New America after the TDM

[chico20854]

One thing that I've been wondering about lately I'd like to hear opinions on:

How does New America keep its cells hidden between the nuclear strikes and the initiation of the Eagle papers, a period of several years?

From the description of rural areas in Howling Wilderness and Allegheny Uprising (among others), it seems that a horde of displaced urban/suburban residents sweeps across the countryside, seeking food, heat and shelter. Moving on foot after the gas in their cars run out, I would think that they would have time (and motivation) to see what is at the end of every driveway. And if a group of a couple families went up a dirt road and were turned away by a strange armed force (a NA cell's security force) that eventually word would reach back to the authorities. And those must be some truly amazing stockpiles of food, fuel and weapons that NA is able to keep those cells going for three years and still have reserves available to perform their tasks assigned under the Eagle Papers. (A side issue is where in the heck they found 106mm recoilless rifles and ammo, let alone in quantities sufficient to export them to Grenada, per Spanish Main).

And that timing also makes the description of the NA forces in Tampa in Urban Guerrilla also seem odd... the esprit de corps and institutional reputation of the various regiments (especially the regiment of thirds) aren't the sort of thing that develop in a few weeks or months.

What are your thoughts? How does NA pull it off without the remnants of the authorities noticing?