During our Tour de YouTube last night, Deb and I watched Jason Salyer (On THREE) offer preppers his take on dealing with potential unrest after the election. He began with advice aimed at escaping urbanites, pretty much echoing what I said the other day.
Something he addressed that I didn’t, however, was Country folk, presumably far-removed from any hubbub and having no reason to bug out. Is there anything that people like Deb and me can do (or should do) to prepare for things getting dicey after Election Day?
The primary objective is to avoid the action, and that means staying away from cities and major suburbs. We almost never visit the two closest metro areas that could see unrest — namely Springfield, Missouri (2-1/2 hours away) and Little Rock (3 hours) — so that’s an easy one for us.
But what about Mountain Home and Harrison? Branson? West Plains? They’re unlikely targets, certainly, at least immediately after the election, but they bear watching.
It’s about limiting our exposure. We won’t choose to travel to more densely populated areas, and we don’t want to be in a position where we’d have to. And so, just like we did before April’s total solar eclipse, we lay-in supplies.
Having what we need on The Mountain — and I’m talkin’ ’bout a minimum of two weeks’ worth — allows us to stay put. Food. Water. Fuel. Supplies, both general and medical.
If we do need to reprovision, we have the nearby small towns of Yellville to our west and Flippin to our north. Cotter and Gassville are options, but they’re on the east side of The Mighty White, and that’d require negotiating one of three “choke points” (two bridges and a dam).
Marshall, a town of 1,300 an hour south of The Mountain, is another possibility. It’d mean crossing a bridge over the Buffalo — still a choke point, but perhaps of less concern than spans of the White.
Beyond those considerations, we’ll simply make sure that our regular preps are in order. In light of the particular threats that these circumstances could present, we might pay a little extra attention to security and defense, both hardware and software.
Tactics and comms, too.
Too much? Overreacting? One man’s paranoia is another man’s prudence. Time will tell.
The air here early this morning was damp and cold, the temperature hovering around 40°F. Winds were calm. To the west and north, a bank of thick white fog rose from the crease cradling Crooked Creek.
My view from the front door of our cabin at that hour had layers and texture that I haven’t seen in a while. What I saw is hard to describe and, of course, impossible to capture in a photograph.
Deb, on her way to work, could manage only 20mph on the county road in the bottoms. She said she could see only a few car-lengths into the fog.
The rain two nights ago, along with last night’s dampness, had an instant effect on wildfire danger and burn bans. The animation below shows the changes in just the first 36 hours after the rain stopped.
Marion County is still high and banned. I expect that’ll change by next week (if not sooner).
My accumulated knives include some that I consider “favorites” but never have carried or used. I blame that on acquiring a lot of fixed-blades when I lived in suburbia and worked a regular job. I had few opportunities to put them to work.
Our American Life on The Mountain has changed all that. I live in the woods. I’m retired. I’ve used a fixed-blade knife more in the past 18 months than I did in the preceding 15 years.
Now I’m picking up, carrying and actually working knives that I bought for good reason but previously only enjoyed handling before returning them to their boxes.
Three particular “favorites” will come out soon. I look forward to “knockin’ the pretty off ’em,” and I’ll definitely share ’em here.
I won’t spill just yet what they are. One is pictured above, photographed for a web article ten years ago in my makeshift “woods lab” at Second Chance Ranch.
Today my woods lab covers 20 acres. How times have changed.
A parting shot — one of the great things about the “singing in the shower” character of Ubi Libertas Blog is that I don’t live and die by the traffic it generates. I notice the stats, but I write for myself.
Yesterday’s post, which led with commentary on Trump supporters as “garbage,” performed abysmally. Traffic was less than half of what I see on a typical day.
I guess I could (reflexively) blame it on “shadow-banning.” That’s possible, but I have no evidence of it.
Maybe it was the long title, quoting the refrain of “Yankee Doodle,” that put off readers. It might be that folks are overwhelmed with politics by now, and seeing the header image of Trump in a trash truck kept them scrolling.
Just my observations. I’m not emotionally invested one way or another. I do, however, find it curious.
Deb’s sunrise view this morning, leaving The Mountain and descending into the fog.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB