You are forgetting one thing in your “I’m screwed” philosophy. That is human nature.
You are correct that people near downtown are screwed and the burbs will be almost as bad.
But the truth of the matter is that if we experience a lights out situation or other terrible event the average Joe will sit tight in their house waiting for the govt to come rescue them. By the time they get desperate enough to set off for unfamiliar rural territory they will be too weak from hunger to hoof it 75 miles to your little farm.
Another truthbomb is that within a few weeks of lights out or whatever the build up of uncollected waste and non working sewers and no clean water will result in dysentery that will kill more people than lack of food.
As far as roving gangs of bikers and gangbangers go they will be rapidly picked off by all the desperate people with guns that are trying to defend their last five cans of chili. Not to mention that every exit off the interstate into small rural towns will be barricaded and manned by armed residents.
So actually you likely won’t be screwed.
And the further out you live, the better.
I agree.
Most people have NO idea what to do when their cell phones go out. NO WAY they are going to be able to survive in the wild for more than a few days.
I see so many people in the winter seriously underdressed for the cold.
If they try to trek it out of a city that has become uninhabitable, they will be hard pressed to find food, water, and shelter. Especially if it happens in winter. The cold will take MANY of them as many people do not have means to heat their home other than gas or electric.
But I also agree that even being prepped does not guarantee anything. It may only prolong it.
The thing to be really ready for it to meet your Maker, which ALL of us are going to face some day or another.
I’m 33.6 miles from Downtown Houston Texas just off of a major highway. If they come, they will get riddled with bullets for miles and miles. But eventually, they will come. It’s worse if there is gas and running cars/trucks. That gives people some range, but the roads will be clogged with out of gas cars and the ditches will be full of them too. Bikers and Gang members will get wiped out. I agree disease will take a huge toll.
I actually think the best escape is on a sailboat out into the gulf of Mexico and head to someplace less inhabited. And if America goes down, I expect a chain reaction to the rest of the 1st world and a lot of tech Asia will get unrest. And eventually even Texas will run out of ammo and bodies stacked and rotting won’t be good for health either. Small pockets of people won’t take in refugees unless they are known to them. It will be brutal as I said.