full article at
http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1279/1/

Has anybody conciously done what she says?
We have

Yes, we did it. But that was a long time go. In 1978 we moved from Kokomo, IN (where locals joke that Indianapolis is the anus of the state, and Kokomo is 55 miles upstream), to the southern end of Indiana. Kokomo is a fine town in many ways, but was/is entirely dependent on automobile manufacturing. Having endured the OPEC Oil Embargo of 1973-4 there, we took our time, waited for the real estate market to stabilize, sold out and left. I managed to wrangle a job transfer to one in Bedford, IN, near where we wanted to go. That was the single key issue that made it a reasonable thing to do. Without a good job, or being of independent means, I don't see how it is feasible. One alternative is, as some people I know about, to move in with family in the new area. In most cases, that will cost you dearly, sort of like marrying for money, whence you will earn every cent you get.

Our move went pretty smoothly, we bought acreage with an old house and outbuildings, and made a go of it. In today's economy, I think it is too late to do something like this. Pops managed it, and some others have, but the world has changed since then. If it IS possible for you to do at this time, and survive financially, better not waste any time making it happen. And better plan on everything taking much longer than you thought and costing a lot more, too.

I really believe that most people are stuck now where they are. If so, then put your efforts into how to survive there. A move can be the most costly thing you will ever do.

Bingo. Kinda like leaving the storm shelter in your back yard for one on the other side of town... just as the storm hits.

Kind of what I was saying about Lone Wolves. The attrition rate for refugees is horrific. We are most vulnerable when we are out in the open and on the move.

Wait a minute now! Just a couple posts ago I was talking about how easy it is to stay with BAU and continue spending like there is no tomorrow and today it's too late?

That's a narrow window!

What is the first thing that happens in a recession? People go somewhere else to find work, right? It's nothing new - across town or across the country. I think Texas was the place this time, in the late '70s I went to Utah because it was booming, 50 years before people were on the road worldwide, 50 years before that was the Potato famine and 50 years before that people basically walked into the wilderness with an axe.

I'm not arguing that anyone should do what we did, I'm not arguing they should move at all, but if moving could help them get to a place they would feel more secure then I saw make a plan, set your priorities and go for it! There are houses in the towns around here you could buy with your credit card! And no it isn't Manhattan - maybe not even Manhattan KS but it ain't bad if you can find an angle.

But like the lady said, the main thing you need to do is really search your soul and decide if you are going to be able to live where and, more importantly, how you are thinking of living. Her story is exactly the same as that Toby guy who moved a little outside of Hicksville OR to create his permaculture paradise and found he didn't like hicks, couldn't make a living at the level he desired, wasn't all that whoopee about actually "living" permaculture after all and would decided after much pain to live on a city lot and just teach it.

We have lived in Central Maine for about 18 years, and I still don't trust it as a place to live out peak oil. I know a lot of people, but this area doesn't seem like it will fare well. Car-dependent lifestyles, 6 months of winter, not very productive land and an economy that is already in trouble spells trouble to me.

We have a bug-out place, but that is even more isolated.

I really don't know what will happen, but I agree it's hard to relocate once you have been in an area for a while. It's like you grow roots.

Whatever happens, any port in a storm. And the storm's coming.

I guess if I'm going to stop lurking, this is as substantive a thread as any because her blog post resonated a lot for me. And I'm upset about it. Her original relocation post was a big reason why I thought I had the right idea for eyeing Vermont, so the fact that she is BAILING on VT, and after staying there for only a little over a year is a little embarrassing, despite any and all attempts on her part towards damage control.

This is the kind of stuff that makes me think twice about turning my brain off and taking in what the rogue's gallery of doomer gurus give out for advice. (I now, for instance, rate Matt Simmons' powers of predictions very poorly and probably always will. I don't care how many more powerpoints he publishes. He's pissing in the wind.)

All of these people have something to contribute, but I wouldn't try to blindly follow their lead without some serious thought.

Mos, I think she's echoing some of the things that you've brought up in other writings. Who and what the target area is, is much more than just a measurement of temperatures, water, soil, and population density. Human behavior requires from most of us a sense of comfort with the environment AND culture in situ, and we also tend to assert that those cultural practices which are uncomfortable to us, are unsustainable or at least undesirable in some fashion.

To think of relocation, you must embrace and form yourself TO the culture that is present; or at the very least select a location which conforms, as is, to your cultural comfort zone.

To me, truck pulls, tobacco spittin, heat, humidity, mosquitoes, sexy Latinas, muddy water, swamps, passing comfort with Spanish, rice fields, guns, petroleum, and revival tents all go together like BBQ and potato salad. No finer mix of perfection to be found anywhere else. To others, I might as well be describing hell on earth.

The Sacred Demise interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnxGd_zUUjE


.

I think I'm stuck here until this place tanks. I am going to fortify my sugarhouse with a wall of sand, put lexan over the windows and door and ride it out. Mos has visited and seen where I live. It's okay, but I wish I was about a half hour south of here near Unity. They have Amish people moving in, the MOFGA fairgrounds, a railroad and a fairly large number of people who can get it together.

I did it in three stages.Had two simultaneous lucky opportunities to leave the city. Wife offered family 'farmette' (granddad just died) in a rural PA town, 20 miles from Rodale Press (the home of Organic Gardening, New Shelter, Bicycling etc. magazines) where she was offered a job. Started to learn about country ways.

Moved to Humboldt Bay and Arcata/Eureka Mini-opolis(tm), original timber/hippie cities, to co-develop Marsh Commons Cohousing Community. I had learned about this cooperative living system from my recent MS in Sustainable Systems. All very green and groovy, walkable, energy efficient project in walkable city. Area is as "sustainable" as any cities in the country I believe. I am not showing off. Scratch my surface and you will find pride balanced by great cynicism. Sometimes very confusing.

Lessons from all this: hate suburbia and have enough flexibility (We have no kids, work on the Interent as writers and editors) to take a chance. The trick is to have very low expectations, no love for material things, a personal vision, patience and a deeply supportive family--parents, wife, lover. Otherwise pulling up can be very lonely.

I got here before I knew about peak oil, but I always liked the idea of sustainable living. I grew a market garden in NY, lived in Guatemala and Costa Rica and ended up here in Maine via Vermont.

Now it is getting late to pull up stakes, so I guess this is it.

At least I know what is the matter with this place.

If I moved to some other place I would have to learn all the problems with that place too.

I pretty much dislike all cultures, so for me it is the lesser of evils choice. (My ideal place would be an uninhabited planet, surrounded by robot servants and no other primates in sight)

So I choose based on water sources, availability of wood, & soil.

There are days I feel like you do Rangerone. Today is okay though.

What a crock.

Can't stand Vermont, nope, need dry air and sunshine. So where do we go? Boulder Colorado, otherwise known as the Prius capital of the universe, with a mean income 50% above the US average, property values high enough to keep out anyone "different", which is to say, not as rich as those already there, yes, what a nice place to fire up and for Carol to move to a well funded Transition Town. We can't be moving to any poor ones, or the kind which might be full of recalcitrant New Englanders rather than well heeled, well educated, and 90% white locals. Tsk tsk.

I suppose a Transition Town in Martha's Vineyard is the only thing which might be better? Maybe some exclusive suburb near Santa Barbara?