Preparedness

Tent Shelter Option for Grid Down

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In the campground I stay at full-time there is a woman who has lived here for several months in a tent. She seems nice enough and I have seen her campsite change over time. She started with a traditional tent for 3-4 people. I wondered how she handled the extreme heat of this area. There are electrical hookups on the sites so I assumed fans were being used to cool. She also has a medium-sized dog.

A couple of months ago a small homemade camper on what appears to be a 6-foot trailer showed up. I could tell she was staying in the trailer and using her tent for storage. I had seen her at the pool and heard her talking to some of the other long-term stay people and she seemed pretty nice.

A few weeks ago the homemade trailer diapered and a fairly large square cabin-tent showed up. During a recent trip over to the storage area where I have a cargo trailer stored, I took a close look. She has a refrigerator-freezer just outside the tent. The tent is fairly large and might be an open-bottom. Not sure. I can see a large tarp under the tent and she puts out what appears to be a roll of carpet on the front of the tent I assume to keep the cold night air out. Around the perimeter, there are pieces of 2×4’s keeping things in place. She has a trash can and a 10×10′ gazebo just outside the entrance.

I have seen her washing dishes using a 3 container system. Soak – wash – rinse. There is water on the site.

I’m not sure what her story is and I think I’ll strike up a conversation. Yeah – I’m a bit nosy but I also am just concerned for her well-being. If that was my mother I would want someone to look after her.

Her entire situation reminds me of the “what if” the grid was down and we needed to live in something similar. No electricity and no water. Solar would help. Local ponds and streams with filtration would help.

As I live in a camper full-time and talk to a variety of folks who pass through more and more people are changing their lifestyles to adapt to changing economic conditions.

Take care folks.

Rourke

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9 Comments

  2. Oren Player says:

    I was in a RV Campground once when I was working on a project away from home. My next door neighbor was a rather elderly lady. She must have had something like emphysema since she stayed close to the small RV she lived in. Plus EMS came in an out of the park to pick her up.
    The thing that has struck me in my travels is that often it appears that either mom or dad ends up in a small RV in a park and the kids drop by periodically. Not good.

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  3. arlene says:

    Thanks Rourke and others for the insights. Some people prefer to live alone and some may be financially challenged while others are very conservative with their money.
    It is kind of you to look after her . Please share with us about how she lives- who knows we may end up in a similar situation. My sister and my daughter and I live together for financial and safety reasons as well as companionship and my daughters boyfriend and my son and brother look out for us which we appreciate . Arlene

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  4. JohnP says:

    John, I’m with Arlene on this. If my Wife ever ended up in this position I pray someone like you would be next door to her, thank you for caring about the woman.

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  5. John Hancock says:

