keep the television on at top volume 24/7. They will not give consideration to guests. What would you do if you had to sleep in the same room as snoring (or worse) strangers during a real melt-down?

6. This next lesson is important believe it or not. Go to a Laundromat and fish out of the trash an empty detergent bottle. Instead of wandering through a house looking for the bathroom, use the makeshift urinal in the bedroom. Don’t use a throw away drinking bottle or anything for human consumption for a urinal! It seemed to us that during the stressful time we had there was a greater propensity for accidents. While it’s irritating to pour your laundry urine bottle in the washer by mistake, think of what you would do in the dark if you made a mistake with a container for drinking. If I were (god forbid) to have to stay in a room for an extended time, I would make the purchase of a portable toilet a priority. Along with taking a shower once in a while, being able to carry out this function (in private) is of the highest necessity to help keep you sane. The rule is: you have enough stress already, do what you can to minimize any stress. For us, privacy is a stress reducer.

7. People you deal with that are not preparedness-minded will not understand you and for some reason work against you either consciously or subconsciously. I have read stories about this but it never hit home until our trip. I keep everything locked away and secure or on my person at people’s houses as if I were sleeping in a subway station or a public park. I don’t need curious teenagers or careless adults to have access to my valuable equipment and supplies (they really don’t understand your equipment, and will break it when your back is turned).  I had many experiences during our trip of this  happening on a ‘good day”. Who knows what someone may do in an actual emergency.

8. Be prepared to have people you thought were your friends or whom you could trust to suddenly at the last moment back out on promises, ignore agreements, be unavailable, or even be counterproductive to your situation. I don’t know where this comes from but it’s out there. Maybe it’s because people no longer have the skills or mindset to make even minor adjustments in their lifestyles to help friends or relatives. Conversation is a lost art. After experiencing this ‘new’ social trait numerous times, I can’t help thinking that there is always some level of envy and resentment going on in general towards preparedness minded people.

9. Television broadcasts have more truth to most people than the written or spoken word. I tried to talk about our near-disaster sliding on black ice and the car pile ups we encountered. People either were disinterested or cut us off in mid-sentence to talk about something else. These same people we noticed would crowd around the television to hear newscaster’s reports of the same events. In a real melt-down these same people will probably believe government propaganda or lies before they listen to a verbal account of a shooting or other social unrest. They would be inclined to turn you in for a reward, or for some other kind of recognition.

10. Have food that is ready to eat with you in your personal gear. We avoided most family meals after we noticed unsafe sanitation practices going on in one household. I had limited health insurance and needed to be prepared to work, not spend time in the hospital suffering from food poisoning. Being aware of unsafe sanitation which will be more important if one is faced with no hospital or limited access to antibiotics in a true ’hard-core’ emergency.

11. My main advantage was traveling with a caring, supportive spouse. My wife did not mind sleeping in the trailer and tolerated our bad times with a positive attitude. She knows more about survival than I do, having grown up poor and under a Military Dictatorship in a third world country. She was much better had identifying the weaknesses of various people we met on our trip than I was.

12. During stress and moving I am more intolerant to people making disrespectful comments, digs, ‘jokes’ poking fun at my situation, and lack of empathy. Stress has a way of doing that for me. I have read of people taken hostage also have this problem. Little things matter. Plan for this kind of added stress by avoiding people likely to behave in this way. This is another reason to have your own place prepared and avoid staying with other people (unless they are very trustworthy). My wife and I seriously considered sleeping in our camping trailer, even at 10 below rather than spending another night in the house with my brother-in-law who made continuous jokes (to his kids) about us ‘living in a tent’ (referring to our propensity to camp and practice survival skills) . He also made a comment to my wife how she “must like having running water [in the house]”. Pride is a sin. Many of these basic teachings were reinforced during the trip.

13. Have at least $10,000 ready at all times for emergencies. When things start to heat up, have it in cash. During the storm, it was difficult to access an ATM. I was able to negotiate auto repairs at a cheaper price by paying cash. During a ‘real’ crisis the need for cash in some form proved to us to be even more important based on our ‘experiment’. Get a money belt and pre-arrange secret compartments.

