Strangers won’t be welcome in rural communities during a Stuff Hits The Fan bugout. Small rural communities take care of their own, but “their own” definitely will not include random people traveling on a bugout.
The Small Town Bugout Location (STBOL) – an excellent choice but one with a catch
I’m coining the phrase STBOL because I personally think it is the best option for anybody who needs to bug out and is serious about long-term survival for them and their families.
I’ve talked about the STBOL in multiple stories including this one on finding a town and this one on bugging out to where the food is.
The key takeaway that I want anybody who is considering setting up this idea as their preferred bugout location I want people to think about is “how do I make this work”. There are lots of things that come into play on that score, including scouting out an areas, figuring out housing (whether it be camping, buying an inexpensive home, buying an empty lot, etc.).
A key component is getting at least minimally involved in the community even if you don’t live there. Here’s why.
“We know who belongs here, and who doesn’t”
That’s one of the things I was keeping in mind when I recently wrote my recent BLM Land articles is what a bad idea it would be to try to camp on BLM land leased to ranchers.
That got me to thinking about one of our earliest podcasts we did here on 3BY, Episode 12. Here’s link to it so you can listen along if you like:
There are many types of bugout plans out there, and a lot of them for people who live in the city involves heading out and finding a small community to stay in, often with family or close friends.
Staying with family or close friends isn’t what I am talking about when I mean strangers… extended family belong.
Strangers are just “road people”, folks who have no connections to anybody in the community. Those folks are going to be sent right on down the road… unless they have skills the community needs.
Why won’t I be welcome? I’m a nice person!
I’ve lived in small communities from the time we got back from overseas (I’m a military brad) until today, barring two years where we lived in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb. Yes, I lived in THAT Ferguson, the one with all the recent rioting. Where we lived was less than a mile from the heart of the riot areas… but that’s another story.
I’ve lived in small midwestern towns and cities of varying sizes, from 45,000 to 5,000, to 2,300 to 1,400 in population. Here’s what I know from experience.
You would certainly not be noticed in a town of 45,000 people, but on the other hand you wouldn’t get a whole lot of advantage being in a small city that size if you are caught up in an extended situation… 45,000 is a big enough town to have some real social challenges.
Tribe
Generally (to a point), the smaller the town the better off you will be if the SHTF because small communities form tribes. If you are a member of the tribe, then people look out for you and you look out for the other members of your tribe.
Even though neither of us are natives here where we are now, Spice and I are integral tribe members of our community. We’ve pitched in on community projects over the years, we’ve served on committees and been members of community organizations for years.
People who are coming in from who-knows-where looking for help? Where were you when the Olsen kid got sick and the parents needed help for expenses and where were you when Jack’s house burned down and he needed help. Where were you when we needed somebody to take tickets on Saturday at the Pumpkin Fest? You were the same place you can go now that you need help… somewhere else.
That’s not me saying that, that’s what people who hit the road looking for small-town help are going to be hearing.
Fixing The Problem
There are several strategies that can insure that you will be at least tollerated in a small town during a mass bug-out.
Perhaps the easiest way is if you are a property owner in a town. “I’m going to my house, I own 107 N. Cherry, have for years… the “Paul Owens” yellow house across the street from the Methodist church, a couple of doors north? I helped pay for that new church roof a couple of years ago.” Welcome to town, you are in.
Or, if you don’t own land, you need a friend or at least a good local contact who will vouch for you. “I’m Bill Martin’s friend, I’ll be staying with him and his family, we are here to help him expand his garden and with the livestock”. You are in.
Of course, perhaps the best way to get in is to have skills that people desperately need but may not have in the community. Pretty much any job in the medical field will get you in. Dental assistant? Check. Nurse, doctor or vet? Instant access, you are in (and probably put immediately to work).
If you aren’t a medical person, if you don’t have any previous experience with the community, then you are probably not getting in unless you have skills that they need, things like gunsmithing, blacksmithing, sanitation engineering (knowing how to build latrines, water purification, etc), things like that.
Nobody needs an MBA unless he’s also got some real-world survival skill. Nobody needs a lawyer if the SHTF.
You can buy land for next to nothing, right now
I”m not talking about investing a huge amount of money here, in many cases you can buy a perfectly livable house in a small town in a food-production area for less than the cost of a new SUV. Significantly less in many cases. I know of 10 different properties off the top of my head right now that could be had for $50,000 or less… less than the cost of an SUV. I just randomly looked up a for-sale property in a North Missouri town, here’s what I found:
A nice little house in a random North Missouri town under $50,000
There are houses like this all over the country if you just look for them. This house could easily be converted to wood heat, you could set up a rain catchment system, pre-build an outhouse, it’s already designed for open air-flow with big, high windows… I could go on and on, but you get the point.
Bugging out without having somewhere to go is a really BAD idea
Most preppers are not planning to bug out as their first option… they are, in fact, planning on bugging in. That’s my first option, I get that. But sometimes, for various reasons, you have to go… and the key to a successful bugout is having somewhere to go to.
A big part of making that bugout happen successfully is having it planned out in advance, having assets in place.
For me? I’m bugging in at a location many others would consider it prime to bug out to… but even then, I know that one of these days I may have to go.
Salty,
Your post reminded me of my former boss (he retired) who had a summer home up in the mountains of New Hampshire. As such, he was a local landowner but the local dynamic was rather more complicated than simply owning land.
Back when he got the property, New Hampshire folks had a really dim view of invaders from Massachusetts — and not unfounded dim views. Mass folks from the “big city” (Boston) bought summer homes up in the White Mountains with some frequency. The city folk tended to come up with an arrogance and sense of entitlement that really rubbed the locals the wrong way. As such, when a Bostonian would try to hire a local to do some carpentry or plow a driveway, the locals were always busy or booked up for the season. The locals did not want to encourage the smug city pansies in any way. It was a sort of commerce shunning.
My boss observed the dynamic at work. Even though he lived in a suburb of Boston and worked in Boston, his family had come from Vermont. So, the told the locals he was “from Vermont.” Not a lie, just not totally current info. Well, the locals welcomed him warmly. They did his carpentry jobs, plowed his driveway, he was “one of them,” and not an outsider.
My point is that someone looking for a STBOL would do well to find out more about the local ethos first. If small town Idahoans despise Californians, it would be best not to mention that you’re from California, etc.
Take care,
— Mic
Salty,
My family lives in a small town, pop. 7,000. We live here because we don’t like living in the city. We don’t want the city folk coming out here and using up our very limited resources. Small towns with plenty of food and services is a myth at best, or a lie if you wish.
Don’t come out here. We don’t want you.
Exactly true. That’s why I say that people who plan on bugging out into the country really need to have “purchase”, they need to not only own land but become at least a part of the community. Strangers will NOT be welcomed if the SHTF, they just won’t. I imagine if somebody bought a house in your town, spent some time there, joined a church (even if they don’t go every week), etc. then it’s a whole different story. Just randomly wandering in isn’t going to happen.
Sitting in the dinner the other day the ranchers were talking about how low they were getting on hay. It got me to thinking, you could buy at ticket for entrance into a small town by having mechanical hay cutting and bailing equipment (assuming you are near cattle country). You would be an instant hero to the ranchers.
If they are running out this year, imagine how low the hay supply will be when the modern equipment stops running.