Monday, May 5, 2008

The Long Road

My trip down the road to preparedness began back when I was quite young. Reading about the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, The Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe and like stories kindled the flame of adventure and self reliance.

I had my 1st part time job at age 15 and used the money for buying hiking gear, bicycles and motorcycle parts. When I was 16 I bought my 1st vehicle: a 1948 Chevorolet 1/2 ton Pickup with a 4 speed and granny low. I only had it a few months before I sold it and bought a 1962 Chevy II.
When I was nineteen, I moved out into an apartment and began to collect more and better backpacking gear. I also began to hit garage sales and buy army surplus gear where ever I could find it.
I continued along this way until I was 25. Then came the event that forever changed my life. The survival movement was relatively young and unknown to me until I picked up this magazine at the local store.

Now a whole new world previously unimagined was introduced to me. I began to subscribe to more magazines such as Soldier of Fortune, Survive, Mother Earth News, Survival Tomorrow and Shooters Survival Guide.

At this time the cold war was the big threat and nuclear disaster dripped from every magazine. Natural disasters were also discussed and Global Warming was just an Al Gore wet dream.
26 years later I am still buying and preparing for the new threats emerging. New threats equals new preps. As long as I love my children I will continue to prep for beyond my lifetime and into theirs. Do I think I will ever be done? Not much chance of that thanks to the powers that be.

Prepping is indeed a long and rewarding road. If nothing were to ever happen, I would at least have the satisfaction of knowing that my family will be able to provide a large portion of their needs themselves. And if the train wreck that many see coming happens, we will ride out the storm in a much better position thanks to the preps.

5 comments:

  1. Great post Scout. It kinda reiterates my (new) philosophy of "I'd rather be prepared unnecessarily than caught with my pants down". And hey, my first car was a '64 Chevy II! Wish I still had it. Hopped up 305, Saginaw 4 speed (I installed both, originally 6 banger 3 on the tree), hauled ass and got 22 mpg if I kept my foot out of it.

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  2. dont wanna step on yer toes i like your blog and value the gr8 info. awesome job / excellent organisational skills. my 2 cents; the ratio of guns out here in the US to the # of adults is 2:1 and thats just for hand guns, not counting the rifles and shotguns and ARMs and SKS's. To have a few is ok, going armed to the teeth and thinking that will be your saviour is stupid. We all have em and it takes one good reliable all round piece, not an armoury.

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  3. I'll take the armory myself. If nothing else, you might be able to arm your ill prepared neighbors to fend off the marauding hoardes, or the government slackers who've come to confiscate your stash.

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  4. anonymous 11:48 where are you getting those figures? i know lots of non preppers who don't have even a shotgun, let alone two or more modern handguns. many of those guns are antiques, in collections, evidence rooms, they may be expensive target pistols or otherwise not really available for personal defense. as has been discussed in many a blog, if there was a single "all round piece" i wish i'd heard about it. these guns are not in the hands of many who will someday need them, but too many in the hands of the numbskulls you hear about on t.v..
    ...irishdutchuncle

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  5. I remember Shooter's Survival Guide!

    That was one of the mags (along w/ SOF) that I read when I was a kid. I started reading them both in about '80 or '81. Still subscribe to SOF.

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

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