Please no names or give away clues to locations... Just curious as to numbers. I presume that you have taken your computers with you or you will be unable to reply...duh.... So if you are out there and listening:

Lots of advice has been given to relocate Long Before the rollover. I therefore presume that some of you have taken your own advice. Ed left. Others have too.

So my question is:

How many of you have already relocated? (How's it going by the way?) How many of you plan to go very, very soon? (When? Before Thanksgiving or before Christmas?) How many of you are planning to go after Christmas? (But obviously before rollover)

I presume the rest will sit tight and await the outcome...unless things go radically in the dumper...I must stay where I am presently located unless absolute disaster hits. What about you?

Oh--for arguments sake, I would've moved if I could've moved.

-- Ynott (Ynott@incorruptible.com), November 21, 1999

Answers

I can't respond because I didn't take my computer with me. Now you know why you haven't heard from me

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 21, 1999.

Moved from a population of 2 mill to a town of 6 thousand plus. I still commute to the city but if things break we will be somewhat isolated. If things break badly who the hell knows.

Our baby is due January 9th. I can't express the anxiety. We've prepped as much as we can. The hospital claims they'll be OK. We've been reduced to hoping.

If anybody in the Poulsbo area knows of midwives, please contact me.

We're in need of a baby contingency plan.

thanks.

-- Fractal (bobalex@silverlink.net), November 21, 1999.

I currently live in Miami, but recently my family bought a house in NC (through an inheritance) that is fully stocked with a year and a half of food, several guns, bazillion rolls of TP, and all the other typical stuff...not to mention my neighbors and I are going to raise goats (just put up the fence) and a HUGE community garden. Did I mention that I just bought a $1200 night vision scope for my mini-14? (not that I am extreme or anything :P)

Rational Doomer

-- Rational Doomer (doom@gloom.com), November 21, 1999.

Fractal: my good wishes are w/you and your family. Tell your wife about how women had babies outside of hospitals for thousands of years and take a deeeeeep breath. Read up all you can on home birth, it really isn't as bad or as scary as you might think. Do some pretend drills. This is tricky, b/c we don't know if things will go bad (socially, that is) right off the bat or a few weeks or months later, so be as prepared as you can for anything. A while back I was pregnant due in March and so stressed out you wouldn't believe. Miscarried at 8 weeks. A little sad, but believe it or not, a lot relieved. I really didn't want to be having a baby now. But seriously get some basic info under your belt.

basin of warm water, clean, ironed sheets (ironed to sanitize the cloth), string or cloth ribbon that has been sanitized, sanitized scissors, suction bulb, that eye goop (what is it? anyone?), a cool head, as warm of a room as possible (in hospitals, delivery rooms are typically very very cold to inhibit the growth of bacteria--either way there is an advantage). It'll be ok. Read, read, read, learn, learn, learn all about it!

BTW, as December is ending it will be very important to find out if the baby is in the head down position or breech. If breech, what kind of breech position? Babies have been born fine in the breech position, it just will help to know that. Is this your wife's first?

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), November 21, 1999.

I concur, we had both our children at home with the aid of a midwife. I don't recommend hospitals for normal delivery anyway.

As for bugging out, we left Silicon Valley in September 1998 for a very rural area in the Pacific Northwest. A high percentage of people have prepped up here, and the valley is a net exporter of food.

I've been a software engineer for 17 years, and worked on several DOD and fed.gov software projects.

Jolly rancher[sic]

-- Jollyprez (jolly@prez.com), November 21, 1999.

>BTW, any complications? first child? second? third?

No complications so far. It's going to be her first. I've got two daughters from a previous. I've been in the room as "coach" but not as "the delivery guy."

That's why I thought about midwives.

This is such a strange time. She's at her sister's for a baby shower and I'm home doing that Y2K thang. It could all go to hell tomorrow and we're ready 'cept for delivering the new little person @ home.

I'm so glad I found the forum. Out of everyone we know we've only been able to get one hip to preparing for the possibilities. The forum is one of our only links to a world where there are other people who prepare in the face of ridicule or apathy. It would be nice if we knew somebody in our neck of the woods.

