One of my more likely disaster scenarios is a catastrophic earthquake. i am not talking about those magnitude 3s or less, which barely stir your coffee, but the BIG ONE, an event that will bring your house down around your ears. After shutting off the gas, and barring the presence of large fires (like San Francisco 1906) I intend to camp out on the premises for the duration. I figure my house will not be safe, but I will be able to retrieve resources from within. I have plenty of camping and outdoor gear and the weather will most likely be fairly benign. No point in evacuating.

A wildfire is another possibility. In that case, get out of Dodge, but probably not all that far. Gather up the people,pets,personal stuff and BUG OUT - to a suitable cheap motel or similar.

I am glad that I am thinking and preparing for both major strategies - when something actually does come down, I should be able to respond appropriately.

Similar situation as Hikermor's, the difference being we're 90 miles from the San Andreas fault so the single story house built to CA spec may stay on its feet. Still, pitching a tent and camping out back is a good option until we can ensure the house is good to go.

Computer backup

Put earthquake straps on my highboy dresser and padlocks on the I-really-don't-want-you-playing-with-this-stuff drawer after discovering that the kids can scale the 5 1/2 ft dresser using the drawer pulls for toe holds.

Patched up yet another escape route from the backyard. The escape route was a 5-6 inch gap between the gate post and the house.

I'm a city gal. I don't do outdoors.

Jeanette Isabelle

In a true emergency though you might be surprised how comfortable you can be in a decent tent with a folding cot, especially with a Thermarest or similar self inflating mattress. With one of those mattressed even on the floor in my Wiggy's bag I'm as comfy as in my bed!

Another item I have come to consider a real lifesaver is the LectroFan Micro! It's a very small speaker with a processor that generates a range of different fan and/or white noise sounds. It's terrific! Since it uses a sound algorithm it doesn't loop and the sounds are great. Not as many different ones as the larger version but enough to suite me. The volume is adjustable from a whisper to loud enough to drown out about any noise. It can be used with Bluetooth to play music, too. The best part is that it's USB powered and has a built in battery! So even without a power source you would have a couple nights of use. To me this is a big thing since I have trouble sleeping in strange places without something to mask the unfamiliar sounds. Obviously you would only use this in a situation where you can safely sleep undisturbed, natch.

Learned through experience: normal air mattresses (for indoor use) do not work very well in colder weather. Even though air is supposed to be a good insulator, the mattress isn't very good for protecting you from the cool temperature of the ground. You need a real layer of insulation.

It's possible to feel like you're "warm enough," but still constantly losing heat. You think, hey, the mattress isn't cold, just a tad on the cool side, and in a minute my body will warm it up nice and toasty. But that never happens, and it just keeps draining heat from you.

But fortunatly there are also insulated airmatresses. Soo much smaller and more comfy than a thermarest!

I have a hammock but haven't figured out how to seriously sleep in it outside yet, so I'm still a ground sleeper.

I used to use just an air mattress under my sleeping bag, but it always got cold. Now, thanks to wisdom shared by those more experienced than me, in cold and/or damp weather, I use a multi-layered system: I put a thermal hunter's mylar blanket on the ground, (mine is a Coghlan's brand but I'd like to upgrade to the SOL version - https://www.rei.com/product/820923/sol-sport-utility-blanket) and then two air mattresses - a closed cell foam pad on the bottom (Thermarest Ridge Rest or a simple blue foam pad) with my inflating Thermarest on top. In really cold weather, I'll often wrap my sleeping bag in a wool blanket, so I have some under and over me.

My sleeping pads are about to be stolen by my daughter, who is fast outgrowing her toddler gear, so I'm in the market for a new insulated mat for myself. There are lots of options for us old arthritic folks so research is underway!

for those on the other end of the heat spectrum... sleeping while sheltering in place without air conditioning in 90F 90% humidity, and no genset to provide power is also a challenge...I've posted this pic before, but for the new members...for the 2004 9 day power outage I used the tent fan pictured (originally with a foam rubber propeller) to help sleep... it was far from satisfactory, but better than none... I later added a collet blade adapter from a model airplane and propeller, to convert it into a motor to spin my ceiling fan... runs 9 hrs on a new "D" cell and 6+ on a pair of Eneloops in a pack...

I can do a folding cot. I used them before in overnighters and longer sleep over’s. Let's get back to context.


In most scenarios mentioned, we bug in. I may not have clean sheets. But, no matter how hot or cold it is, I have a bed.

It's the last scenario I'm thinking about. Bugging out on foot is not happening. Bugging out on foot after stepping off a plane or boat in a mass evacuation is more probable. We even may have the luxury of a bus or train. After that, we may have to go at it on foot. It is here that we may need to rely on what we can carry. It's not practical to carry a folding cot. I need that space and weight for something else.

Jeanette Isabelle