Here's my first attempt at starting a thread

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by Bud, Oct 20, 2009.


  1. Bud

    Bud Monkey++

    and i wasn't sure where to put it but here goes.

    I live in north central Illinois and have for the past 25 years. My wife and I relocated here from Chicago and at first, it was quite a shock. The town has about 1,000 residents, a single gas station (convenience store) , a post office, and one bar. We may have a resteraunt in the next couple of weeks but we';re not holding our breaths. The town is located 70 west of Chicago and the nearest major towns are all at least 18 miles away. By major towns I mean they have a "stop light" and a grocery store. The nearest Interstate is 20 miles north or 20 miles south.

    When I first started looking around and thinking "survival" , my first instinct was to find asome property, preferably on a hill, and do my best to hind a home and builkdings. But, after thinking about it, I decided it might be better to move into a rural town and establish myself and family because I think if "whatever" happens, it might be much better to have a bunch of people working together and sharing all the hardships and work.

    So, we did that. We have great neighbors, know most of the people in town and everyone knows me. I retired as the police chief here in 1987 and went back on active duty with the Army at age 40. That was so strange that i developed a certain amount of notoriety.

    Our house has changed over the years. We have two natural gas fireplaces now because we do loose power often. The fireplaces will easily heat the whole house. I am thinking about an outside wood burning furnance and have started reading about those in case the "whatever" includes losing natural gas. I have a 5500w generator that we actually use on occassion but I am thinking about saving up for a 10K installed generator running on either natural gas or diesel. There are no diesel tanks in town but all the farmers have diesel.

    I am buidling up the armory and ammo and starting to store rice, beans and pasta in 5 gallon pails.
    Thought I would get a thread going. What are you doing and why?
     
  2. RightHand

    RightHand Been There, Done That RIP 4/15/21 Moderator Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Welcome Bud.It sounds like you have a good start. I understand your feeling about the small community vs the solo homestead. Do your friends and neighbors share your interest in being prepared for "whatever"? Many, if not most of us in the SM community are fairly private about exacly what our preps involve. However, having the pulse of the locals is helpful, in my opinion. The keys to good prep are knowledge and foodstuff.
     
  3. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    1,000 people, sounds like heaven! Welcome.
     
  4. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    If you went to basic training in Ft Jackson, I read about you! But, if not, then you know now that you're not the only one who joined up at a later age. ;) I just got out myself...it is nice being a civilian again.

    I like that you are preparing -it is surprising how many LEO types are of the right mind, so it is good to hear. We have tons of great info here at the Monkey, and I welcome you aboard!
     
  5. Tracy

    Tracy Insatiably Curious Moderator Founding Member

    Welcome to the Board, Bud.

    Small towns are like big families. :)
     
  6. Bud

    Bud Monkey++

    My thinking on the small, rural town, as far away from any Interstate as possible is in several different directions;

    1. Good chance somebody in town knows how to do, make, growe just about anything.
    2. Lots of equipment on the local farms, drilling, welding, machioning, etc
    3. There is a lot of wildlife for immediate protein, and there is a lot of starter/feeder stock to mature and regenerate
    4. There are a lot of firearms, there are some reloaders, there are a lot bow hunters, etc
    5. We won't be casually found (at least not right away) by people fleeing Chicago, Aurora, Rockford, Joliet, etc. (people living near Interstates are in deep kimchi)
    6. There is a fair number of family in and just out of town, By that I mean an awful lot of people in this town are related which leads to a much easier tansition to laager bonding (for want of a better descriptive term).

    Changing tack a little bit along the same lines, I am a life long lover/believer/supporter of the .45 acp. I carry either a 1911 (SA Loaded) or a Glock 30 24/7. (I am a retired cop and can under LEOSA of 2004).

    But I have decided I am going to change to 9 mm. It is cheaper (much) to buym, it is morereadily available in local firearms. For that same reason, I have decided that the other calibers of weapons that I will (or already own) are 12 ga,. 5.56mm, and .22LR.

    The .22 LR is for two purposes, hunting/self defense(which also includes training new shooters) and for barter. .22 can be bought really cheap especially if you are buying in bulk. I think ammo will be at the top of the list as a barter item. Oh, coffee, cigarettes and toilet paper will be much sought after, but of the four, only ammo will help you get the other three.

    Bud
     
  7. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    Barter Joke right???
    We (I anyway ) tend to frown on robbing looting and pillaging...
     
  8. Bud

    Bud Monkey++

    absolutely, that's why I said .22lr had two purposes, the second of which was barter

    .22 is cheap, you can stockpile tonms of it and as long as you maintain the temp and humidity, it will keep.

    Toilet papaer and cigarettes aren't going to get you ammo, but a brick of .22 will get you toilet paper and cigarettes or probably anything else you need.
     
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