    This conversation is amusing to me, many here probably don’t know my story or my background as well as Rourke himself does, but to hear about it and actually see it in real lif is two different things entirely… we all come from different walks in life and my story by some people may seam to be from extreme poverty but by others maybe they see the true freedom that lifestyle can bring, even now it typing this I struggle to to know the difference and which path is truly the wisest to take… it’s really kind of amazing when I think about it…. I grew up on a farm with no running water and no other creature comfort’s were all used to except for electricity in which powered only one thing, we used power for lights, that’s it, we could have taken it or left it it really would not have made a difference in our lives and for many years without it I could tell you the difference it made in our lives in one single sentence, by now you the reader of this story must be thinking I’m 90 years old and getting ready to die any minute now… lol believe me I do understand why you would think so, and can tell you the best conversations of my life were with people two and sometimes three generations older than me, no I do hate to ruin this for you but I’m a ripe old age of 46 years old…. Surprised? Most are, a actually most dont give it serious enough thought to even understand what I’m talking about, even in the prepper community I deal with a great deal of “normalcy bias, even though they know the value of the forgot skills I grew up learning they still can’t even begin to fathom the lifestyle it takes… I have to chuckle to myself at people who think SHTF is going to be better for them and the riotous will prevail, which is my thinking as well and it will truly be a day of days, BUT it will not happen so quickly and I’m here to tell you will go through Hell in order to get there! But I digress.. seams my old age is getting the better of me after all, I’m preaching to the quire 😉 no my story is much more simple than all that hog wash, the whole reason for my reply wasn’t to tell you how I started but to explain where I went from there and then you will see The correlation in the story, w em I was 19 I moved to Texas with my brother, I’d just left collage, no degree I found it wasn’t for me ,( I’d find much more promising success later in life, you must follow your heart, trust me on this. L) but we had landed in Dallas after a long trip with a 130 dollars still left in my pocket, thanks to my brother who’s six years older than me and in all of his great wisdom we doesn’t that money on a grand d fine celebration (this was the last time I ever let my brother decide something so important that involved me or my money, sorry I’m simple minded remember) after that my brothers plans of us staying with his dad and his dads girlfriend soon evaporated into the air, it seams his ability to lean on his dads ability was limited to one person and that was him alone, hey I get it, though we grew up together our entire lives the truth is when I was away seeing my dad he was away seeing his and neither us us really knew each others dad, we were were both blessed with a great mom but my brothers dad and my mom ended things when he was drafted into The Vietnam war where he decided to stay and become a Green Beret.. he dedicated is life to the service of our country and my mom was young, I mean she waited five years to get with my dad, in the small town I grew up in I was picked on for that, having a different name do be very careful what you say to me about that it’s a very sensitive subject for me, call it a pet pee… lol I just realized my last paragraph is entirely generational and you probably don’t understand it, once again my mind as wondered to the past but do t worry I will always get to where I’m going in the end, it’s a way if life for me…ok now where was I ..oh yees we were now broke with no place to go and it was in the heart of winter, thank god we were in Texas it could have been much worse, that’s the secret to life folks no matter how bad you have it if you truly know, I mean KNOW, it could be a lot worse then it’s just another stepping stone on your journey and you should try to find the good in it, it’s so easy to find the flaws, only the truly magnificent finds the good, half full half empty that’s a children’s version, LOOK DEEPER, so back to the NEVER ENDING STORY YOU MUGHT BE CALLING IT BY NOW… lol, we found ourself completely out of options by now and after driving half the day away looking for a place to sleep in the car ( we could do this because gas was a 120 a gallon and I drove a Chevy cavalier that I shit you not took us from Michigan to the center of Texas for $60 bucks in gas!!! Two full days of driving three in a half ranks of gas lol 😂) we finally at around 1 am decided to pull into a junk yard, smart right, I mean you have a car just sitting there… amongst 2000 other freaking cars, admit it! It was genius, and as far as blending in it was actually a good spot, but 2 am and then three am comes around and all you hear is chattering teatb start the car 15 mins make it supper hot rinse and repeat over and over.. next day we realized this is NOT going to work, we went by my brothers dads shop and he said he had a tent, guys I’m telling you this was a three year olds play tent, first night in the campground we were both in a Fetal position from head to toe that’s all the room that was in this little tiny tent but we were both had jobs
    Fetal position from head to toe that’s all the room that was in this little tiny tent but we both were doing odd jobs paying our six bucks a night at the campground was pretty easy usually we would each eat one whopper sandwich a day, they were twice the size of today made with real beef and cost 99 cents, hell I wasn’t hungry every.. besides there was plenty of beets to drink that’s another story in itself though, the long drawn out point is this guys, we both got jobs, after that first week his dad found a solid canvas cabin tent to loan us and as we worked we steadily improved our living conditions over the next several weeks, after around a month maybe a little longer we had enough for a apartment BUT THIS IS MY MORAL TO THIS ENTIRE STORY, we decided we really enjoyed living out doors, we lived simply, and we lived very well.. it was five months later with each of us have a substantial savings account t before we finally decided to get a apartment, and we were NOT excited to do so!!! There was two more Additional times I found my way back to that campground on the lake to live though it wasn’t for any where near as long as I would have liked, in my heart I often fondly think of that camp as more of a home than I’ve ever found in any dwelling I’ve lived in since then, it’s amazing what we consider normal based upon our own personal experiences in life but it is truly all inside our own head, for example I’ll leave you with this one lastt thought to contemplate, until I was 15 years old I found it disgusting g to shit inside your own house where you eat and sleep… think about it for a min…

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  6. Normal Chuck says:

    Off Topic! There is information/rumor that the FDA and the United Postal Service are tracking and confiscating shipments of Ivermectin from foreign
    suppliers being sent to private United States citizens.
    Customs must be involved since all out of country shipments must pass through their centers at the Port of New York or JFK.

    Reply
  7. arlene says:

    John P- thanks for being a great friend and for helping my daughter and I out with advice for various mechanical issues etc. We hope someday to meet you and your fine wife John. It is great to have another prepper to
    share issues with….Thanks Rourke for your site -otherwise we would not have been connected.
    John Hancock-thanks for sharing. Before I met my husband he had been in the Navy and then was in college and for a summer job he put up insulation( ended up with mesothelioma 30 years later ) anyway he lived in a tent and campsite all summer .He saved money and enjoyed the outdoors as he had to work inside which he hated . So many people do not appreciate the luxury of every day conveniences-running water- hot water- heat etc.
    Normal Chuck- this must be a rumor because Ivermectin like so many other items is in short supply but he can still be had by Veterinarians and farmers at least in our area. Many pharmacies though are needing for us customers to come back for other meds as so many items are in short supply. One local farmer is having trouble getting penicillin for his cattle.
    Arlene

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  8. arlene says:

    Off topic-just read that the US Gov is GIving 1.5 million dollars to the police in South America to cope with covid- and yet the farmers who have lost everything in the tornadoes are not being forgiven their loans through Farm Credit agencies- …. when will these politicians every learn common sense.
    Arlene

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