Activist PostAnyone who has gone camping overnight knows that there is a certain magic involved when sitting by a campfire or camp stove, sharing fish tales and roasting marshmallows over the flickering flames. The whole idea of being off-grid for a few days is embraced as a big adventure and something to look forward to as way to disconnect from our busy lives and the digital world.
Alas, as fun as a camping trip can be, the adventure could get tiresome if not downright frightening if you were forced to camp due to either a short-term power disruption, or the longer-term side effect of a major disaster of calamitous proportions.
Think about it. We depend on power for the most mundane things. Lights, heat, cooking, laundry, basic hygiene and, of course, let us not forget about computer and internet access, are all driven by the power grid. Unless you are lucky enough to own a generator (and even then you need fuel – lots and lots of fuel), when the grid goes down, so does life as you know it.
So what is it like to go off-grid?
A couple of weeks ago Todd, the prepper guru at the Prepper Website, got a taste of the off-grid lifestyle for himself. And no surprise, things did not quite go as planned. He shared the following with me.
Lessons Learned Off-Grid
Last week, my dad and I spent three days at his property in East Texas to clean up and prepare for a future foundation for a structure that we would like to place on site. We’ve been wanting to go for a while now (when it was cooler), but we were waiting for the well to be finished up. The property is totally off-grid, with no electricity, propane and even the well needs the generator because the pump is so deep, so I knew that there would be some lessons learned as these city folk spent three days out roughin’ it!
Lesson: I over estimated my physical ability to work out in the heat. I’m not a wuss. I work hard and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. But most of my day, nowadays, is spent inside in the AC. The heat just drains you and I was constantly thirsty!
On the way up to the property, I was looking forward to stopping at Whataburger (only in TX I think) to have a big hamburger before getting to the property and eating “camp” food. Dad wasn’t hungry, so I told him not to bother stopping. As soon as we arrived, we started unloading the tractor, clearing a path for the truck and trailer and setting up the tent and shade cover. By the time I knew it, it was late and I had lost my appetite. I was thirsty though. It seemed like I couldn’t quench my thirst. I had water and Gatorade, but I was always thirsty. I did monitor myself and my dad. I made sure we were drinking, using the restroom, sweating, etc… So we weren’t in danger, but it was hot.
I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be afterwards, but the heat did take a lot out of me. I weighed myself at home, even after eating a hamburger on the way back home, and I lost 5 pounds! I’m sure it was all water and I’ll gain it all back!
After the generator was started and hooked up to the well, I had all the cool water I wanted. But this situation did cause me to reflect on the fact of “what if” I had to bug-out and the water I had in my BOB ran out. You can only carry so much water. In hot climates, this needs to be really thought out!
One of the items that we both thought were invaluable were those neckties that cool you when you soak them for five minutes. I have purchased one for each member of my family off of eBay, but the two that I had with us were from Walmart. I found them in the sporting section for under $4. We used them constantly.
Lesson: I forgot some important items. I feel like I’m a pretty organized person. I also have a pretty good memory. But there was so much that I was trying to remember that I forgot some important items. I don’t usually have to make lists, but I can see how they insure that you don’t forget important items.
I forgot my camp stove, sun screen and table. The table wasn’t a big deal. Dad had one that we could take up there, although it was a lot smaller than what we needed. For the rest of the items, we stopped at Walmart. I hated to buy another camp stove, but that’s what we were using to heat up water, etc… I could have made a fire, but I’m glad that I didn’t go that route. When you’re tired and hot, spending the extra time and effort to build a fire isn’t what you want to do unless you absolutely have to.
There is always going to be items that you forget, making an effort to minimize your forgetfulness is very important.
Side note – the Sporting Goods section in small town Wal-Mart’s suck compared to those found in the “big city.” The Sporting Goods section was about 1/3 the size of the one that I’m used to.
Lesson: Things broke and didn’t work. My sunglasses, bic lighter and generator broke or didn’t work as I thought. I’m bad with sunglasses. Actually, I never take my sunglasses out of my truck. They stay clipped to my visor when I’m not driving.
But the sun was so bright that I thought I should wear them. I don’t know how it happened, but somewhere along the line they broke. I can still wear them, but nevertheless, sunglasses are important for eye protection and eventually, the small crack that developed will give way and I won’t be able to use them.
The thing that freaked me out was the lighter that was fairly brand new, didn’t work. The wheel was bent and wouldn’t strike the flint. Thank goodness I had backups.
