Should be able to make it to a fall back point...just have to figure out where that point is! lol

I don't think Suburbia NOVA is the best place to be during any type of disaster. In anycase, I have a kit in the truck, the house is good to go, and most importantly, knowledge of survival to go with it.

lol jgrubb, I live in suburban NOVA and yeah I agree. Probably not the best place to be in bad time. I've got enough to last for a few days. After that.....*shrug*.......

lol yeah, I'm banking on the fact that:

1) Most of the population ISN'T ready so resources are available

2) Crops and Wildlife aren't effected (Transferrable virus, radiation)

3) It isn't while I'm asleep lol

I have no problem bugging in. We live in a fairly close knit neighborhood and crime is almost non-existent here in good ol' Bedford, VA. I'm not saying that in the event of societal upheaval, everything will be golden, but I am confident bugging in for an extended period of time. Plenty of water, first aid, and food. Could use more diapers for the babies.

I have a decent network of family and friends who are like-minded and physically and mentally prepared for bad times. Most of them are no more than a block or two away. I have a gut feeling that a lot of forum members will be glad they don't live in Richmond or NOVA.

It may suck when it comes to the deals, but when it comes to SHTF, I'm good where I am.

I just moved from a 1/2 acre lot to 2.5 acres in an agricultural area. I have more room for growing my own food but only have a small garden established right now. I have some woods and wildlife behind me too.

I probably have enough food to last the three of us a couple of weeks. I've been sampling some dehydrated meals kits and I'm about to make a purchase for about a month supply.

I need to stock up on water too, incase I lose power (I have well water).

Sounds to me like you've got most of it squared away!

I would like to have a garden again, but we rent and I'm not sure how well that would go over with the landlord. I'd also like to have a freshwater pond stocked with fish, and about 15,000 more rounds of AK food, but I can only do so much.

I have a stocked pond and a large garden.

Trouble is suburbia has surrounded me and defense of the property would be difficult if everyone was looking for food.

Long term would need another location.

If I had a well I'd look into alternate means of getting the water out - hand crank, windmill (depending upon depth). Unless you have room inside to pop the cap and drop a bucket ...

(check Youtube)

Or more buddies !

A combination of buddies, booby traps, and massive amounts of ammo might work!

Been here for a couple of months. Moved here from Oregon. I had a great plan there with a piece of land about 60 acres. Then work moved me here and my fall back plan went to hello without the "O". Did a dry run with my food/H20/guns/gear/fuel and if I hit the road soon enough can now make it back to the west without having to stop for anything.

The population on here in VA (and everywhere East of the Mississippi) makes me a little worried. The population per square mile is so dense that the hoards are going to be mad style.

Just getting on here to see what ideas others have and what plans they have to compare.

If it does hit the fan good luck to all and see you on the flip side.

where in oregon are you from? my wife grew up there.

and welcome to the site

I was in Oregon City.

Thanks

My family and I would be OK for a while right where we are at here in Floyd, even though we are renting I hope we can stay put for a while.

-Bold creek for water, I'll just boil it I guess
-plenty of firewood for heat and cooking (already our primary heat source)
-big garden (just started kale, cabbage, and broccoli plants in flats, I'll transplant them out around the end of august)
-lots of dried beans and grains, all I need is heat source and water
-lots of places to forage for wild food (right now lambs quarter, nettle, pig weed, black berries, wine berries...)
-decent amount of deer, not sure how long that would last though

There is so much more I want to do, but time and money constrain.
I think also about the mental stress of a SHTF scenario, and try to practice thinking about my reactions.

Personally, I want to live comfortably without electricity and gas for a while if I have to. I'm not quite there, for example I don't have a good way to cut wood without my chainsaw. Or drag logs around (draft animals?).

Many more thoughts on the subject, I'll stop here though.

Take care.

unfortunately in NOVA and I rent so there's no hope of a garden, etc. for now. I've been looking to move further out, but with the cost of gas I couldn't afford to commute and I'm having no luck finding a job away from the cities. I have a few days worth of food if SHTF, after that I would either have to roll down to my hunt camp or hope that I could find enough small animals around here to live on for awhile. Most likely if it lasted longer than a month I'd be toast...

