S/O Does anybody know a "prepper" in real life?

I don't know any personally, but there are plenty of them in rural Oregon. We are in the suburbs, but border a rural area. There is a "prepper" store close by and there are always plenty of cars in the parking lot. Rural real estate listings often point out off-the-grid features, which appeal to two totally different groups - the preppers and the serious environmentalists.

I am sure we have lots are places in rural western Oregon where we have those two groups living side by side. I'd never really thought about that before, but it's kind of interesting.

I don't know anyone personally. I was at a party this summer and my nephew mentioned he had been to Cabelas and there isn't one in the state he lives in. Long story short he was visiting a friend who is a prepper.

My mother who is deceased was not a prepper in the sense you are suggesting. But she always had a stock of food and other sundry supplies. She lived through war and hardship I could never pretend to understand. She also passed before 9/11 but were she alive today, she might be a prepper.

My mother. She has been a prepper for 45 years, beginning right after I was born. She's a Mormon, and Mormons have always been advised to be prepared for hard times, but she has taken it to the next level. Growing up, our basement was full of food storage. Although we lived in a suburban neighborhood not zoned for livestock, my mom kept chicken and goats in the backyard, and we even had a trout pond at one time.

About 12 years ago my mom bought a five acre farm with a huge home, and was able to then do everything she wanted to do to "be prepared", but had been previously limited on space. I asked her a few years ago how much food and water she thought she had, and she said enough for 20 people for two years. She had chickens, 20 head of goat, rabbits, and a dairy cow, as well as a full garden, orchard, two acres of alfalfa, several wells, and a windmill. Inside the home she's filled the extra rooms with clothes, blankets, and medical supplies. I believe she now has at least one full size shipping container on her property for the overflow. She's done all of this while working full time as an RN, a job she'll never really be able to retire from because she didn't believe she'd need to rely on retirement. She was sure we'd all be living in a post-apocalyptic society by now. She and my brothers openly carry, and I know she has a small arsenal to protect all of her stuff.

Having watched too many hoarding shows, I know now she is a type of hoarder, and a conspiracy theorist with some paranoia on the side. As mixed blessing, though, my stepfather recently had a mild stroke. He is expected to make a nearly full recovery, but won't be able to do as much on the farm now, so my mom was forced to give away the majority of her animals. I only see that as a good thing, but she'll be a prepper until her last day. I have no doubt that she's spent literally millions of dollars on her habit.

Good grief....I honestly don't know what to say  How is you relationship with her?....it is inevitably affected by her habit. 

Yes, I know several. I live in a rural area and we have people move here all the time because they want to be as far away from a city as possible when the government melts down and people are looting and rioting in the streets.

What's really funny is to listen to the preppers compare notes. A hotly debated theory amongst the local ones is whether or not one should have a generator. Of course the ultra prepared should have a generator and fuel for that generator for a year, right? But many say no, because if the lights are on in your house people will know you have a stockpile and your house will be hit by the mobs of people first. Of course, the pro-generator people argue that that is what their stockpile of ammo is for. It's quite entertaining to listen to.

Yeah. My DH knows a guy who does this. He has underground bunkers. He built a storage building the size of most grocery stores that houses all this supples. It's truly impressive...I don't even want to think about the money he has invested in this.
I say good for him though..whatever floats his boat. Least he will be ready if shit does hit the fan.

If you find you land you need to buy it.  You do realize land, even in an apolcolyptic state isn't and won't be up for just setting up camp.  All land in the US is owned by somebody. You'll end up being met with a gun if you set up camp on someone else's water source. 

I know some preppers.  The ones I know aren't too open about just how prepped they are.  They don't want rumors out that they have large stashes of food or other supplies so they don't get to being targeted by the wanna be preppers who never got past the "think about it" stage.

See, the truly hardcore preppers have their generators underground for their underground bunkers. They will have light and no one else will be able to see it.

Ditto! I was like: "I live in CT. I don't know anyone who isn't preppie!"

Oh, thank you. I mean she's still there for me just to talk to, and she visits with my kids on the phone occasionally, but she's not there for me if I really needed her help. Like I said, with her I'm sure with her it's also a type of hoarding condition (I'm not sure if all preppers are like that though), and the hoard takes precedence over most other things. I'm really hoping she and my stepfather (who I feel is more of an enabler than a prepper himself) start scaling it back now, with his health scare, but I don't think it will happen.

My mother would totally have the underground bunker if she could on her land .

Just curious, how far away are the bunkers? I wouldn't think 100 miles from the house would make much of a difference to one direction being safer than another, so wonder how far they would have to go.

I don't know any preppers, other than everyone around here being prepared for an earthquake.

My impression is that preppers are serious about gun use and safety, so I'd be surprised to learn the family of the 9 yr old involved in the Uzi accident were preppers.

I'm sure they exist, but I don't know any "preppers". I think this is a mostly American phenomenon.

Whenever this subject comes up I always think of the movie Blast From the Past.