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Off the keyboard of RE

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Published on The Doomstead Diner February 24, 2017

Discuss this story at the Collapse Narratives Table inside the Diner

PM Stream on the Doomstead Diner Forum Private Message Channel (PM) between Kenny & RE



KennyK

Greetings RE!

I have been a lurker on the Diner almost since you began it in 2012. I am a regular reader, and get many of my ideas from your website.

Currently, together with a friend we have a large property in the lower 48 we would like to get a SUN☼ Community going on when TSHTF. However, we are highly concerned about security and about simply inviting people to the place now, which would make it too widely known. We estimate our possible carrying capacity for our land to be about 200 people, although it could be substantially more since the properties are adjacent to a large National Forest.

Do you have any suggestions on how we might find some people, but not necessarily give them the location of the Doomstead at this time?

KennyK



RE

Greetings to you also KK!

5 years is a long time to Lurk! Better late than never though.

Balancing the need for maintaining security and anonymity while at the same time developing a community is pretty tough nut. Let me ponder on this for a night. Right now, how many people know about the property?"



Kenny

Right now just 3 of us. Me, an older guy and his daughter. He's a kind of hermit and has been around here since the 70s. He's a lurker on the Diner also. Paranoid about security so he doesn't post to websites, just reads them. I use anonymous proxy servers. None of us have any real close friends, but both me and Karen do know quite a few people from back in "civilization". I still work back there, and just come out on the weekends in my Stealth Van & Trailer to prep up my property. I glommed that idea from the Diner. 🙂



RE

Cool! I'd love to see some pics of your rig!

What's your money situation like? Do you have enough to prepare for such a large community when TSHTF?



Kenny

We're pretty OK for money, Karl has more than me but even with that I don't think we could build everything for so many people just on our own.



RE

OK, that's enough for tonight, I'm going to have to ponder on this to work up a plan. I'll PM you tomorrow.



Kenny

OK, sounds good.

—————

RE

OK, I think I have a plan.

You are going to need 3 Levels for potential community members, with different levels of clearance.

Level 1: The people you vet and REALLY trust, who you could bring to your doomstead now to help build things before TSHTF.

Level 2: People who you pretty much trust to at least have your email addy and phone number, and who you can tell that you have a doomstead, and if things get bad they should get in touch with you.

Level 3: People you trust least, but might be helpful to have, especially if your total numbers in Level 1 and Level 2 are not sufficient to protect and defend your doomstead. These folks you should have their phone number and in a SHTF scenario send them a text with the lat/lon of a meeting point somewhere away from your property and told to bring an FRS Radio for further information when they get there. They should have specific times when you will be in range to contact them via the FRS. You can also set up a website on free WordPress space where they can go for information, with a password to get in to members only area.

Of course, if the internet goes dark before the L3 people are contacted, the website won't work. However I think in most situations we'll know things are going south with at least a few days before the web is out for good. L2 people will need the cell phone network still operational, that should last a bit longer. If it is safe enough and you know their physical location, you might go out looking for them, if you have some means of transportation.



Kenny

That sounds like a pretty good plan RE! I will run it by Karl and Karen next weekend and see what they think.



RE

Hope it works out OK. Hey, besides taking some shots of your Stealth Van setup, could you take some pics of your doomstead and what you guys are setting up? I'd love to blog about it. You can keep all the location information anonymous and no pictures of your faces or other identifying information. People should know that there are SUN Communities that are being set up.



Kenny

I'll ask Karl about that too. As long as there is no identifying information, I don't see why it would be a problem.



RE

Also, we should make some plans for SUN Communities and independent Doomsteads to stay in touch after TSHTF. I've got a shortwave setup here, do you have shortwave?



Kenny

Karl has a shortwave. I'll get his call sign and we can decide on frequencies to check. Also exchange Public Keys for GPG4USB encryption and some verbal passphrases.



RE

Uggh. I keep screwing up with that. Don't use my current Public Key. I need to make a new one. I will send it to you next time we talk.



