For BOL - how far away is too far?

Ran into 2 ''Dudes'' the other day in front of a sporting goods shop that sold bicycles.
One of em had a rear wheel blow-out on his bicycle.
What I found unique was they both had small gasoline engines mounted on the frame.
I stopped long enough to find out that the top speed according to them was 40 mph.
I'm like WOW, Don't think I'd like doing 40 on a regular bicycle...or at least not for very long.

 

Bottom line - BUY IT!

That's about $803 / acre if I didn't goof up the math. Cheap SHTF insurance

I have 40 AC that I bought about 15 years ago. Borrowed money from my 401k to buy it ($32k, $800 / acre) and it was probably one of the best purchases I've ever made. I put in a well with solar powered pump - reliable water supply - (critical!) and also have limited solar for a travel trailer, which was a royal bitch to get in there and it's not very big. It's a work in progress. Septic will be on tap next.

It's 275 miles and a good 6 hours from the house I own and there's one large city in between. The last hour is on dirt as it is 17 miles from pavement and the roads aren't exactly what you'd call city streets. The exit from the pavement to the dirt is 40 miles from, well, I guess you could call it a small city.

Walking is out out out. If desperados don't kill me, my age will especially if it's in the summer heat. So, I keep my ear to the tracks and try to look at how current events may lead to problems where I would need to evacuate. I keep at least one of the three 4WD vehicles fully or nearly fully fueled.

Nothing can prepare you for a nuke strike in your town, you're screwed anyway. But things like economic collapse, fuel or food supply interruptions, social unrest or pandemics can give you some notice if you're paying attention unless you catch the disease right away in the event of a pandemic. Natural disasters such as powerful storms or earthquakes are extremely rare in this AO.

Eventually I'll be spending most of my time there.

 

You might be able to have a micro- or mini- hydro system installed on the stream or springs. With that much fall you could really spin that turbine, and make power 24/7/365, rain or shine, day or night.

 

OK, final update - Deal is probably a washout. After talking with the seller and locals, and walking the property again - topo map in hand this time. It has turned into a maybe. Turns out the seller is the son of the owner, trying to unload it as easily as possible following his father's passing. His dad built the cabin in anticipation of retiring there. BUT: won't perk, so a standard septic system is out. Which is why he never finished the cabin, and didn't put a well in. The state will allow a trans-vap nightmare, no composting toilets permitted. So unless I want to haul in about 200 yd of dirt, it wouldn't get a CO from the county. Putting a well in would be $3-5K, not unreasonable, the flow from the upper spring could definitely be usable as domestic h2o and as wildbilly mentioned there is plenty of head to spin a turbine.
In a nutshell: it would be nice as a "hunters cabin" sort of place with almost no normal amenities, but lots of privacy and good security. Adding in the 4.5 hour transit time, and low probability of future sale at a better price, no real garden area, and other costs associated with finishing it up: not worth it.

 

Back as a younger person, I picked up some property in Ut.

I was stationed/living in Las Vegas, the distance to the BOL was 307 miles via I-15 or 360+ miles via Ely NV. The point being more than one road to the BOL. The railroad from LV, oddly, ran right thru the nearby town. That offered a 3rd way -- in extreme conditions.

Put in a well w/well house and some other improvements.

I quickly found out that locals would steal anything not nailed down and given enough time, would pry out the nails to steal the rest.

We sold it off this summer, with no regrets. We 'broke even' - tho had I invested the $ into some half-decent stock....hindsight is 20/20.

 

Sorry to hear that...even if it was a little too far from your current location. Me, I would install a composting toilet and keep the outhouse too. To create a garden you might have to build terraces and haul some dirt...maybe you can find something closer, smaller and better.

 

I had a place like that in extreme NW Alabama. The soil wasn't the best (sandy and gravel) and parts of it could flood from a nearby creek, but it had a spring and was surrounded by some of the best hunting and fishing around. However, the locals would steal you blind and destroy stuff just for spite. That is why I harp on the fact that you can't just buy a piece of land and become a part of a community.

 

Sounds like you could offer a good bit less and get it cheap. Install a 200 gallon tank for the poop accumulation and call a Porta Jon truck to pump it out every 6 months.

 

I’ve never seen one either. Just throwing out ideas. Not all of my ideas are good. But it keeps my brain cells from freezing up.

 

Hmm,Bout an hour and 15 minutes,Not really my main BOL
Thinking about buying something on the Bend

 

Do I hear an entrepreneur in the back row? If you have the only tank and pump on a 350 4WD chassis, your service could be in demand.

 

Install the 200 gal. tank and use a 4" trash pump to pump the sewage into the out house that is 75' down hill from the cabin, then cap the sewage with dirt. When the old hole is full just dig another.

 

I believe I'd have to take a chance on it . Things could change in a few years , and those codes could be changed . The county doesn't have to know everything that's going on till then . There are ways to turn poop into fuel , used for heating , etc .

 

Why dig when you can use explosives to do almost all of the work.

 

Who you calling unexperienced?

 

Shoot man,We once dropped 75# of tnt laced dynamite down a casing...Backed off the barge as far as we could...

and set it off.....

Killed ever fish it seemed within 100 feet ,Had an old faithful geyser for a few seconds...

And almost blew the bottom out the barge.....lol