Nomad Survivalist

Originally posted by Golf66

Originally posted by lastrebel
reply to post by jaxnmarko

 

There are more of us than you think, we often ride togather and I could see us forming bands WTSHTF. The idea isnt to completly avoid society but to sell your skills and then move on. Besides game there is plenty of edable plants and you can trade game for veggies

I think there is a term in the genre for these type people - MZB Mutant Zombie Bikers. If nothing else being a nomad after the SHTF will get you more often than not get you a quick lead injection.

Especially if a group of people dressed like bikers come riding up - I doubt many people are going to wait to see what your intentions are. Sorry, people's prejudices are going to go into survival overload and they are likely to shoot first and negotiate second.

Besides no one would really want a bunch of wanderers around to spread the knowledge of where the compounds/groups are and gathering information as to their strengths in personnel and items.

While you may indeed be a great guy - not many are going to take the chance when it comes to their food and daughters of letting a strange lone (or group of) bikers into their area for a while. You could be a recon element for a larger element casing the place or whatever.

Nomadic scavenger/gatherer type groups (or individuals) are not going to mesh well with settled farming/hunting types.

I disagree, I think they will have to get on or both will fall apart. One trades with the other.

Sure they'll be some rumble and tumble but if you have a world where these settlements are killing lone adventurers / nomads then I think they'd actually end up reaping the whirlwind. Come to think of it, maybe that's where the whole raiders vs farmers began??

reply to post by Golf66


LOL...........I think you have watched too many "Hells Angels" movies. You dont get a 50,000$ motorcycle by selling nicklebags and mugging old ladies.Most of us are Middle Class people with families who just happen to share a love of the open road and freedom.

One thing those that would murder us for just riding through might want to think about is that from the richest to the poorest.....Bikers tend to stick together. Another thing they might want to think about is a HUGE % of us are combat vets.

The third is that we might take offense to our brothers being murdered for no reason and would tend to unite to fix the problem. A settled group would tend to be alone....especially if they shot outsiders on sight....where we could call on Brothers from 100s of miles around to stand with us if need be.

We would make much better Scouts, Traders, Messengers, etc then enemies. A mutually beneficial relationship would be better for both of us

Originally posted by lastrebel
reply to post by Golf66

 

LOL...........I think you have watched too many "Hells Angels" movies. You dont get a 50,000$ motorcycle by selling nicklebags and mugging old ladies.Most of us are Middle Class people with families who just happen to share a love of the open road and freedom.

I think you missed my point - I personally agree with you; I have no problem with biker dudes, most that I have met would give you the shirt of their backs. That said I don't see a bunch of middle class people taking to the nomadic lifestyle in a SHTF scenario. The middle class hobby biker won’t last long as a nomad - IMO. More likely it will be the criminal kind who will exploit the lack of law to live their fantasy of being a local warlord.

Also, I don't know about selling small amounts of drugs and mugging old ladies - the bigger, more violent and organized gangs are more into moving large amounts of heroin, guns and extortion nowadays.

I think it would be the last mistake of many communities to not know which type of biker they were dealing with.

What I am saying is that when people go into survival overload they (the majority of the population) are going to revisit a lot of old stereotypes of which "outlaw bikers" is one.

I also think racial prejudices will come back to the forefront of our society as well. Enclaves of people are going to rally around commonalities that they share - race, religion and or lifestyle being a few.

Once the word gets out that a group of skinheads, neo-Nazis, gang bangers or even rogue law enforcement have trashed and torched a compound or group of people - woe be unto anyone who dresses, looks or talks like them for fear will take over and result in even good people being turned away at the gates.

Again, I have a farm and my neighbors are all Amish (on all sides 23 families) - for being as religious as they claim they are very prejudice in picking people with whom they do business. They still use the N word in conversation like its 1850!

Same with a lot of the smaller family farmers around here - even in the best of times I have a hard time being new getting people to open up to me and make a deal and I'm about as white and conservative as they come.

I am retired Army - I have been everywhere and worked with all kinds of people; however, in our county, which is 98.5% white demographically there is still a lot of old time prejudice.

Again, I am not saying I have an issue with bikers or people with long hair or tattoos or whatever.

I could care less but a lot of people will revert to fear and like you said most people's experience with bikers from TV and I doubt it will go well when the two cultures meet.

It has taken about 2 years to get people to come to me for eggs and milk on a regular basis. However, now that the word is out I can't seem to keep enough eggs. People know when calving time comes round I will have Holstein steers for a fair price - not much I can do with a steer. I don't butcher holstiens the meat is crappy; however, for some of the poorer families around here putting it out to pasture for 200.00 and forgetting about it for a year is pretty cheap meat.

Originally posted by lastrebel
If I left the impression I lived in a cave in the dessert hiding from society I am sorry.

I live in the dessert and ride from town to town working here and there, doing jobs ranging from Ranch hand, Carpenter etc, even did security on a porn shoot once..........lol. I often camp out though and know the plants and such around here. The entire key to this is not how many books and and supplies you can carry, but developing the skills NOW and being mobile so as to move to where the water, food, etc are at.

I also see us coexisting with those more settled in trading for goods and services which we each lack

Lastrebel,

I was reading your thread, enjoying it, and just thinking the best way to prepare for this would be to get out there and do it peacetime... and you are.

Keep it up, I think it's a grand idea. You're right, some people will be content to stay at home and rebuild communities and farm etc.. but some people will be needed to travel, carry messages, trade, work as scouts.

The only thing I don't know about is the Harley, and that's only because I don't know too much about them. How long post-SHTF do you think you could keep it running for? I guess you do all your own servicing, and in a big collapse there should be plenty of oil filters and service items, but it still might be worth caching a complete service spare pack every so often along routes you think you would be travelling, or in areas you might be staying.

Failing that, you could always go medieval and ride a horse when the motorcycle does finally go the great junkyard in the sky.