apocalypse rv'ing

APOCALYPSE RV’ING


Mohave Rat, who regularly posts comments and the occasional guest article until too many fools give him a hard time about them and then he rightfully stops giving his free labor ( I get paid to write, so you can abuse me- but please don’t be hating on the guest writers who are doing this for free ), was kind enough to leave a comment which prompted today’s article. Usually on Monday’s I have a tough time coming up with an idea. I’m so busy posting the weekend written articles ( it takes time to post, what with the Amazon links and such ) in the morning and have too little time to read much prior to work, which would put me back into paranoid mode which prompts my brain to go into lock-down panic mode which usually dislodges an idea. I know I make this look easy, but there is definitely an art and science to having enough ideas to keep posting after four years ( by the by, when I get around to it I’ll be paying the nominal fee over at Blog To Print to get four years of the blog put into an e-book. The one now is only the first three years and three months or something like that. I won’t be making any money off it, but if any guest writers from the past object to my reprinting their article, let me know now please ).

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Back in the day when I would read the “Dwelling Portably” newsletter I was always amazed at the strategy of illegally camping. The two authors had been doing it for decades. Now, granted, they were squatting in the Pacific northwest which is a beautiful area and has very agreeable weather. But they were still squatting which just invites police harassment and forces you to keep on the move. Which means you can’t live like a normal survivalists which entails building concrete bunkers, ammunition dumps, punji stick pits, explosive ordinance booby traps, laying down staked fields of fire or setting up infrared surveillance systems. It is also hard to stockpile three years of wheat berries if you are backpacking. I always thought it would be much more practical to spend a few grand and settle down. Of course, I moved so often with my parents as a child and then so often as a young adult that I have come to seek nothing less than stability and welcome the same view from my front door forevermore. A lot of folks like to move around and see the world. I think the rest of this pitiful dung heap sucks monkey testicles and wish to see no more of it. If I never leave northern Nevada again I’ll be happy.

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For those folks that like to be mobile, RV survival is really easy as pie. As Mohave Rat said ( for those that refuse to be enlightened by the comments section which, yes, granted, has a lot of screaming tomfoolery but which also has a lot of invaluable knowledge to add to my narrow worldview ) it was far cheaper to give up his eastern abode and RV than stay put. He can handle up to $10 a gallon gas and still stay in his budget. See how he factored in partial collapse in his shelter plans? You don’t need an expensive RV and you don’t need to own land. I’ll use the southwest as an example, although RV living should be feasible most places. Out west on government land ( not all government land, but for instance BLM land ) you can camp in one stop for twenty days and then must move twenty miles away and start over again ( I believe this is called “boondocking” if you want to Google it and get tips and ideas ). Pick your area, get a topo map showing who owns what parcels and now you know where you can live. Personally, I would pick an area with surface water, not well water. And only park within walking distance of it. Also, you will need to cache supplies. So you need to keep those walking distance also. If your RV breaks, or after the collapse it is stolen, you want your valuables hidden. The RV is just a solid tent and a shady spot, not a fortress. Prepare for the eventual need to abandon it.

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For those not receiving a pension, you can still use this strategy. Jingle mail your house keys, buy an RV, and go live in a trailer park near your selected government land. You are paying rent, but on weekends go out to dig spots for caching supplies. In the event of unemployment you can leave the park and get free rent. Or, just park out of town and commute in. But only use that if the gas is cheaper than the rent and you can do mechanical repairs yourself. You have mobility and even if you pay rent now you can stop when you want to. Yes, a mobile home is much bigger, almost like a house. But an RV gives you options come the economic crapstorm. And if you cache all your supplies you don’t live in clutter and an RV doesn’t seem so bad.

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I’ve written on living in a van, but that is really cramped quarters. Yet most RV’s are a bit pricy ( their previous owners refusing to believe the instant depreciation applies to their RV just as it does to cars ). And when I say RV I’m talking the trailers as well as the motor homes. If you think about it you are really only paying extra for the cabinets, the 12v wiring, fold out beds and the sewer tanks. Other than that, anything on wheels can be turned into an RV if you do a bit of work yourself. I bought my 1965 step van ( like a UPS truck ) for only $750 because it had been turned into an RV ( most potential buyers wanted an empty work van for tools and supplies ). Much cheaper than an RV, and it got 15 miles to the gallon on a V6. I later went back to a trailer, but the Hippie Bread Van still pulls yeoman duty as a storage unit. Don’t think you need to spend tens of thousands on your new home ( warning- check out RV parks FIRST, before you buy an RV. A lot of parks are elitist snob whores that only want bright shiny new RV’s in their park. They won’t admit to age bias, but they want the well off seniors with their golden SS checks- not riffraff hippies in homemade homes ).

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See how easy becoming financially free is? Cache supplies within walking distance and have surface water nearby and you are now set survival wise.

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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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