I lit the stove with my Primus Fire Steel. If that didn’t work, I had the fire steel on my Gerber fixed blade sheath and also the fire steel on my paracord bracelet. I could have ultimately used the flint in the lighter and the car lighter too.
Lastly, the generator didn’t work just as I thought. This is my first generator. Weneed it to run the pump on the well. I don’t like this, so I’m working on a way to make sure we can have water, even if we don’t have gasoline. But I digress… I purchased the generator the week before and left it in the box. I assembled it on site (wheels and handles) and started it. It wouldn’t stay on! I pulled the string, checked all that I knew, but it still wouldn’t stay on. I breezed through the manual, looked at the troubleshooting section and still no luck. After about an hour, I figured it out. Basically, it was not enough oil. The automatic shut-off was not allowing the generator to get going due to the lack of it. At the store, the salesman sold me a bottle with enough oil for two changes. So, with that information, I put in half of the bottle, right? It wasn’t enough! After putting in more, it was fine.
I should have assembled the generator at home and gave it a test run first before I really needed it. If the generator wouldn’t have run, we would have had a rough time.
The equipment not working didn’t lead us to tragedies or anything, but it still speaks to the need for redundancy and to the fact of making sure your equipment is in working order BEFORE you need it!
Lesson: The items that I counted on the most. I had multiple knives with me. However, my Kershaw Shallot knife was the only one that I used…and did I use it. I love that knife.
The other thing that we used a lot and could have used more was rope. We used a lot to put up our big shade cover. Because we only had a limited supply, we couldn’t string the cover all the way to the next tree like we wanted to. It still worked for us. But the lesson is that you can never have enough cordage!
In conclusion, I love it out in the country! We are already planning to go back up there again in the next week or two. I will take all these lessons into consideration as I start planning the next trip. But I’m sure that the next trip will have more lessons to learn. And that’s the beauty of it all, learning and growing and making adjustments as we move forward.
Never say never when it comes to being prepared.Now I know what you are saying. “I already know that stuff . . . that would never happen to me.” Well think again. In Todd’s case, he had time to do advance planning. He is an experienced prepper and a smart guy. Yet in this – what turned out to be a good practice run – he learned that he had some shortcomings.
Unlike Todd’s recent experience, in the case of a real emergency, you would have no time to plan while in the moment. Instead, you will be in a “what you see is what you get” situation. To help mitigate the lessons you will learn in the field, I would like to summarize six things you can do to prepare for going off-grid.
Six Ways to Prepare for Going Off-Grid
1. Stay in good physical shape. Life in the rough is more difficult that life on the sofa. You will more likely than not be walking with a pack, carrying water, chopping wood and performing other strenuous activities. The best way to prepare for this is to get in shape now.
2. Plan on water for drinking – and lots of it. Make sure that you acquire some way to purify water in the field plus make sure you have some way to carry the water whether it be it bottle or a portable bladder. Heat will be your enemy in this regard, so be prepared or you will go down like a flash from dehydration.3. Think about the gear you will need and start acquiring it now. There will be no Santa Claus to deliver gear to you when the grid goes down, and if there are stores open (unlikely) they may not have what you need. And just as important, keep your gear together in a central location – you are less likely to forget about it if it is all located in one place.
4. Redundancy is your friend. Sure, it is great to use a lighter or matches to start a fire. But also have a flint and steel as well. The same thing applies to lighting (candles, lanterns and chemical lighting), knives and other items.
5. Practice in advance. Go camping and enjoy a family weekend in the wilderness. Learn how to use your stuff before your life depends upon it.
6. Make a list and check it twice or even three times. Put a checklist in your bug-out-bag and use it. I personally keep a list on the inside of my closet door – front and center where it can’t be missed.
The Final Word
Even the best of preppers can learn from real-time experience. Of the six ways to prepare for going off-grid, perhaps the most important is taking the time to drill and to practice in advance. Hone your craft and have fun doing it. And as always, hope you never have to use your off-grid skills for more than just a day or two.
Read other articles by Gaye Levy here.
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Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye Levy, the SurvivalWoman, grew up and attended school in the Greater Seattle area. After spending many years as an executive in the software industry, she started a specialized accounting practice offering contract CFO work to emerging high tech and service industries. She has now abandoned city life and moved to a serenely beautiful rural area on an island in NW Washington State. She lives and teaches the principles of a sustainable, self-reliant and stylish lifestyle through emergency preparation and disaster planning through her website at BackdoorSurvival.com. SurvivalWoman speaks her mind and delivers her message with optimism and grace, regardless of mayhem swirling around us.
