RV Prepper… how to avoid an “Oh Shit” scenario
I’ve never really been much of a “prepper”. I have always been more of an optimist hoping the shit will never hit the fan. If a doomsday-like scenario was to play out… I would probably not be the go-to-guy for help.
However this last October, while about 22 states into our 41 state road trip – we found ourselves in a bit of a pickle. We had set up camp at a cute little privately-owned RV park in Massachusetts. There were a few campers there, but most had finished winterizing their rigs to hibernate for the cold Winter. We were in town with a specific mission to take our 9-year-old to Salem for Halloween.
A few days before Halloween, mother nature blew in a wicked-pissah of a storm (note the local vernacular). I seriously thought my travel trailer was going to blow over. Luckily it didn’t, but the majority of the Massachusetts power grid did.
With no generator and shitty batteries, I quickly realized just how reliant on the grid we really were. It really got me thinking… what does it take to be sustainable off-grid indefinitely yet comfortably in an RV? I made the list below of the necessities and comforts needed. This first list are the necessities; I will create future posts on many of the wanted creature comforts.
Clean drinking water
Well this one is kind of a duh, but if you think about it… if the shit hits the fan or a water supply is contaminated, were will you get your drinking water? The human body can only survive a few days without it, so water is my number one item to prep for.
Hopefully I would be able to find some kind of water supply; a lake, a river, even a pond. At Brook’s recommendation I purchased a Big Berkey which can turn even the nastiest of water into awesome tasting drinking water.
Food
So, I’ve read that humans (like Ghandi) can go without food for up to 3 weeks. No thanks. After our little loss of power for a few days in the north east, I realized that if something bad went down, the shelves at the supermarket would be empty probably quicker than we could even get there. And, with my perpetual habit running on an almost-empty gas tank… that might create an issue.
When the power came back on, I went down to the local Walmart and bought a 60-gallon plastic container. I spent about $250 total and filled it with all kinds of canned and boxed food. Anything that would last anywhere from 6-months to a few years. Yes, twinkles have a half-life similar to Uranium, but I opted for organic canned food whenever possible. I recommend buying food that is closest to your normal diet. Nobody needs the runs after a nuclear holocaust, right?
Shelter
This one I already have as we are living in an RV. However many of the systems within this shelter would need to be drastically updated. In my next few posts I will layout my game plan for the following upgrades to my soon-to-be-off-grid dwelling.
- Heat (get’s a tid bit nipply on the east coast)
- Sink and Shower (Fresh Water)
- Grey water (where does the sink and shower water go?)
- Shower (w/hot water)
- Sink (w/hot water)
- Toilet
Stay tuned folks.
