The Final Journey:: A Diary of Survival

By Larry D. Horton PhD

It is the summer of 2016 and the possibility that a dark world exists in the future is a theory no one wants to become a reality. As signs of impending turmoil increase and a presidential election looms in the near future, two married Christian survivalists begin preparations for a fifteen-hundred-mile journey to what they hope is a safe place. Along the way, they log their experiences in a diary while strictly adhering to the mantra to always be prepared for the worst.

As the couple creates the four Es criteriaevaluate, escape, evade, and endurethat will dictate their journey, they pledge to stay true to them hinged on a strong faith that they will be led by an eternal plan. After evaluating their priorities and finalizing the details, the couple finally sets out in January on their quest to survive within a different world. As a new president is inaugurated and the country becomes more divided than ever, the Christian survivalists rely on their faith, scripture, and inner-strength as they transform into determiners of their own future. But can they overcome their challenges and endure long enough to reach their destination?

In this fictionalized diary, two Christian survivalists vividly describe their faith-filled journey to begin a new chapter within a tumultuous post-election world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512780666

Larry D. Horton PhD

Dr. Larry D. Horton, PhD, best-selling WestBow Press author, survivalist, missionary, Old Testament professor, historian, cross-cultural scholar, and business executive, has spent his life studying and experiencing spiritual and professional survival in our increasingly chaotic world. A graduate of Grove City College, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Michigan State University, he now spends his life practicing and sharing common sense life survival knowledge and skills in our uncertain world. He lives with his wife, Jude, in Katy TX. They have three children, five grandchildren, and their four legged children, Sadie and Sophie.

Book preview

THE FINAL

JOURNEY:

A DIARY OF SURVIVAL

LARRY D. HORTON, PhD

41412.png

Copyright © 2017 Larry D. Horton, PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,

1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8065-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8067-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8066-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017904483

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/29/2017

Contents

The Author

Author’s Purpose

Author’s Introduction

Reflections: The End of the Beginning

Section 2: The Final Journey: Planning and Preparation

Section 3: The Final Journey: On the Road

Section 4: The Final Journey: Cross Country on Foot

Section 5: The Final Journey: Reflections

Author’s Note

Bibliography

Dedication

To those who have gone before. For two thousand years, countless millions have chosen to accept death rather than compromise their faith in Jesus Christ. Today believers die at the hands of evil across the world. The future will call many more to stand for their faith and to die rejoicing in the hope of eternal life. This book is dedicated to those who have, who are, and who will die in Jesus Christ.

The Martyrs

Image1.jpg

The Author

Dr. Larry D. Horton, pastor, missionary, Old Testament professor, historian, cross-cultural scholar, business executive, and yes, former PGA golf professional, has spent his life studying and experiencing spiritual and professional survival in our increasingly chaotic world. A graduate of Grove City College, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Michigan State University, he has now turned his attention to practicing and sharing common-sense life survival knowledge and skills in our uncertain world. He lives with his wife, Jude, in Katy, Texas. They have three children, five grandchildren, and of course their four-legged children, Sadie and Sophie.

Image2.jpg

Author’s Purpose

My purpose is to present to you the fundamental philosophy that my wife, Jude, and I will use to prepare for a potential survival journey at some point in the future through a fictional diary. Our advice is to build your own philosophy of survival on the fundamental principles we have tried to identify. Always remember that if you prepare for what could potentially happen, you increase the odds that you will indeed survive. If you fail to prepare, you will find yourself at some point in time with nothing, and you will not survive.

Larry D. Horton, PhD, November 2016

Author’s Introduction

The fictional journal that follows presents a worst-case scenario. Events depicted represent a possible world that no one wants to become a reality. The possible events could potentially happen in any kind of man-made or natural disaster scenario. Key to understanding the purpose of this fictional writing is the fact that each of us must prepare for any potential disaster and be ready to do whatever is necessary to survive. As Christians, we must be prepared to deal with a world that has a very different perspective related to the efforts of humankind to build the kingdom of God on earth. We must do all we can to prepare for our Lord’s coming again.

The political and social issues used to build a context for the writing are very possible. Will they occur? That is left to be seen. Is the writing predictive? It may be to some degree. However, events over the last few weeks of writing might lead one to think that the events may not be far-fetched at all. One example of what I mean by that: A situation was written into the fictional journal in which many, if not all, electronic communication portals and social media outlets and tools were hacked and shut down. That scenario was written early one week. On Thursday of that week the event actually happened in real life. External hackers actually shut down multiple social media sites in the United States for a short time.

