Apr 252012
So I moved to Tampa from Gainesville 2 years ago and have been prepping since. I sometimes feel like I am the only person in this whole city who is trying to prepare for the inevitable! Are there any others of you out there? And if so, have you guys began to plan your bug out/in scenario. I feel like FL may very well be one of the worst states in the country for bugging out. A long peninsula flanked on both sides by major highways. 
hit me up Tampa people, or anyone else in North Central Florida for that matter!
Contact me at ldrider [at] bellsouth [dot] net I am between Tampa and Gainesville so that info may help. I have alot more info. for you but I like to stay pretty confidential about it. Good luck. I will say this, so far I’m set up better than most.
here in st pete, contact me at daygreene [at] live [dot] com
I live in NW Hillsborough County. My neighbor and I are forming our bug-in plan. We are inviting specifics friends and family members. So, we are alive and well. As far as Florida survival… the temperate climate gives us an advantage. Evacuating and food shelf life are our disadvantages. If there are preppers in Tampa that would like to meet, I’m all in.
Hi,
Im in St. Pete., and would like to meet others of similar interests to network with.
I think it would be nice to form some sort of group to share ideas, tips, etc. Maybe meet at a pub or coffee house.
Just thought Id reach out to you and say hi.
Hi Safitea, I think that would be a good idea and let me know if that comes about would like to meet up with some good people. In the Tampa area
Hi my hubby and I just moved to Tampa from Orlando because of his job and we are looking to meet with other like minded people. I’m close to the Tampa hospital.
Hi prepared2go,
Prepper? The word used mean something good. Now days we are called nut-balls and even potential terrorists by our own Government. “Be Prepared” It’s still the motto of the Boy Scouts though. As for me and my family: I just don’t want to be another family standing in the “g’me” line waiting for cold sandwich if or when something bad comes our way. Better to be the one handing out the sandwich than the one needing it. I’m not a nut-ball and I am not really concerned about what tommorow my bring. I do what I can and leave the rest to a power greater than myself. I am not stongly religious but do bow to a Creator for the sake of my sanity. The attitude among so many these days is “what can my Country do for me instead of what can I do for my Country”? That’s a paraphrase from perhaps the last great President we had. Anyhow, I live in NW Hillsborough County, just north of Tampa in the Citrus Park-Keystone area. Would like to be part of a group for support in my area. I have chickens and raise Tilapia, do canning and some gardening. Married 41 years to the same woman who is my best everything. Raised two boys who have become contributors to society instead of takers.
PS you can email me at doninodessa [at] gmail [dot] com
Please contact Me. I live in Lakeland and i am interested any meeting local people. I have a Small group, but I also have connection to a larger Group called the S.A.P.P. We are looking to build both groups. Contacte me.
Hi SirGalhad and others in central Florida. I just joined this site, but I was a prepper about 13 years ago when I had 4 kids at home and wanted to be able to take care of them if something did happen. I got a lot of flak but felt that at least I knew I could feed my family if something did happen. I have kept a lot of my stuff, but it hasn’t been looked at for most of that time. I am feeling that I need to take inventory and start prepping again. I would love to talk with some local folks and pick brains. Did any meet up groups or informal meeting ever get scheduled? I also live in Lakeland.
thanks for the replies guys! I will try to email you individually when i get a chance just to form some rapport with some of you local guys. would you all be interested in a local meet up sometime? i certainly don’t think it could hurt to meet like minded folks in our areas. hope for some more replies!
Hi we live in west central florida, in Largo. Contact me at Patriciasccc [at] yahoo [dot] com
Im interested in a meet up group.
Im in St. Pete.
I’m interested in a meet up group.
I’m in Tampa
I’d love to meet someone in Tampa of the same mind. Drop us a line at cspunde [at] tampabay.rr.com. we’ve not a lot about supplies and such because we’re planning on moving to Arizona in a few years but we’ve been honing our skills and researching what we need.
also, SirGalhad, you did not include your email address unless you would just prefer to communicate via this thread. I am interested in learning more about local prepper groups
North Pinellas here. shoot me a message scottgrdnr at gmail dot com!!
We are in Pinellas park,(Largo). Have been prepping for a while now. Am a senior, Live in a Park Model in an RV Park. Store most of my
stuff in (a car bug out bag, 2 small bug out bags, to take with us if we can’t stay in our home, and 3 plastic containers with covers, which we store in our shed. I have pretty much all I need at this point to last 3 months. Don’t know whether I will store more because of space. At least I am somewhat prepared.
