Last night I was thinking about a bug out bag. I'd never done so before. I live in a location where things like floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc. are nearly unheard of. Then I got to thinking about more mundane 'disasters'. What if my condo burned down and I ran out after the fire alarm in my jeans and t-shirt only to have the building disappear along with all my possessions. What if I had no family in town to help me out? Having a bug out bag could make that situation (or any like it) much more livable.

Unfortunately I enjoy excess and planning a bug out bag quickly exceeded the capacity of the book bag I was planning on using. Since the chances of my needing the bag are about as good as the chances of both me and my wife needing it, I decided to put that fact, and my excessive nature, to good use and put together 3 distinct bags using only bags I had around the house and only gear I already owned...My budget for this project (at least at this stage) is zero.

With the 3 bags I selected I set some criteria. I should be able to carry all 3 bags if I needed for a short distance (ie: to the Jeep/Car/Bike/Whatever) or have all 3 between my wife and I worn and ready to be taken on a long walk if needed. The bags would cover nearly all situations including travel, commuting to work, and camping (though in that case the contents would be moved to our larger hiking packs to make room for standard camping gear...much of which overlaps with the BOB gear). The bags should be somewhat weatherproof in case I need to take off by motorcycle. There would be enough redundant gear to cover both my wife and I. The bags would hold any EDC stuff that either of us wouldn't normally carry but would like to have in a pocket should things get dicey (this is more for her...she carries nothing and often her work outfits don't even have pockets!). Most importantly the bags would never be considered complete. These are a work in progress and always will be...it's the only way I can keep from getting complacent with what I've put together.

I started with my backpack and started loading it up. This was tough because it had to carry my every day work stuff as well as EDC. Fortunately it's a very sturdy Deluxe Bookbag from the MEC and has lots of room, lots of pockets, and it's well constructed. The following is how it looked when I was done...not completely full but close and likely too full. I wanted to err on the side of heavy then cut back as I needed.

• MEC Deluxe Bookbag
• My Work notebook + power brick + cable lock
  • Outdoor Research dry bag size #2:
  • Gear Repair Kit
  • Food & Water Kit
  • Toiletries kit (just some soap, travel toothbrush, toothpaste etc)
  • Spare AA, AAA, and 123 batteries
  • Travel charger for cell phone
  • GMRS radio in holster (to clip onto pack)
• First Aid Kit
• 1L Nalgene bottle
• GSI Stainless mug
• 700mL fuel bottle
• Moleskine (in ziplock)
• Pen
• Space Pen
• Smith's Diamond steel sharpener
• 2 blank DVDs
• 1 blank CD
• Signal Mirror
• 500 (about) calories worth of energy bar/gel
• 1 freeze dried meal (2 servings)
• Tea Bag (in ziplock)
• Hand Sanitizer
• Sun Screen
• Skin Cream
• Mini magnet compass (a tiny rare earth magnet that always points north on a flat surface)
• 2 chemical hand warmers
• AMK double size space blanket
• Siltarp Poncho
• 8 ultralight tent pegs
• 20m bright yellow paracord (3mm I think)
• Gerber TriTac flashlight
• MSR Miox Pen
• Red LED Flasher (in case I need to bug out by bicycle? Seemed handy)

The bag is heavy but I'm used to that. I haven't weighed it yet. I'm sure I can cut weight somewhere and will be working on it plenty over the next little while. One drawback is that I can't bring certain things in to work (digital camera, knife, etc) so I needed a small bag that I could wear with the pack if needed but leave in the car when working. I picked a large hiking fanny pack for a Grand Canyon day hike and haven't used it since. It's got the stuff I can't carry in to work plus some extra goodies that I'll never need while I'm inside:

• Wool gloves
• Poly glove liners
• Light toque
• Rain/sun hat
• Fleece head over neck warmer
• 2x 700mL water bottles
• Digital Camera (in waterproof pelican case)
• Nokia N700 wireless internet tablet (in ziplock)
• Kershaw Cyclone (the EDC pocket knife I can't take in to work)
• Gerber Multitool
• Victorinox Cybertool 34 (I carry both so that if it's me and my wife she can carry the SAK...around her neck if she has to)
• Gerber Freeman Hunter (my current standard camping belt knife)
• Gerber LMF II (backup super knife, hammer, spear, etc.)
  • I like knives, back off
• 2 chemical hand warmers
• Coghlan's Space Blanket
• Dorcy LED Headlamp
• Neck Lanyard (another camping mainstay)
  • Fox 40 whistle
  • Suunto compass/thermometer combo
  • Firesteel and striker

These two cover just about everything but not quite (for my satisfaction). It will be winter here soon and I needed to take that into consideration. The last bag is a military surplus German rucksack that I picked up at Cabelas. I waterproofed it with Nikwax and started to load it up:

• Outdoor Research hydroseal compression bag
  • The North Face 20 degree F mummy bag
  • Change of pants (lightweight polyester)
  • Change of socks (2 pair, light and heavy)
  • Base layer shirt
  • Spare shirt
  • Med Weight long underwear
  • Pocket size first aid kit
  • Rain Coat
  • Rain Pants
  • Waterproof overgloves
• Firestarter kit
• Gerber Gorge Shovel
• Gerber Gator EAB Saw
• Gerber Big Rock Camp Knife
• Gerber diamond sharpening steel
• 2 Servings freeze dried food.
• A couple of high calorie snacks.
• Stainless cup

Obviously there is room for improvement and room to have some redundancy cut out. With zero budget it will take some creativity. Currently there are a few things missing like a sleeping pad (which I am looking forward to improvising), and there isn't enough sleeping bag for 2 people but I think this is a very complete start to a solution. It's going to allow my wife and I to take a lot of essentials with us the next time a fire alarm goes off and anything is better than nothing.

Call me crazy (my wife is) but if nothing else I feel better having this stuff around.