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Retreat Setup Planning- types of retreats copyright 2005 Robert Henry
So you want to purchase land and build a survival retreat. Some planning will be necessary before you go any further. Many factors need to be considered.
There exists several schools of thought on retreats. One says you can make it anywhere, country, city, live inside a sewer and grow mushrooms on the poop, etc. One says you should try to stay mobile, moving around from area to area while trying to avoid problems. Another says you have to be in the country, but you should live really close to a small town so you can depend on others around you for barter, mutual defense, etc. I call this latter one the "everyone that lives in the country is a good person" school of thought. Yet another thinks you need to be off totally on your own. The lone retreat on the top of the mountain type view.
I just cannot get past the fact that cities = control. Look at the equation again CITIES = CONTROL. Another equation would be CITIES = DEPENDENCE.
"But I live in the city and I'm not dependent. I have 2 weeks of water and food." Well, that's how long your going to live then- 2 weeks. Eat, drink and be merry...
As much as I ponder it, I cannot see making it over the long term (5 or more years) in a big city. By "big city" I mean a city of over 100,000 people.
In the city your freedom of movement will be greatly controlled, either by the locale itself, control of the gubmint, or control of indigenous peoples. There are parts of cities now that nobody wants to go in, think how much worse it will be AFTER TSHTF! Think Yugoslavia after the breakup.
You will be extremely limited in your abilities to grow and raise a substantial amount of food in the city, both by the limited space, plus the fact that 1/2 acre of garden won't last long with a few hundred thousand starving survivors around.
I just can't get around the fact that you do NOT want to be any where near a major city when TSHTF. I'm sorry, but I'm pragmatic about that fact.
What about staying mobile? I.e, mobile retreating. The theory here is that you get a good bug out vehicle, hook a travel trailer to it and travel around attempting to avoid trouble. The travel may not be constant. The "mobile retreater" may choose to stay in one location for several months at a time.
My thoughts: Not a completely unworkable situation, but one that would require a mountain of planning and prior preps, PLUS a truckload of luck. I would think if nothing else, the availability (lack thereof) of fuel would be the main concern. Carry some with you? Possibility. Nothing like driving a rolling Molotov for a survival vehicle eh? Cache some along the way? We are starting to get there but this still isn't going to be pretty.
Many "mobile retreaters" I've met usually have plans to stay at one or two locations during the year. I think this is a throwback to what we here in the South call "snowbirds." Snowbirds are those folks that live up North during the late Spring and Summer, and move to the South in the fall and Winter to avoid the harsh winters.
Some of the mobile retreaters I've met actually have the locations picked out. By far though, most of them just have the general area picked out. Far better to have reliable and trustworthy contacts or groups that you know in the areas. Even then, the question comes up:
Joe (the mobile retreater guy) uses his bugout vehicle and trailer (we will call it "Landmaster 1" just for fun) to get to his first stop, his "wintering over" location. He finds his group of friends there very short handed, having lost more than a few people in a firefight when some gangbangers tried to "get jiggy wit it" around their retreat. Joe is useful to the group at this juncture, and is well appreciated, but Joe's main contact with this group was killed in the firefight. Some of the other group members feel Joe's supplies he has pre-positioned at their retreat are there's unless Joe agrees to stay on with their group forever. It's a logical conclusion now that they are short of manpower. It might have even be the main reason why the group voted to allow traveling Joe to stop by the retreat. Figuring if he didn't show up, they would still have his supplies. Joe is not in a bad position, unless he wants to make it to the other area to group up with family and friends, etc.
The mobile retreating situation is based largely on luck also. Too many factors work against you- the complete failure of your transportation, you breaking your leg, getting robbed, shot or carjacked, etc. And traveling around after TSHTF I rank up there with trying to do "last minute" preps at Sam's while TS is HTF- you would be exposing yourself to more violence, possible disease, etc.
continued in Part 2
So you want to purchase land and build a survival retreat. Some planning will be necessary before you go any further. Many factors need to be considered.
There exists several schools of thought on retreats. One says you can make it anywhere, country, city, live inside a sewer and grow mushrooms on the poop, etc. One says you should try to stay mobile, moving around from area to area while trying to avoid problems. Another says you have to be in the country, but you should live really close to a small town so you can depend on others around you for barter, mutual defense, etc. I call this latter one the "everyone that lives in the country is a good person" school of thought. Yet another thinks you need to be off totally on your own. The lone retreat on the top of the mountain type view.
I just cannot get past the fact that cities = control. Look at the equation again CITIES = CONTROL. Another equation would be CITIES = DEPENDENCE.
"But I live in the city and I'm not dependent. I have 2 weeks of water and food." Well, that's how long your going to live then- 2 weeks. Eat, drink and be merry...
As much as I ponder it, I cannot see making it over the long term (5 or more years) in a big city. By "big city" I mean a city of over 100,000 people.
In the city your freedom of movement will be greatly controlled, either by the locale itself, control of the gubmint, or control of indigenous peoples. There are parts of cities now that nobody wants to go in, think how much worse it will be AFTER TSHTF! Think Yugoslavia after the breakup.
You will be extremely limited in your abilities to grow and raise a substantial amount of food in the city, both by the limited space, plus the fact that 1/2 acre of garden won't last long with a few hundred thousand starving survivors around.
I just can't get around the fact that you do NOT want to be any where near a major city when TSHTF. I'm sorry, but I'm pragmatic about that fact.
What about staying mobile? I.e, mobile retreating. The theory here is that you get a good bug out vehicle, hook a travel trailer to it and travel around attempting to avoid trouble. The travel may not be constant. The "mobile retreater" may choose to stay in one location for several months at a time.
My thoughts: Not a completely unworkable situation, but one that would require a mountain of planning and prior preps, PLUS a truckload of luck. I would think if nothing else, the availability (lack thereof) of fuel would be the main concern. Carry some with you? Possibility. Nothing like driving a rolling Molotov for a survival vehicle eh? Cache some along the way? We are starting to get there but this still isn't going to be pretty.
Many "mobile retreaters" I've met usually have plans to stay at one or two locations during the year. I think this is a throwback to what we here in the South call "snowbirds." Snowbirds are those folks that live up North during the late Spring and Summer, and move to the South in the fall and Winter to avoid the harsh winters.
Some of the mobile retreaters I've met actually have the locations picked out. By far though, most of them just have the general area picked out. Far better to have reliable and trustworthy contacts or groups that you know in the areas. Even then, the question comes up:
Joe (the mobile retreater guy) uses his bugout vehicle and trailer (we will call it "Landmaster 1" just for fun) to get to his first stop, his "wintering over" location. He finds his group of friends there very short handed, having lost more than a few people in a firefight when some gangbangers tried to "get jiggy wit it" around their retreat. Joe is useful to the group at this juncture, and is well appreciated, but Joe's main contact with this group was killed in the firefight. Some of the other group members feel Joe's supplies he has pre-positioned at their retreat are there's unless Joe agrees to stay on with their group forever. It's a logical conclusion now that they are short of manpower. It might have even be the main reason why the group voted to allow traveling Joe to stop by the retreat. Figuring if he didn't show up, they would still have his supplies. Joe is not in a bad position, unless he wants to make it to the other area to group up with family and friends, etc.
The mobile retreating situation is based largely on luck also. Too many factors work against you- the complete failure of your transportation, you breaking your leg, getting robbed, shot or carjacked, etc. And traveling around after TSHTF I rank up there with trying to do "last minute" preps at Sam's while TS is HTF- you would be exposing yourself to more violence, possible disease, etc.
continued in Part 2