Predictive writing is not difficult. One can just let the imagination go anywhere. However, writing predictively with a decent chance of that prediction becoming reality is much harder and more complex. History, both short- and long-term, within a particular country and back through the ages, international events, political realities, human nature, social and economic realities, and other influences must be put into some reasonable understanding of what might be possible. The writing that follows attempts to do that in a reasonable and believable way.

Again, my hope is that none of what is written will become a reality. But in all honesty, I believe there is a better than even chance that we as individuals, as a society, as a country, and as a world will face this terrible future. It could even be worse than what can be imagined. My biggest remaining question for you is whether or not you are prepared. Are you ready for a future that may take you back to a time like the beginning of the nineteenth century? If you are as ready as you can be, that is wonderful. If you are not ready, it is time to start preparing. Not to do so will mean your end. And that would be sad. Remember, we are all told that to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. Which choice will you make?

Larry D. Horton, PhD

November 6, 2016

Reflections: The End of the Beginning

Final Journey—A Day in the Future

As the last sliver of the sun sinks below the hills to our west, I look into the dancing orange-yellow flames of the last open fire I will sit in front of after our four-month, 1,500-mile journey. With my wife, Jude, sitting beside me, and our two beagles, Sadie and Sophie, beside us near the fire smelling the lingering scents of our just-completed cups of hot soup, the weariness of the day sets in quickly. We know that just two miles remain to arrive at our final destination, and our overwhelming sense of relief is tinged with a grateful exhaustion that our journey’s unimagined challenges will soon end.

What will the future hold for us? Only the living of those future days will show us. Days in which we will hope and wait for our Lord to call us to our final home. But I write not about that wonderful last homecoming but rather about the journey that led us to our final campfire.

Our hope is that, whoever you are, you are prepared, or soon will be, for your own final journey. May what we learned and experienced motivate you to be ready to survive and successfully complete the final journey that will change your life.

Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

(Matthew 24:42)

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

(Joshua 24:15)

Image3.jpg

THE FINAL JOURNEY

Planning and Preparation

Image4.jpg

The Journey Begins: The Catalyst

I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place

for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

—John 14:2–3

If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose

for yourselves today whom you will serve.

—Joshua 24:15

No one should have been surprised. For eighty years, the country had been fundamentally changing. Awareness of history, not just of our country but of every great nation or empire that had ever existed, seemed no longer to matter to those who were now leading humanity toward the inevitable end of our world as we had known it. Political correctness, fear, selfishness, greed, and covert and overt hatred appeared more and more to be the motivators of words and actions. Courage, integrity, ethics, honesty, and love of one’s fellow human beings moved ever further into the background. Fear was the ultimate motivator—fear not of losing life but of losing possessions, status, power, and influence.

For the first time in my life it felt as if our country had started an unstoppable downward spiral into a dark future. For decades, we had looked to our political leaders to guide us into a secure future. Those leaders had failed us and continued to fail us daily. It had become increasingly clear that to survive, we would have to return to a time when the individual and the family took responsibility for their long-term well-being, their survival.

In the summer of 2016 the signs of impending turmoil were increasing. The time had come to take charge of one’s own future. Common sense said to prepare and prepare now. The path down the slippery slope would accelerate even faster after the upcoming national presidential election in November.

So, prepare we did, in earnest. The diary that follows is a record of the journey that was thrust upon us. Our mantra was now, not to prepare for the worst is to find oneself surrounded by the worst without being prepared.

The Journey Begins: Preparation and Planning

Once we had made the decision to be prepared, our work was just starting. Beginning with only occasional experiences in backpacking and hiking, which required only short-term thinking, we now had to look at what long-term preparation meant. The time frame in which we would have to survive was unknown. It could last a few short weeks or extend into years. So we asked ourselves, what knowledge did we have to have? What skills did we need to gain? What criteria would we use to make our preparation decisions, purchases, and practice? How would we know when to put our plan into action? The list of questions was unending.

We quickly found ourselves out of step with the mainstream of society. Few if any of our friends and neighbors seemed even remotely interested in what we were contemplating. We were starting on a journey alone but knew it was a journey that we needed to take.

Knowledge

We purchased and read as many survival books as we could afford. We read and reread them while making lists from their suggestions as to what equipment, materials, and supplies were required to survive, not only for the short term but potentially for years of living in a different way.

Searching the Internet for articles related to specific topics, such as emergency and long-term health care, food, emergency first aid, and caring for pets, we built a significant amount of head knowledge of the many issues we could face.

