Why You Should Bug Out To A Rural Area

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Sentry18

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Presuming you don't already live in a rural area.


https://www.survivopedia.com/why-you-should-bug-out-to-a-rural-area/

Why You Should Bug Out To A Rural Area

By
Bill White
October 8, 2019

When most people talk about bugging out, I get the impression that they’re talking about bugging out to the wild.

This isn’t a new impression on my part; I’ve been seeing it for years. Yet bugging out to the wild, while a great sounding idea, is the hardest sort of bug out to do. The typical bug out bag only includes three days worth of food, yet I never hear anyone talking about how they’re going to replenish their food, once they get to their favorite wilderness location.

But living off the land isn’t as easy as it might seem. Granted, many thousands of people lived off the land in the early days of our country. But the ratio of people to game was much better back then, making it fairly easy to find dinner. In any situation bad enough to cause you to bug out, the only places where you’re going to be able to find abundant game to hunt are those which are a long ways from any cities, towns or even farms.



Of course, you could bury a massive stock of supplies out there in the wilderness somewhere, just waiting for you. That would be a big project and keeping it secret would require a lot of patience. But that’s not to say you couldn’t do it; it would just be difficult.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the kind of bug out that happens when the government calls for an evacuation due to a hurricane. While technically a bug out, it’s different than what we usually talk about for two reasons; because it’s temporary and because everyone is looking for hotels and temporary refugee centers to go to.

But that’s not a realistic example of a bug out either, due to the fact that what we’re seeing is all of the unprepared people and what they do. There are surely preppers included in every one of those mass exodus exercises, but they either blend in with the crowd or simply use the crowd as camouflage.

Regardless of whether you and I end up bugging out for a short-term problem, like a hurricane or because of a TEOTWAWKI event that causes a breakdown of society, we need a workable plan to keep our families safe.

If you happen to have a cabin in the woods, which you can use as a bug out retreat, more power to you. I’ve wanted to buy some land and build such a cabin for years, but the finances just keep eluding me. The best I’ve managed so far is a backpack and a tent; which isn’t a survival retreat by any means, it’s more for use along the way to my retreat.

But where am I going to go? That’s the question.

Find a Small Town
My solution has been to find a small town that’s far enough from our home that it will probably be missed by any regional disaster, while still being close enough to be accessible in the event of a disaster. While that town is only 70 miles from my home, it is also 131 feet higher above sea level, as well as being 80 miles farther inland than where I live. That means that the town is much more likely to survive a hurricane, the biggest threat that faces the area in which I live.

There are several reasons why my wife and I have chosen this town, chief amongst which is that we like the town itself. But it was also important to us that it be a small town (actual population is slightly less than 2,000 people) in an area that is at least semi-agricultural. We wanted it to be close enough to be easy to get to, while far enough inland and high enough above sea level to be relatively safe from hurricane flooding, even if it was still close enough to be hit by said hurricane.

The town we found isn’t really on anyone’s radar for anything, even though it has its share of cute shops and its monthly market days to bring in tourism. But other than that one day a month, there’s really no reason for anyone to visit that town. There’s nothing to make it look like a good place to run to in an emergency.

As with many other small towns, there are a few small motels, as well as a fair number of places for sale or rent, although the prices to buy a house are a bit steep. It also has one important thing, which is critical to our plans… a self-storage business. It also has a small river flowing by, providing water.

So, what’s wrong with our little rural town? Like any other small town, it’s suspicious of outsiders. Small towns are different. Everyone knows everyone; and they can spot a stranger from a mile away. So, while they depend largely on the money that those outsiders bring into the town, those people are easily identified as who they are… outsiders.

Should a disaster happen, it’s likely that the residents of our small town will be just as suspicious of outsiders as they are now, or even more so. As with any other small town, they are unlikely to be very welcome to the masses of people from the city, who are going to think that things are better in the rural areas and flood out of the cities, looking for help. Those towns are not going to be a haven filled with food and other critical resources, like many will expect.

 
Integrating Ourselves in the Town
As I see it, the only way that any of us can use a small town as a bug out destination when things go to pot is to integrate ourselves into that town before that happens. That means building a relationship with people, so that we aren’t strangers when we show up at disaster time.

William Forstchen captured the attitude of the small town very well in his best-selling novel “One Second After,” which talks about the aftermath of an EMP. In that story, the town ends up blockading the roads and keeping people who aren’t a part of the town out. They were able to do that because the town was in some rugged mountains, which kept people from coming in cross-country.