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22 comments:
There is nothing like living off the grid for over a year to teach you a few things about not just surviving, but thriving in primitive conditions.
I can relate to the generator experience. I bought a diesel generator as a backup. Built in China, it was cheap.
I went to start it and had the same experience. It would start and run for a few seconds then stop. I checked everything twice, three times. Still, nothing.
I finally checked the oil level and viola - the oil level was low. Added oil and everything went fine.
Lesson confirmed: Try out everything in your go bag before you need it.
Thanks for the great headsup.
Todd is a "prepper guru"!?? Let's see.
He has apparently never worked outside. So what is he "prepared" for? An indoor emergency? Bugging out to an air conditioned vacation resort?
He carries water AND gatorade? Gatorade!? Really? Cheap junk sugar water? Why not put some sea salt into your drinking water supply and skip carrying TWO different heavy drinking supplies. "Electrolytes" are not the mysterious magic thing that the marketers of gatorade tell us they are.
He carries sunscreen in his emergency bag? Really? Has he not gotten the memo correlating the crazy chemical sun screen junk with the rising rate of skin cancer? Coconut oil works very well as sunscreen, and it has multiple other uses too, as well as being good for your skin. Single-purpose supplies (like gatorade and sunscreen) are complete lunacy in a "survival kit".
A cooking stove. How interesting. Bulky, heavy, and dependent on special fuel, which is also bulky and heavy, and is also a limited asset that serves only one purpose and you have to carry all you will ever need with you. Look up "rocket stove" on youtube. It can be made out of a #10 tin can and a couple soup cans. Light weight, small, cheap, and burns hot and extremely efficient off of readily available fuel source that can be found on-sight wherever you go.
The well depends upon a gasoline generator? So, when the gasoline runs out, you die of thirst? Brilliant plan. Aside from being noisy, insanely heavy, and utterly useless if you ever need to "bug out", in a survival situation a generator screams "HEY WORLD, I'M OVER HERE AND I HAVE GASOLINE AND ELECTRICITY! AND FOOD AND WATER TOO!"
Sunglasses? I'm just amazed that he took time to discuss his sunglasses. He was probably wearing designer cargo shorts and sandals too. And a tank top instead of a long sleeve cotton shirt.
I'm not even going to mention the hamburger and WalMart.. Oops. Too late.
Guru? lol. I'm not even going to visit his website...
Good thoughts. I spent 2.5 years as Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa living in an rural village. It would take a couple hours to get to the nearest electricity, paved road or phone.
In my experience, the most portable and thus practical solution to water needs for an indeterminant time period is a clean shirt, coffee filters and bleach. My portable water filter broke down under a month or two of heavy use. But filtering out debris with a shirt and coffee filter works and a cap full of bleach will kill anything that might make you sick. A liter of bleach and a couple hundred coffee filters will last quite a while.
I would add that I was drinking from an open well, while yours is likely closed amd likely cleaner and fairly safe from disease. But if you need to drink from a river, lake, or other open water then my solution is proven.
I knew I needed a place, even if it was a homestead. After intense search, I found the southern San Luis Valley in Co. 3 years I been out here and I cannot imagine ever moving back to the city. Land is cheap, clean water is abundant and the "law" is nowhere to be seen. I ride my quad everywhere and don't even tag the vehicles anymore. Wild horses, tons of wildlife...I have 15 wonderful dogs:)
The absolute most important thing is fire and a firewood stove. #2 water in a cistern AND a well with Solar. Dogs. Goats. Gardens. Remember you can go 3 weeks without food and grass is a healthy meal, 10:22 wabbit rifle and you are all set. I'm surprised our "guru" didn't put his well on the smart grid.
Wow, quite a difference between this city-slicker's idea of 'off the grid' compared to most rural folks.
I take it he's never going to be building his own lean-to out of sticks then, eh?
And FYI - putting together and getting a fire going is a lot less work than packing around a camp stove, fuel, etc. that will zap your energy pretty quick if you need to be on the move, if you can Haul it at all.
And if you are smart you should never run out of fuel for your fire as opposed to the camp stove which will get drained quickly.
If the things most around here Think will happen do occur then you probably won't be safe staying in One place for long and will need to move around, so the generator, well, camp stove, etc. is just going to end up being a pain in your Ass and/or useless.
He's got a good emergency set-up in the case of a few days to a week or so of impromptu camping, but hardly what can be termed 'off the grid' living.
