Greetings to all,

I have managed to meet all of my prep plans/goals for the summer of 2008 EXCEPT that I still haven't gotten my bike outfitted for cross country travel.

This fall, I will continue to try and find the time and money to get my bike stable outfitted. Otherwise, I have the following goals:

1) Continue fine tuning the family's BoB's. Work harder to achieve a certain level of consistency/capability among each BoB.
2) Bring my garage organization to a point so that it can be converted to a shelter within 6 hours. (working on that now)
3) Review all existing Contingency Plans to ensure they are up-to-date.
4) Write Contingency Plans to provide Emergency Coverage of my extended family members. (Parents, Siblings, & Friends*)
*Those friends that are more like my brothers and sisters (includes ETS'ers who live nearby) than my brothers and sisters are.

There are more goals but I just can't remember them right now. I hate it when my senility clashes with my aixelsyd!

What goals are the rest of you looking at??

Right now just working on my "cruise ship friendly" kit, since we blast off (is that a proper nautical term) ten days from today!!!

Well as for supplies, i think i finished my BOB contents. I have about 2weeks supply of food, 2 good knives.
Finished my firearms safety course for longarms, should have my PAL in the next 2-3 weeks. Bought a GPS.

current goals:
1. still house shopping. land is expensive, but dropping. I'm trying to hold out on this a while longer without having to buy too far north.
2. Install Ham radio in my 4x4. also looking for other parts for truck.
3. still researching/planning an underground shelter.
4. still looking for good 'paper' topo maps of the local area.
5. also looking for a local source for water storage, and a good water filter.
6. Buy a 12g pump(mossberg 590) and a few hundred shells for it.
7. Get restricted firearms certification.

im sure ill find something else... LOL!
to finish off my checklist above by the end of the year(especially #1) would be great. Then i can get more serious about food/water stocks.

It was a real eye opener when I started working on the BOBs for winter prep. I asked my DW to check her BOB and she could barely lift her pack and mentioned she didn't think she could carry it far. To preface this fact...she is a marathon runner that walks about 2 miles/day to commute to work with about an 8 lbs EDC pack. I think her BOB weighed about 40 lbs.

My current goal is trying to lighten up the DW's BOB and my own. I've started listening to Practical Backpacking and Backpacking light podcasts to get ideas. It is truly incredible to listen to the interviews of a few individuals that "yo-yo" thru hike the AT, the PCT and even the CDT anywhere from 3000 miles to 7000 miles on a total weight of 8 lbs (or less) of gear (including food and water!). These thru hikers expand their packs to about 13 lbs for winter camping through colorado or even the sierras. I find this incredible.

Of course I won't be getting that low but it is inspiring enough to go through the BOBs and find priorities. In the past I have made the DWs BOB a virtual clone of my own so if we ever got separated she would have the essentials. I still like this goal but I will have to minimize items. I have been looking at the thru-hiker's gear lists to get ideas. My goal is to cut the DW's BOB in half and mine to two thirds the current weight without compromising the priorities of thermoregulation, water generation and medical supplies.

Preps for fall of `08 are prepping the new house to survive winter, and also getting REAL winter "kits" in our cars. Since we are moving out of the valley and into the mountains we will get snow, and warm clothes and REAL boots are a must now as well as more items.

Lots to do.

ToddW,

Have you found your dream house in the mountains? Checked your blog and it's a bit out of date my friend. What's the scoop? I've been following your adventures in home buying.

John E

Yeah, sorry, I need to update it. I have been moving non stop for the last week (temp) until house is finalized / fixed / etc. + Finishing work projects. 7am -> 12am may be over finally

I plan to update a lot this afternoon / tonight.

I`ll do a new post / notification.

*Spoiler* In Escrow.

Congrats on the purchase. Look forward to reading about it.

John E.

1. Rotate water stores.
2. Split and stack the wood from the Summer's work.
3. Restock the gasoline stores.
4. Test & PM for generators.
5. Looking into an insulation update on one of the exterior walls on the house. I think the battens in the wall may have settled in that spot.
6. Rotate the Winter gear back into the vehicles.

What I need to do:

1. Take the dents out of the blade of my coldsteel kukri, it hit a few rocks, but otherwise love it;
2. Cut some of the branches, that I cut down with the kukri, into manageable pieces, in case their is some need for using them to keep DW and myself warm;
3. Stack the wood that I have, most of it doesn't need splitting;
4. Get some sand and other items for winter to keep in the car.

One thing I have done is to create something of a replication of our BOBs, put it into a plastic barrell, and hidden that in the yard of the house. It may or may not do me good, even if needed, as the house still is not liveable. It was gutted, currently has no interior walls and only roughed in plumbing and electrical. However, it is pretty much enclosed and would provide shelter. The stuff in the barrell is concentrated more heavily than our BOBs on providing food.

Another thing we recently did was climb Mount Washington, about 4 miles with 4,200 feet of vertical. I'm in pretty good shape, I climbed it without problem and without being very sore. I also had grabbed my BOB out of the closet and walked ten miles with it in preparation. DW had not, so the best thing about that climb was to see DW climb Mount Washington with a pack on her back. She made it, she was sore and ached, but made it. My fear about DW being able to grab her BOB and get to some area of respite is now somewhat diminshed.

We've also had a decent discussion about using the BOB and going nowhere being the first choice again.

Finally, I'm stocking up on seeds. I fear the recent economic turmoil. This fall is may not be fun, it may be wild, but in any case, next year is not going to be fun. If we have a functioning stock trading and banking system, on a level near to what we have now, we are likely to be experiencing inflation. Not having to pay for things will be big.

I'm thinking of getting my license to bow hunt, so I can take a deer. I can sit and do it in the back yard, and help reduce the over population. However, it makes no sense to do that until I think I'll have a place to store the meat.