Floods and Roads

Last week was a mess. The rapid rise in temperatures coupled with abundant snow, three inches of rain, and still-frozen ground led to widespread flash flooding over most of the upper Midwest. Iowa and Nebraska got hit hard and fast, with rivers and streams rising out of their banks and levees breaking from the pressure of the surge of water. I had a nice policeman knock on my door and tell me that I was in the area under mandatory evacuation, even though my house is higher than the 500 and 1000 year flood plains. They aren't forcing anyone out of their houses (so I'm staying put), but they are going around and shutting off water, electricity, and gas service to any house in jeopardy of being flooded.

I've been through floods here in 1993 and 2011, and those were both slow, drawn-out rises in the Missouri River that caused tributaries to back up and flood low areas. This year the water didn't have time to get to the Missouri; the tributaries couldn't couldn't handle the sudden melt/rain. After the wet fall we had last year the ground is saturated, and the exceptionally cold winter pushed the frost line down below three feet. That means that we have solid ice at least three feet deep where dirt should be, and ice doesn't absorb water like dirt does. Even when the ground thaws, it's still saturated from last year, and most new water will run off. There is still substantial snow on the ground upstream of us that has to melt, so our rivers are going to stay full for a long time.

Fatalities have been mercifully low in Iowa and Nebraska, though a handful of people have paid the price for driving around barricades or trying to drive through a river running across a road. The main issues for us range in scale from "There is water in basements that have never been wet before" to "Entire towns are underwater." Grain bins full of corn and soybeans are sitting in several feet of water, and several small cities have been turned into islands with no possibility of ground traffic in or out. The flooding is still underway, so we don't have a good accounting of the amount of livestock killed and equipment lost, but it's going to be a rough spring for area farmers.

Right now the biggest problem is the old "You can't get there from here" joke; roads are under water, bridges have been washed away, and debris is everywhere. I live on the edge of a small town that sits on the intersection of two highways, one running north/south, the other east/west. We have one additional route out of town in each direction, both of them gravel roads. By the second day, all but one of those routes were under water, and all of the routes cross rivers or large streams/creeks.

Information is vital in situations like this. The Federal Highway Administration has a website with a nice map of the states where you can click on each state and get redirected to a page that will take you to the state's page (after sending you to a page to remind you that you're leaving the federal site). I've trimmed out the extra steps and have compiled a list of each state and their road conditions, with a bit of commentary on each. Some of the links were broken, which is to be expected with internet sites constantly evolving; add to that the fact that we're talking about government sites, and I'm surprised there weren't more broken links. I can't promise that they will all work forever, but they worked when I found them.

