James:
I'm a retired Christian, a widower, living on California's central coast. I'm a ham radio enthusiast. I don't feel safe anywhere in California. California is only going to get worse as time goes on. So I am looking for a retreat location that is away from large population areas. I now have a few resources available to do this. Please let me know if you know of anything in the $40-to-50K range. I'm thinking about Nevada. Somewhere quite remote that will not be on the "shopping list" of looters, or in the path or refugees in the event of TEOTWAWKI. Blessings, - Dave
JWR Replies: Hmmm... $40K to $50K won't buy you
much land, these days. If you don't mind arid climates, then under
your circumstances I'd
recommend that you start your search
in west-central Nevada. (It is a fairly straight shot for you through
Yosemite
National Park on Highway 120 in summer months, but the small
highway passes are closed in winter, necessitating a longer trip, via
I-80 through Reno. If you
take the Pacheco
Pass,
then Highway 99, and then Highway 120, you avoid all of the major
freeways.) BTW, if you are 62, you are old enough to qualify for a
Forest Service "Senior
Pass" (formerly called a "Golden Age Passport), for
a one-time fee of $10, so you won't have to pay to transit Yosemite
National Park on each trip to Nevada.
Look first around Dyer, Nevada (the Fish Lake Valley) near Boundary
Peak, just east of the California state line. There are 10
to 12 acre parcels there selling for around $50K,
but it is one of those "private, gated community" type developments
that has CC&Rs and
allows only stick-built houses with a minimum square footage. (No manufactured
homes.) And it is very likely
that their CC&Rs
would
also frown on ham antenna arrays. (A big shiny Yagi might look like
a thing of beauty to you, but probably not to the HOA busybodies.)
Perhaps you could buy some land outside of the HOA development, but
nearby so that you could still interact with the community for barter
purposes.
Next, look farther east, around the
Big Smoky Valley area, north of Tonopah, Nevada. There is some
nice land on the northwestern edge of the valley--with year-round
creeks and a few trees--that
adjoins the Humboldt-Toiyabe
National Forest. Keep the faith, and proceed with prayer. If God wants
you to be anywhere in particular, he will open doors for you.
