Hey, did you write the script for Planes, Trains and Automobiles? Sounds like that movie was based on your adventures. A fun movie, BTW.

These mostly would result in a bugout if one lives downwind of these types of threatening incidents:

Nuclear power plant accident, local hazmat incident, wildfire, tsunami (if one lives too close to a coast), volcanic eruptions (from ash or lava flows).

Other than downwind incidents:

Flooding, local Earthquake destroys or renders one's home uninhabitable.

BTW: My family did have to Bug Out on Feb 14, 1968 in Laurel, Ms, @ 0400 because a train of propane cars coming through town derailed and the tanks were blowing up.

They blew up one after another. Each fireball went up 1,000 ft and then shroomed like a nuke cloud. Then you'd hear the hot cinders hissing as the landed on the dew covered grass and roofs. The area we lived in was ordered to be evacuated.

In this case, we went to a friend's house on the opposite side of town until the All Clear was sounded later that afternoon. A very unforgettable St. Valentine's Day!!!

Yup,isnt going to be easy at all living in the snow trying to find the little game up here. If I bugout in dire situation I will be leaving the mountain,not going to it.

It almost felt like it at the time. As if the impromptu road trip and no rooms wasn't bad enough, the only car the rental place had left for us was a convertible. The roof leaked pretty badly when it rained, and oh boy did it rain.

Scary, isn't it, Wildman? My family bugged out for a train derailment when I was a kid. Biggest peace-time evacuation in North American history until Katrina.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Mississauga_train_derailment

My mom was Head Nurse at a nursing home and had to go there to evacuate and my dad evacuated with my younger brother and I, who thought we were just going to Grandma and Grandpa's farm for a surprise visit. I remember being a little scared but mostly because my mom wasn't coming with us.

Agree 100%

I have a lot of camping gear (including a teardrop trailer in storage near the mountains) because I love camping. Twenty years ago, during a week-long series of power outages due to ice storms, I became thankful for the preparedness utility of camping gear.

Since 9/11, I've given a lot of thought to "bugging out." Yep, me and several million of my fellow residents in the DC metropolitan area.

Have concluded that the notion of evacuating this city (which I live in the middle of ) in an expeditious manner is hopeless. Living in the wilderness? Ha - what wilderness? Wilderness is an endangered species on this side of the Mississippi.

Those of us on ETS have varied situations and different calculations to make. For me, living in the mid-Atlantic region, it is ludicrous to think that bugging out to wilderness (which is rare in these parts) is any kind of solution to any scenario.

If I'm among the last standing after some mass destruction event, I'd just as soon camp out in a Costco and live out my days with ten tons of canned tuna and an endless supply of toilet paper.


.

^Truth. A few years ago, my family once got stuck out of town for four days due to a major vehicle malfunction. We were enroute for a family camping trip so had all our gear.



It was the height of summer and really freaking hot. After a few hours on the side of the road, we got a tow and found somewhere to stay. We got a motel room but couldn't afford much else other than the vehicle repairs. With all the gear we needed for a week long camping trip, we essentially had the family BOB in the back of the truck. We used it for;

On the side of the road:
-cel phones on two different major networks to call for help (major highway but not one person stopped to help. We called my cousin and he came from out of town to give us a ride to a motel. Tow trucks aren't big enough to carry 3 adults and a kid in a booster seat.)

EDIT: We also called to update our trip plan with our families so they knew where we were

-Trail tape to mark the vehicle
-lots of water to try to refill rad (ultimately pointless this time)
-water bottles, hats, sunscreen, etc... to stay hydrated
*the kids and I went exploring a found a creek that we could have got more water from, and filtered to drink, but help arrived before we needed more.
*we also found a tree with good shade to wait under, otherwise we cold have strung a tarp.

Safety Note: We didn't wait in the vehicle on the side of the highway. We gave the towing company the mile marker number, put some trail tape on the antenna and rear wiper, and then moved off-road, up on a rock cut to wait. The side of the highway is a dangerous place, and this was right after a blind corner. (Note that there are no guard rails in this section of highway.)

In the motel:
-a cooler to keep the food cold after a supply run to the grocery store
-cooking meals and s'mores in the room
-setting up a comfy sleeping area on the floor for our son
-Gerber lantern to act as a night light for our son
-flashlights and headlamps when a storm rolled in and knocked out power to the motel (thankfully, it rolled in after we got the piece of junk on the tow truck)
-toiletries
-prescription and 3 days of OTC meds
-change of clothes
-change for the vending machine.
-deck of cards for entertainment

Having taken my family camping numerous times and so knowing how much gear this takes, I can NOT come up with any scenario where bugging out to the woods would be the better choice than driving a 1000+ miles to some less effected area.

-Blast

But what if it's nation wide? I still say bugging in is the best option for 99.99% of the population. Unless it's a forced evac.