Well, you know what Konfuschus said; "Ain't none of us going to make it outa this thing alive". Living in a city with all its added high paced tension and stress will undoubtedly cause heart problems and an early burn out no matter how far away the hospital is located. Stress causes heart attacks, not eating french fries. The odds are in your favor if you live with the hicks in the sticks.

I make A point that nowhere in the world is always 100 % safe ... but by using our heads we can make almost anywhere SAFER by as the saying when in ROME do as the romans do ,,, by this learn to look ( dress or act ) as your local area you are in at the time .....people may see you but pay you no mind ,,, same as your CCW ,,, people see you but pay you no mind...same as where you live you do not need a machine gun on the roof , but if your homearea .... does not look out of place people pay you no mind.... The best SURVIVAL is always in your HEAD ( THINK OUT OF THE BOX) that and God's help is the best we will EVER get !! At Earthchanges.com they did over lays of different types of dangers put all together the whole USA has no such thing as a safe area ,,,, That could be anyones downfall thinking my area is safe.. years ago big time SURVIVALIST MEL died of a heartattack because he was too far removed from any MEDICAL HELP at all ... POINT STATED ... know all risk !

That is so true 308! Unfortunately we have 20+ folks to consider. If it were just my husband and I, it would be much easier decision as we could be mobile as that man was. Kids, grandkids and elderly parents are another perspective. I have found some "excellent for the east" type places and we are now trying to determine which is best. The place we feel most comfortable is 5 hours by highway and I am not sure that is a sane distance since it is almost 9 hours the back way and we have to cross under a main interstate...twice! The other options are closer, easier back road paths but much lower elevation meaning we lose wind power and potentially more safety from being totally off any beaten path. Every property we consider has an easement to it so there is no road frontage and pretty ugly access roads. For some reason that makes me feel safer and I have no problem 4 wheeling in or out since there will come a time we do not want to go out.

Was it not a few years ago THE FBI and other FEDS. were trying to find and catch a guy on the run , for years they used dogs, aircraft, even local hunters, and never found him till he came out to a small town to get stuff and was reported... same thing you can realy get lost in parts of Florida, or Louisiana, not to name odd parts of N. or S. Carolina, or West Va. where me and a friend did some hunting and never saw any people for days > WELL .. how hard are you willing to try ???????? 308gun

Despite the continuing downturn of the real estate markets all over the country, here in my state there are still numerous areas that are being cleared out for development, residential and commercial mostly but a few slight industrial locations as well.
I don't know how many of those particular developments are going to last, most of the residential ones built a few years before the bubble burst are dying off slowly with no appearance of even the slightest recovery. The new rental properties are doing much better than home sales though. Some of the commercial plots started off all hustle and bustle but are at a standstill, not quite sure what's happening with them now.
Several of my in-laws have moved here, mother in law and brother in law live in my house with us, another brother in law is in his own house not far away and they are all from Pennsylvania.
And they often complain about how SC works, how backwards it is and how poorly designed it is compared to Philadelphia, etc. and elsewhere they have lived.
I gave up with the go back home and the rest, it ain't happening and they ain't goin' anywhere else. I just get to listen to it and keep my mouth shut when they get deep in their cups so to speak.
We had been inundated with folks from south of the border but many of them are going back now since there's not near the number of jobs available that there were once. Those not going back are going elsewhere which is almost as good.
Still, safe zones are mostly relative, get one when you can and hang on to it when you do.

People migrate for a variety of reasons: employment, neighborhood, area, safety, family, or to get away from "people". Whether any of us want to admit it or not, that is why illegals flock across the borders. The burr under the saddle is that when these people do migrate (whoever they are), they flee something unpleasant that keeps their lives from being fulfilled, but when they arrive they do NOT attempt to blend into the culture of the new area. That is why illegals have such a problem - they don't want to give up their old ways to become citizens. Even though I had been born and raised in the Boswash corridor (One big city from Boston to Washington), I became a citizen of Wyoming in 1960 when I married into the community. I haven't looked back because I WANTED to be accepted and treasured as a friend and neighbor. The finest compliment I ever received was from an elderly local Native American when he told me, 'you're not originally from here are you? You don't talk down to me.'

The most prevalent saying around here is 'We don't give a fiddly damn how you did it back east.' 'If you're not happy, get the hell back where you belong.'

