Survivalisting

Here I sit at my current software gig, somewhere in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. My kids could explain that to you, since they graduated from Pennsylvania schools, the fine distinction between a Commonwealth and a State. In any case, I'm working late and am taking a mental health break to surf the web. I'm in survival planning mode, which is no surprise. As a child of the 50's who grew up on Florida, I carry the utlimate atomic bomb shelter in my head at all times. Posted in the corridors of my childhood schools were detailed lists of everything you should do in the event of a nuclear attack: stay away from windows, hide under your overturned desk, close your eyes, clasp your arms around your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye--seriously!

So this peak oil thing is nothing new to me. I'm down with what they predict, though for different reasons. First, the production of oil that we can get at easily is being artificially kept low. The reasons would be to facilitate the continual rape and pillaging of our willing purses, in which we are so cooperatative. The second would be the sword that defeats our rapacious democracy from the inside. We are willing victims. Even after 9/11 people still continued to patronize the storefronts of the world at the expense of our own.

My grandparents who survived the depression always taught us to keep a year's worth of food in storage, and to stay out of debt, and to have a paid for piece of land. So I've always been prepared for anything, all my life. But I've spent the years since Y2K figuring out an ultimate survival plan that takes into account the realities we will face.

It is a great idea to own land, but land and resources can be seized and taken, by the government, or by the hordes. There is no guarantee you will be able to defend against the gangs and hordes of suffering humanity. If our government implodes and society breaks down, then no amount of land will save you. You will be easily identified as the easiest pickings, and the first to go. Unless you are well hidden and have formed a group with likeminded family groups.

I don't have that luxury, and I intend to be well beyond the hordes and gangs. My strategy is to live out of my van. I expect to be able to make at least 600 miles in the van, in an attempt to flee the urban and suburban area ahead of the hordes. I'll take the pulse of the city and be well away before any government entity announces an evacuation, or the hungry reach critical mass.

Once I'm 600 miles away, I expect to be able to wait things out in a camping mode. I could stay in the van indefinitely, depending upon the mood of the crisis. If things go badly while camping, my mountain bike is outfitted with panniers and a rack, upon which I can carry everything needed to ensure survival as I go deeper into the wilderness areas. After the bike is no longer useful, my backpack contains enough to sustain me as long as I can find water and wild edibles. My dehydrated food collection was designed to sustain me without wild edibles or other food sources for at least three months of hard-scrabbled rationing, if necessary.

I think that being mobile and hostile is the best strategy. I do not see any need to invest all my resources into a place that I may not be able to keep.

On another note, this may on the surface not be a completely "popular" thought, but the the concept that our economy and our collective American "lifestyle" was never really sustainable seems to be ignored by the Peak Oil survivalists. The Nouveau Survivalists. Most will not see it, and many who do see it still do nothing about it:

"The Population Reference Bureau estimates that the average American consumes about 23 times more goods and services than the average world citizen. Americans also bum 10,000 liters (2600 gallons) of oil-equivalents per year —seven times the world average. Clearly, achieving a US standard of living is impossible for the rest of the world, based both on projections of future resource availability and on population growth. The affluent standard of living now enjoyed by Americans (made possible by our abundant supplies of fertile cropland, water and fossil energy) is projected to decline if the US population doubles during the next 63 years." http://www.mnforsustain.org/pimentel_d_natural_resources_and_optimum_population.htm

That doesn't mean that I don't understand the Peak Oil whinging and the pain that the forced realization of these home truths cause in average Americans who believe the lie, that they are somehow more deserving of the world's resources than the people whose resources we steal. My survivalist planning isn't about the problems exposed by Peak Oil. My planning is to save me and mine from the ill-prepared, starving, raging, marauding hordes. My kind will always survive YOU. I have no illusions about the coming reboot of human civilization. See, we are all survivalists--even the foreigners who inflate the oil prices--they are trying to survive YOU.

Don't take this personally. Understand what is really going on. And, of course, SURVIVE!

