The Realities of Remote Off-Grid Living - When There Is No One To Call

This is the smoke from the fire at 165 acres. It has grown to 600 acres
now, so the smoke is even worse. Opening the windows was not an 
option when we got home until the wind shifted directions. 
It was 80* degrees inside the house. We are now keeping
the insulated blinds closed to keep things cool.

We went into town for our monthly supply run. It was a boiling 85* degrees at 9,000 ft in mid-June. What is it going to be in July and August? It was also an extremely smokey day. Some happy irresponsible camper burned down 591 acres of forest so far costing $4.3 million dollars by not putting out their campfire properly. The fire is still burning and is only 15% contained. 

The radiator in the car literally cracked it's top. At first, it was just the radiator cap and the tiniest pinholes around a stamped label of some sort. Did you know that radiators are partially made of plastic? How stupid is that? This is just another example of the rampant greed that plagues all of us. I digress.

We temporarily fixed or thought that we fixed the small leak and replaced the cap. It worked while we ran our errands, but outside of town on our way home it blew large cracks into the plastic. We had a couple gallons of water in the car with us, so we cooled off the engine and filled it back up. We made it to a place that sells tractors, and they graciously allowed us to get more water to top off our radiator and re-fill our water jugs. We only made it a couple of miles before having to repeat the process. We continued this pattern all the way home.

Now it was time to climb 3,000 feet up a mountain pass where there is absolutely nothing around, including water. We decided to travel around this pass. It is a much longer route, but it is mainly flat. This made a huge difference in our ability to travel a longer distance without having to stop. There was also a chance to get water on this route from a state park. The bathrooms at the state park had the kind of faucets that had to be continuously pressed down to get a small amount of water to come out. I must say that the bathrooms were spotless! The cleanest and nicest state park bathrooms that I have ever seen. There are no outside faucets there due to the extreme winter temperatures. However, I remembered that they do have a hand pumped well down a trail, but it was several miles away in the wrong direction.

We topped everything off and headed towards the ranch. At that point we were just a few miles from the house, so we were able to make it all the way home. I'm glad we left early in the morning, because it only got hotter outside.

We were tired and hot from not being able to run the air conditioner in the car. I'm pretty sure that we were also dehydrated. We carried drinking water, but we were very distracted and didn't consume enough of it. I have not changed out our Emergency Winter Car Kit for our Emergency Summer Car Kit either. Ugh! My normal policy when we leave the house is to carry what we need for the current season so that we are to be able to get ourselves home in case of an emergency. The more lessons that we learn about emergencies and self-care during stressful situations is a blessing and a great reminder of how fast dehydration sets in at this altitude at any time of the year. 

What should have been a three-hour trip turned into an all-day event that we were woefully unprepared for. I actually got sunburned through the open window on my arm even though I tried to keep it out of the sun. I could feel it burning, so I moved it regularly, but I burned anyway. The sun is very strong here. We were very grateful to make it all the way home in our car. I bet I drank a half gallon of iced tea and water when we got home in a very short period of time. I continued drinking fluids until I went to bed that night. I was so thirsty. I woke up thirsty the next morning too. Note to self: Change out Emergency car kits and add sunscreen to both kits...

Emergency Winter Car Kit

We actually have a towing policy in place, but being towed to the closest repair shop would have created more hardships for us. Plus, most of the route is devoid of any cell service whatsoever.  There are no car rental places around either, so getting home in our car was the best solution for us in this situation. This is one of the disadvantages to living in a remote area devoid of services and neighbors for the most part. We used to have neighbors and friends that we could rely on, but they have moved away to live easier lives. Self-reliance goes a long way, but still falls short sometimes. When faced with the daunting task of possibly having to walk home, I realized how hard it would be. Possible, but very difficult. I plan on re-evaluating and expanding our car kits to include Get Home Packs.  

The new radiator. FYI, they don't come with a radiator cap. 