Preparation Planning

As our head knowledge increased, it became clear from the experts we were tuned into that we needed a preparation plan. What did we need to accomplish in the first thirty, sixty, ninety, and 180 days of preparation? We knew that we might have to make our move in any of those time frames. So what would we prioritize to accomplish in an unknown time frame? Even if the trigger events that would put our plan into action were delayed, we knew that clearly defined action steps with constant vigilance for any trigger events would move us to action immediately. Quickly we realized that there were a few things that needed to be planned and ready to use upon a moment’s notice.

First, we knew that our ultimate objective was to survive and journey to a point in the Allegheny Mountains in west-central Pennsylvania—a minimum 1,500 miles from our location. We knew that the shortest route would likely not be the final route we would travel. Alternative routes were planned with the understanding that we would likely travel more miles and take a longer time to reach our destination than expected. Although we hoped that much of the journey could be accomplished by vehicle, we knew that when things hit the fan, the supplies and materials necessary to support that travel would not be available.

How many alternative routes would be enough to prepare? Easy question to ask, but difficult to answer. We settled on five possible routes. Why five? No good answer, but that just seemed to be a good number. We identified a set of route criteria which would determine the ultimate feasibility of following any one of our planned routes. Common sense told us that even after a decision based on the following criteria, we would have to adapt and adjust that decision using what we came to know as survival common sense to enable us to see another day.

And what were our route criteria? What route would expose us to the least potential for human interaction or confrontation? We knew that when local and national structures fractured, the greatest threat to our safety would be from other human beings. As people became desperate for what they considered necessities of life, especially the food and water to survive, lawlessness would increase. Physical and armed danger would increase. Groups would take over access to main highways, bridges, town centers, and supply depots and demand, at a minimum, expensive bribes to ensure one’s safety. The country in desperation would involve the military to try to keep social control. Local militia, legal or otherwise, would take control of swaths of geography. It would become increasingly difficult to move anywhere without confronting some kind of desperation control by others.

So our route plans were designed to keep us as safe as possible from these threats as well as to give us the simplest path possible. The plans involved staying on secondary or country roads; identifying major obstacles such as rivers, and locating bridges that were off main travel routes; studying and becoming familiar with geographic and topographic realities, knowing full well that we will likely have to set out on foot once fuel is no longer available; avoiding population centers at all costs, circling even the smallest communities, except where it is necessary for supply or health issues to risk contact with others; and finally, awareness of weather patterns for each time frame in which we will be traveling. Such awareness was critical to our preparations related to supplies, clothing, and emergency gear to enable us to cope with any weather contingencies that could occur. A last point of basic route preparation was to secure detailed road maps for each of the states we might find ourselves traveling through, realizing that most would not include the minor roads we would need to use.

Second was our own physical preparation. My wife’s primary health issues were hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, and lack of overall physical conditioning. Mine was a fourteen-year history of heart issues, including two heart attacks and quadruple bypass surgery, as well as overall physical conditioning. Both of us were on maintenance drugs that could only be secured through a physician’s prescription. We had to do some serious study of alternative medications for our issues, knowing that any backup supply of medications was difficult to secure at best because of health care and insurance practices. Yes, over time we might secure a few backups, but we could not count on that, given the potential time frames we were looking at as well as the inevitable breakdown of traditional medical services.

Our physical strength became a consuming passion even as we were still involved in the planning stages of our efforts. We would not survive the physical and emotional stresses that we would likely face without being in the best physical shape, with the strength to handle the physical strain of potentially traveling by foot for days or months over a geographic landscape that we could not control. Our goal became physical health in spite of the issues noted, which would afford us a better quality of life even if the survival scenario was delayed or hastened.

Third, what criteria would we use to make the decision to begin our journey, and what decision criteria would we use during the challenging days that would be involved in our travels? We quickly adopted what we started to call the Four Es.

1. Evaluate: Daily and weekly we would evaluate multiple issues. Prior to deciding that we needed to head for the hills, we would keep a close eye on the political, social, international, and local environment to determine whether things were reaching a point where our only possible guarantee of safety was to start our journey. Once the journey started, we would constantly be evaluating our environment related to safe travel routes, observations of what other people were doing, the safety of travel given current and expected weather conditions, the availability of safe locations to hunker down if necessary or spend a night, physical threats posed by humans or animals, and many more issues that we might not even foresee. This meant keeping our eyes and ears open to everything that was happening around us, or that might happen, and evaluating our next steps based on what we earlier called survival common sense.