A safe zone can be just about anywhere - security is what you invest in it (not necessarily money). When the SHTF there will be pockets of survivors everywhere. You just have to think smart and look out for the longest possible solution. Look at encroaching government, tracts of land being sold for development, etc.

I guess The East most folks think about when "The East" is mentioned is mostly north of the Mason-Dixon line. I'm not far from the east coast and I enjoy where I live.
I've been all up and down the east coast and I prefer my area of the coast. Anything above the Mason-Dixon line has definitely been transformed from what it was to the undesirable that it is now, I won't be headed that direction anytime soon.
This part, southeast really, is being inundated with folks from the north of us who do the usual song and dance of "we didn't do it that way when I was in ____" and, "I don't like it here, I really miss being in ____", and on and on.
My usual reply is "If you don't like it here and you wish it was like there, why are you here?" and "this isn't there, this is here and this is how we do it".
I wonder why people have to leave where they liked because they don't like it but, they work to transform where they get to into where they left and how they left it? If you miss it that much, go back!

Toepopper...I hope you were able to enjoy your Christmas even with the views that were encompassing you! I grew up in PA, Mom in the north where it is extremely rural (everyone cut down trees there for a living!) and Dad in the southwest but on a farm. I spent each year split between them and loved both lives. I did not know the things you described so well : ) even existed until I moved to MD/DC. The sad part to me was, last year after moving back to PA, brought the realization that those views are here now too. It is like a sickness spreading. PA is a union state and it is what it is...but those unions were always made up of hunting, armed, self sufficient, tough individuals. It isn't like that any more. The last ten years before I left PA, my Dad would always bring up the topic of "Men are getting weaker and women are getting stronger." I never saw it and I would simply listen to him because it was a topic that weighed on him. We worked in construction and I certainly never saw any sign of what he was saying from the fellows I worked with! I am far from a woman libber but when I eventually landed in our nation's capitol...I saw what he was talking about!!! It is a mental thing and the body follows it. Is the root cause the woman's movement, or sexual harassment regs, or computers, or politically correctness, or just the big picture of what has been slowly limiting all our lives and covering us like a falling circus tent for almost 100 years?

I just returned from a Christmas visit with family in and around the Seattle area. Anyone considering moving here,this is one area of the Pacific North West to avoid at all costs. It has been taken over by eco nazi socialists who send their children to schools where they are taught how to hate America and how to become good global citizens. I got into several arguments with my kid brother about our countries founding fathers. He claims they were slave owners so they were bad men just like loggers are bad people for cutting down trees. He considers himself a "reformer" and wants Obama to eliminate the insurance companies altogether and place the govt in charge of health care. He is a died in the wool commie pinko and I suggested that he should move to Cuba where he might feel more at home, rather than destroy the American way of life. Everyone I met in the Seattle area has that same attitude. They are mostly a collection of stuck up snobs with 8 years of high school, who look down on people who work for a living and drive pick up trucks. They absolutely detest the military. Property values are sky high and have not come down like in the rest of the country. Seattle is the new Mecca for college educated upity ups who are against gun ownership and who want to change (reform) our country into a socialist concentration camp. They are all blind to history. The area from Tacoma North, up the I-5 corridor has been occupied by these new age crypto communists and living there has become unbearable. Traffic is like Los Angeles. Portland Oregon is another place to avoid for the same reasons. Just about anywhere east of the Cascades is conservative and the people have a more pro American/constitution type of attitude. They still believe in God. South west Oregon around Grants Pass or Roseburg is VERY conservative and you still see Ron Paul campaign signs posted in peoples yards, even though the election was 13 months ago. The people here are armed to the teeth and have a full pantry and seem to be more tuned into what is happening in our country.

