Destinations, Paths and Places to Avoid In Big Bad Scenarios (U.S.)

originally posted by: 727Sky

Those along the coast and who own boats would do pretty well in the short term if they could make it to their boats.. I ain't talking canoe either. We used to live on our boat for weeks at a time,comfortably... It is a world away from a world gone mad..

I wonder how bad seaborne piracy would be. It also gave me the thought of living within a body of water, such as a lake or river. If you had a sailboat, you'd only have to go ashore ever so often, where-as a motorboat would require frequent gasoline -- which would require a pirate lifestyle more so than not, how else would you continuously refuel?

In fact, I'd be very afraid of anyone in a motorboat for that very reason -- you could hear them coming, too.

Catching fish and collecting rainwater in a very large boat could keep an entire family alive for quite a while, relatively safe from other people too, just not the elements.

a reply to: r0xor
Alot safer than being on land .. theres people off the coast of myanmar who live their entire lives on boats .. also many even today in the south china sea who live their entire lives at sea on boats .. among others that am aware of who live on boats .. more danger from the sea or from typhoons than from pirates..

originally posted by: Expat888
a reply to: 727Sky

Might appear to be lone wolf type out here in the border regions .. but if needed easily got a battalion of yards at hand that are very experienced ... we manage quite nicely without outside interference ..

Yep and they like and respect you ! That makes all the difference in the world you live in... Unlike many in the so called civilized parts of the world who do not even know their neighbors.

I for one hope a real SHTF without rule of law never happens in any country. You and I both have seen what a few well armed bad guys can do to a village or small town...

You know my circumstance and presently I could feed an army if they were rice eaters for quite some time.. This seasons harvest and our share was very good.. My kind of farming..... I did absolutely nothing but help pile the bags of rice up once they were delivered to our place ! Ta Da !

P.S. glad to see you back posting again.. tell your McCaw/parrot I said hello and to save a beer for me !

Prudent Places USA 4th. Edition.

Shows maps to a county level — all 3,141 of them! As a result, maps are very large and must be presented in CD-ROM format. It does little good to give a broad stroke picture when there are pockets of safer places in nearly every state. Maps can be printed on transparencies and overlaid for a defining view of areas that interest you.

They list information and maps from Natural Disasters, Man Made Disasters, etc. It shows risks, problems, roads, and the rest you need to find a place and get the hell outta Dodge.
A friend gave me my copy, got it from the publishers.
Holly Deyo and Stan Deyo Publishers, www.standeyo.com

That map isn't particularly useful because it rules out entire counties based on more localized disqualifiers. It shows the entire Mojave Desert as a no go, but being from So Cal I consider the Mojave perfect for bugging out, at least as the available options go.

From LA/Orange County/Inland Empire you hit bottlenecked passes then military bases to the North, Military and Mexican border to the South, Denser population in bigger trouble most likely the further West you go.
Most will go for the closest way out- to the North- they'll either be managed by the authorities or kill each other. Plenty more will just go into the national parks and forests but they'll overwhelm it fast and probably burn it down. The whole area is a trap.

For a properly prepared person in Southern California, I think the move is to get South of the East/West highways and follow the foothills South-East to get to the Salton Sea and beyond into the Desert.

This is not a route to meet and greet or to scavenge. The idea is to stay away from other people, on the back edge of the towns you have to pass, away from the highways and major thru streets, and circumvent the main crowd control efforts or bottlenecks to get further than anyone would expect you to go- into the Desert where there should be nobody or nothing for anyone to come looking for, and though the resources are scarce, they will not be overburdened or fought over.

You can pick a good spot on the hills around one of the desert valleys, see anything coming your way from many miles away, stay in the shadow of the hills a good part of the day, find animals to trap, use the flood channels of the hills to gather large amounts of water from what little rain comes (you'd need ample storage capacity of course). I like the odds better than weathering the breakdown of LA.

a reply to: gottaknow

"@TonyS: The option of tribing up is what I'm hopin' to achieve at least somewhat with this thread. I think it's great that people have survival plans for their families and know enough to stay away from most people, but sooner or later, you'll want to band together. If we can get some co-operative groups formed on sites like this, the better off we'd be in the long run!"

I think you're quite correct; one problem is however that the Internet will probably be down and dead and out for a long time. My plan to tribe up starts in my own rural neighborhood and then would extend out in scouting parties to the county Sheriff's office for news, information and instructions. Now....I say this simply because...I'm kind of a technical failure and I don't understand shortwave radio. If you or anyone else can figure out shortwave...make it so. I'm gonna make a low budget attempt later this summer, but with my crummy skills, its likely to fail. BTW, in my rural neighborhood, we're buying Midland handheld CB radios for communications. They have a limited, maybe 2 mile range but its all we need to stay in touch. I'm also going to look into one of those police monitoring radios.

I also forgot to mention...bicycles. If you can locate off a rural road/highway and within say, 6 to 10 miles of a tiny country village, its going to be a big help to you if you have a bike and can bike up to the village to check on things. I mention this because gasoline is going to be at an absolute premium.

Thanks.

a reply to: TonyS

Tony raises a great point that I want to take further. A prospective tribe probably does need to be local and organizable in real time, and is definitely easier in a rural environment where there aren't as many redundant people and therefore more interdependence.

The point i want to expand is that a tribe should be organic- it should arise from needs. For example TonyS's tribe needs a radio guy, he knows he's not it- when he makes his low dollar attempt his primary goal should really be to make friends with somebody in that business that he can not only learn from, but possibly involve in his disaster prep, at least as a friend he knows how to reach and exchange info with by radio.

Depending on how extroverted and active you are in your normal life, it is either the simplest level of preparation or the most advanced, but you can develop grassroots networks where you rely on people's skills BEFORE the apocalypse and build trust and understanding.

In any commerce you do, you can ask yourself how important is this, do i still need this after the apocalypse? If the answer is yes, consider looking for an independent local source you can deal personally with and possibly include in your survival network. If you end up having to buy from a retail chain, you can still avail yourself of the customer service and try to meet a competent individual.

Likewise you should be producing independently for your friends or community so that strangers are aware of your skills and good will. I would guestimate that each bottle of microbrew to the president of the gun club adds 10 minutes to your life expectancy in a crisis. If you don't make beer go with what you know.

During SitX you WILL become LESS organized than you are today. That's a fact. The military calls it friction. That means you have to be organized before- you can't bet on being able to tribe up after the fact- realistically you'll end up joining a network that consists mainly of strangers who knew eachother before they knew you and having to take it on faith that you can trust them.