• Alabama
  An interactive map with live updates, pretty standard.
• Alaska
  There may not be a lot of roads in Alaska, but here's a live map of the current conditions. It has an email alert sign-up pop up that needs to be dismissed before you get to the map.
• Arizona
  Another interactive map, this one has an annoying route planner covering the left quarter of the map until you dismiss it.
• Arkansas
  Standard map with color-coded travel conditions.
• California
  CA can't be normal, so this one is a confusing mess of a map requiring you to select an area to get any information. Even the 511 information is broken up into regions.
• Colorado
  Not a simple map to navigate like most states have, but rather several pages with much more information. Colorado does have some rather unique travel hazards.
• Connecticut
  Nice clean map of the roads and conditions.
• Delaware
  The link on the FHA page was broken, so I dug around and found the DelDOT page. Nice clean map with standard features.
• Florida
  A typical interactive map with the route planner that covers part of the screen.
• Georgia
  Different color scheme than most travel maps; you'll need to use the pull-downs on the left to select which data you want displayed. My first visit had some pop-up windows for email alerts.
• Hawaii
  No single map, but a link to the roadwork for each island. Weather related road closure doesn't seem to be an issue for some reason.
• Idaho
  Full-service road conditions. You'll need to select what type or level of information you want to get to the maps.
• Illinois
  Another state with plenty of options to choose from for what information you need.
• Indiana
  One of two choices from IN, this one is the simpler of the two. Common road condition map, even if it does start zoomed out too far. The hazard indicators covered the entire state until I zoomed in enough to get some scale.
• Iowa
  Interactive map with various options for internet speed and level of detail. Phone app available.
• Kansas
  Oddly structured site with somewhat confusing layout. The link from the FHA site was broken, but I found the KS page.
• Kentucky
  Probably the most annoying of all the state pages with splash screens to close, pop-ups to ignore, and then finally you get to a standard interactive map. Typical of my experiences with this state.
• Louisiana
  Simple, basic, interactive map with the information you need.
• Maine
  Part of the “New England 511”, a regional map with Vermont and New Hampshire.
• Maryland
  Redirects from the md511.org linked on the FHA site to a newer site with more information choices.
• Massachusetts
  Standard interactive map with route planner.
• Michigan
  I almost missed this one because the hyperlink was hard to see. Standard interactive map.
• Minnesota
  Another example of a DOT that gives you options. Pick the type of internet connection and the level of information you need to get to a decent map.
• Mississippi
  Choose between viewing the map or downloading the app; either will give you the road conditions.
• Missouri
  A simple travelers map with plenty of information and a ticker scrolling important information along the bottom.
• Montana
  Several options available, this is the cleanest map of the bunch.
• Nebraska
  Choose your level of information and get to a good map. Common format among the sites for states with lots of truck traffic.
• Nevada
  It took a few clicks to find the road conditions map, but it is there.
• New Hampshire
  Part of a regional map with Maine and Vermont. Map updates very frequently.
• New Jersey
  A standard 511 map that shows all of the routes out of NJ.
• New Mexico
  Nice, clean map with road conditions.
• New York
  A good map for the 95% of the state that isn't NYC.
• North Carolina
  This one took a bit of clicking around to find the map. Good map, but the alerts take up a lot of the screen.
• North Dakota
  Having traveled ND quite a bit in my younger days, this is one that needs to be bookmarked. There are long stretches between towns and the terrain is perfect for blizzards and floods.
• Ohio
  Interactive map with the option to download their travel app.
• Oklahoma
  All of the links I could find were broken; OK needs to upgrade their IT staff and servers. I finally found a way to their site through www.safetravel.com
• Oregon
  The default settings make the map a bit busy, so uncheck the boxes for information you don't need to make it more legible.
• Pennsylvania
  Another map with an options bar on the left that takes up too much screen.
• Rhode Island
  A landing page with options. Most of the information is segregated by region.
• South Carolina
  A nice landing page with options that include a map of traffic and road conditions.
• South Dakota
  No official state map, but a link to a commercial (?) site with the information you'll need.
• Tennessee
  A few clicks to get there from the FHA site, but TN does have a map of traffic and road conditions.
• Texas
  A busy map, which isn't surprising. Location pop-up before you get to the map.
• Utah
  Fair map, but with auto-playing traffic cams.
• Vermont
  Part of a regional map along with Maine and New Hampshire. Basic map with constant updates.
• Virginia
  Clean, simple, easy to navigate.
• Washington
  After being sent to a confusing landing page, I finally found the map. I did learn that WA is no longer printing paper highway maps.
• West Virginia
  Busy map until you uncheck some of the default information boxes.
• Wisconsin
  A good, simple map once you close the panel of alerts on the left.
• Wyoming
  A simple landing page, and the map is easy to find.
  

All told, the Federal Highway Administration is a fair source of information. I also ran across SafeTravelUSA and saw a lot of mentions of Waze, which is a community-driven travel app for your smart phone. Crowd-sourced information may be a good way to avoid a traffic jam in good weather, but I'm not sure how effective it would be in a serious storm or disaster. Maybe one of the more tech-savvy folks out there would like to look into Waze for us?

Prudent Prepping: Intermission

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

I mentioned in last week's post that it was my first post-move article. This is my second post-move blog entry, but it isn't the final, totally over-and-done-with-moving post.

You see, I'm staying with my wonderful sister and brother-in-law while my next place to live is getting settled and sorted out. I'm moving again in April, for what I hope will be a nice long stay.

Spring, I Hope
This post is about what I'm doing with the time between moves: an intermission, defined as "A pause or break." A break is exactly what I needed after getting out of the place I lived in for the past 5 years, a break to continue to weed out and trim down what I own and want to have with me. This has taken longer than I thought it would, and also longer than it should. I (and the rest of us here at BCP) write about disaster preparedness, Bugging Out and Getting Home regularly, but it turns out I needed these moves to really get set to live the life I write. I'm not a hoarder in any way, but I have collected too many things that I can do without quite easily.

Since I'll be with different people (the Master Chief has moved elsewhere), my stored food will be changing slightly to reflect the people I'll be around. Before I moved, I already donated the easily sorted items, so what's left are the 'good quality' things that have to make the cut to 'excellent quality and very useful' all the time. I'm also using this time to check on every last emergency item in my gear, such as:

Camping Gear

• I have multiple stoves, so each one is getting looked over to see if parts (like wind shields) are missing,  and that the repair parts are included in the WhisperLite bag.
• Rain gear. My primary coat and pants have gone with me to work every day for several winters now, so I checked on the spare ones I keep with my extra backpacks.
• My tent, waterproof tarps and ground cloths are neatly stored in a storage tote.

Get Home

• I'm much, much closer to home this year, so the Bag of Homing is being pared down a little with extra clothing coming out of the pack and into a bag in the trunk. If I need it when I'm farther away from home, it will be available, as with food and water. Thinking like this has removed almost 5 lbs of 'must carry' weight from my pack.
• Packing some of the Get Home necessities in the trunk means I need to clean up where things are stored there too. I'm keeping a case of bottled water and the excess Get Home gear in bags, stored in and behind my trunk organizer. While I seriously miss my truck, having a place to store equipment completely out of sight trumps the versatility of my beloved truck.

