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The ideal situation for long-term survival in an EOTWAWKI situation includes a well-stocked home based in a sparsely populated area with fertile soil that is at least a full tank of gas (300-400 miles) away from the nearest major population center. More than that, you also need a community of people you can trust and support, as well as a positive mental attitude and the total commitment to survival. Individualist “Rambo” types will be the first to die.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjLH4h2uRo4
If you want to know how to survive, look at how our forefathers did it. For you to rule out the northern half of our country because of frost is stupid. It has been inhabited for 10,000 yrs!
The advantage to living above the frost line is you have a lot fewer insects and therefore less disease. And you have a change of seasons, which is good for the environment and provides for a large variety of flora and fauna. But water is the most important requirement.
Seriously, the final map you come up with is an area that has depleted soils. Yes, it may not get to freezing, but good luck at raising a garden on soil that has been leached out.
The other thought is that there will be a lot of people who won’t want to deal with the cold, and who will also look at water, and they will migrate in mass to the same area that you are talking about. I live in Tucson, and if people left here, they would head to the deep south, not up to the mid-west, because its too cold for them. I do hope that a lot of people have the same idea, and leave the upper part of the country.
living in s.La., the occasional ‘cane is the only real hazard. the soil is fertile (harvested 1st crop of strawberries yesterday!)folks are friendly and game rich. Geaux LSU and Saints!