Thanks for your support and information.

-- Fractal (bobalex@silverlink.net), November 21, 1999.

I think I bugged out about a year ago....moved from just outside one small town to the boonies 10 miles outside, and up into the hills from another. Definitly planned to beat the rush. I work at home producing CD-ROMs so the only issue as far as employment goes is that there aren't any....

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), November 21, 1999.

Ynott:

The point is that if you didn't do this 5 or 10 y ago you will be in big trouble. You just don't move to the "country" and become self-sufficient. It takes years. From the 1700 and 1800's, the east is littered with grave sites of people who moved from Europe to become "Hawkeye". It doesn't work that way [it may take generations]. Some will make it; most won't. Their best chances will be in the cities. You should stay where you know the world. Otherwise you will become someone elses problem.

Best wishes,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 21, 1999.

About a year ago my family paid off some lake property in the middle of nowhere. We go there every weekend and add to the preps- pigs,chickens, rabbits,barns, cistern, garden,etc..

Plan to leave after christmas and will return to my job in a city of 1,000,000 plus when I am conviced all is well with infrastructure, social scene, and govt intervention.

-- Colocated (Overthehill@thruthedale.com), November 21, 1999.

I suppose that we 'bugged out' about 2 1/2 years ago, when we moved to our present location. I'll admit that Y2K was only one of the criteria, but it was present. About an hours commute from the job, which is located about 2 hours from the city.

Even though the location is no longer as 'ideal' as it was when we arrived, it is 'tenable'. We have no plans to move further.

-- just another (another@engineer.com), November 21, 1999.

Ynott,

We moved from Orlando to the boonies of Idaho in June of this year. Close to family and self sufficient neighbors.

Quite a change and loving it!!!

-- D. B. West (thekahunas@hotmail.com), November 21, 1999.

moved from the Texas Gulf Coast to the high Rockies at the edge of no-where back in April. Went from an $80,000 a year telecommunications electronics engineering position to a resident jack-of-all-trades and loving every minute of it!

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge. of no-where), November 21, 1999.

I'd say that we "bugged out" back in 1977, after Nixon put price controls on many products and we discovered that lots of things (like the fencing that we needed for our farm that we just bought) were unavalable because of the price controls- companies didn't want to sell goods if they couldn't make enough on them. We sat back and looked at what we wanted and where we wanted to live, what we had to have to survive, what luxuries (like running water) we felt were worth having or not, and moved from a big city to five miles out of a small town. Since then we have moved again to a slightly larger town with a few less acres on the farm, but have maintained our self-reliant life style through it all. The Y2K stuff got us thinking about it all again and we have refurbished our wind generator system for power- it should be good for another 20+ years. Unless someone is bugging out to a summer home or a family farm with established gardens, etc., it would be very difficult to get going from scratch, if you were starting now at a new place, planning to raise all your food for the first time next spring. We've been attempting to do all o f our food for 25+ years, and still learn a lot every year. Two of our sons were born at home, with the assistance of a mid-wife, and since they are now 18 and 21, things seem to have worked out okay. They were mostly homeschooled, too (the youngest never set foot in school lexcept for tech school and university classes), which I think is the way to go when you consider the atmosphere of today's schools. Good luck- read up on gardening and home birth, get lots of references and tools, and ask often for advice.

-- Jim (jiinwis@yahoo.com), November 21, 1999.

Bugout?.

I will be deep in the sh-t when the old calendar goes into the circular file. We will be in 'lockdown' at 6am on 12/31/99. From that point its just wait and see. If its all pretty ho-hum by 6pm on 1/1/2000 we will open back up and then just take it day by day. If for some reason its gets wacky right at the rollover we have enough stuff on hand to remain onsite for 2 weeks without outside intervention, including waste management. We will likely disconnect from the aether at 11pm, possibly earlier if the situation warrants it and reconnect at 1am or later after the rollover. Reconnection would be putting a drone server online first, TCPDUMPing everything and watching whats coming in to see if some bizarre activity is rampant on the net.