Kenny

OK, sounds good, I will contact you again next week after I speak with Karl and Karen.



RE

Great! Talk to you next week! Hasta la Pasta!

————–

Kenny copy/pasted the PM chats with RE into an encrypted file on his smart phone, so he could go over the ideas in detail with Karl & Karen the following weekend.

Otherwise, it was back to the grind of mowing lawns on his Zero Turn Mower for the week, finding spots to park the Stealth Van for the night that wouldn't be rousted by the Gestapo, and shopping at Home Depot for all the gear necessary to start construction of the Funicular Railway and Cable System to move gear up the mountain and game meat back down. It was a long list of stuff, and each time he read through it he realized something was missing.

On Wednesday, his smart phone rang, and he jumped. His phone almost never rang, only occassional calls from clients with some emergency like a downed tree poking its way through the rooftop of the McMansion. An evening call after bizness hours almost never came. It was Kirsten.

"Hi Kenny! It's Kirsten! I was wondering if we are still on for going camping and climbing this weekend? My last class ends at 4 o'clock tomorrow, and I am free after that for the whole weekend. I have been looking forward to this since we got together last week so I hope you are still up for it!", Kirsten said in her most perky and attractive voice she could muster up.

Hearing her voice and enthusiasm on the smart phone, Kenny's close friend inside his Levi Strauss jeans got uncomfortably active, and there was no way he was going to resist this time. Besides,he had formulated a plan with Karl to bring Kirsten up to the Lean-To instead of to one of their own Doomsteads, so this aspect was relatively risk-free now.

The bigger risk though is how this would play with Karen, who he also was very attracted to? He had pulled up on YouTube a music vid of "Do you ever have to make up your mind" by John Sebastian and the Lovin' Spoonful that Karl had referenced in their chat on this issue, and he was stuck in exactly this predicament. However, there was no course of action on this other than to face down the problem and try to deal with it. While he felt up to the challenge of dealing with Collapse, he was not so sure he could deal with the challenge of dealing with two attractive women in the same place at the same time. However, when collapse finally comes, they would both be in the community, so he figured that he might as well work out the problem beforehand if possible.

Thursday afternoon arrived, Kenny finished his last lawn mowing job and headed back for his storage unit to exchange out his Landscaping Gear for his Camping Gear in the enclosed trailer with the heavy duty Master Locks to secure his possessions. He hit the Fitness club for a workout and showered, and put on fresh clothes for picking up Kirsten at her dorm room on campus. One of the things he had learned was that generally women were not attracted to stinky guys and it was a good idea to be clean and neat if you wanted to get laid.

As he neared the Missoula campus of Montana State University, Kenny fired off a text to Kirsten over the SMS network to let Kirsten know he was on the way, and upon arriving found her already out on the sidewalk with her backpack and gear bag, dressed attractively in cut off jean shorts and a halter top, as it was an exceptionally warm spring day for Missoula, with temps in the 80s Farenheit. April had warmed up considerably over the last few years.

Kenny got out of the van to greet her, and help her get her gear into the trailer.

"Hey Kirsten! Great to see you again." Kenny greeted her with, trying to keep his Johnson from stiffening too much, since driving with a Woody was not very comfortable. "We can put your gear in the trailer with all my stuff."

"It's great to see you again Kenny!" Kirsten replied enthusiastically and gave Kenny a big hug, her chest pressing up against his chest. This was unfortunate for Kenny, since now Mr. Johnson was straining the seams on his Levi Strauss Jeans, purchased ON SALE at Walmart for $15 and sewn up by child labor in India, and Kenny was not sure these jeans could take the pressure. The Zipper could easily give way! Quality Control in Indian clothing factories is not that reliable. It was a real test of Indian clothing manufacturing. Fortunately, the seams were double stitched and held firm against the pressure and the zipper was a well manufactured one that was imported to India from a top Zipper factory in Brazil.

