Maintaining the option of MOBILITY in prepping for SHTF (ESPECIALLY "personal" SHTF).

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Sourdough

"Eleutheromaniac"
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Mar 17, 2018
Messages
7,014
Location
In a cabin, on a mountain, in "Wilderness" Alaska.
Sadly, I know this thread is going to be a disaster. But DAMN the torpedoes. This is "NOT" about standard mobility thinking, motor homes, travel trailers, vans, etc..

This is about the context for restructuring one's life with the primary goal to not be "exclusively" attached to one dwelling. I have learned that most preppers can't relate to this.

It is for me a whole new way of thinking, and I am only just started trying to figure out how to structure it, before even thinking of actually making it reality.

I think most will never relate to what I am trying to figure out. It would only have appeal to a tiny percentage of population. I want to have possessions, but not have a house or a home or long-term apartment.

Using the wagon wheel concept, the possessions would be the "hub". That could be a secure warehouse type structure. But there might be a better idea for that. Still thinking that location.

This might appeal to older people who have lost their life partner (if I ever get it figured out). This thread is a process of creating. Members will get very pissed/frustrated if they try to win the prize for the perfect answer. There is no answer, only a crude concept of a different way to live.
 
I have been thrown into this project, by recent events in my life. So, I have to create something new. As I look around at established lifestyles (own a home or farm, etc.) I don't want any of those going forward, this is partly driven by the future I envision. I want more mobility (but not road surface type mobility). I want more and varied locations. Not really interested in travel to see new places. But to keep mobility, travel will be necessary.

There would be periods of stationary living but there would be no financial or emotional attachment to that dwelling.
 
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Sourdough said:
I have been thrown into this project, by recent events in my life. So, I have to create something new. As I look around at established lifestyles (own a home or farm, etc.) I don't want any of those going forward, this is partly driven by the future I envision. I want more mobility (but not road surface type mobility). I want more and varied locations. Not really interested in travel to see new places. But to keep mobility, travel will be necessary.
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A small yacht?

Ben
 
Neb said:
A small yacht?

Ben
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Not for me, I love land. My vision is more of renting a small home or apartment. But not accumulate stuff (my stuff) there. Have no attachment to that dwelling or location.

Where I spent much of this past winter, the building has private secure storage rooms. NOTE: For this to be graspable you need to know that location is World Class Trophy Salmon "Sports" Fishing for about 80 days every year. So, people live elsewhere on earth, but keep stuff in an on-site locker and go to that location for one to three months.
 
Our middle child, our son, has never married, and has always loved mobility. So I thought of him when you posed your question. Five years ago we left New Mexico and left him our 27 ft travel trailer, because he used it more than we did. He gutted the interior, fashioned it more to his needs, even had a small wood burner put in. His newest project is a 40ft Bluebird bus he bought. He is redoing that. I'm sure it'll make stops on our property in Kansas for a time. Or maybe he'll leave the trailer her. Not sure. Typically he travels by train from New Mexico to see us, will be arriving for a few days next weekend. He has a place for his trailer in New Mexico (and the bus, currently), but always has a place here, too. There is a place in Northern New Mexico in the mountains he also goes to. He packs in, and does just fine. Kind of a nomad. Are you thinking of being a nomad, Sourdough? Or possibly a snowbird?
 
some do that now...younger folks...they basically couch surf...i think its called woofers? yall know what i am talking about...sorta kinda but not exactly what sourdough is thinking.
 
All my Alaska life (55 years) I have owned a dwelling. Now as I highspeed towards 78 y/o I notice I don't want that ownership. I don't want that burden. Especially if I have to pay totally incompetent people insane hourly wages.
 
house sitting and caretakers job might be a part of this too.

in my younger years i was mobile..but it required me driving..but i always had a bunkhouse to live in at job sites...most of the time.

i had a type of 'foot locker' that held everything i needed. i could do it with even less today..backpack and two duffels to set up in any dwelling cooking,eating and sleeping.
 
elkhound said:
some do that now...younger folks...they basically couch surf...i think its called woofers? yall know what i am talking about...sorta kinda but not exactly what sourdough is thinking.
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NO........not even "slightly" like that. I paid (all-in) roughly $1,500.00 monthly rent for a very nice and very well (100%) furnished three-bedroom apartment. This place rents for $13,000.00 plus a month during the mid-June through mid-September Salmon Fishing Runs.
 
