thanks everyone. I was not expecting such enthusiasm...guess I have spent too much time on another social networking site lately. lol.

Wiley, thank you so much for your feedback. your last post made a lot of sense to me and like I tried to put across in the OP, I know that my dream/vision is someone else's current reality. So I appreciate your input.

I think deep down most of us here would want to have some sort of back up location, weekend getaway, ranch, compound, retreat, cabin, doomsday bunker, cache set up, fallback position away from it all in case a situation arises where we can't stay at home anymore or don't want to. From natural disaster to something more fictional becoming reality.

This is a long term plan, where unless something falls into our lap, then it will be putting things together piecemeal over time. Land first. Educating always. Luckily there is plenty of available land in my area. We've been gardening and getting better at keeping food till harvest, can't wait to tell someone, "everything your eating is from our garden." I'm trying to increase my experiences with mechanical, electrical components. Talk about starting small, I have a gas powered lawn edger that doesn't start that I am working on. Ultimately I want to be at a point where I can understand water pumps and solar energy systems.