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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Nowhere to go

It has been asked, "If you do all this prepping at home, and SHTF while you're away, then what good was all that prepping?"

For starters prepping isn't all about food and guns. It's about keeping little tidbits of info in the back of your mind, so that if an emergency of any kind were to creep up, you would have some idea of what you can or can not, should or should not do. Pretty simple.

As a homesteader, my goal is to survive winter. That's about it. That is why I talk a lot about food, and plant identification. But being a person that lives in Kansas I should be prepared for tornadoes, floods, blizzards, micro bursts, hail, fires and the combination of the many. And at home I am. Away from home could be another story.

If something should happen, home is your best and safest place to go. As I mentioned in a previous post, now is a good time to be a kid again, and go explore your neighborhood. Find the various ways to cheat your way home, get to know the dogs, neighbors and shop keepers in your area. If something should happen and I can't get back home, I know which fields are the easiest to hoof it through.

So your house is gone. The first thing you'll want to do is grieve. But please try to keep your wits about you. It will be hard, but it is important. For natural disasters, you should find your closest red cross tent, fire station, hospital or neighbor with a house still standing. (you did remember to get to know your neighbors, right?) Once safe, you can grieve more.

If you happen to be a tourist, don't rubber neck, and head back to where you are staying. If your relatives house is still standing or your hotel, stay put and volunteer to help others. If everything you have is gone, and you are able to, then leave. You will just be a burden and strain on that communities resources.

Back to being away from home and unable to get there, along with your 72 hour kit, you should have a small tent. Camping will be important. If you can do it on your own property, wonderful, you will be able to stay and salvage some of your goods. If this isn't feasible, please remember not to camp just anywhere. Head to a known public camping area. Here you can find the nearest KOA to you, and here is for general camp sites.

Here is a weird thing, chat up whomever you set up close to. Community is important in these situations. You can pool resources and make things easier on all of you.

If you have the opportunity, get to know a homesteader or farmer. Show them that you are hard worker, and talk about if things could go bad, if they would welcome you there. Private land can only hold so many people before it is useless. Small land owners are quicker to turn strangers that aren't harmed away then anyone else, because of this fact. They have a family to feed as well. If your farmer or homesteader agrees that you can come there if anything should happen to you, show some initiative. Bring things out for yourself to be stored. Offer to work there on the weekends for free, while your children play together. If nothing ever goes wrong, you will have learned a new set of skills, made close friends, and discovered a pride in yourself that you might not of had before. Getting dirty and working close to the land changes ones perspective on life.

I think that's about it. The run down is, if you can not get home, say goodbye to your preps, and go camping. Kicking in your inner woodland (open prairie) survivalist mode.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

a great post, as usual. I need to get a small tent to keep in the van. Not something I really thought about. We could sleep in the van though.

Unknown said...

Funny you should mention camping equipment. We have ours all in order and can have it loaded up in no time at all. We have always loved camping so this part of our preps was probably one of our easiest!
Great Post!


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