Sourdough said:
NO........not even "slightly" like that. I paid (all-in) roughly $1,500.00 monthly rent for a very nice and very well (100%) furnished three-bedroom apartment. This place rents for $13,000.00 plus a month during the mid-June through mid-September Salmon Fishing Runs.
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so you want to rent place to place then?

maybe rent these efficiency apartments...i see them set up in older motels often.

i spelled it wrong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWOOF
 
Frostbite said:
I divide my time between the 3 properties I own, two on the coast (about 3hrs apart) and one in the high country. Does that count?
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NO.........I don't want to be a property owner, especially going forward in the social/economic vision that I see.
 
friend is sorta doing this now...BUT..it requires a vehicle ..he lives in his cargo work van at camp sites...he spent last two months in places it cost him $20-$30 a week.

the one flaw to me in this is what happens when theres no place to rent? i am seeing that even here where i live and people cant find anything to rent at all. new folks pouring into country now faster than new housing is being built.
 
elkhound said:
so you want to rent place to place then?

maybe rent these efficiency apartments...i see them set up in older motels often.

i spelled it wrong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWOOF
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I am just throwing cloudy ideas out there. No, not cheap efficiency apartments. Nery nice places in some locations OFF-season.

Please forget offering ideas of how some people do life now. Think how you could totally restructure your life. Especially if your 60-70-80 years old. I made a huge mistake in NOT doing this thought process three years ago when I was 75 y/o.
 
Sourdough said:
I am just throwing cloudy ideas out there. No, not cheap efficiency apartments. Nery nice places in some locations OFF-season.

Please forget offering ideas of how some people do life now. Think how you could totally restructure your life. Especially if your 60-70-80 years old. I made a huge mistake in NOT doing this thought process three years ago when I was 75 y/o.
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yea..i am just not seeing how you do this if nothing is available rent..then what? sleep on bus bench?that would be my worry is all.

also as of late i seen people..ultra rich..buy property and kick all the renters out...they dozed entire buildings and more..even a main business in a small town got dozed over.
 
The big problem that I see about not owning a home is pretty simple, you need an income stream to supplement your life. I say that because for most people 60% of their wealth is their home. If you have an income that doesn't go away then a home is an option. If you don't need space to keep your "stuff" a home is an option.

I respect everyone's opinion about how they live their life but I have to admit that I kind of raise an eyebrow at those that have "tiny homes". Sorry but that's basically a trailer & they tend to mostly lose value. And since most people that have them don't own the land, they sit on there's another way of not building equity. I guess what I'm say is look long term & plan for the unplanned. Example: Every male member in my family except 1 died before reaching 70 year old. So I never planned to live a long time but I did prepare to live longer than I thought I would. It did look like I was wasted some effort there when I was in my 50's & had my first heart attack. But it paid off because even after 2 more I'm still kicking.
 
elkhound said:
yea..i am just not seeing how you do this if nothing is available rent..then what? sleep on bus bench?that would be my worry is all.
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I don't think there is ever NO place to rent. There may be NO places with reasonable rent. Besides I could just sign a three or five year lease, if I found the perfect situation.

There is ZERO places to rent in Soldotna or Kenai, Alaska when the fish are running. So don't be in Kenai or Soldotna, Alaska during the Salmon Spawning Season. Be renting at a location famous for Skiing in the winter, while the Salmon Spawn in Alaska. That is a small part of mobility.
 
Amish Heart said:
Hire a driver, Sourdough, and map out where everyone lives on this forum, and go visiting.
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Problem is the single "senior" ladies would never allow me to leave.
 
The military are the kings of mobility.

Our gear is built in layers (each next step in the following list is an addition more so than a substitution):
  1. Belt order/gear
  2. Day pack
  3. 3 Day Assault pack
  4. Sustainment (large pack)
  5. Duffels
  6. Footlockers/Trunks
  7. CONEX containers
If some one built their gear/possessions into such a system and had that stored one or more places, they could live that way.

But the main challenge I see for you Sourdough, is that the Alaska winter climate is severe enough that it is among the most gear-intensive places on the planet.

It is also arguably the place where having a suitable dwelling is about the most essential it can be.

