Bugging Out in the Middle of Covid-19

Going Galt Series - Steps to Getting Out of Dodge

Part 5

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!

Holy smokes folks! Did you make it through the past few weeks? I had half a blog post ready to go last week about bugging out to the Redoubt and the SHTF all of the sudden. I decided to skip that one and move on. 

I had to stop and reassess everything. 

Here I am, a proud prepper, and I'm ten hours north of all my supplies!

Now what?!

The family is still in south Idaho to finish the school year. The house is still up for sale too. They were doing their thing and I was doing my thing... and BAM!

Let's assess the stress factor list:

• I'm 10 hours north of my family scouting out for a new homestead (doable)
• Started a new job at the local hospital (semi-stressful)
• Only know two people in the whole area up here (Hi Patrice and Don!)
• House is on the market and I'm praying it sells soon (stressful)
• The coronavirus hits (What the....!)
• Family is 10 hours south during virus panic (getting more stressful)
• Daughter #2 is four months into her 18-month church mission in ECUADOR. (OMG!)
• Daughter #1's trip to Disneyland is canceled (thankfully) and she decided to head to Vegas?! (Seriously?!)
• I'm smack dab in the middle of my doctorate program and the homework is nonstop (stressful)
• And my van (only transportation up here) smells of antifreeze every time I drive it. (Ugh.)

Let's see...

Good LAWD! What else can happen....?

Time to Regroup

Okay, school for me has one more week after this one and we're done for the semester. Whew. I'm headed back south this weekend for Spring Break myself to spend a week with the family. 

We'll talk about our plans and our supplies. We have plenty of food storage and readiness supplies. But we no longer have our acreage which means no pigs or chickens. 

Boy, do I miss the chickens. 

Having those daily eggs was exactly what we need right now. Fresh scrambled eggs with cheese are my favorite breakfast food. 

I'm not really sure what to think about the house up for sale. At first, I figured the panic would have everyone occupied and not out looking at houses.

But sure enough, the realtor called a few days ago and requested a showing. Then the Fed lowered the rates to zero or near zero. I'm still waiting to see what that does to the mortgage interest rates.

Should be a good thing, I think.

The schools my kids go to have all shut down. Every class is online now. Technically, they could return with me after spring break and finish school up north. 

So we'll figure all of that out when I get back down there.

I had some fun with my house listing during the panic.

and then a few days later posted another one...

I figured there has to be someone out there who is looking to get out of the city and move someplace nice and quiet. So I kept putting it out there.

Still I wait...patiently. Praying.

Homestead Property

I have seen some really great stuff up north. My favorite so far is a 22-acre spread with a home and several outbuildings

it was pitched to me as a 3 bed / 1 bath. One bath is pretty tough with all my girls but I figured, even with two bathrooms I still don't get my fair share of time in mine so what the heck. At least with 22 acres, I could go outside...

The top picture shows a run of kennels that housed animals. With some fortification, I think it could handle pigs. Several barns and horse pens available. It was up on a mountain that had a great view and plenty of trees. 

State land right behind it. And the neighbors...oh yeah. They invited me in for dinner right there on the spot. Steak and potatoes. Are you kidding me?

They had me at HELLO.

It's top on my list but I'll keep looking to see if there is something with a little more space in the house. One of the three bedrooms in this house didn't have a closet. So technically, this was a 2-bed, 1-bath. But it was a good 2,000 sq ft overall. 

I could easily make that work. And kids move out eventually, right? They do move out, eventually, right?

There's always this place I found...it comes with some unusual fringe benefits...

New Surroundings

Most days I head back to my rental after work and dig into homework or plans for the move. Twice now I've been greeted by a few of these furry friends.

. 

 

It is always fun when you are in a new town because there are always some unfamiliar things that probably seem normal to the locals. 

The grocery store has Raspberry Coca Cola and Georgia Peach Coca Cola. There's a ginger beer called Cock N Bull. And these interesting sanitary wipes...

Unfortunately, I took this picture before the crazies came out and bought all the toilet paper. Had I known what craziness was about to ensue, I would have bought a couple of packs of Bob's Butt Wipes for good measure. 

It's all gone now.

Yep. Some yahoo from Oregon came into town and scooped it all up. Not sure why the store didn't put a limit on it. They all have limits now but at the beginning of the tsunami, I guess they just weren't expecting it down at the local IGA. 

That was about three days ago. There's still no toilet paper in that store. 

Anyhow, I'm keeping with the plan and still moving forward. Definitely looking forward to getting the move over with and settling down. 

I don't know about ya'll but them other folks out there...are just a little too crazy for me.