Downsizing

I survived my hike in Valley Forge Park yesterday. I missed the thunderstorm by an hour, as planned. There is nothing more terrifying than trying to dash down a slippery mountain while dodging flying branches and lightning. I avoid that experience as a precaution in my survival planning (tic). It was a quiet day, with few other hikers or bikers. I was really enjoying the peace and beauty of my surroundings until I got several phone calls. One was from my attorney regarding the accident case. You go for years without a word then suddenly everybody needs something from you. Ack!

As for the van dwelling plans, I'm still in the divestiture phase. I have a car to sell, plus a sleep number bed, TV, printer, various small household items, and a very few pieces of furniture. The blowout yard sale was great, but there is always more to get rid of. I have the bed up on craigslist, and am looking for a vehicle to make into a temporary van dwelling situation. Being an ultra-lightweight backpacker I do not need a tricked out van at this time of the year. I have the blowup raft for a bed, a cooler for food and ice, cooking equipment, and lots of plastic drawers for organizing my stuff. I need an inverter, to occasionally run electronics and to charge the laptop battery. I need a bucket with lid for handling waste--can get that at Home Depot. I will need to pick up several big 5 gallon jugs of water that I can refill with a short length of hose. I have a battery operated pump to easily get water out for daily needs. I have a solar shower and can rig up something private with that for cleaning myself up. I'm going for the ambiance of sleeping, cooking, eating, and storing all my worldly possessions in the van, then travel to visit a few friends, and do some serious hiking. I plan to get a used van and clean it up. I'll put a cheap rug in it, wash down the interior, and make curtains for privacy. I think a foldout table and chair would be nice for those times I want to set up a mini-camp and work on my jewelry outdoors. I have fold out chairs for relaxation and a beach umbrella for shade.

One day, if I ever see an end to the accident case and receive serious money, I'll get a "real" camper van to live out of, and pull a nice looking trailer as a "shed". I'm serious about living clutter free. It drives me nucking futz to see crap laying around. My jewelry supplies are all neatly organized and contained in clear plastic organizers. I keep a current ideas basket with clear ziploc bags that contain the inspiration pieces for my next projects. I will put those inspirational baggies together when I'm feeling creative but am too tired to actually assemble something. If the basket is overflowing I work on the bagged ideas systematically until I can see the bottom of the basket again. That comes from being a software engineer and working with queues and workflow solutions. I have access to lots of "stuff" but only work on one item of "stuff" at a time. Yep, that's how a computer works. Except that if I divvy up too many timeslices I go nucking futz over that and have to throttle it back. I really try to focus on finishing each little project.

I also have a routine for selling that involves creating a minimum number of items at least four days a week, then using one day to take pictures and one day to list them. At the moment I have a morning routine that involves printing the sales orders, filling them, and them getting them mailed in a daily errand. Now that I'm going to stop working and be a fulltime van-dweller I plan to use just one day a week to take pics, list, and fill orders. One day a week will be for the city errands of laundry, banking, and posting. The rest of my time is for hiking and playing trivia. There is no other reason to live in a van down by the river, drinking beer and chasing butterflies. I guess my Ebay feedback rating is going to have to reflect my poor customer service practices.

>^;^<

Survivalist

If I wasn't a survivalist today that would be a shocker. I grew up in the 50's & 60's deep in the heart of Florida. In elementary school and junior high school we had weekly survival drills. We lived under the perceived threat of Russian nuclear missiles aimed at us from nearby Cuba. There were signs all over with instructions on what to do. Don't look at the blast, stay away from the windows, turn your desk over and get behind it, learn where the underground shelters were located, have a family plan for reuniting with your family, keep several months of food and water where you can get to it and shelter safely, always carry survival gear, put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye, and etcetera. There were bomb shelters behind many homes, those green grass domes with hooded pipes coming out the sides. My dad dreamed of converting an old school bus into a home on wheels, for protection and escape. The adults would talk about having to barricade themselves away from the unprepared folks expected to flock to those shelters after a disaster. What I learned was that you should prepare yourselves for disaster at all times. I thought this was perfectly normal. After all, you are what you live.