I resemble that! The reason we have limited interstate traffic is to keep them newyarkers movin' on. No doubt about it, the winters are hard - but they are not like they used to be. Careful planning and immersion into the culture and life here will ensure you truly believe, 'Wyoming is like America used to be.' I will leave it to you to determine what the term undesirable means, but it does seem to keep immigration of them to a minimum. Game and fish is plentiful and the growing seasons are beginning to [almost] get longer. Bad points: the largest ICBM wing in the US is scattered around the state, we are triangulated with the Yellowstone caldera, Warren AFB, Minot AFB, Grand Forks AFB, Malmstrom AFB, and Ellsworth AFB, all nuke hustlers. And, when Mt. St. Helens blows again the ash will settle on WY. That ain't nothing compared to the caldera - if it blows, it will wipe out all life for at least 600 miles. We're on the easterly trade route for any biological or chemical disasters that occur in WA, OR, CA. Life ain't a bowl of cherries here, but we do have chokecherries. When I use the term 'Free Wyoming', I'm literally, not kidding. Wyoming was originally the proposed site of the 'Free State Project', which actually eventually settled for New Hampshire, part of the military-industrial complex of the east coast. The whole idea of the free state project was to have liberty-minded people move in sufficient numbers to sparsely populated states and gradually take over city, county, and eventually, state governments. People just do not have the pioneering spirit anymore and would prefer to have the conveniences provided for them by the Chinamarts of the world. Wyoming has thousands of registered independent voters, which on the surface may seem good. However, the republican/democrat political machine has fixed it into law that if you are an independent, say a member of the Constitution Party, you cannot register as such but only as 'independent'. The whole process keeps independents down on the farm. What does all this have to do with safe zones? The state is mountainous and mountains are a good place to relocate to; abundant game and water and it would be difficult for someone to intervene in your safekeeping. Think about it - if you don't have liberty your safety will be perilous, to say the least. If you choose safety over freedom, you will lose all. Your liberty will insure your safety. Where have I heard that before?

Good assessment and in my humble opinion, you are absolutely right .I have lived in western Pa, Altoona and New Castle, and traveled through all those bordering states many many times. I have gone to school in College Park Maryland, been stationed in North Carolina and Florida and stayed with friends who lived on Lake Cumberland Ky. and others in the mountains of Tenn. My last trip back there was in 2004 when I drove all the way to Quantico Virginia for a reunion. I was shocked, distressed and dismayed at how much the area had changed during the last 40 years and how many people there were. The traffic was intolerable. Little Gatlinburg Tn , once a quiet, friendly hamlet nestled in the Great Smokey Mountains, now has a 6 lane highway and is an overcrowded commercial nightmare. I realized that I would never be able to move back to the eastern portion of this country. For me the only tolerable place to live is west of the Rocky Mountains. Mild winters coupled with low humidity makes life more comfortable and if a person were forced to live outdoors for a spell they could do it without freezing to death. Here at my location in Oregon the low was 48 last night. Nevada is a state where a person can escape to with its 110,561 square miles (3 times bigger than Pa ) with only 2 million people in the entire state. Its colder in Nevada depending on what elevation you live at but nothing like the eastern winters. Pa is the 6th most populated state with over 12,000,000 population. Quite a difference . If you want to really get lost check out Wyoming. It is the least populated state and has a population of under a half million with 100,000 sq miles to roam around in. I would live there but do not like the long cold winters. I made the decision, took the plunge and left the east for good and I am glad I did. Right now the country is experiencing one of the greatest migrations in its history. The people of the rust belt states are fleeing and moving south or west looking for a better life where they can support their families. The freeways are full of U haul trucks leaving the east.

I know the folks that live in the west/northwest are the lucky ones when the time comes...but just imagine that you were one of the zillions (I can use that word now that big numbers are the norm!) that lived and must stay in the east. I spent some time driving around the so-called mountains that were recommended in Strategic Relocation and was unimpressed.

The north half of PA is not populated, offers a wide array of 4 wheel drive roads and heavy, heavy winters. Thanks to International Paper, there is also a lot of clear cutting there now too.

The Blue Ridge Mtns will (I imagine?) gather the majority of MD, DC, VA, DE. The ranges of WV offer the buffer of the Blue Ridge Mtns but you can literally drive around the entire thing in 10 hours. Is that enough? Lots of alphabets there too.

The mtns of Ohio are small and you have the Ohio River that stops incoming but also outgoing if you ever need that option. And where will the folks of Ohio go?

The options for a good plan B are very limited. Would you still head in one of those directions? Would you scout further afield such as Kentucky or Tennessee and pray you could get there? Would you look for an extremely remote hilly area rather than the mtns? Or would you say bye to the family and head to the northwest without them and pray they follow?