Project: Pioneer is the live weekly reality journal of a couple and their small dog as they leave their ‘normal’ life in a luxury apartment for a new semi-off grid life in a small recreational vehicle. We cover prepping, politics, spirituality, afterlife, RV life, and personal finance. Half of all subscription/donation money goes to The National Alliance to End Homelessness, the other half pays for expenses. You can listen to the audio podcast version of this journal at Substack, Apple, Spotify, PocketCasts and others.

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Don’t despair—prepare.

We pioneers have been in Europe for the past ten days. It was eye-opening from a prepper perspective. We were there to complete requirements for dual citizenship, begin to learn how to buy property, as well as take a long-overdue vacation in the last days of the pre-World War III world. Here’s what we discovered and experienced. And please, if you’re in one of those election districts in Wisconsin and Florida for this Tuesday, go vote and bring anyone and everyone else you can.

Pioneer Update

Before we get into all that Europy stuff, a quick status update on us. We had to leave little Pia behind, so Giavana and I missed her very much. Same with our covered wagon RV, the White House. This coming week back home will be a transition time—break camp at the remote location we’ve lived at for almost two years, and move her to stand-by nearby, fully prepped and ready to carry us to escape mid-country if necessary. What we saw in Europe has only increased our motivation. Now that we’re home, our emphasis also moves to getting our raised bed garden up and running, getting to the shooting range, working with the local eco/intentional community folks, and getting to some of these resistance protests and meetings.

Europe Prepares for WWIII

A good prepper is always gathering intel. Sure, a solid stock of provisions will keep you alive. Intelligence gathering is also critical. During our time in Europe, we paid close attention to what the locals were saying, and watched news channels based in several countries.

First, as we always say, this isn’t a journal intended to cause hysteria and fear mongering just to get clicks. Clicks get us nothing—very few pay for these words. We aren’t interested in fame either. We are anonymous for a reason. We’re interested in helping save those who want to be saved, preparing those who want to be prepared.

The countries of Europe are providing their citizens with education on how to prep—stocking provisions, all the things we do as preppers. They are also educating them on how to survive nuclear blasts. This is the government educating their people, not some random doomsday cult. They are buying up land to use for tens of thousands of graves.

It is serious business—nobody knows the future, but indicators of world war are blinking red. They are also all working to institute the military draft for able-bodied men and women. In the US, that means compulsory conscription for ages 17 to 45. We have a leader who is drooling at the thought of building a big, beautiful army to fight in his name, so he can enjoy it all on TV like he did on January 6. After all, we’re just his newest reality show.

Did we not just see a spectacular example of stupidity, and lapse of national security, a bunch of grown man-child bros at the top of our military and intelligence departments spewing emojis and excited bro-talk on a non-secure commercial app, jacked over the bombing of innocent children? Imagine their excitement at orchestrating a full-blown war, with our kids getting maimed and dying, of course not theirs. We’re gaslit starting in kindergarten, throughout our lives, how heroic and patriotic it would be to go off and die for our country’s constant genocidal conquests that enrich the already rich.

In Europe, we visited the crumbled, destroyed remnants of ancient dynasties and empires. History rhymes. The vast, powerful Roman Empire collapsed due to an incredible amount of greed and corruption, which caused division and infighting. The Germanics saw the weakness, invaded and took them down. Strong parallels to today, in the United States. Now that our government is being dismantled internally via chainsaw, and we have a collection of completely inexperienced corrupt fools in charge, we are incredibly exposed. Our enemies know this, and they’re watching and planning day by day.

The history we learned (or, relearned). on our trip was a reminder of the ages of human evil on the macro (nation) and micro (individual) level. So much cruelty, gluttony, greed, lust for power. So much suffering and death of innocents. We never learn. The mistake we make is living as if this one brief phase of our spiritual existence is all there is. You’re greedy and immoral, you might do well here, but there's a good chance you're screwed for eternity after that.

The attorneys we met with in Europe said they’re swamped with requests from Americans for passports, visas, and citizenship. Other countries are tightening their rules to prevent a mass influx of Americans, as we found on our recent visit to Canada. Those damned pesky immigrants, amirite? Irony is dead. Then again, the Jews that saw what was coming in 1930s Germany and left were the ones who survived.

We saw and heard much evidence of Europe and our other former allies around the world (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others) moving rapidly to detach themselves from any dependence or reliance on the United States, including their currencies. That’s a very bad thing for us on many levels.

Our brain blocks us from stark realization sometimes. We don’t want to believe things when they seem extreme. Jews waited forever for the prophesies of a coming Messiah to come true. When he arrived, despite witnessing proof who he was over and over, they were like, “Nah, this ain’t the guy,” and killed him. In my recent post, I outlined extensive evidence that Trump is indeed the antichrist. Fun times (not).

In my career, I traveled around the world every single week for years. I always saw so much American themed apparel on the foreigners, I often felt like I was back in the USA. Not this time, the difference was very evident. In grayperson prepper mode, Giavana and I made sure to not wear anything identifying us as Americans. The natives are clearly turned off by the US, and all we now stand for. In fact, the vendors were making sure their wares all had very prominent “Made in Europe” labels. It was very sad.