I would highly recommend this 'Guru' go and get some actual wilderness survival training before a SHTF moment arrives as his article sounds like he hasn't much Knowledge or Experience in actual survival.
Maybe he can bring a Wendy's Drive-Thru with him next time?
Good thing he didn't eat that grease burger before the outing or he probably would have been sick as Hell later working in the heat.
PS - One bottle of Gatorade has like 300 mg of Sodium, and the more sodium and sugar you consume the more you will sweat and feel the wrath of working in the Heat.
Fluoridated water would be better than that crap, heck I'd rather drink soda pop even as it actually has far less sodium and no Brain numbing fluoride(or little anyways).
Anyways, some good thoughts and advice here but he's got a lot to learn about true 'off the grid' living.
I love how he forgot the STOVE???... but it wouldn't be the end of the world nevertheless....unless he forgot his matches too.
The SHFT 'preppers' have always rubbed me the wrong way.
I feel like it's self-defeating to 'prep' for a scenario that is being purposely created by a select few highly detrimental people. What sites like AP are making us aware of is that most of the incidents that would create one of these predicted SHTF scenarios are NOT an 'act of God', but rather a deliberate action of the PTB, or an unforeseen consequence of one of their deliberate actions.
So, I say why not nip the problem in the bud and use our energies and resources to deal with those that would make 'prepping' a necessity in the first place.
We either break away from ALL aspects of their illusion, or we remain victim to it. There is no third choice.
so, activist post is now 'selling' 'free energy', another one bites the dust...
Very fine and honest REPORT! Thanks!
My wife & I spent 40+ years as FIELD MISSIONARIES in such fields as Indonesia, the Caribbean, South America, North America, and Europe.
We experienced quite a few UNIQUE situations, and learned that "NORMAL" wasn't the proper mind set.
PRE-pared was the order of the day.
Both "ROGERS RULES OF ORDER" & the "S.A.S. 7 P's" ("PROPER PLANING & PREPARATION, PREVENT PISS POOR PERFORMANCE"!), are very significant council.
You've learned by doing! GOOD! Because, until you've "BEEN THERE, DONE THAT", {BTDT}, you're NOT PREPARED!
IGNORANCE is the Mother of STUPIDITY! And PRIDE is it's Father! TRUST ME!
If you've NEVER DONE IT...then don't ASS-U-ME that you can or should! Go out and DO IT! THEN you'll KNOW that you either CAN...or...CAN'T!!!
It'll save YOU & those you are responsible for!
Off grid? really? Have you people never beeen outside? How about in a real wilderness, the kind with wild animals, like bears?
Go camping long enough to actually NEED things.
And will someone, not on dial-up, please find this author a link to how to work in the heat. I live in the far north and it gets hot even here. Again, I have to ask, have they never been outside?
Todd and Gaye ? SHUT THE F@#K UP !
I've been lost in the woods for over 2 weeks, i drank water from a brook,as long the water is running over rocks it should be safe,best tasting water ever, plenty to eat if you know what to look for and be willing to eat what you find.i did make my way out, i live right next to a mountain range. i work on a dairy farm,no goverment food for me
Sounds like Todd needs to go back to Boy Scouts and relearn how to live! Most of the basics are lost in his life. PREPPER for sure SURVIVALIST NOT!!!!
Sorry, but using a generator is not going off the grid. I suggest you get a quality hand pump.
When I got the point about "Whataburger" i quit reading.
Holy $hit, these Walmart preppers are just hilarious! Thank you for my comic relief of the day.
Gaye Levy, I hope you have a thick skin so you can get the most from the boastful posts criticizing you. Yeah, you made some mistakes, but I think you need a horizon expander for your understanding of prepping. One of the best five books I've ever read is "Surviving Off Off-Grid" by Michael Bunker. May I suggest that you check it out on Amazon.com and read some of the reviews. May I further suggest that you purchase a copy and devour it. If you're not changed as a result, something is outa whack.
Thats extreme off grid living. MY home is off grid and living like Todd would be hard for me. My generator, when I do have to use it, has the carb freeze up more times than I can remember.
tim Lee
For me living off the grid isn't a big deal. I like living in nature. I like the challenge of a very limited budget. I love being resourceful and stepping outside the parameters most people let society give them. Life off grid has so far proven to be one of the best experiences, challenges and choices I could have made.
Just check this off the grid camping in Spain:
Quemaoviejo.com
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