Home Stores
This is the last difficult bit I'm working on now: the things I want. Frank Lloyd Wright wrote,“Give me the luxuries of life and I will gladly do without the necessities.” Yeah, about those...

• Canned goods are being transitioned to freeze-dried much slower than I like, but I have a definite budget to follow. The bulky things are still going into the Buckets of Holding, even when I get more food designed for longer term storage. Pasta and sauces, rice and such don't compact down very small.
• Clothes are the next things to get a brutal trimming. I'm amazed at what I still have, even with two trash bags full of clothes going to Goodwill. I don't need anywhere close to the number of shirts and polos I have, even if I like the company logos.
• Finally, I really will be going through my books since in my new place I won't have room to put up all the shelves I'd need to get even 50% of my collection displayed. Many are going to be sold, some are going to friends that will appreciate them, and I'll keep the balance and maybe finagle a little space for one compact set of shelves.

The Takeaway

• I know most of you are still in the middle of winter, but it's never too early to get your gear out and ready for an emergency. 
• Floods, more snow and rain are forecast even for me here in California. Don't be caught with little to show for your planning.

The Recap

• Be hard on yourself in your preps. If you don't, or can't, it will be even harder to get away in an emergency or even move like I'm doing. 
• Nothing was purchased this week but lots of sweat was spent.

***

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Splitting Maul Introduction

It's firewood season for me now that spring is upon us. This video is a quick demonstration of my favorite way to split firewood.






Lokidude

Video Review: Orion Campfire Starter/Signal Flare

You can buy these from Amazon in a pack of two for $15 ($7.50 per flare) or a pack of 12 for $35 ($2.92 each).

From the Amazon entry:

• Offers a small size measuring 5-1/4-inches long and weighing only 8-ounces
• Features a self contained, windproof ignition
• Eliminates the need for matches
• Offers to burn up to 7-minutes in excess of 2,000-degrees F
• Features a new eco-friendly formulation that contains no perchlorate chemicals

Some more pictures:

Even the box caught fire

Packaging is different from Amazon, but performance is just as good

Steel: What Kind and From Where?

Steel isn't hard to find, generally not expensive, and you can do lots of things with it. But what kind do you use, and where do you find it, once you’ve decided on a project for it?

Mild Steel
For a lot of things (basic ironwork, braces, learning the art of forging) you can use mild steel. This is a basic steel, composed of iron and up to 0.2% carbon. It’s used in rebar (the bar with a textured surface used to reinforce concrete), angle iron, steel straps of many sizes, and lots of other things that require the strength of steel but don't need to be flexible or hold a cutting edge. You can get it at a salvage yard, or if you need a particular size (width, thickness, shape) you can call steel companies and see if they have it.

If you want to try to grind or forge cutting tools, keep it simple in the beginning. That means using a steel with at least 0.6% carbon, but not a highly-alloyed type that requires intricate heat treatment. There are two I recommend for this task: 5160 and O1.

Both of these types of steel are oil-hardening steels [which means that the alloy is heated and then quenched in oil], and people have used vegetable oil, commercial heat-treating oil (there are different types for different steels), and 5-weight motor oil. Both types need to be quenched to harden from a critical temperature of 1500º F (which can be reached in a charcoal or coal fire, or in a small fire-brick enclosure using a couple of torches), and can be tempered, depending on intended use, at anywhere from 375-500º F. Neither requires the very high and ‘must be just right’ temperatures of stainless or the highly alloyed steels, and they also temper at lower temperatures, In fact, you can do the tempering in a kitchen oven*.

5160 Steel
5160 steel can be found all over, as it’s used to make leaf and coil springs for car and truck suspensions. It can be found in many sizes as well; hit a salvage yard and you can get it for scrap price, which was around $0.20/lb the last time I bought some (prices will vary). The carbon content for this steel is 0.6% and you can use it for chisels, knives, swords, and springs. It’s really good for bigger knives that will be used for heavy cutting or chopping, but it will work well for a small knife as well.

O1 Steel
O1 is a high-carbon tool steel. It’s best to order/purchase this from an industrial supply so you know exactly what you’re getting; it’s also sold as “oil-hardening drill rod.” It’s not as good for big, heavy cutting blades, but is truly excellent for other knives and chisels.

Generic Medium-Carbon Steel
That’s steel for large projects addressed, but what about for small? Perhaps you need something with which to make a small flat or v-shaped spring intended for light duty?

Take a look around the hardware store, or someplace construction is being done. See that thin steel strap they wrap bundles of brick and such with? That just might work, as might a worn-out hacksaw blade. I’ve known of people making a new magazine spring for a bolt-action rifle using these.