So, I live paranoid. Of course it isn't really paranoid if people really are out to get ya. All kidding aside, I will own my brand of healthy paranoia. It is the sixth sense that causes the hairs to rise on your neck when something doesn't feel right. It is at least planning your escape routes even if you are fairly certain you won't need them. It is being prepared, always. There is no use in having a bomb shelter all stocked and waiting for you if you can't reach it in a disaster. Any disaster at all. You could run out of gas during a snowstorm, or your car could break down. Planning ahead, using what you have and using your wits is what you need to survive just about any situation.

Over the years I've learned that you do need to have at the minimum several layers of survival gear that could mean the difference between life and death if you are cut off from civilization. With feelings of deja vu I watched the events of 9/11 unfold just 80 miles away from where I live now, and felt sadness for the folks trapped in New Orleans during Katrina. I don't own the feeling that "it can't happen to me" or that I would somehow survive better. But I do think about what I would need if caught in those types of situations. I have real experiences of being trapped in snow and ice storms, being stranded in a car in a desert and in a blizzard, being stranded within civilization yet still being unable to get to normal sources of food and water. In spite of the best planning, it can still happen to anyone.

By minimum layers of survival gear I mean the indispensable items that if all packed up in one place would do you no good if you were separated from them. In it's simplest analysis, picture having a fully stocked backpack on a three day hike into the wilderness, where you are totally prepared, have a plan, and the expertise to keep yourself out of danger, or so you think. Picture that backpack falling off the trail over a steep cliff into a river after just a moment's inattention. This time it's gone and you'd be an idiot to try and chase it down. If you have layered your survival gear, then you will have your compass, mirror, sturdy knife, dry matches, several plastic baggies, 3 feet of duct tape, antibiotic, chapstick, water purification tablets, candy tin, and a large trash bag in your pockets. With just those items in your pockets you could spend a fairly comfortable couple of nights on the mountain and try to get safely out if you had to. You could use those items and survive below freezing temperatures.

Survival is a list of priorities. Preparation comes first, meaning plan your route, memorize a map of your area, gather your material needs. Try not to get into the situation in the first place. Let people know where you will be, and have a plan for survival. First aid comes next, then shelter from the elements, then water for hydration, and communication, such as signaling for help. Survival sounds romantic. It isn't. You aren't going to need fishing line and a way to hunt food, unless you are so remote that civilization isn't a consideration ever again. You can go a couple of weeks without eating, a couple of days without water (at the most), and maybe 10 minutes in a blizzard, but only a minute or two if you can't breathe or are bleeding. So you work backwards. Eating is your last priority in a survival situation.

I sadly read about the family whose car was stranded in a snowstorm, the one where the father died of exposure trying to get help. The mother and children survived by staying in the car. I'll bet they wished, in this order, that: they weren't caught in the snowstorm, that they had blankets and warmer clothes with them, that someone knew exactly where they were, that they had the forsight to bring water and food, that they had a way to cook and eat in the car, and perhaps some books or games, extra gas, a place for the kids to potty, and an extra cell phone. I carry a solar charger, luggable loo, trash bags, blankets, Smart Mug (car cooking!), food, water, snacks, backpacking/camping gear, extra clothes, boots, trekking poles, money, maps, ID, keys, water purification systems (First Need, Katadyn, purification tables, extra filters, collapsible buckets and containers), tools, axe, and more.

I'm not saying that I could have done it better, but I've learned through experience to always carry all of these things with me in my car, rain or shine. I'm going on a hike in a few minutes, at Valley Forge Park. It will be a five mile hike relatively close to civilization. My cell phone is fully charged, the 1/2 gallon of water is icing up in the freezer, my survival gear is in my tummy pack, and I'll be taking some easy to eat fruit and nuts for energy. I checked the weather to be sure I won't get caught in rain or lightning, and I let my son know where I'll be. All that for a five mile hike. Hey, never leave home without your layers of survival gear. I will have my car key, ID, and an extra cell phone in my pockets, and will carry just a little bit of "mugger money" in my tummy pack. Paranoid? You betcha! >^;^< It may not "save me" in an unfortunate situation but I'm better prepared than 99% of the other hikers. I'm the one you want to be stranded with, not the bimbo in the pink jogging shorts....well, you know what I mean. I can be a bimbo, too. But not when it comes to survival.