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Last year I wrote an article called “The Five Circles of Preparedness”. This video with a 6th and 7th circle would be an expanded version of said article.
1. Your Brain/Mindset/Skills
2. Your Body
3. Your Clothing and EDC Gear
4. Your Car/Office/Survival Stash/Home away from Home
5. Your Home
6. Your Neighborhood/City/State/Country.
7. Your Planet/Other Countries when yours is no longer an option.
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FerFAL
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Friday, March 9, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Quark Mini CR2: Perfect Minimalist EDC Flashlight
This is a little wonder I’ve had with me for a while now, the 4Sevens Quark Mini CR2.
This thing is 2 inches long by 0.75 inches wide, so small it disappears in any pocket and can be easily carried daily by even the most weight or bulk sensitive person.
In spite of being so small it has low medium and high output of 180 lumens. In low mode it lasts for over a day and it has strobe, SOS and beacon as hidden modes as well.
The only issue is that CR2 batteries aren’t readily available so you’ll have to stock up on line, yet for the minimalist preper this one is hard to beat. Its available at 4Sevens website and costs $39.
Take care guys!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Reply to Van or Truck for Bugging Out: Bicycles
You might be better off with adding bicycle as suppliment to your a bug out vehicle sometimes. Roads bridges maybe clogged with traffic and protestors, fuel may be scarce. You can carry a decent amount of stuff on sturdy bike and keep moving. Granted if you have small kids you are still screwed.We hada small earth quake here a few months ago on the east coast, a 4.5. Traffick was snarled to a crawl and the subway was limited to 15 MPH. A bike would have been handy in getting home.note to all Gen Tomoyuki Yamashita put about 10,000 infantry on bicycles to keep up with his tanks. He used them as “motorized infantry”. He choose the bike, to increase speed and effectively double carrying capacity (for food, water ammo) of his grunts while keep fuel needs down, saving that limited “lift capability” for the ammo, food and water that couldn’t be carried on the bikes.
Bicycles are fun and very practical for short distance commuting and even carrying a few groceries. You spend 0.00 on fuel, you get to work out a bit, say hi to the neighbors as you drive by and the good solid ones last forever. They do have the disadvantage of leaving you exposed so they aren’t that great for dangerous areas or times when security is a concern.
The one I got isn’t a fancy mountain bike, but a traditional utility bike like the Cruiser bikes, something your grandma would use. These tend to be more comfortable, with wider seats and you are in a more up right position. That thing almost weights as much as my car but on the bright side its as solid as it can be. It has mud guards to keep your clothes clean and avoid a line of mud magically appearing along your back (if you never saw the use for these then you never used a bike much!) and I have it fitted with a basket for a couple groceries bags.
Huffy 26-Inch Men's Cruiser Deluxe Bike (Blue)
For civil unrest, roadblocks and protestors I’d avoid those situations like the plague and wouldn’t drive across one with a bike if I could help it, but for short distance transportation they are pretty practical. For larger distances and greater cargo capacity I recommend looking at tricycles. These are used frequently in the third world and its surprising the volume and weight you can sometimes carry in these.
Schwinn Meridian Adult 26-Inch 3-Wheel Bike (Blue)
Take care,
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Van vs. Truck for Bugging Out
Hey Fernando,
First, fantastic book! I’ve read it twice and referred to parts of it many times. Both your book and your website are invaluable.
I have what might seem to be a dumb question, but here goes anyway. I am about to buy a new vehicle. Years ago I had a pickup truck and when I had it always said “I never want to be without a pickup truck”. Well, after many years of good service it died, and I ended up with a minivan, thanks to the family life. After a little while with it, I grew to love it and began to say “I never wanted to be without a minivan”. Anyway, the van has died and I’m now trying to decide which to get. On the positive side for a pickup truck are things like ground clearance, ability to throw absolutely anything in it, and oh by the way it’s a truck. As great as all that is, I found over the years that the minivan was almost better. Taking the seats out gave me tremendous space, and it was all enclosed, all the time. So if I had “stuff” in it and it was raining it did not get wet. If I wanted to stop someplace I didn’t have to worry about someone walking by and taking things out. As dumb as I feel like it sounds, I really cannot figure out which might be better if something bad breaks. Everyone thinks the truck is better, but I’m not sure. Any thoughts??
Thanks,
Terry
Hi Terry, thanks for your email. Its not a dumb question, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Sometimes the things you see on the internet about Bug Out vehicles are funny or plain sad when you can tell that a person actually is preparing for real for a fantasy he came up with.
You often see these huge 4×4 tucks, expensive to keep fueled, expensive to repair, that sit on a garage waiting for that “golden horde” and if something remotely like that ever happens and you happen to get to use that said vehicle, it has a 10 MPG efficiency… meanwhile your sissy ecofriendly neighbor covers five times as much distance per gallon on his Prius. It doesn’t make much sense does it, to waste precious and scarce gas on a vehicle designed mostly for off road when a real bug out or emergency situation still means you’re on roads 95% of the time or more.
As always the answer lies in between the two extremes, that place of common sense that survivalists so often miss.
Your points about the minivan advantage are correct. The only thing that I feel may be missing is capabilities in case of that rare 1-5% chance of needing four wheel drive and better ground clearance. I’ve had years of experience living with roadblocks, sometimes you couldn´t avoid at least one every single day. At times it got ugly and violent. What I learned from that was a)I want a vehicle that can go up a boulevard or sidewalk if needed. B) I want a vehicle that can go through dirt, mud, snow or sand if I need to do so. No, not badass off roading, just from a practical perspective of having to go off road for a bit to avoid trouble. I’ve seen cars trying to go across an ordinary grass field with a bit of mud here and there and the guys with 2WD would get stuck while the ones with 4WD sailed right across it without a problem. Yet since this will be done rarely a SUV with 4WD would do good enough, and clever selection may still land you one that is financially viable for everyday driving.
AS you mention, the minvan gives you a lot of space that you can actually use often. What you describe is correct, your stuff doesn’t get wet and you don’t have to worry about anyone stealing from the open compartment. Its not dumb, its a matter of practicality. If you have to sleep in the vehicle, you can move the seats and you can sleep there rather ok. Sometimes you see trucks with these fiberglass or fabric covers, which seems to be a poor solution.
If you consider these things, you see that you need a minivan type car with acceptable millage, ground clearance and 4WD capability. Certain SUVs come to mind, and when I came across your same predicament I ended up with a used Honda CR-V. It wont be winning any off road comeptitions but it gets you almost anywhere. The 2.0 litre isn’t a powerhorse, but well within the speed limit and the speed I usually drive at anyway. It does have a nice amount of cargo capacity for a medium sized SUV and its dry and well secured. Just a couple days ago I had a couple brand new bikes for the kids and various other shopping bags in the trunk, and still we could leave everything in it while we went to have dinner. With a truck you have to be more careful or keep an eye on it while you grab a bite.
Sometimes SUVs can be a pain so choose wisely. Two car dealers that I’ve talked to recently told me they only buy and drive Hondas or Toyotas. These two have been pretty consistent in terms of quality and reliability. Either the Honda CRV or Toyota Rav4 are good models. Toyota’s Land Cruiser is nice as well, but try keeping it realistic in terms of how much engine you need.
Take care and good luck!
Join the forum discussion on this post!
FerFAL
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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