Pinnellas park, (Largo) here. Email:patriciasccc [at] yahoo [dot] com
Down in Venice sdcakasm4 at aol dotcom. I’ve always had the mindset and kept it to myself until I sawthe tv show. I ask around, most people look at me like I am crazy, the others say if it ends I don’t want to be here. As this state has hurricanes and tornadoes anyway being prepared is a good thing. I don’t know why these people don’t understand. I am looking for like minded people to chat, swap ideas. Interested in getting my colloidal silver started and medicinal herb garden as medicine will be a problem. Anyone want to chat for starters theres my addy. I’m also on windows live messenger.
Just signed up today. Would love to talk to any of you! I live right where hurricaine Charlie hit. 3 weeks no power, no help. It changes you. I will never be that unprepared again! It was supposed to hit you guys in Tampa!!! Areany of you A.n.t.s. members?
I just signed up and have not had a chance to look the whole site over yet, but I just wanted to introduce my self and hook up with some folks from Tampa Bay.
We have always prepared somewhat for hurricane season, which begins in a week or so, but I want to be prepared for more than a hurricane. I want to be prepared for anything. Just starting on this journey and I’ve got a lot to learn, I know, but this seems like a great spot to begin!
Blessings,
Free Spirit
Hi, from Pinellas park, Largo area of Florida. Email:patriciasccc [at] yahoo [dot] com
South hills county jr prepper here. 25 m 2 girls. Hit me up duette7236 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Hey guys, just wanted to jump on this thread real quick — I currently live in TN, but I was born and raised in the St Pete area and most of my family still lives down there. I’d love to talk to some of you and get some stuff lined up for them…not to mention we spend 2 weeks at a time down there a couple times a year, so I never know where I’m going to be at when SHTF.
Feel free to email me at dolche143 (at) yahoo.com — I have a good luck with finding guns/ammo (armslist.com) and food (http://www.tiffanycartier.shelfreliance.com/TiffanyCartier).
Tiffany
Hi everyone I live in Ruskin. I have been prepping for 3 yrs. I do a lot of dehydrating of veg. I was buying from the Mormon warehouse but the gov. stopped that. They can only sale to members of their church now. Single dad with 2 disabled sons. I am always looking to learn more to prepare.Would like to meet up with a group. reach me at cavebat4ever at yahoo dot com.
Hi Florida preppers! I joined a few weeks ago and have been lax in checking out the site here. If one is going to be a “prepper” ,one must “prepare”, so no more excuses for me. I’m putting my e-mail here so maybe I’ll get a kick in the booty from y’all. I need it. You can kick my booty here: theegail [dot] com [at] gmail [dot] com
I’m eager to get more involved with Preppers!
Thanks,
Gail
OK, in my post made about 10 minutes ago, the time and date are incorrect, so this one probably will be as well. The actual date is June 7, 2012. The time is 1:42pm edt.
just sayin…
OOOOOhhhhhh
I get it. Australia. Sorry. = 0
I’m here in Pinellas…
Would like to meet in my area “preppers” Prepper? The word used mean something good. Now days we are called nut-balls and even potential terrorists by our own Government. “Be Prepared” It’s still the motto of the Boy Scouts though. As for me and my family: I just don’t want to be another family standing in the “g’me” line waiting for cold sandwich if or when something bad comes our way. Better to be the one handing out the sandwich than the one needing it. I’m not a nut-ball and I am not really concerned about what tommorow my bring. I do what I can and leave the rest to a power greater than myself. I am not stongly religious but do bow to a Creator for the sake of my sanity. The attitude among so many these days is “what can my Country do for me instead of what can I do for my Country”? That’s a paraphrase from perhaps the last great President we had. Anyhow, I live in NW Hillsborough County, just north of Tampa in the Citrus Park-Keystone area. Would like to be part of a group for support in my area. I have chickens and raise Tilapia, do canning and some gardening. Married 41 years to the same woman who is my best everything. Raised two boys who have become contributors to society instead of takers.
Hello all,
I am Carlos Bagram, I am a 5 year dedicated prepper living in Pasco, County. My background is US Army 10 years and I am a war veteran of both Iraq & Afghanistan. Now that you know a little about me, let me say I am not tooting my own horn but I wanted to state my background so maybe you can understand my view point of the post of this forum here.
I would like to ask, has anyone done some serious Intel on the Tampa Bay area for a SHTF reaction? I have spent some time researching our beloved area and after observing it from my view point I have observed how predictable ‘mass migration’ will turn out if the S ever HTF. I wish to share my findings with like-minded individuals in an effort that this information may save someone’s life one day, yours or mine.
