Depends on where you’re going to go with the panning kit! A couple of years ago a close friend spent two very physical weeks with his niece and her husband panning somewhere in the South-East. They spent a bundle of money and had a fabulous time but didn’t come home with enough gold to cover the head of a pin well!

Hey…what about a donkey? Gotta have a donkey. Ours is named Michelle (ma belle Obama), but since the pack harness and panniers cost over a thousand dollars (!) I’m going to make them myself out of canvas. Got your canteens yet?

Cordially, Linda

“How much gold should you have? Continue to accumulate physical gold until you can honestly say you don’t care how many dollars Ben Bernanke prints.”

Terrific article, but that one quote is probably the most useful guideline since “Alle Kunst ist unsunzt wenn ein Engle auf das Zindloch brunnst.” (“All art is useless when an angel urinates in the flintlock of your musket,” which loses something in translation.)

More, please? Any words of wisdom on “the poor man’s gold?”