Kenny opened the rear door of the trailer for Kirsten to throw her bags into, and Kirstens eyes opened wide when she looked inside the trailer. It was just STACKED with preps, although neatly arranged on shelving purchased at Home Depot and fitted neatly into the trailer.

"Good Grief Kenny! We're just going for a weekend camping trip!", Kirsten exclaimed as she saw the gobs of preps that Kenny had stacked in the trailer.

Kenny laughed. "Kirsten, you know I am a Doomer Prepper. I never go anywhere without enough Preps to keep me going for at least a year in case TSHTF while I am on the road. I don't wanna get caught with my pants down at the critical moment. I've been at this since I was in Junior High, and I am NOT going to be caught out when TSHTF! So I am always fully prepped up for the long haul.

Kirsten shook her head. Kenny was totally serious about his prepping, and it was INCREDIBLE! But of course, she had only seen the trailer so far. It was still tough for her to grasp that all of Industrial Civilization was coming to a close.

"Well, at least I know I am going camping with the right guy if Civilization Collapses over the weekend!" Kirsten replied with a giggle. "So, where are we going?"

"I built a Lean-To in Lolo National Forest. Well, actually I built it with a friend and fellow Prepper, and he'll probably meet us there. There's a mountain across from it where Big Horn Sheep cruise, and I'm going to go after one in the next hunting season. Lots of good spots for some rock climbing there too if you are of a mind to do that.", Kenny replied.

"Oh, that sounds TERRIFIC Kenny! I can't wait to see the Lean-To!", Kirsten effused.

After getting her gear loaded in the trailer, Kenny fired up the big V-8 motor in the Dodge RAM Van and got rolling on the road to one of the parking lots surrounding Lolo National Forest, and threw on a playlist of some of his favorite tunes stored on his Samsung Galaxy Mega smartphone for music background on the ride. It was mostly stuff his mom had ‪played over and over in his childhood from the 70s & 80s, from rock bands like Queen, Jethro Tull, Heart and Metallica.

After arriving at the parking lot, Kenny and Kirsten strapped on their backpacks and filled their water bottles for the hike in, which was pretty long from the closest parking lot, about 8 miles. The last part of it there was no trail for, so had to be guided via GPS.

Kenny was astonished at Kirsten's speed on the trail, he had trouble keeping up with her. Despite her small size, she was amazingly physically fit and coordinated, and nimbly traversed obstacles on the trail that slowed him down. Her pack was not as loaded down as his own with gear, but it was still quite substantial in size and from behind her (which he usually was), all you could see was the lower 2/3rds of her legs. He was disapointed her butt was not visible, it would have made the hike much more enjoyable.

They broke for lunch a little past the halfway point, a meal of Freeze Dried Mountain House Lasagna cooked up quickly with Kenny's Jetboil butane fired lightweight cooking stove, and once reinforced with more good calories, finished the hike off trail and up the mountain to where the Lean-To was located. Upon arrival, Kirsten was flabberghasted.

"Good grief Kenny, this isn't a 'Lean-To'! It's a freaking PALACE!"

Kenny laughed. "Yea, that's really my friend Karl's work, not mine. I built a pretty rudimentary one last year, but Karl snuck up here earlier in the spring and spruced it up to his specifications. Karl goes first class in all his prepping work, if Karl does it, it's the best that can be done. He's a pretty old guy and has been at this game since the 1970's."

"Wow! That's a long time to wait for TEOTWAWKI!" Kirsten remarked, using a term she learned from Kenny in their first conversation over dinner. "When will he get here?"

"Sometime tomorrow I think. His daughter Karen should be coming also. She's really nice, I think you'll like her.", Kenny said hopefully.

The mention of another female coming got Kirsten's antennae up.

"Are you friends with Karen too?", she asked.

"Sure, she's really nice! Pretty new to prepping though. Karl didn't even know she was his daughter until recently."

Kirsten tried to read Kenny to see if she could discern if there was more to "really nice" than he let on. It was impossible to determine.

"Well, at least we have the Lean-To to ourselves for tonight.", she said with a sly smile.