2. Escape: When circumstances warranted, we would use a simple set of decision criteria to move away from danger as quickly as possible. From the initial decision to start our journey to the day-to-day decisions related to physical safety, we would act without hesitation, never second-guessing ourselves but moving constantly forward, even if that meant going backward for a short time.

3. Evade: When we sensed any kind of danger, we would avoid it at all costs unless it was humanly impossible to do that. And only when it was impossible to avoid would we confront any dangers presented by other humans, animals, or the environment. With our long-term goal of reaching our destination always in the back of our minds, we would always strive to be invisible within our surroundings.

4. Endure: A sense of realism would be critical to our desired success. We had to believe that we would successfully reach our final destination, a constant hope, as others have written (Hawke, MacWelch, Towell). No amount of hardship, struggle, danger, or hunger would short-circuit our belief that we had the ability to end our journey successfully. Probably more than anything else, the belief in ourselves, our knowledge, our skills, our abilities, and our common sense were critical to what we knew we had to do. That, combined with an unending faith and trust in the Lord’s guidance and protection, gave us hope. The moment we gave in to doubting the Lord and doubting ourselves or our ability to deal with any event or circumstance—even feeling some situations were impossible to overcome—we would lose. Not only would we lose the achievement of our final goal, but more than likely we would lose our lives as well.

Each of the Four Es and our ability to stay true to them hinged on our strong faith that we would be led by an eternal plan and power that we staked both our earthly and eternal futures upon.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(Psalm 23:1–6)

Fourth, once our survival journey started, the moment we walked out the door of our home, what would our priorities be? As many have written, there would likely be four or five priorities at the very start of our journey. Whether one calls the priorities: shelter/protection, location, water, food (Colin Towell); shelter, water, food, fire (Mykel Hawke); or shelter/protection, water, fire, food (Tim MacWelch); or something else, a sequence exists as to what one’s priorities should be in any survival situation or journey. Rather than debate the order of these priorities, we adopted a sequence that seemed to make the most sense based on what these above, and many others, named as the critical priorities that should always be on one’s mind.

Shelter: The dangers inherent in living in the open are beyond number. Even if one is lucky enough to have a vehicle, it can be found wanting in certain situations. Protection from the elements would be critical in our journey. Possessing the ability to build or secure protection from weather, heat, cold, and animals would provide us with some level of comfort to conserve our strength and health, enabling us to cope physically and emotionally with the many other challenges we would face daily.

Protection: In any situation, we had to have the ability to protect ourselves from any and all predators. At the top of the list was having the capability to protect ourselves from other human beings who meant to do us harm or run off with our survival gear and supplies. As harsh as it might have sounded before, we had to have the equipment to fend off other humans should they want to do us harm. It started with gaining training in using weapons of many types, not just firearms. Our safety rested on our ability to effectively use man-made warning systems, knives, firearms, and our bare hands if necessary. Remembering that our underlying priority was to avoid threats at all turns, the Four Es, we were realistic enough to accept the fact that we might have to fight rather than flee if a situation became uncontrollable or unavoidable.

Water: A universally accepted fact of life is that without water, human beings cannot sustain themselves even close to their normal capabilities after three days. Even in the best possible scenario, in which we had prolonged access to a motor vehicle with sufficient fuel, no such vehicle would be able to transport the amount of water necessary to survive for the period we were anticipating. Only so much space would be available in the vehicle due to the need to carry other survival materials. When we considered that we might spend most or all of our journey on foot, the foolishness of possibly carrying a significant amount of water became very clear. We adopted a strategy that beginning on day one of our journey, we would have to have the skills and simple tools or materials to secure a daily water supply for both ourselves and our two dogs. We agreed that meeting our minimum daily requirements would be a top priority and that we would ration our water resources on a daily basis if necessary.

Fire: The ability to have a warm meal, the need for warmth during cold nights and days, protection from animal predators, disinfecting our clothing and potential physical wounds, and just the emotional sense that all was not as bad as it could be when we had a fire—many factors confirmed for us that we better had have the knowledge and skills to be able to build a fire in any conditions with whatever materials were at hand. We had to be able to use multiple methods to get a fire started. So, we secured as many backup fire starting systems as possible, such as waxed waterproof matches, lighters, flint and steel, a fire-starting file with flint, magnifying glasses, and others. They were all within reach 24/7. We knew clearly that there would be times on our journey when a fire might present us with danger. A fire might draw predators toward us. It could become a beacon on a hill telling other humans that we were there. We accepted the fact that there would be times we would have to go completely dark and be cold rather than have the warmth of even the smallest fire. But with that acceptance and a great deal of care and caution on our part in most locations, we would have the ability to see a small spark bring warmth and light into our daily struggles.

