Ugh…I had weird dreams last night. The most notable one was that something big had happened…the sort of event where youre definitely not showing up for work and its time to crack open the box that says “Do not open unless TEOTWAWKI”. Me and a friend were in my basement getting our gear ready because we were going to have to leave and be unable to come back. They were so panicked they just grabbed a small bag of essentials and beat feet. I was left there wondering how I was going to get all this important gear out of here without their help. And, naturally, I then woke up.
This is my subconscious’ way of telling me I a) need friends who won’t flake out at the first sign of trouble and b) I need to get the Beta Site purchased and up-and-running so I can split my preps between two locations and avoid these sorts of unpleasant-decision-making moments.
The fantasy I have, among others (looking at you, Jennifer Lawrence), is that I keep my current residence while I acquire the secondary property and build my little bunker. While thats going on I split half my gear between there and here. Once its done, I squirrel away most (75%~) of my stuff there, and keep enough here to enable me to get there or to sit things out here until I can get there. Then, when Im ready to sell the primary property, I take the rest of the gear, and my fat equity check, and head to the secondary on a permanent basis. Its a simple plan, it just isnt easy.
But, if you want to make Crom laugh, tell him your plans.
um, i think we been trying to tell you that for some time now. (tongue in cheek) quit buying toys and buy the best place you can find now. nowhere is perfect. “somebody” said, a decent decision made now beats a perfect decision made one second too late. yes, i have trouble following my own advice, doesn’t make it wrong, lol.
A hard truth of real estate is that unless you’ve got a crazy high budget there is some degree of compromise, dare I say settling, involved in every purchase.
CZ,
Me and mine are in the same boat, with the same dreams and whatnot. We are attempting the same thing…..
Wife is not interested in homesteading. Likes the comforts of town. Personally I good do with a town once every six months or less. But who knows how it is going to shake out.
Commander Zero is in his driveway, confused and wondering where his truck is and how he is going to get to his bug out location.
The RV from a Christmas Vacation roars up and stops in front of him. It’s been up armored and .50 caliber in a turret has been mounted on the top. Jennifer Lawrence, dressed like Tina Turner from Thunderdome, jumps out. “I’ve been reading your blog for years” she says, “ and I knew that the time would come when you needed my help.”
As she starts to load boxes of supplies in to the RV, she look over at the dazed CZ and say “Do you want to live forever?”
And that’s how I met your mom.
Slow clap applause
You’ve been experimenting with dosages haven’t you?
Following. Dreams can be a plan of action formation in your head subconsciously. Like a premonition or sixth sense or street smarts it is your lizard brain instincts providing instructions, that should be adhered to. Like Joseph interpreting a dream about seven lean years as an analogy example. Your readership here is well grounded with sage advice to incorporate into your action plans. I would advise the compromise and BTN, better than nothing approach to just jump in and get done your last linch pin of tasks to get set up with a new a.o. base of operations. A day early is better than a year(s) too late on this topic. Your continued existence in or around a blue hive puts you and your accomplishments in jeopardy everyday by default, by not “avoiding the crowds” as is wisely promulgated. The job or commute factors are tricky to factor in but those are like marriages that may dissolve in front of you anyway, so plan around or without that item of concern. Don’t get stuck in the “Rawles’ rut”, of having to have a farm, homestead, or plenty of acreage, water etc in order to “survive”. A good bones fixer upper from a boomer estate, a small hamlet or town locale in a boom bust area is also better than box store sized locale that has to have swat teams in the police force. Balancing two locations for your gear and plans is a precarious position as if your not sleeping there and on overwatch you >will< be robbed of stuff, simple law of averages and probabilities that alarms and remote internet cameras won't t prevent. Get your ass in gear, get it done, and you will have more enjoyable dreams later on. Stay frosty.
CZ:
You get your 2nd location set up perfectly. Now you start having the dream like that scene in the book Lucifer’s Hammer, where you show up to the cabin to find it already occupied, or your “trusted” caretaker has decided it’s his. 🙁
“Once its done, I squirrel away most (75%~) of my stuff there, and keep enough here to enable me to get there” – I’d worry about the stuff that’s squirreled away where I’m not (while I’m in between locations) being broken into and ravaged – even if it’s insured, it’s still a beating to get it replaced – much less dealing with the questions about who got me and will they come back again?
Im pretty sure that we’re not talking about ‘squirreling stuff away’ by piling it in the living room in a convenient spot for an intruder to loot it. We’re talking more along the lines of dug in somewhere among the acreage in some hidey hole that pretty much is only known to me and archaeologists in 500 years. If Im going through all this trouble to build a nice, quite, fortified home somewhere its a certainty I’m also building all sorts of hidden places on the property to hide gear until I get there.
Hiding is good. Even the locks on nuclear weapons bunkers are only rated for a few minutes security, it’s those jolly lads with the rifles and machine guns who provide the real security.
Agree with what everyone else has said – you will not find the perfect place at the perfect price and the longer you wait, the more ‘stuff’ you have to pack and move. I am going to assume you are still too comfortable in your current location. I only started really reading about and doing some preparing for unexpected events in 2018 – but I was immediately struck by the cost and logistics of trying to have emergency supplies in two locations, the complications of ‘bugging out,’ etc. We were never in the financial position to do all we wanted, but we got more and more concerned living in the suburbs surrounded by what was 8 million racially-diverse people in 2023.
We decided where we’d like to move about the same time (2018/2019) but had no money. Then came Covid, and we had lots more money to pay off debts and possibly buy some land. Doing it long-distance is not the way – we still have yet to sell the raw land we bought intending to develop – I was busy phoning people trying and failing to find people to get the well and septic dug when we found the place we live in now (about 25 miles away from first location).
Starting from scratch takes a massive amount of time and money, even if you are able to do a lot yourself (we were/are not; we are old and never lived rurally before). Our situation is far from perfect (love the location, cabin’s way too small, can’t yet afford solar, etc.) but we are safe, happy, and at peace. We are blessed that my husband can work remotely (and that we actually have fiber optic reliable internet out in the woods, three miles off the paved road). We will do what we can as we are able (helping our sons out financially comes first).
I know it’s trite but in this situation it is still true: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Dunno why you’re stuck on staying in the frozen northwest. Come on down to the north central Florida spine country(80′-100′ above sea level)and buy acreage for $4-6K per. Build what you want. In my county you can build a range on as little as 10 acres. Go up or down to adjoining counties and do it on smaller parcels. I’m currently in a block house built in the late sixties and it has laughed off every storm that came calling. On the other hand some people do like cold weather and snow, so whatever rocks your boat, heh. . . Friend’s currently looking at a 49 acre parcel for a quarter mill.