One more source for small medium-carbon stock, good for springs and flint strikers and the like: overhead garage door springs. It's really handy, and you can often get a piece of a broken one for free (or at least cheap) from companies that install and maintain the doors.


*Make sure you clean all the quench oil off first; it smells bad if you don’t.

Chaplain Tim

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

I received this email from Chaplain Tim last night:

Subject: Thursday post

I'm going to try to get one together,  but I just had a nice policeman at my door inform me that the my section of town is under an evacuation order due to flooding. They're not stupid enough to force evacuation, so I'm not going anywhere.

Electricity is off for 25% of town already, the rest is possible. Power company put the substation in the flood zone.

This crap just came out of nowhere. Blogfodder, but it is going to be a while before I get it worked out. 

As of 4 pm today I texted Tim with "Are you staying dry?" He responded with "River breached the levee on the opposite of my place, so I am good for a while."

If you're the praying sort, please spare a good word with $deity regarding those in Iowa affected by state-wide flooding.

Prudent Prepping: March Delirium

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

This is my first post-move blog entry, and since I’m too tired to make it into a buffet post, you get this.

I’ve uncovered some books and equipment I haven’t seen in literally years. Some of it is useful, a little bit of it is junk. Okay, more than a little of my stuff is junk, or at least items that I have no use for now. There is some monetary value to many items, however, and I’m not giving things away, but holding on until the unusually heavy rains stop so I can have a nice garage sale!

What's In The Box?
If I told you some of the things I found, you might not believe me. One of the cooler things I found in a box with my 1960’s Boy Scout manual was my Pro-Knot card with most of the knots I still use.

https://amzn.to/2TAauL3

I keep this card in my camping gear  to show those I'm out with what a proper knot for each situation should be done. It always comes up that "I learned to tie this from my Gramps" and while it is a good knot, it may not be the correct knot this time.

From the Pro-Knot Amazon page:

This six card set is easy to understand with clear illustrations for the twenty best all-purpose rope knots - see complete list of knots below. If it's on this card set, it is a proven, useful and trusted knot! These rope knots are universal for survival, boating, climbing, prepping, search and rescue, home and ranch, scouts, camping, paddle sports and any outdoor activity involving rope. There are step-by-step instructions for joining ropes together, tying rope to objects and making loops.

• Waterproof solid plastic cards with no-rust brass grommet

• 20 essential rope knots

• Size: 3½ x 2¼ x 1/8 inch, weighs less than one ounce.

• Perfect backpack, glove box, bug-out-bag or boat

 Knots include: Bowline (single best all-around knot to know), Square Knot, Water Knot (best knot for use with nylon webbing), Rolling Hitch, Clove Hitch, Sheet Bend (doubled version too), Trucker's Hitch (a must know knot), Mooring Hitch (quick release knot), Cleat Hitch (boaters must-know knot), Tautline Hitch (adjustable knot for camp guy-lines), Buntline Hitch (use for attaching rings, snaps, etc to rope), Prusik Knot, Butterfly Knot, Half Hitch, Constrictor Knot (bundle up loose items), Double Fisherman's (join two ropes), Figure Eight, Bowline on a Bight, Sheep Shank, Timber Hitch. 20 knots total.

I remember learning many of these knots in Boy Scouts, and since I don’t tie most of them regularly, the card is a really handy refresher for me. Someplace in my fishing gear (I hope) is the companion set of cards listing 20 common fishing knots.

More Reading
I mentioned this book in a post way back in 2014, and it turned up in a box with non-prepper books. It was purchased used from a local store, but is available from Amazon.

The Lost Lore of a Man's Life : Lots of Cool Stuff Guys Used to Know But Forgot About the Great Outdoors is a collection of articles from the the early 1900's that anyone from that era would more than likely know if they spent time out of doors.

https://amzn.to/2VYrgjF

"To restore men's rightful heritage, Denis Boyles and Gregg Stebben, the coauthors of A Man's Life: The Complete Instructions, have compiled a priceless treasury of forgotten lore and rustic hobbies that our forefathers possessed but that we have lost. Culled from turn-of-the-century publications and old scouting-type manuals, this guide is written in our grandfathers' language, with their sensibility and wisdom."

I am unable to take a clear picture of the Title Page, Table of Contents or the Acknowledgements which list what is included and where most of the contents originated. Seriously, this is a really fun and interesting book!


The Takeaway

• While I hate moving with a passion that can't be expressed in polite society, I'm finding things that I need and now I can dump the things I truly don't. Even if it hurts!

The Recap
Nothing was purchased for this post, but you should check out:

• Pro-Knot laminated cards: $5.95 from Amazon with Prime
• The Lost Lore Of A Man's Life: $6.99 for Kindle or $12.24 in paperback from Amazon

***

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.