I guess it depends where I was working that day, I work around DC mostly and if there where a disaster I would get home faster walking then in my car on 66 or 95, as for the house, food supplies for a month or so, fortunately I live in the relative country. So I guess I would have to hunt for food, but how do you store leftover deer without power? How long would it really be good for in the summer.

Back in the day they kept meat from spoiling (for the most part) by drying it, smoking it, salting it, brining it or a combination thereof. In the winter you have more options for cold storage without electricity.

One thing most wild game has going for it when it comes to curing is the lack of fat. Fat spoils first.

I could hold up for a month or two if need be but depending on what happens I would more than likely go mobile.

forgot to mention above I have enough food for myself/wife and 3 other people for about 2 years (depending on work conditions). Learning to pack your own dry goods and buying in bulk (500 lbs as a min and I always try to get one other person in on it) helps out a ton when keeping cost down.

The thing is just to get started. When I started out I was getting a 25 lb bag at a time and just plugging away. It adds up pretty fast. Like I said it is just about getting going and something is better than nothing.

Good luck to all

SHTF=SOL in about 2-3 months. My sweetie thinks there are other things to worry about...
I grab an extra couple of bags of rice at Costco and a little more ammo than I use at Walmart, but my main efforts are focused on medical training.
I do have a good sized wine cellar and a German Shepherd but after I finish that I'll most likely head for shortstow80's place...
Just kidding, really.

I have 6 cans of beans and 50 rounds of .22, so I'm good for a month or 2......

yeah, but how big is them there cans ?

PEZ, SPAM and ICIE Pops.... I'm set for SHTF. I'll just wait for my FEMA aid pack. I'll be good with that.

Man I am going to have to go shopping now again. I forgot the PEZ. How could this have happened? Thanks for the reminder ktyhawk

On a side note. If you are storing you stuff in tubs watch how your water jugs (if you store them) are positioned. I discovered today one of mine leaked the whole 2.5 gallons into the tub. Thanks goodness it just had some other jugs os cooking oil, vinegar, and bleach. If it would have been my books oh man a little upset.

Tedzilla- you never know when someones place might need an extra hand or two to help keep it safe and productive in times of need.

My family has a place in West va....4 natural springs on the property, natural gas runs everything and its free and unlimited due to the gas company needing to run a pipeline through our property. A very large stocked pond,tons of wildlife etc.

I currently have enough food and water to last my family about 3-4 weeks....im still stocking up....i need more ammo and fuel to make it work...but it only about a 4 hour trip from here.

Its about as good as it gets if a SHTF situation happens...not many people around to challenge the land and our family possy is big enough to hold off a small army.

But im hoping when it happens the lord will have come back and taken his saints to heaven to be with him....and i dont plan on being here!!

How much planning have you made to get to that location? What I mean is, when the event happens, you are on the fringe of NOVA. All the NOVAites are going to be running to the hills also in the same direction. How many routes do you have mapped out to get there? Any natural obsticles that could prevent your ingress to the location? Just something to think about.

My BOL is in Highland County. I live between Richmond and Williamsburg so I will be fighting the tide around Richmond and trying to outrun the hordes from Hampton Roads. Just make sure you have alternate plans if you can't get to your #1 choice or at least an idea how to get there if your main route should become FUBAR'ed.

The key is to pre-position supplies at your BOL location and maybe a couple locations along the way. You may have to walk to it. My BOL location is < 30 miles away and that is about the most I will want to travel.

I live in the fallback area, and outsiders will not be welcomed! Check this for getting water from wells http://www.lehmans.com/store/Water___Buckets___Galvanized_Well_Bucket___550202?Args=#

also for water I live less than two miles from the head of the creek that flow through the back yard. Lots of wooded areas here with lots of game for meat, may have to resort to groundhogs and possums for meat, but beats starving. Dairy farm up the road and some large cornfields if you know where to look. It's a well protected valley with enough like minded people to hold our own, at least I hope so.

I'm lookin to buy me a piece of land south of here (Orange) and do some fortifying/stocking up. I live in town and have a very hard to defend house so right now if TSHTF I'd be pretty screwed. I have a couple of places I could get to but Floyd and Boones Mill are a pretty good distance from me. I have the ammo and gun thing covered, I just need a BOL that isn't so close to a possible flash point. I figure 40 - 50 acres would be enough to sit right in the middle of. I also have a pretty good sized family and for the most part we are all country raised rednecks so between all of us we'd survive pretty good.