Our chosen town doesn’t have that advantage; but that doesn’t mean they won’t try to keep strangers out in the aftermath of a serious disaster. It’s commonly believed that such towns will blockade the entrances to town and post guards. How well they might do in keeping people out is another matter altogether.

At the same time, even if people do get into those small towns, they will stand out as being strangers. One might be able to hide that in a big city, where people don’t necessarily know each other, but not in a small town, where everyone knows each other. If those towns are serious about their security, any strangers slipping into town will probably be found rather quickly.

To combat that, we’re actively working to get to know people in town. Once a month we travel to the town and spend the weekend there, staying at the same motel and eating at our favorite restaurant. We always make a point of visiting the same antique store, where we talk to the owner and go to the same church, where people are getting to know us. Basically, we’re using a weekend getaway as a chance to form relationships with people, getting them used to us, as we integrate ourselves into their community.

This community also has a blacksmithing club, which I am anxious to meet. My dad was a blacksmith in the latter years of his professional life and I had the opportunity to learn a little from him. I’m hoping that this club is open enough that I might be able to spend some time with them, increasing my skills. Of course, that would give us more people that we know, who would vouch for us when we show up for sanctuary.

When the time comes that we have to bug out to that town, they will already know us. That will make it much harder for them to turn us away, even while they are turning aside others. But that’s not all we’re depending on.

Establishing a Supply Cache
Since we live in a hurricane zone, we operate under the assumption that the most likely disaster we will have to face is a hurricane. On top of that, I’m always aware of the risk of major disasters, like an EMP. In either scenario, we will be better off in our selected rural town, than we will be at home. So, while we have a stockpile of equipment and supplies in our home, to help us survive a disaster, we don’t expect to be staying here.

Our number one plan, like that person who has a cabin in the woods, is to bug out and go to our rural town to survive there. With that in mind, our main supply cache is in a self-storage unit, located in that town. We have a 10’ x 10’ unit, which is well stocked with food, survival gear and camping supplies.

In addition to the supplies and survival gear, I have a fair collection of tools there. While I haven’t bothered stockpiling power tools in that cache, assuming that there will be no power, I do have woodworking and mechanics hand tools, which will allow me to do a variety of different things.

The survival stockpile we have set up in that cache is actually larger than the one we have set up at home. Part of that is because we had to include things like camping gear, which we would not need at home; but the other part is because bugging out to that town, rather than staying in the city, is our number one survival plan. The only disasters we would stay in the city for are short-term ones which catch us by surprise.

We’ve also scouted the town for potential locations to set up camp. There are a number of abandoned buildings, which while not ideal, would make a decent survival shelter. But even if we can’t use those, the tent and other camping gear we have would allow us to set up camp in a number of locations that we’ve already spotted.

This supply cache is our second ace in the hole for being accepted by the community, if we ever end up having to bug out and go there. With it, we can prove that we aren’t going to be a burden to them, eliminating the biggest reason they would have for rejecting us. In addition, I’m a former engineer, with considerable skills which could be of use to the town. We’re hoping that combination, along with the friends and acquaintances we’re making, will have them greet us with open arms.

Where to Go From Here?
Of course, my preparations to use that town as our survival retreat aren’t over. Prepping never seems to end. I’m hoping to be able to buy a small piece of property somewhere in that area and park a travel trailer there or build a tiny home. That would be our real ace in the hole, if I’m able to do it, because it would provide us with a legitimate claim residency.

While this won’t be the same as having that cabin in the woods that I would really like to have, it will be just as good. Perhaps it will be even better. Survival in the wild is challenging at best, with all the different tasks that need to be done. We humans are social animals, accustomed to sharing work with others. Using a small town as my bug out location provides me with those others, without the risks that are associated with trying to survive in a big city.

The sense of community that exists in a small town may very well be their most important survival trait. That sense doesn’t exist in the city anymore; but it isn’t lost either. All you have to do to find it is find a small community somewhere.
 
From article above..

" it’s likely that the residents of our small town will be just as suspicious of outsiders as they are now, or even more so. As with any other small town, they are unlikely to be very welcome to the masses of people from the city, who are going to think that things are better in the rural areas and flood out of the cities, looking for help. Those towns are not going to be a haven filled with food and other critical resources, like many will expect."

They didn't go quite far enough.
My small town knows all about invasion tactics and are far more prepared for it than the Invaders may be expecting in a shtf situation.

Believe me it's a topic that's very much discussed.

Jim
 
Mmm . . . my town isn't small enough. ~6000 population is too many for everyone to know everyone. What's the call on max pop?

Aside from that little detail, my town also harbors the Southern Vermont State Prison. Just what happens to a prison pop when shtf happens?
 
