thuja said,
"Unless you are about to retire or are independently wealthy, you will need to work. Commuting to work from a rural cabin in an era of increasingly expensive (and perhaps rationed and scarce) fuel seems pretty nonsensical to me. Could you doomsteady folks please set forth a cogent argument about why a doomstead is a good idea?"
Yes, most folks need to work, even those of us who are obstensibly "retired" for as long as SS lasts. There are many ways to work, however, that do not include commuting to a cubicle in some big box in a city. In our case, we have a machine shop/welding shop at home. I go downstairs to the walkout basement and I'm at work, or I was until I closed the shop last Fall. If/when Social Security goes the way of the Dodo bird, then I will reopen the shop, call the neighbors, put the sign back up, and I'll be back at work. (They continue to harass me to do that.) Other folks work at home, like Pops, or nearby. But living does require an income of some sort.
Another way to avoid the long commute from remote doomstead is to find a job to make a living in the local area. I have posted many times on the desirability of integrating yourself into your homestead/doomstead community. By working in the local area, you can assure that you will get to be a part of it.
In general, I don't like the "bugout" concept. It fails in many ways, not the least of which is how to make a living in such situation. Most of us can only afford to finance ONE complete life, and the bugout concept usually does not include what I would call a complete life (in terms of job, friends, role in the area) in the secondary location.
With all that said, we are sort of starting to do this anyway! I recently bought an old, but very good 29 ft. RV trailer that we plan to restore completely and augment heavily, then move it to our daughter's property. There, it will function as a place to get the heck out of the way in case of civil disturbance, or, later on, become our version of an old folks' home for when we get too old to handle our present place. (Wife and I are both 65 now.) I am fully aware of the inherent dangers of leaving our present property unattended in case of societal breakdown, however, I would rather be out of the way--and LIVE through it.
Actually, our current residence is our "doomstead". It is only one acre in a very rural community, 5 miles from the county seat of 6,400 souls. Here, we can provide our own water, most of our food, have wood heat, and ply my trade as necessary to make ends meet.
For those who may question the idea of moving out of the city, here is some reaidng material:
http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-prepa ... s_12062011 Local fix-it guy..