Topology:
Because Florida is a Peninsula its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness, the obvious routes of escape all point north. Defensively this is a big advantage, but in a bug out situation it hinders. That being said the Danger of where not to go when bugging out of Tampa is evident, just apply a little detective work and you can easily make out the road map to disaster. Between Hillsborough County, Pinellas County and Pasco County alone the population total is somewhere around 2,612,000. Now let’s say in a SHTF situation a very modest 20% of that population decides to Bug out in a span of just 12 hours. That means there will be around 522,400 panicking people trying to get out of our area at the very least (I actually expect the number to be more like 900K+) .
The routes are evident that they will all try to cram through I-75 north, I-4 East, US 589 North & US 19 North (I-75 North will be mixing in with those running out of Sarasota) with killer choke points all over Dale Mabry Highway, Bruce B. Downs Blvd, Hillsborough Ave, US 41 N, and US 60 to name the main death traps. The point is, if you want to bug out, avoids these roads at all times. I would like to say that Bugging out far north would not be my first choice of a good strategy unless I did not have another option, but just in case you decide to Bug out quickly and head far north, your best routes depending on your starting point are.
Best Routes:
Pinellas County/ West Pasco County Bug out:
I recommend you use County Road 611 heading north, then cross over into 7 Springs Blvd and keep heading north until you reach Ridge Rd, head East on Ridge Rd until you come up on Little Rd, take Little Rd North, this will clear you all the way up to Emerald Beach, FL. NOTE: This route is only good if there is no flood warnings in the area as parts of this route can flood out.
Eastern Pasco County Bug out:
Your best bet is to make your way to US highway 301 and head north. Once you are past Dade City you should not have too many issues (even though this Highway runs parallel to I-75) until you reach Belview, FL. By this point you may be either low on fuel or you will realize that if you need to continue north on the same route you risk running straight through Ocala, FL so from this point on you have a large array of alternate back roads to choose from.
Hillsborough County:
I cannot stress this enough, but those of you who plan to travel East into the Orlando Area for whatever reason really need to think this over heavily. I understand that this will be the #1 route selected as the Bug out route for more than half of those leaving Tampa, but take this fair warning to heart: There is no safe escape route in that direction I can agree on! To take that route would be to court death and I do not exaggerate. Even if your plan is to hook up with family and head to New York, to travel to Orlando as your start point is a really bad plan. It would be wiser for all of you to agree on a meeting point somewhere like Leesburg/FL, Eustis/FL or even Umatilla/FL and start your travels from there than to enter Orlando/FL. If you are not heading to Orlando, make your way to the routes I stated above. The only difference will be the difficulty of leaving Tampa itself as the roads will have heavy traffic and I expect the dangers of the road to be at their highest the closer you are to the center of Hillsborough County.
As I stated earlier Bugging out far north would not be the best strategy as this is counterproductive if you throw in the factors of Distance x Logistics x Vulnerable Security. Remember we are in Central Florida, we should play our strengths when prepping. I have looked at different maps and have come up with a strategy that is effective for Central Florida preppers, but it requires a group effort to be fully operational. The three factors stated above can be addressed very effectively by playing to the natural layout we have available.
Distance/Logistics/Security- Solution:
In military terms the best way to deal with distance is to close it. Keep everything within your range but at the same time keep yourself out of your enemies range. The best option I have found is an accumulated Bug out location that can be networked and fortified by preppers from all 3 counties. These Bug out locations will have to require enough room, shelter, natural resources and defendable positions to accommodate about 30 to 50 people with provisions stocked so Logistics issues will be more manageable. NOTE: Multiple Bug out locations that can network together across a set distance through central Florida can be more effective than one large centralized community; in war zones we call these locations FOB’s (Forward Operating Bases). These FOB’s can provide each other with different vantage points of information, multiple safe spots, shared resources, and re-enforcements if needed so enhanced Security has the option of calling in the cavalry.
The best locations for these FOB’s would be Farms or Ranches located near forest areas or fresh water sources that are no more than 60 miles away from a big city. The areas/ towns/ small cities that I have found that could provide good real estate for these FOB’s are; New River Ranchettes, Crystal Springs Colony Farms, Commercial Highlands South, East/North Zephyrhills, East/North Dade City, Cypress Manor, Webster, Moss Town, Twin Cities park, Trilby.
If there are any preppers in the areas I mentioned who own a farm or a Ranch, I recommened you consider networking with preppers from the larger radius around you to include Tampa Bay Area. Chances are the news will not be able to update you on what will be happening in a SHTF situation and only allies from the big city will inform you if marauders will be heading your way. Allowing 30 trained and able preppers to reside in barn and help out is far better than risking taking on 30 marauders alone. And if you think by me posting these locations I just made them unsafe, think again. If I can find these obvious safety points with a few clicks of a mouse, how hard would it be for marauders to find you once the big city resources run low? E-mail me if you wish to continue this topic: carlosbagram /at/ yahoo /dot/ com
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