i thought this place was closer to you than it seems to me now.. http://www.visit1000islands.com/seaway/index.htm<br><br>but it is closer than Fla for sure... also you just might ask your folks about a primitive camp I know about http://www.abotech.com/ http://www.abotech.com/Events/RShistory.htm<br>now I think you would like that camp alot. There are others too<br><br>http://www.hollowtop.com/ check these out and search your area for more.... To my way of thinking you can get what you want, and need at schools like this with out being alone and get help when you need it....that is if you need any help at all...I gotta run for a while...... the woods is calling me ... Mac

Hey Mac man, you're crazy, if this kid really is 14. No government is gonna let a 14 year old kid live on one of their islands. Wait 4 more years, Shawn. If you haven't the patience for that, then you haven't the patience to survive in the wild. So stop encouraging him, Mac. This thread is starting to look like the stairway to hell. I think it has reached the bottom, don't you.

O.K. first I moved this conversation to the campfire where it belongs. Secondly, dropout please review the forum courtesies and rules. If forum members have a concern with another post please send a private message to the poster or to Doug or myself.

Thanks for moving the thread.....Sorry about that... i did not start the thread, or I would have started it here.. Sorry about tickin any one off too.....Mac

Shawn --<br><br> Where I live (St Croix US Virgin Islands) meets your definition of a tropical island, even if 50,000 people share it.<br><br> But on the water issue -- here, like in most of the Caribbean, standard building practice is to catch rainwater on the roof and pipe it down to a 20-40,000 gallon cistern under the house. That's all we have to rely on, since there's no "city water" on most islands. (No sewage either, so you have a septic tank.)<br><br> Comes a drought, the water trucks from the desal plant keep you going (or washing, at least.)<br><br> -- Karl

The closest i ever got to living that way was when I was horse wrangler for a wilderness youth camp sponsered by a large church org. Did it for three years. Lived in an army tent, had plenty of free food, beautiful nature surroundings, a little money but nowhere to spend it. I'll never forget it. I would suggest West Virginia for having a little less complications and expense of owning some land. My husband is from there and i would move from Orlandom,FL to there in a heartbeat.

Shawn, there's a book you should read, called "The Hatchet". Cant recall who it's by, but not many books by that name. I'ts at the public library. They made a movie out of it too. About someone your age who got stranded in the wilderness with nothing but a hatchet.