Where are you going to spend SHTF?  Is that a bridge you are going to cross when you come to it?  Are you going to make the best of the situation with what you have on hand?  Will you really be safe in your current location?  What will you do when the food runs out?

I’ve promised to tell you “My Story” and this is part of it.  The truth be told if you are living in an urban area you have are limited in opportunities.  I’ve talked about this before, simply put there aren’t enough resources and too many people to sustain life without the infrastructure that supplies the goods and services your life depends on.  Yes, if you are in this situation it is wise to prepare as best you can.  Most disasters and catastrophes that occur are relatively short lived, but what if the big one happens?  Unfortunately, the only choice you have is to re-locate yourself to where there are enough resources to sustain you and your family.

An easy answer for me would be to tell you, well, go out and buy a bugout location! That wouldn’t be fair, not everyone can afford a bugout location, I couldn’t.  Everyone reading is going to have a different situation so I am not going to attempt to give you step by step instructions.  What I can do is tell you what I did.

I am a man of limited means and great responsibility.  I work near a major Midwestern city and live about as far away from it as I can but not far enough.  I am the sole provider for my family and have a rather large one at that.  It is expensive to live in or near a major city and this one is no different.  I didn’t choose to live here; this is where I was born.  I’ve been a “prepper” of sorts all of my adult life but I didn’t come to the realization I had to make a major change until about 6 years ago.  Many of you know we went through a major flood which was my awakening. It was this incident in which I came to many realizations.  Without power the home I lived in was subject to flooding, immediately.  My 75×150 lot couldn’t sustain me, let alone my growing family.  Even if it had a remote chance, my town wouldn’t allow a garden in my front yard and I could forget about animals.  What were my options?

It is arguable that I had a few options at this point.  I needed to move my family to resources since I can’t move resources to my family.  The first choice was pack up and leave, sell the house, up end my family, find a new job and make a major change all at once.  My second choice was to find a suitable location within our meager budget, buy it as a second property and slowly make a transition.  The third choice was to dig a small hole in the back yard, insert my head and back fill it.  Unfortunately for me, none of these three choices panned out.

I quickly realized that convincing my family to bug out into the boonies on the chance of a nebulous threat wouldn’t fly.  They already thought I was crazy enough.  The real estate crash was just beginning.  I, like lots of Americans, now owned a home that wasn’t worth what I paid for it.  Option 1 was off the table.

The second option would require me to leverage myself beyond what I could afford as well.  Even trying to obtain a loan on just a small portion of land was something the banks weren’t having at the time.  Besides, even if they would loan the money it is unwise to over extend yourself. I had a small amount of cash saved up but it wouldn’t buy much.

The third option was a non-option.  I don’t give up.  I knew we needed to start making some progress.  Sure, I could save for the next 5 years and pay cash, but things were really starting to look grim in the economy.  If there is one thing I can admit to being it is resourceful.  I pondered what to do for months.  I worked out many options in my mind.  I knew lots of folks that were likeminded, all who had limited resources.  In the end I approached two other family members who had the prepper twinkle in their eyes.  They saw the events transpiring in the world as foreshadowing the rocky times to come.  They had certain things in common with me; they drove old cars, didn’t have cable, didn’t carry balances on credit cards, lived modestly, they didn’t take vacations, and had relatively stable jobs.  Besides being friends and family members, in short, they were good partners.  I proposed the idea of looking for a family bug out location, one immediately saw the benefits, the other took some convincing.

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