Number One Husband ordered a new radiator online that was delivered to the house. He installed the new radiator without any problems. Praise God!

Level the path for your feet, let all your ways be properly prepared. 

Proverbs 4:26

Mrs. Smith

What's Your Back-Up Plan?

            


                      The Systems we use everyday are fragile and in some cases antiquated. We have been with out phone service for almost two weeks now due to a wind storm that wreaked havoc in our area.  We live in the wild wild west. We live off the grid and telephone service is one of the biggest issues we have had since we moved here.
                       The 115 mph winds broke telephone poles in half and damaged cell towers in our area. I sent out emails to inform friends and family that email was the only way to contact us at home. This is my back up plan. We can dial 911 on our phones for emergencies.
                      This is the fourth cell phone service we have tried since moving here. We had great service on the first two, but we roamed all the time and they kicked us off. We paid $150 plus a month for service that was spotty at best. We tolerated that for a while. We decided to get a radio phone, special to this area, for a home phone. That was all well and good except everyone we called was long distance. We were now paying $200 a month plus long distance (.14 cents a minute). Add internet and satellite and that's well over $300 a month to be connected.
                       Did I mention  that we live off the grid in the wild wild west? We choose to live this way. What happened? We moved out here to not be so connected. What in the world have we done to our way of life?
                       Phone service is not the only service that can be brought down by a storm. Electricity can be taken down simply by a branch falling on a line. What is your back up plan? We don't have to worry about the power going out because of someone else not trimming the trees, however, even with a solar system power can be lost due to broken equipment or the lack of sun. We can generate power and charge our batteries with our generator.
                       Let's talk about water. We haul our water, but we still use a pump to get it out of the cistern and into the house. The pump uses electricity. We use a truck to haul the water to put in the cistern. Do you see a pattern? All these things can break down. We have back up plans. We have to. Our life style requires that we do and our extreme winter weather also can play a big role in how we go about our lives. You may just turn on the water and it flows from the tap, but it still uses electricity to get it to your home, to purify it and someone is in charge of making all that happen.
                       Two winters ago it was cold. Not just cold, but frigid. Our septic froze three times. We had it thawed by a plumber twice. He taught us how to do it ourselves.  Our water only had to freeze once and it stayed frozen for six weeks til the spring thaw occurred. We hired the plumber again to thaw it out, but it was impossible. Did you know that melted snow does wonders for your hair? I know that now. Our back up plan was melting snow, hauling small amounts of water that we had to store inside due to the freezing temps outside.
                        I use these trials as learning experiences. I take a bad situation and figure out how to make it work for us. It's a challenge to say the least, but an adventure too. We still haven't been snowed in yet, but we are ready if it happens. I look forward to the learning challenge and the time to spend with my husband just being still in this fast paced world.
                        In cities, a lot more can go wrong. Cities, small and large, depend on people. They are also subject to things like hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and earthquakes. If those people leave to protect themselves and their families who will push the water button? Who will fix the transformers? You could be on your own for a while until the danger passes. You still may have to wait your turn for help if none of your neighbors can help themselves either because they didn't do the simplest thing. Help yourself by putting back a little water, a little food and don't forget your pets.
                        Our government, after Katrina, realized they were in over their heads and couldn't help all those in need. It was a terrible tragedy. Now, they recommend two weeks worth of emergency food and water per person to help them deal with emergencies. They are in fact telling us that they can't deal with a mass emergency such as Katrina. They are telling us that we need to take some responsibility for ourselves and our families.
                         It's standard in our neck of the woods to have extra on hand. It's natural to buy an extra can of this or that for winter. It's in my nature to buy when stuff is on sale, so I always have an extra jar of this and that. It's pure economics for me. Gardener's who preserve the harvest are also in good shape. Saving money for the future is another way we protect ourselves from hard times.

                         What about those who do not have the means to provide for themselves much less extras? They are with us all the time. Whether it's in an emergency or not........

                                   



1 Timothy 5:8 NKJV

New King James Version

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.