The government is able to handle "ALL" problems. I am not worried.
 
The government is able to handle "ALL" problems. I am not worried.

Oh yeah...
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Just m
 
Mmm . . . my town isn't small enough. ~6000 population is too many for everyone to know everyone. What's the call on max pop?

Aside from that little detail, my town also harbors the Southern Vermont State Prison. Just what happens to a prison pop when shtf happens?

My community I live in is several times the size of yours, could almost just add another zero. The town closest to my BOL is 1/6th the size of yours and sits on a large fresh water lake. I consider it to be about as large of place as I would want to be for the long haul if the SHTF.
 
I can tell you that when the ice storm of 2009 hit, we put a stop to Invaders coming in to take advantage of our community supplies of kerosene,
MREs, fuel, etc.

We were almost the same as a militia, to protect our community.

If people don't take this into consideration......oh well.

Jim
 
I don't plan to bug out, I'd have to leave too much behind. If there is no option I'll hookup the coal trailer, which currently has a ton of coal, top it off with buckets of food and hook it up to my truck after filling that up. The front of the truck and the rear of the Jeep have 2" receivers that can each hold 45 gallons of gasoline. I have the containers and fuel. The Jeep can likewise be filled with arms, food, clothing and TP in the luggage rack.

It is two hours drive up to a friends cabin. This is the same friend that we will invite into our home if the SHTF. She is not a prepper but we have enough supplies for her and she'd welcome us. We'd be an asset, not a burden.
 
About 7 miles from where I live is a place we call "Cop Town". It's a small community that was steadily dying for years. It has a single gas station which is also the towns grocery store, liquor store, general store, and gun store. They have a post office, bar, cafe, two small churches, a small medical clinic that is only open 2 days a week, a volunteer ambulance service, and a volunteer fire department. It only has one apartment building and number of houses, some of which have been condemned. They also have a huge coop where the local farmers buy, sell, and store grain and corn. They once had 400-500 residents but that number dropped to nearly 75 before a retired cop bought a ton of land and started to develop it. He built his house and offered all of the lots around him to LEO's at a deep discount. Eventually the entire expansion was nothing but cops, corrections officers, parole agents, court service officers, etc. They have since expanded a couple more times and now there are some NG/EMS/Fire people moving in, but mostly it's still people associated with the criminal justice field. Town is back into the 400-500 range and growing. I have at least a dozen officers who live there with their families, all in new construction homes. We considered it but decided we were too close to being done with a mortgage to start over. It might be a good place to go if my standard bug out plans don't work.
 
About 7 miles from where I live is a place we call "Cop Town". It's a small community that was steadily dying for years. It has a single gas station which is also the towns grocery store, liquor store, general store, and gun store. They have a post office, bar, cafe, two small churches, a small medical clinic that is only open 2 days a week, a volunteer ambulance service, and a volunteer fire department. It only has one apartment building and number of houses, some of which have been condemned. They also have a huge coop where the local farmers buy, sell, and store grain and corn. They once had 400-500 residents but that number dropped to nearly 75 before a retired cop bought a ton of land and started to develop it. He built his house and offered all of the lots around him to LEO's at a deep discount. Eventually the entire expansion was nothing but cops, corrections officers, parole agents, court service officers, etc. They have since expanded a couple more times and now there are some NG/EMS/Fire people moving in, but mostly it's still people associated with the criminal justice field. Town is back into the 400-500 range and growing. I have at least a dozen officers who live there with their families, all in new construction homes. We considered it but decided we were too close to being done with a mortgage to start over. It might be a good place to go if my standard bug out plans don't work.


I read lots of high tank military moving to Ozrks. Also heard they don' tale to strangers espcially minorities so not sure if it is correct or not. No drug cartels or drive bys up there and no crime. Probably not true .
 
Sheesh! You call 911 and every phone in town rings. Sounds like a pretty cool idea. You have a brotherhood neighbourhood and people you can count on.

Not for long, some do gooder trying to prove he is PC is about to fix that. Get ready for culture language and all to change. Goodbye Ozarks hello, San Miami,Arlanta, Detroit, dearborn NY.

 
Don't see any militia strong enough to fight the system.
The militia isn't only to fight the system. Defending the community from zombies (biker gangs etc.) is important. Even a militia of one can make it very costly for the government if they ever cross the line.
 
We have a small town close to us. It has 26 residents. We have not formed a militia yet.
Hah. That number is what we would call a 'settlement', back in the day. Mostly one extended family, sharing the limited arable land, subsistence farming plus a little bit. Some intermarriage with families in the next hollow over.
 
