Good evening from Middle Tennessee from a man with a new wife, four boys (16, 14, 12, and 10) (an emergency in itself at times).

Welcome to the forum friend! Please share your experiences and let us know if you have any questions. We're a friendly bunch that's happy to help and share.

_________________
Please don't take my avatar to seriously. I'm really not a bible thumping armageddon prophet.

Welcome to the gang. Looking forward to your input and helping out anyway I can.

_________________
If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

Love your signature, moderator. That is exactly what we did this weekend...although, we stayed in a house that does have electricity, we made every effort to go w/o the first evening, and had no running water. We had most of our supplies stored there, and gave the each of the boys their 'packs' that we had prepared. Needless to say, the feeling of Christmas wore off relatively quickly as we found out that the emergency blankets are no where near sufficient, we do not have near enough water or food for our clan, and my wife injured herself falling down the stairs in the dark (the crank lantern was not quite what it was cracked up to be). Even if we could stay in that house in an emergency (which would be ideal, but there are several reasons why we cannot, which is why it's on the market), we would need a LOT more firewood, and would basically have to close off sections of the house in order to make the best use of the heat source. I think it was a wake up call for all of us, and we're having to reconsider several modifications, but I strongly recommend it to anyone preparing for anything. Even if you plan to stay in the house you now reside, try it. Turn the fuses off at the fuse box, turn the water off, even if just for one night, or a weekend, but see how your plan will actually work. That's the only way to know for sure.

Rick

Welcome to the forum Rick. And you're absolutely right about trying to rough it for a weekend in order to evaluate your gear and emergency setup. It's amazing the number of things that you didn't think of beforehand when you were sure you thought of everything. lol