When I think of winter there, all I keep coming back to is a super well insulated RV camper trailer, that you get a tow truck to relocate when needed.........
 
You veel own nothing and be happy!

Actually, one of the better times in my life was when I lived between FL and Honduras. I had a sailboat in the Keys (or wherever I wanted to dock it) and a pickup with a camper shell. I had a small mahogany house in Belize for awhile, where I stashed my girlfriend. I did own that house, but wasn't attached to it. My wife and I had a penthouse apartment in Tegucigalpa, in a building her father owned. There was a company owned place in San Pedro Sula where I'd stay occasionally, plus our home in the main family compound in the mountains. None of that cost me anything.

I enjoyed the variety, and really had very little skin in the game, which was good, because when the music stopped I escaped with my travel pack, a boatload of money I'd saved up... and still had my yacht to live on. But now 35 yrs later, I own all this stuff. House, shop/office/warehouse, tools, cars. Taxes, repairs, insurance, utilities, irrigation, neighbors, ugh! Sometimes it would be nice to just cast off the dock lines again and spend a few months in the islands. Except now they are full of cruise ships...
 
Sourdough said:
I don't think there is ever NO place to rent. There may be NO places with reasonable rent. Besides I could just sign a three or five year lease, if I found the perfect situation.

There is ZERO places to rent in Soldotna or Kenai, Alaska when the fish are running. So don't be in Kenai or Soldotna, Alaska during the Salmon Spawning Season. Be renting at a location famous for Skiing in the winter, while the Salmon Spawn in Alaska. That is a small part of mobility.
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Yeah, that's what we like to do. Go places off season. But since covid even those places are priced out of reach. I was looking at hotels in Jackson Hole in July. (Obviously not low season.) There is nothing under $500 (the hostel is like $199 for a bunk room). Suites at the 4 Seasons start about $2,000, and go up to $4,000+ per night!

It's true when they say the billionaiers are pushing out the millionaires. And in Sedona they are fighting over where employees can park their cars to sleep between shifts - because there is no housing available - and the NIMBY's don't want to even allow their waiters and maids to live in the woods.

I've thought of a motor home but now days unless you are driving a million dollar Prevost, and if you are boondocking, the authorities look at you like you're homeless riff raff.
 
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Sourdough said:
I don't think there is ever NO place to rent. There may be NO places with reasonable rent. Besides I could just sign a three or five year lease, if I found the perfect situation.

There is ZERO places to rent in Soldotna or Kenai, Alaska when the fish are running. So don't be in Kenai or Soldotna, Alaska during the Salmon Spawning Season. Be renting at a location famous for Skiing in the winter, while the Salmon Spawn in Alaska. That is a small part of mobility.
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Then right there is your answer to your own question...you just need to go someplace other than your current location till this high end fishing season is over with then return...get a motel or efficiency for the 3 months..to be honest around here no one is going to rent a regular home or apartment for 3 months.

one of places i mentioned before over 100 people lost their rented dwellings.

you may have to go into anchorage for next 90 days..surly there's decent places there and available?see this is where renting sucks..you are at the mercy of land owners and what ever economic situation is going as well..i.e. fishing season rent 13k...vs. normal what you been paying till now.

i can go to the coast in winter for a 10th of the price summer rates are.

maybe you need to look into the air b-n-b places...you might find a place till season is over within reasonable distance to current location.
 
Hardcalibres said:
If some one built their gear/possessions into such a system and had that stored one or more places, they could live that way.
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Kind of along my "working idea".

I had a friend he earned a lot of money throughout his life as a very successful dental practice and owner of luxury hunting & fishing lodge in Alaska. When he got to roughly where I find myself, (mid to late 70's) he rented a large super secure warehouse in South Anchorage. He moved all his stuff in there and lived in there when he was in Anchorage.
 
also..in the 1980's i knew a retired bear guide..he moved to an assisted living senior home..not a nursing home. it was like tiny apartments..i would pick him up in morning and we bear hunted in day..just needed him for legal reasons in truck..then drop him off at night..he said he loved it there...easy living and had a building full of single senior women !!

i know a senior in new place and its only $350 a month and brand new..she goes daily like a teenager doing things. she can cook in her tiny apartment and tends to her self and needs.
 
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