The militia isn't only to fight the system. Defending the community from zombies (biker gangs etc.) is important. Even a militia of one can make it very costly for the government if they ever cross the line.
true .I misunderstood. Usually militia talk is about something else. community defendng itself imo is not whaat militia means. Militia comes from the constitution or bill of rights.But this is a new world than 1776. Not anout gangs, or crime sydicTES
Busy and a cooler day today thank goodness in the mid to late 20 oc.

Started off the morning with stain removing two loads of washing, one each, and hanging them on the line and just took it off the clothesline. I then set off the grey water pumped from the tank and watered the spider and canna lilies, potted fruit trees, another star jasmine and half of the canna lilies. I topped up the kangaroo water with some saved shower water and topped it up again tonight with some town water and rewatered the potted lemon tree that is apparently really thirsty. I put the vegetable steaming water on another potted fruit tree as well as rinsing water from the fruit bowl I used for lunch fruit.

DH did two more months of book work for the RSL club and picked lemons from our potted lemon tree that were ripe. I got an email from one of our large supermarkets with a 10 % off voucher tonight so I topped up on many staples we were trying to get to 12 months worth and now we are there saving in total $26.62 on usual prices. Our staples never come on special here unless they are the more expensive brands which when discounted are dearer than the generic brands :rolleyes: . I only usually get 5% off with our roadside assist grocery gift cards so didn't mind getting double the discount. I am still $60 under budget for the month.

Tonight was a help yourself dinner.

Tomorrow will be exciting as we are having our new 90 cm oven installed, a higher wattage fuse put in the power box, and the old one I nicknamed "cremate everything" taken outside as well as two lights in the kitchen replaced with LED fluros and a light baton replaced in the bathroom downstairs. This will be a relief having more light in the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom one working all the time instead of when it feels like going on.


I need to stop posting till I can be clearer. Stating obvious facts is very unpopular now anyway.
 
Hah. That number is what we would call a 'settlement', back in the day. Mostly one extended family, sharing the limited arable land, subsistence farming plus a little bit. Some intermarriage with families in the next hollow over.

Sounds like some pretty messed up folks to me. At least you can insult their heretage and not be attacked or called racist or hater. Who besides the whites can you insult? Hate them all you ant they have nobody on their side many hate their own selves. So knovk yourself out old man.
 
Sounds like some pretty messed up folks to me. At least you can insult their heretage and not be attacked or called racist or hater. Who besides the whites can you insult? Hate them all you ant they have nobody on their side many hate their own selves. So knovk yourself out old man.
Um, what? I just got done describing my notion of a idyllic life, a better one than my family had - and that was good enough.
 
Um, what? I just got done describing my notion of a idyllic life, a better one than my family had - and that was good enough.

Mountain peopel who like their culture and their aancesters are not imbred or marry hirfamilies. That happen in all racs as doe other bad things. But since we are fair game doeswn't mean I will not speak up evn if it means possible danger.I'm an oldwoman and I forgot more about peopel and history than you'll ever learn.
 
Fact 98%-minorities vote liberals for more free stuff,
Fact all peopel since Abraham had slaves and at least 4 nations still do.
Fact African slavers sold their people all over the world they had slaves and some still do.
Fact only whites are attked for slavery.
We were one of the first to abolish slavery and kill each other doing so.

Libwrals fiull our schools and universities up with immorality. Our children are learning now how to hav sex in every crevice of their bodies. Learning that thwir ancesters are imbred, slave promoting evil capitalist.
 
I don't like arguing. But I'm tird of hering about how bad white people are. It is an epedemic now o hate on aand blame them. I'd rather debate than argue but enough is enough.
 
Um, what? I just got done describing my notion of a idyllic life, a better one than my family had - and that was good enough.

I think I understand wht you were trying to do now. Sorry for my anger at you.
But we don't have to add a negative about ourselves when we brag VThil. Nobody else dose.
I'm very proud of your family and mine faults an all. we have most of the world condeming us now including our own, they don't need help from us.
 
Mountain peopel who like their culture and their aancesters are not imbred or marry hirfamilies. That happen in all racs as doe other bad things. But since we are fair game doeswn't mean I will not speak up evn if it means possible danger.I'm an oldwoman and I forgot more about peopel and history than you'll ever learn.
You are welcome to your pride, "old woman"; it becomes you. The nature of northern Appalachian pride may be somewhat different. No plantations. The few self-deluded people who walked with their noses in the air were wont to stumble on rough ground. I mentioned nothing that was a negative. My family made a living. My sibling children got to play as well as do chores. And the family bowed their heads to no one except God.
 
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