How common is water in your area? I would carry a little, but at least in my area water is not a problem to find. Lake Erie is a few miles away and there are rivers & ponds all over. With a water filter you can make clean water faster then you can drink it. Also boiling is an option with a pot and a wood stove, or a Kelly Kettle or Thermette.

Pretty common. I feel the issue is more of a "getting out of town" than anything with 2 small kids.

If you are getting out by car, which most of us will be, totes are perfect. Inexpensive, easily stacked, reasonable water and vermin resistant, easy moved over short distances.

Of course, I'm used to cars that don't work as well as I would like. I don't trust infernal combustion engines.

That's a good idea I never thought of. Good rolling luggage is very mobile, allows you to carry quite a bit, and has a very large opening (allowing you to find and access items quickly). If you're real crafty you could probably even add shoulder straps to one, allowing another way to carry it.

These bags are quite durable with roller blade wheels and have a basic pack suspension. I drug one down miles of city streets but I don't know how well they would work cross-country. Also note that they are very large for a backpack and might be difficult to carry if fully loaded.

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442506335&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302861417&bmUID=1220313490590

I am thinking that some adaptation of a golf trolley might work better over a variety of terrain and still be collapsable.

"...some adaptation of a golf trolley..."

In Worldwalk author Steven Newman used a wheeled golf bag carrier to haul his backpack across Australia. He reported that it worked very well. Large wheels do have an advantage over little ones...

In the trailer department we saw this Sylvan Sport trailer at the grand opening of the new Eastern Mountain Sports in our area.

My wife really liked it, which is justification enough to buy a piece of outdoor gear...

My thought is that I could store the camping supplies (stove, cooking gear, sleeping bags, 2nd tent), plus some other bug out type supplies (paperwork, picture backups, etc.) in heavy duty rubbermaid tubs on the bed of the trailer. The whole trailer would easily fit in the garage (at the expense of getting rid of junk, which we should do anyway...).

In a situation where we had to leave in a hurry it would be a matter of packing consumables into the van and attaching the trailer.

For my particular situation this would be a significant improvement. Fitting everything for a large family into the vehicle in a rapid loading time is nigh impossible, considering using roof-rack carrier and filling the cargo area to the maximum.

For the bulky stuff, plastic totes are good. I have put stuff in plastic totes, but I have also placed some of the smaller items that I might need to get to faster in a soft side ice chest (6-12 pack size).

First aid kit, radio, flash light, poncho, multitool, matches, whistle, hand sanitizer, a little money in change ... are in the cooler. The cooler rides up front.

If you have to go light, the cooler has a shoulder strap.

If not, a small cooler can come in handy for it's intended purpose if you want to buy some milk for the kids.

I like that idea. But most/all of the rubbermaid or similar tubs are not really waterproof. I would worry about moisture getting in if you were zipping down the road in the rain. Better use some plastic bags inside the tubs or something...

Lately, I've taken to the idea of having a trailer like like this:

Wells Cargo Mini Wagon

Pre-packed as an emergency kit. If you have to leave, you just hook it up and leave.

Of course, you still need to have options like backpacks if you can't take it, but it seems like it would be pretty slick.

-john