Bugging out for me is leaving this site to our normal location which has preps for 3 months.

We must be onsite for Big Al's CDC so we WILL be talking with all of you if the packets can get routed properly.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), November 21, 1999.

Jim is right about how long it takes. We bugged out over 25 years ago (corporate dropout and all that). There is no way that money would replace the years we spent on our 57 acres. Too many people are naive about what it takes to survive. As I posted one other time, even with everything we have going for us, I'm still concerned.

Todd

-- Todd Detzel (detzel@jps.net), November 21, 1999.

EYE GOOP: I'm NOT a doctor or nurse, but my basic memory says that it is BORIC ACID. Just call a pharmacy; they'll confirm it.

-- profit of doom (doom@helltopay.ca), November 21, 1999.

Fractal,

An acquaintance's wife from Port Angeles, WA -- you were speaking of Poulsbo, WA? -- is a midwife. His name is Greg Marsh W# (360)452-0330. I'm sure there are many other midwives on the Peninsula.

-- observer (olypen.anon@wa.mail), November 21, 1999.

Fractal, please know that my prayers are with you. I had my last baby almost two years ago. I know that you are worried, but there is nothing to be gained by that. Just do as preparing has suggested and "read up" and be supportive. There's really not much more that you can do.

Z~

:0) ...cute first post...expected somebody to say that..always happens.... as to your second, yes, it should have been done years ago, but that wasn't the question now was it? If you read the posts here, you realize that many are planning to move or have moved recently. I made no commentary on the intelligence of this, it varies from person to person...I was just curious about how many had or were going. You are right of course. Those wishing to "return to nature" in a big way are probably not prepared for what they would/will find. I worry about them too. Many however are going to homes they prepared a while ago, vacation spots they have known for years, family or friends....

Thank you all for your responses. I wish all of those, those who stay and those who go, the best of luck.

-- Ynott (Ynott@incorruptible.com), November 22, 1999.

Moved this last week from the city. Still unpacking. Am in GORGEOUS farm country. Leased a renovated 100 year old farm house with 30 acres, creek, wood heat stove, as well as a working wood cook stove. Already made bread though still lots of boxes to unpack. Should have done this years ago. Love it here even if Y2K is a just a medium-large bump. Will never go back to pollution, riots and road rage.

-- D.J. Phillips (gardengal@land.com), November 22, 1999.

Ynott:

"The point is that if you didn't do this 5 or 10 y ago you will be in big trouble. You just don't move to the "country" and become self- sufficient. It takes years."

Guess it depends on the skills of the individual. I've been moving up here Calaveras County for a while, before y2K. Probably was spurred on by Y2K. Two months ago I started advertising as a HANDYMAN and I'm swamped with work. Had to cut $ from what I expected down in San Mateo, CA, but then rent up here is a lot less and I don't need things so I am doing well and even putting some $ aside which was not possible down there.

-- Mark Hillyard (foster@inreach.com), November 22, 1999.

Last April, I re-located from Northern Virginia to a 30 acre farm in Northwest Arkansas. The first few months were real busy getting my Y2K preps together, as well as a lot of improvements to the property that I have made.

IMHO, this "you can't move to the country if you are inexperienced" is a pile of horse manure. I am amazed at "country people" who don't seem to know the first thing about how to manage a property, often because they either don't have the right equipment or else don't know how to use it. (Of course, I don't say anything!)

Even aside from the value added to my property that was purely Y2K motivated, such as my 15kw diesel generator and fuel tanks, I have put a new roof on my house, replaced the previous above ground electrical wiring with underground wiring (the previous set-up was a disaster waiting to happen, unfortunately common around here), and dug out a nice pond for cattle. (The previous occupants attempted to dig a pond, but gave up after fruitlessly attempting to do it without a back hoe with a good set of teeth for breaking up rock.)

All in all, I'd say it's been a very interesting experience regardless. If Y2K should turn out to be a bump in the road (which I doubt very much), I look forward to selling my place at a nice profit. (One of the reasons that I got a good price when I bought was due to the problems above.)

39 days.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.~net), November 22, 1999.