So, a couple weekends ago I took an afternoon off and went to a Meet Up with some local folks who are “interested” in disaster preparedness.
The topic was on “Hardening the Home and Neighborhood” and it was an interesting discussion that focused mainly on hunkering down in place during a natural disaster or other source of civil unrest and went on for over four hours; three in the venue and an after party in the back of a brewpub.
The reason for my interest is that I have come to the conclusion that there is no chance in hell of getting out of suburbia if disaster strikes unless I have exclusive insider information. Hell, at midmorning on any given Saturday the interstates to the south of my home are stuffed in less than 10 miles. Going north would be suicidal. That way lies Seattle. East is little better since it is only a two lane State Route which currently gets closed for bridge replacement on the weekends. West is very wet. Like, Pacific Ocean wet.
While I did get some decent information on newer books to read, I didn’t really get any new ideas. But that may be because I have been thinking about this for a good long time. Longer than most of these folks have.
If you’re local and want a good source for collecting/storing water, these folks come highly recommended: The Art of Barrels.
If you’re local and would like to be part of a bulk purchase, I have a truck and we can discuss the who, what, where, and when.
One of the attendees who managed to pry out of me that I was a gunnie told me to look up this guy’s YouTube channel: Tiborasaurus Rex
Has anyone else heard of this guy? He has a large series titled Sniper 101 that goes waaaaay deep into the weeds of long distance precision rifle shooting. I would normally just watch and take from it what I needed and move on, but it is close to 90 parts long. It appears that the reason for the quantity of episodes in because of how in depth he goes. I’ve watched a handful of episodes already and haven’t heard any obvious bullshit yet, or really anything I could consider questionable, but I would like to know if any of y’all have heard of him?
Also, watching the first six parts has made me want to build another rifle. It’s killing me that I’m stretched so thin that that would be very difficult right now. Hence the post title.
Anyway, it was a good first meeting with strangers. I didn’t even see an obvious mole or outside agitator in the group.
If you’re local and want to join in on the next meeting, which will be on Grey Man/Grey Woman hiding in plain sight techniques, let me know and I’ll point you to the web page.
I’m making some serious repairs & upgrades to my ancestral home, and that is my BOL right now. When everything is done, I’ll be moving in, since I am now retired & have no strings. I have planted a small orchard, and have plenty of land for gardening as well as a very dependable supply of water – so no storage hassles.
Merle
I’m up to episode #68 on Tibor-Rex’s Sniper-101 series and have loved every minute of it. This guy goes so deep into the details of extreme long range ballistics it’s like taking a class at shooting school for free. Last year I started working on my ballistic tables (Excel workbook linked in one of his videos) but I stalled when I realized I was never going to get the desired consistency until I started loading my own ammo. So much to do, so little time.
Phil,
Depending upon how far south you are of the big city, you might consider heading west on the closest 2-lane state highway to that virtually empty peninsula. Not a lot of population; only some relatively small towns that will certainly be crowded by other escapees. These little towns would likely become choke-points, but If you can avoid them you could still have your choice of many locations there. Stay in the hills to avoid the Tsunami zones. Don’t be afraid of the wet…it is the least likely place to run out of water. 🙂 Take a drive and see for yourself. If you want to test how crowded that little highway can get, go on Memorial Day or during a Razor Clam weekend. Those weekends are when the locals (I suspect) think the world has come to an end, but I think you may find that the traffic won’t be nearly as bad as the “normal” every-day traffic where you live.
I’ve thought about staging equipment and supplies on a friend’s property in such a remote location just in case I make it. If I don’t make it, then he can use them as I won’t need them anymore. Maybe in a locked tool shed near my friend’s occupied house? I can’t afford a nice, bug-out cabin, so I’d prefer to have permission to camp out on a farm or ranch instead of hiding in the woods. Just some thoughts.
Andy
Include some water filters. Even if you are careful, those barrels can get contaminated. And the filters today are cheap considering that they will filter 100,000s of gallons.
I’m up in the Issaquah Highlands now & it’s kinda disturbing how woefully unprepared these folks are*. Luckily, I’ve found some like minded souls that are willing to do the work to try & get more people on board & prepared.
*Like, there are 3 roads into the area, and two of them have bridges, and the third is barely a road. A decent quake (not even the Big one) and we could be easily cut off for a while. And people are like, “We have a hospital & a Safeway, we’ll be fine!”.
Mad – I hear you. One of the biggest problems I see with the “cell-phone generation” is the assumption that if they have a phone and a credit card, someone will ALWAYS be able to show up and make whatever problem they have go away. They really, REALLY don’t understand ANYTHING about the actual physical infrastructure that supports their lifestyle. Got a video to edit with a smart-phone, they can fix you up in a jiffy. Got no cell phone power? They are totally, utterly, completely lost. Sad, really. Astonishingly fragile and dependent.
And I didn’t realize you were that close (I vaguely remember something about it, but…). We should get together some time, just on GP.