Food – We knew that our diet would have to change dramatically as we traveled. Securing basic food necessities that had a multiple-year shelf life quickly became a priority. Once those stores were secured, we had to make decisions as to how much we would need to carry, first in our vehicle as long as we were able to use it, and then on our persons should we find ourselves on foot. Those preparations were the easy part of our food priority. The only cost was just a monetary cost. We knew that in backpacks, at best we might be able to carry a maximum of six weeks of the very basic food items that we would need. Add the food needs of our dogs to the equation, and it quickly became evident that we would need to have the knowledge and skills to find food along our path. We quickly realized that the hunter/gatherer/fisher knowledge and skills of our ancestors would have to become our own knowledge and skills. We would be able to carry only a limited amount of ammunition for firearms. We would have to become adept at scrounging. We would need to know and be able to safely identify plants that were edible in each area that we would travel through. We would have to overcome the hesitation not to eat certain creatures that our society rejected as food. It would require that we prioritize the types of food we ingested: lots of carbs, proteins, meats, fish, and wild edible plants. We would not have access to the supplements mythically necessary for healthy living. We would have to learn how to successfully trap and hunt meat. We knew that food along with water would become consuming priorities. But we also knew that over time our tastes and requirements would adapt to our situation. Our hope and prayer became that we would have the ability and capability to apply the many skills that we worked so hard to attain. Our lives depended on it.

Communication: Reality clearly told us that the likelihood of our being able to communicate with loved ones during such a journey were less than slim. Yet even with that awareness we prepared to at least have the capability to pass messages between ourselves and those we were trying hard to reach. We secured capabilities to power up our communication devices, our cell phones, that had multiple redundant power supply sources. When everything hit the fan, we knew that major communication methods and processes required an infrastructure that needed to be maintained and powered on a daily basis. We knew that would end at some point due to the inherent chaos that would overwhelm every system except those controlled from some central point. We also knew that our survival depended on knowing weather conditions, so we secured NOAA capabilities. We knew that while radio broadcasts were still possible we could stay up-to-date on social unrest, political events, and areas of potential danger to avoid. Just knowing that we had the capabilities to potentially communicate and stay aware of events beyond our immediate location would provide a sense of hope and motivation.

Though youths grow weary and tired,

And vigorous young men stumble badly,

Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

(Isaiah 40:30–31)

Fifth, what would be required to survive overnight, for a month, or for a year on our survival journey regardless of our location when the journey started? Borrowing initially from our military services, survival authors have identified a three-level structure of preparedness to give people the best chance of regaining and maintaining their survival potential no matter what type of situation or location they might find themselves in. The last major element of our preparation planning was to secure all that we needed to meet the requirements of each level that was the norm within the survival discipline and that fit our capabilities.

Individual Overnight Survival Kit (IOS): We asked our first personal survival question, What would I need to survive for a day and night in whatever situation I found myself? The answers to that question were found in the five previous preparedness categories. What materials would I need to have on my person, or at my side, 24/7 to enable me to make it to the next day related to shelter, protection, water, fire, food, and communication? We first had to determine what was the best method to carry basic minimal materials needed for at least twenty-four hours—the fundamental simple kit. We landed on EDCs, every day carry packs. There are many other equivalents to this pack, but for us it made the most sense. So we set about securing the necessary tools and supplies that we would carry in this small pack and never let it leave our sight. Even when traveling internationally, we never let them far from our side despite travel restrictions. This small EDC pack remained the foundation for our survival journey as a redundant backup to the more complex kits that follow. We got many strange looks as we walked around with our EDC packs on, but we did not worry about those looks. We knew that we were far better prepared at this basic level than 99 percent of the people who were staring at us. We also made sure that we had the most basic tools, a pocket knife, a Bic lighter, and small sections of paracord with us at all times in our pants pocket or purse. We knew we could always lose our IOS no matter how hard we tried to protect it.

Bug-Out Bag (BOB): This second level, borrowing the name from the military, included multiple bags and packs, all of which could be carried on our bodies. Multiple elements were included: a simple day pack for the bulkier items, a military surplus medical kit bag for each of us for obvious purposes, a surplus military waist ammo belt with multiple compartments, and utility belts for each of us with multiple Molle bags. Because there were multiple components to our BOB, we could share their use and carrying. The expanded materials were primarily concerned with five major areas. The first, a small supply of survival food. Three days of emergency food was identified and secured to enable us to deal with the initial short-term period immediately after a decision was made to begin our journey. These food resources could also be used during a short-term weather issue such as a hurricane at