14. You won’t have the time or the place to camp, pitch a tent or otherwise ‘rough it’ in a bug-out situation. All you can do is keep moving to your designated objective. Remaining too long in one unfamiliar place can become both expensive and unsafe. It would have been impractical to camp out during our winter trip. A.) It would have taken too long to obtain fuel for a fire. B.) Setting up and taking down a tent would have cut into our travel time. C.) Camping ‘looks’ wrong—people will investigate an obvious campsite, but will often leave a trailer alone. Our trailer is based on the cargo design, making it easy to overnight discretely in Urban areas.

15. We tried to carry too much stuff. Many items we carried were useful but only when we arrived at the final destination. It was very hard to make room to sleep in our trailer en route. It was very hard to get (sometimes to find) some of the basic tools and food due to the amount of stuff we packed.

16. Have some way at the end of the day to relieve stress and relax. We found that running or jogging (despite the cold weather) followed at sundown with some beer or whisky along with a good novel, as well as the radio, away from other people to be our method of choice.
 
17 Have some method of contacting people who you consider truly to be your friends and who are on your side to give encouragement during a crisis. During our emergency, we relied on our cell phones
and the Internet to contact real friends. Our long distance conversations with real friends helped remind us of our strengths. They helped us focus. The encouragement helped keep our spirits up. I had read about hostages relying on messages from supportive people (and being devastated by negative messages), and now understand better the need for this support network communication. In a ‘real’ Crisis one would have to consider some type of short wave radio and/or relay messages via short wave. I can’t think of any other practical method. I want to get some type of portable short wave transceiver and license.

18. Don’t expect people around you other than you spouse or trusted friends to behave reasonably during a crisis. I now don’t even expect grow up people  to behave like adults. Keep your equipment just as secure as if you were in the middle of the parking lot of an inner-city. You never know what people may do out of envy, greed or resentment, not to mention hunger in a real crisis.

19. As hard as this sounds: try a ‘trial run’. See point #15. Pack everything you think you will ‘need’ and drive about 200 miles. See what happens.  I really wish I had done this when times were good, instead
of the last minute.   This would be a great weekend family project that could require very little money. 

Maybe this list of lessons do not apply to your situation. You may think, ‘I have a great support network; this story pertains little to my situation. I have plenty of money and resources.   I don’t have to worry about outside help. ’ I hope so. That’s what I used to think. My biggest lesson learned during a stressful ‘survival’ move is how much even we, as preparedness minded people  took for granted. Moving under the best of conditions is stressful and can wear you down. Plan to have the basics always available: Have someplace secure and quiet to sleep, a place to go to the bathroom, illumination, food, and a few comfort items. Stay away from (or if you have to) be ready for rejection, indifferent (sometimes hostile) friends and relatives in a real crisis.

I only covered a few real-life experiences we encountered on our latest “10% crisis” trip.  After looking back on the trip and knowing what we know now, the best thing to do is to have a fixed place that you own to retreat to during hard times. Get there as quickly and as early as possible. Stay in your own place. Have preparedness equipment there, ready for use. An RV [or fifth wheel trailer] would have been more valuable than our camping trailer for the trip but would have been greater expense and harder to tow. Again, looking back,  staying with relatives or friends en-route, even for one night will not be  to our advantage during a crisis.  Staying with other people  distracted us , and almost prevented us from completion of our ‘mission’.  During the trip, my wife and I kept fantasizing about a private cabin in a quiet place. We kept thinking of someplace with a wood stove, plenty of Fuel, Food, and Water. We found being a ‘refugee’ carries with it too much potential for people to be emotional and/or create problems for one another in good times let alone during some disaster. I learned there were very few individuals we  could count on. We kept asking ourselves: “if we experience these problems on a good day, a ‘Holiday’ what can we expect on a ‘bad day’, a crisis, a melt-down of our current system?