If things look like they will blow over in a couple of weeks I will hunker down and ride it out. But if it looks long term My plan is to go mobile on horse back. Plan is to go west till I can see the mountains as a landmark then turn south.(Not going to the mountains apparently that where everyone is going)My plan is to not be seen.

The way things are starting to look around here, when the shtf, I'm going to try for Mexico. I should be the only one left down there!!!

Do not underestimate the power of "shock". There will be a lot of "this is not happening". However, I'll let you all you know what I'd do, once I can get some 20/20.

I am not ready at all and dont know how I could possibly make it with no 711 or Dairy Queen or Big Macs or hell MTN Dew!!!!! That would be the worst.... Oh My God!!!! I am going to stock up on MTN Dew right ...... NOW

For me it would be the lack of Diet Coke.... That stuff is like crack for me. I don't want to be around me the third day without caffine...

I wonder how long cokes would store if kept in a cool, dry area?

I would think the cans would be better for long term? I'm sure Coke would be able to answer that one.

hey broncos, you know me so i will let you answer that one!!

Yeah, I think you would fall under the "The former Congressional Bunker at the Greenbrier looks like amateur night compared to what I have!" option .

lol for me it would be a lack of ice cold Diet Pepsi :P Im just awful glad that its not alcoholic............

Water is always of top concern. I have put away some, but not near enough, and have no room for large amount. Have enough food for a few weeks. Would have more but can't get the wife trained to buy more than one can at a time!

Steve

Thanks for the good laugh!!!!!
Steve

When I lived in suburban NOVA my plan was to fall back to my wife's aunt's farm in Western West Virginia. Since EMP from a nuke is a consideration (not the only consideration, but living next to Washington, DC, one should consider it) we preferred to move South into "free America" and establish a small farm. If the diaper heads can get their hands on a nuke and pop it in DC, our walk to WV was going to be long and hard with the zombie hordes on our tails. We now raise small livestock and farm our fruits and veggies. Our plan is to hunker down and out-shoot the zombies.

My biggest fear is that My wife and I are at work and cannot make it to get kids from school/daycare.A more immediate threat is Anna power station going POP!!!!!

buy a portable diesel generator at least 5500 watts(most diesels i have seen are more than that) and make or have made a male/male heavy gauge chord(you can buy the wire and plug ends from lowes) to plug into a 220 outlet in your house either a dryer or range outlet typically. or have a dedicated 220 outlet installed on the exterior or in your garage car port etc. throw your main breaker(to keep from killing the utility workers or supplying power to everybody else in the neighborhood) and backfeed your panel box from the 220 outlet. turn off the non essential outlets but you can run your well pump to fill water containers and keep your freezer frozen by running the generator in short cycles. i reccomend diesel because the fuel doesn't degrade like gas.

the above generator idea is for shtf situation and not a std power outage as i believe what i suggested is not allowed under current ordinances/laws but i could be the diffreence between life and death in a true survival situation.

If the SHTF, I'll only need one bullet. Nuff said in my opinion.

I have a fall back position and enough food, water and fuel to get there (or stay in place a couple of weeks). Problem is being able to get there...I guess that is were the brain comes in. Other than a nuke or something, if you look at what is going on you can probably get where you need to go before it gets really bad.

Bringing up this blast from the past post from YEARS ago. Made me curious again.



Well, didn't exactly figure pandemic into the mix. Although, now I suppose that is one of the most likely things to happen. It certainly has people rethinking what they are ready for.

Didn't figure on the amount of whining about not getting haircuts, going to the gym, freaking out over toilet paper, etc. I'm going out on a limb and saying a lot of the previous preparedness has been based on stuff people saw in movies, TV, and such. Lots of big talk.

Basic life still running with a few changes and inconveniences has really brought out some Nancy types. I don't think many would do well in a true SHTF scenario at all.

Thoughts????

That's pretty much the situation in a nutshell. So many entitled, useless, nanny-state types in this once-great country. The response to the virus is political and overblown. This is NOT a hardship or the end of the world..