I live in California too and have been thinking about this a lot lately. I'm currently in between jobs and the job market is insane, trying to get something making what I used to make, so I can afford to live. Bare minimum I need to make at least $5,000. per month just to pay the bills and keep our heads above water!! It's ridiculous. Our house is in foreclosure and if I don't get this job I just interviewed for and work something out with the bank, we're going to have to move very soon. And all of it just makes me think "WTF am I doing? When the SHTF none of this is going to matter, not the house, not any job, not money, not any of it."
My kid is still in high school for one more year and the wife and I have discussed moving out of state many times, but we've decided to stay put here for at least one more year for him to finish school with his friends, not uproot. I just hope the big fan remains clean and sh*t-free for one more year. (i.e. I hope the dollar doesn't lose its status as the world's reserve currency for one more year. Because that is when it will really hit the fan, imho.)
Anyway Deb, if you end up starting up something of your own instead of going with something pre-existing, you can count me in. I don't have any real assets to bring to the table except some brains and muscle. I'm a workhorse and I'll work my ass off.
I would just need to make sure wherever we end up, it's friendly to atheists. The wife is atheist and while I'm not exactly atheist myself, I tend to share her disdain for people trying to shove their religion on everyone else. So that's a major requirement for wherever we end up, if we were to join a free living type of community. Gotta have freedom of religion.