SHTF

Every time I drive across America I rediscover just how vast this country really is, how much open space, and in places inhospitable, rugged space, there is between cities.

This most recent trip west re-affirmed for me that when SHTF it will be the major metro areas that meltdown at the atomic level.  Hordes of hungry and sick and the predatorial opportunists will radiate from the metro areas, hunting for what they need, and what they want.

Folks within range of a tank of gas from any serious metro area are in the Kill Zone.  Folks who live more than a single tank of fuel from a major metro will be exponentially safer.  Face it, if the Bad Guys can't drive to where you are, they'll have to walk.  And to walk they must deal with the basics of survival, like food, water, warmth, shelter, and other predators.

As Holly and I rolled west from Missoula Montana, through the pass along route 90, we both knew that choosing Northern Idaho for the location of the Citadel was the best possible choice, if America ever must face a SHTF scenario.

Look at the map above, which color-codes the largest (most populous) metro areas across America.

Look at Northern Idaho.  Hordes from Boise?  Sorry, I'm just not worried.  Hordes from Seattle?  They are out of range without refueling, and they have serious mountains in the way.  Spokane and CDA?  More allies than enemies, and even if they all banded together there'd still be no real threat. 

Anyone who has ever traveled the Route 90 Pass into Idaho from Montana knows just how simple it would be for a very small number of men to literally shut down that route.  Most of the major routes across America can also be shut down, or restricted, with relative ease.

Isolation is not the only benefit to choosing one of the northern counties in Idaho.  Meat, fruit and vegetables are all available, and fish, too.  The ability to sustain production and harvesting of these essentials is certain.  The weather can be more ally than enemy to a Tribe waiting out a bad piece of history, and the weather is not even close to being as harsh as on the Plains.  And when you factor in the fact that the locals are generally of like mind, and that you have the means of production of firearms and ammunition, well...

We all can see the writing on the wall.  The economy simply must Implode at some near-future moment.  3rd Grade arithmetic demands a reset, at the least.  When that happens, and just-in-time supply lines break down, the metro areas will melt down and the suburbs will be the first hunting grounds.  Then the Bad People will radiate outward as far as they are able.

The best way to avoid a punch?  No be there.

We discussed the "Where" of a retreat for many months on this blog, and we settled on Northern Idaho.  The mountains of Montana and Wyoming were in the running, and realistically, they are same-same, the only differences being the lines drawn on maps.

We chose well.

Kerodin
III