Our time in Europe was wonderful. Despite all that, the people were going about their business. They were incredibly polite, even after some realized we were American. Not once did anyone lose patience or become rude with these lost, confused, and tired travelers, even in the non-tourist backwaters we made our way to. Some natives gently broached the subject of our takeover, expressing incredulity and actual pity for us and our country.

The things that struck us most were the taxi drivers, restaurant servers, hotel wait staff that would often politely decline tips, or act genuinely surprised and thankful to receive them. It is because they are paid a living wage, and have excellent healthcare and retirement programs. They work normal hours with a long lunch break. Unlike our country, where hard working people like that cannot survive, due to the harm to extravagant corporate profits.

We saw very, very few corporate chains, particularly in eateries. Everywhere we went, the restaurants and cafes were small mom and pop operations serving ridiculously inexpensive and healthy food. That was a very stark contrast to home. They aren’t owned by corporations. The people aren’t being poisoned and addicted to garbage, for profit. They eat smaller, healthy portions.

The trains we rode were inexpensive, fast, on time, and super clean. The people were all multi-lingual—nobody losing their mind over someone speaking a foreign language—another stark contrast. In the crowded plazas, narrow streets, and on the roadways they were patient. The big cities were remarkable in that, even while in traffic, there were no drivers blaring horns, cutting each other off, providing finger gestures.

A notable difference for us, was that in the restaurants we saw a very leisurely social experience. People took their time eating (good for health) and the servers never rushed anyone. In the US, a pet peeve of ours is servers constantly coming up to us while still eating and asking if we want a box. They’re pressured to flip those tables, as it’s very good for profit.

We saw plenty of local and regional police, and military personnel. They were very observant, polite, and helpful to everyone around them. Tough looking and well armed, but not with that attitude as if they were standing by just waiting for a chance to crack some skulls. They smiled, showing true strength of confidence. Real badasses don’t have to constantly try to project badassery. They were almost equal numbers male and female. The dopes we have in charge now are all weak failson trust fund babies from unloving wealthy parents, insecure and feeling that need to project and cosplay uber-masculinity to compensate. The Joe Rogan set.

Among the tourists, we saw plenty of locals in fresh air parks and museums with their kids, and no signs of corporate amusement parks. The younger kids’ faces were not embedded in screens, just the older teenagers.

They drive very small cars and scooters (unlike our land yachts), and walk a lot. There were tons of recycling and composting devices along all the streets. We saw a strong emphasis on solar power, energy efficiency, and caring for the planet and climate. It’s a shame that our growing ignorance here will likely overshadow all their efforts.

It was all so…civilized.

What to Do

So…that’s a bummer, right? It is what it is. Buddhism says to expect bad things, they are a part of life. Endure them, do what you can, focus on the things to be thankful for. We’re big on the do what you can aspect!

The major purpose of this trip was to put the final stamp on about a year of chasing bureaucracy and paperwork to obtain dual citizenship and passports from a new country. Do you have any heritage you can rely on? Have you done a DNA ancestry test to make sure? Sometimes…there are surprises, just saying. Not a fan of turning over your DNA, but again, privacy these day is dead. Like your SSN, assume it’s already in the Musk Doge database. The benefit of finding out you may have an option could outweigh that concern.

Otherwise, there are other ways. Check into special visas for people with certain skills, student visas (even if you’re an adult), and so forth. Some countries allow you to get a visa and on the path to citizenship simply by purchasing (or even renting) a property, or investing some money there. Start learning up on the various expat reddit forums, a great place to strategize.

We think we have that part solved, although it will still take some time as we wait for everything to work through the bureaucracy and get approved. Now we move on to perhaps finding an inexpensive place to buy or rent. The attorneys we spoke to regarding our citizenship said they would help us with those things, so that’s our new focus. We will keep you informed of what we learn each step of the way! Others on Substack, like Kirsten Powers have already done the whole thing, and have plenty of sage advice.

That said, this new threat has changed our calculus. Do we run off, headlong into the first wave of WWIII, a likely Russian invasion and bombing of Europe, leaving all our prepping resources behind? Leaving behind a land, people, terrain, language, we’re very familiar with? Most importantly, leaving behind all those we love (but perhaps, also giving them a place to flee to).

Likely not, at least as a first option. We’ve written how we’re concerned about our financial assets. In times of impending potential collapse of a monetary system, it’s a good thing to convert those monies to tangible things with value, both financial and survival. Buying a small spot that needs TLC on the cheap at least provides a roof over your heads, provides another option. We like options.

Maybe the first big event isn’t a Russian invasion of Europe. Maybe it’s (surprise!) the movement of our troops to the northern and southern borders wasn’t to keep immigrants out, it was to keep us in when martial law is declared. It would be good to get ahead of that. Slip into Canada or Mexico, buy a way in to Europe with undetectable crypto or metals, and boat or plane passage to the emergency home. Keep in mind that April 20th is the day he requested a report be delivered to him as to whether martial law and\or state of emergency is necessary.

That’s where we’re at and what’s on our mind lately, as the landscape shifts beneath our very feet day by day and we all slide into the abyss of authoritarianism and fascism.

“An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.”—Confucius

“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”—Maximilien Robespierre

“Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.”—Plato

Stay tuned! This pioneer journey continues…

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Intro music is Stormy Blues by Arne Bang Huseby.

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