ty, ty, ty, ty!!
i dont know what i did wrong (maybe just tired) but today i managed to pull 600+ steel bars out of the furnace. which was HUGE. its going to upgrade everything and make a huge difference in what i can do and where i can go. so again, ty.
@WhatMightHaveBeen
that is a pretty optimistic list. im not totally new to this genre of game (ark, savage lands, etc) but i spent an ordinate amount of time scampering around to get sticks and stuff in the desert because i honestly thought i might need them to survive whereas if id been wise i would have just run to the river.
i also certainly didnt make 25 foundations, etc. i made a 2x2 base at first with walls 2 high. so 4 foundations, 3 windows, 1 doorframe, 1 door, 4 walls, and 4 ceilings. i also made 10 chests and filled them with all sorts of stuff.
it too me about 16 hours of game time to start venturing ACROSS the river. i never saw a hyena til about 20 hours into the game and honestly i ran away 
im about 50 hours into the game now and i have pretty well hit everything south of A5-L5 forming a little square of the bottom of the map.
this game has a steep curve. mostly, imo, tied into the crafting stations. there are tons of them and at first it is truly overwhelming because they are often inter-related and getting C requires A from here and B from there to be mixed in a third location.
sometimes its not that i dont have options but that i am so overwhelmed i cant figure out what my options are. this is especially true with the crafting.
i am still only on step 5 of my journey. i need to move in order to find thick leather for the better armor but have no idea where. i also need to go into the city for the abysmal remnant and suspect the better armor would be nice but am not sure if its needed. so even the simpler things are still kind of hard.
that said the game rocks and im having a great time!