Marcus Wynne Has More On Living Out Of A Car

In my most recent Docent's Memo of July 7, 2021, I had linked to an article on "How to Live in Your Car" from SHTF Preparedness. The focus of that article was if you are forced to live in your car either because of "bugging out" or by reason of simply not having a place to live. By coincidence, Marcus Wynne has been travelling a bit this summer and living out of his car and has a couple posts up about the experience (as well as other interesting items). He also has photos and information about his setup. 

    His first post on the subject is "Cognitive Dissonance: Billionaires, Survivalism, and Living In Your Car," he shares some tips on living out of a car, as well as some of the experiences (and problems) he has encountered on this latest excursion. He relates: "Among other things I’ve driven across the Continental Divide on a rock and dirt fire-path (won’t call it a road), spent days without any other humans around in the Wind River Range, parts of the Rockies and in the National Forests, cooked well, slept well, and renewed my skill set." And, as he observes, you don't need a tricked out 4x4 to enjoy the back country--but you do need to learn how to observe and drive, change flats and get your car unstuck. What the jacked up 4x4 gives you is speed and more traction if you are pulling a trailer or going up an incline. But, as my father always told us, when you get stuck using a 4-wheel drive, you are really stuck!

    Anyway, back to Marcus's post. He is "currently hanging in Sun Valley, the site of the Allen Conference, the annual 'Billionaire’s Summer Camp' for tech, media, entertainment and financial moguls to bike, hike, sun, take in presentations from folks like former CIA Director Petreous, and strike deals over tables in coffee shops." And just like the rest of us, some of them are very interested in prepping and survival.

    His second post is "Living In Your Car, Part Two (Hill People Gear and Spyderco Love, Too)". In this article, he covers three topics a lot of people seem to skip out on: Land Navigation, Shitting In The Woods, and Basic Hygiene. For the navigation, he discusses some of the products he uses (more than one system). 

    For how to shit in the woods, he gives probably the best, succinct instructions I've read on the subject, and I've read quite a bit. He describes using a trowel to dig a hole, but since many Western states (including Idaho) have laws requiring campers and sportsmen to carry a minimum set of fire-fighting tools in their vehicle, I just use a spade. Plus, its faster to dig the hole for when you really need to go! 

    He also has great instructions and advice for personal hygiene. He finishes that section thusly:

Keep your camp clean and tidy. Not only does it make for efficient use of your gear and space, it also means you can break down quickly when you may be tired after some time out in the woods. A clean camp discourages animals and in places where Rangers and so on check, expensive fines for leaving food or food scraps around.

 I concur. It follows from the basic premise of camping: if you pack it in, pack it out.

    Finally, Marcus lists his most used gear (and a small folding knife topped the list), and discusses and shows his Hill People Gear rig and equipment that he packs when doing day hiking. He writes:

The rig illustrated below is my go-to hiking/off-road rig. It stays packed and I can grab it and go for half a day with what’s on it, and if I add some food bars and a water purifier, all day and then some. It combines the HPG Kit Bag with the Recon Harness, which is a MOLLE panel back piece that holds a 2-3 quart water bladder. I go with the 2-quart because I find it balances best with the load I keep packed in it.

The particular Kit Bag he is using is the Original Kit Bag (Version 2) in grey (what HPG terms manatee). The primary difference between the Version 2 and the original version is that the Version 2 has some MOLLE loops on the bottom of the bag allowing you to attach a knife sheath (as Marcus has done) or a tourniquet pouch or something else of similar size and shape. 

    He also uses HPG's recon harness which replaces the back harness on a kit bag with a larger one with PALS fabric on the back and can also carry a water bladder. 

    Anyway, read the whole thing.