Putting the kibosh on someone's plans; or a new style of bugging-out

I read something interesting from another prepper the other day. Growing up in the countryside, he was a big one for exploring the world around him - going out camping, exploring backroads, and generally investigating all around him. He was quick to point out that, if you are bugging-out from the city, wherever you go, your country cousin knows the area where you escape to better than you. You run randomly out into  the countryside, planning to hide away, but you don't take notice that other people are already there.

You might get a bit of land, not too far from amenities, your neighbours have noticed the times you've been and gone. You shifting a lot of equipment into your hideaway, and leave with an empty car.

Or you park your car by the side of the road, and hike into somewhere with only what you can carry. And people will still know you're there.

Humans are relatively easy prey, and if you're always on the defensive it's only a matter of time. You protect yourself by doing a lot of work before time - you might still buy a get-away, but you make friends with your new neighbours. You give them help, you learn to blend into the community - you become part of the community. You learn handicrafts. You don't mark yourself as confrontational or aggressive, you earn allies.

I have been thinking the past few days about different ways to do things. Friends know me as a hobby farmer and a prepper - people who live close to the city. I would not deny them somewhere to escape to if needed, although I'm not sure how easy it would be to provide for them. On the other hand, I have slowly (although not easily for a  non-social person) been making at least nodding acquaintances with my neighbours - people who have sheep and cattle; people who have orchards of limes, bananas, lychees, who knows what else; people who can provide a lot more that I can provide myself - if I make an effort to help them.

If you're looking at bug-out options, perhaps it's worth your time finding a friend (with or without a family) whom you trust, someone who needs work and a place to live, and when you find a bug-out property - have them work it, prepare it, farm, fertilise, make friends in the community, be a presence in the community. Perhaps even a few families chip in to help get the place up to what you need.

I have a lot of trees planted, most of them only three or four years; some of them have started producing, some have a while before they will, one will need another decade before it becomes really prolific. In the mean time, I need to monitor them, ensure they grow. I couldn't do that if I came up from the city only every few weeks. With trial (and much error), I'm learning what vegetables will grow. I'm becoming used to the climate, the limitations of where I'm living... I'm getting invitations to hop over the fence, and help myself to excess fruit.

A friendly wave, a little tech support, some chit-chat is a small price to pay...

Getting there...

The more time goes on,  the more I think that a bit of destruction would be good for humans. Not individually, but as a collection.

We focus on celebrity, and celebrate it. The antics of one person running/swimming/whatever better than another one - we spend billions on a sports event and, at the end of the day, has that made humans any better? The criminal is lauded over the humanitarian.

A little re-direction of our priorities might do us some good.

That is all.

Something better to do with your money...

I read recently that mining billionaire Clive Palmer has been consulting with various people to find out whether it's possible to clone dinosaurs in order to create a theme park resort. It's amusing that someone would cash in on a group of animals that have been extinct so long (I won't argue on whether it's been 5,000 years or 65 million), yet when it comes to the long-term survival of our own species and all that we depend upon, is likely to call it an anti-business conspiracy. He has previously had plans to rebuild the Titanic, a boat that failed.

Here's a challenge to you, Clive - put some money in to ensuring that humans either don't wipe themselves out, or are at least able to rebuild past a cataclysm. Put some money in to developing new technologies, and exploring possibilities, so that not only will these become available, but you can put your name on being the one who made them possible. People outside of Spain don't remember King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella for nothing. The de Medicis are remembered for being patrons to some of the biggest ideas and works in their time.

You only need 1 good idea to be developed in order to justify the 99 that lead nowhere.

Very few of the big capitalists are really remembered - it's the people who were willing to lose a bit of money that we don't forget.

In exchange, well, we'll build, maintain and improve a little getaway, to start-with... and build a much larger system that can support you long term - assistants to pick up after you, technicians to keep things running, other people to fulfil any needs. We will work on new technologies that, if successful will propel humans forward. You could leave an indelible mark on history. Ever heard of fusion for producing electricity? Small experimenters have made more progress in the past decade than major researchers have in five decades before.

Technologies are there that could take us into the universe, people are knowledgeable and solving issues, it's only that we need our King Ferdinand to support us. There are a lot of problems, we just need to have someone help us.

Before anyone else asks what this has to do with prepping or survival PSHTF - everything. There's only so much food you can store - you need to grow your own. If you're going to spend your time underground, you need energy, you need a life support system, you need to find better ways to do things. You need equipment to be reliable, repairable, efficient, and small. You need power to keep things running - no good having four weeks of diesel for a generator if you have to rely on it for eight. There are problems in prepping that can be applied in plenty of other places, one problem ties into another, a solution for one problem solves another.