I'm out

[bschwartz]

I see that in the name of political corectness, everyone has skirted around the REAL question........


How would you get all of your toys shipped there?
Cuz without them, what is the point.

[Henry W]

Whats wrong with moving? We did it a few times until we found a place we liked. If we feel the place where we now live is getting unlivable to our standards than we would pack up and move again. We been in NC for 15 Years and so far we have no reason to move.

Henry

[LowGear]

I guess my mention of power outages was too subtle.

Casey

[JohnF]

Power outages "seem" not to be too bad.  But remember - no need to heat or cool if you are in the Hills, cooking is done with gas, so what's the worry?  A good fridge and freezer will keep food cold for a couple of days and of course, there will be a "toy" or two.....

Bill:  The climate in Panama ranges from very hot and sticky in Panama City to cool enough that you may need a sweater in the mountains.  Tell your wife to look at the Boquete region - it is at a much higher elevation than Panama City and is only 35 minutes away from the second largest city, David, where air flights are easily available.  From what the expats tell me there are few bugs there, but you gotta remember NOT to lick the blue frogs - some things are poisonous.......

If you go a little higher up the mountain you get to the coffee farms.  I'm a coffee freak, imagine picking and roasting you own beans then crushing your own oranges for morning juice.....

One other thing we looked for - no hurricanes or other nasty climate surprises.  Apparently Panama is out of the hurricane zone.  The old volcano, Baru, is dormant (last eruption 500 years ago) but there are hot springs so it is not dead.  If it is my luck to be there and alive when it blows again, well I guess God really wants me.....

[quinnf]

Best of luck with the move, John.  As you can tell from the responses we're all with you in spirit.  Just reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and thinking of Going Galt myself, or at least retiring and simplifying my life.  My dad spent a few years there pre-WWII working construction on gun emplacements, barracks and fortifications for a large government contractor.  70 years later, he's still talking about it.  He's 91. 

I don't suppose you're taking your solar panels with you?


Quinn

[oiler]

Best of luck, John. Please keep us up to date about how you get along.

Interesting spot, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boquete,_Chiriqu%C3%AD

[JohnF]

Quinn;

Can't get the solar panels in the suitcase unfortunately...Would be a good place to have them though, even in the rainy season there is some sunshine - unless you are in the rainbow belt up around Volcan.  It's just time for a change and with Jocie retiring and us both being in "relatively" good health, now is the time.

[LowGear]

No Container?

Wow!

What you gonna do with all your stuff?

Casey

[JohnF]

Casey;

We are going minimalist.  Maybe a 4x4x4 to get stuff in that we need (like my two big coffee makers!) but that will be it.  Everything else goes.  When we move it tends to be radical, we don't need much to get by.  There will always be stuff to do and buy in the next place.  If yer gonna change, do it right!

[quinnf]

John,

I'd like to suggest/request that you consider blogging about your experience doing the Bug Out.  Lots of us would like to do something like that.

I recently read that Panama and Costa Rica are two of the best places for Norte Americano/Canadian expats to expat to. 

Quinn

[Tom Reed]

Sorry but I believe what's coming is global.gov, no where to run and no where to hide. So my decision is to stay here in commiefornia and be an over comer.

[bschwartz]

O.K. John........ when is the yardsale?   

[SteveU.]

Hey Tom and JohnF, I am with you both there in the things that I do also.
Hide in plain sight. Go live some place reasonable and then blend in with the more common sense locals. Minimalist approch. And for sure, just OPT out of most of the B.S.
Political Left; Political Right; and even too much in the Middle anymore they ALL just want your money, your attention, and especially your vote to vindicate and validate thier own Lifestyle choices. And thier "Things" they say you must-have/need, to be IN The Know, are the capturing barbs on thier Hooks. Taking these unwanted problems with you WILL just piss off the already living it there Locals making it impossible to blend in, kick back and be happy with yourself.

Here even in the very wet PNW we do need a bit of reliable clean water for our "drought" period of September for the us, the critters and the gardens. In our little volacnic ash and glacial loess filled valley bowl with its volcanic basalt basement by then this clean water is 175 feet down. Takes a shopisticated, expensive min 750 watt susmersible electric with all of the supporting power stucture to do this the "easy" flip a swtich way. 12, 24, 48VDC or 120, 220/240VAC all the same have too many still "need them" dependent  complexties.
Or . . . an 80 year eveolved, simplified, cast iron, bronze and steel low tech  above ground multi-power source system, including a child capable "coffee handle grinder" pulley fun to turn fallback.
The easy "modern", now burnt, worn out, expensive, sophisticated get's janked next sunner and I will be installing the minimalist solution instead. Woodgas powered for demand pressure delivery with the manual hand crank, fill the buckets option.

Sigh. Still haven't figured how to turn my own, "no life (useable memory now) without coffee"  dependency needs here, to be local and self-supported. Ha! Ha! All of the local grown "green corn" you'd ever want  here. But it's 180 from what keeps me floating along daily.  You or Aloha Casey willing to become my known coffee bean suppiers??

Yeah keep us updated with your where-a-bouts. I still have that CND fiver that I owe you I could convert to PMD or other, including US silver. Ha! Ha! My gold stays on my ring finger (belongs to the wife) and in my mouth (already promised to my new citizen Korean dentist. He made his own feet voting move back in the 80's).

Regards
Steve Unruh