The walking thread got me thinking about this again, and wondering what you guys thought – if you live in a major metro area and you HAVE to bug out, isn’t the best way to go by water?

Of course it depends on where you live and what your specific options are, and also what boating skills you have. However, many of the cities in the middle of the country were built on the rivers that were the highways of their day, so it’s easy to live in these cities and be within a few miles of a tributary that leads to the vast Mississippi River system. And many of us are fishermen, comfortable with small boats and familiar with local waters.

If you’re in that group, how’s this for a 2-person bug-out strategy? Start with a small fishing boat with a small gas motor, one that gets 50-100 MPG. Take a good hiking bug-out kit, and add to it 2 mountain bikes and another 1000 pounds of selected survival and comfort gear and food. Carry 15-20 gallons of gas. Tow a canoe to carry some of the gear and to give you another water-based option in case you need to abandon the motor boat.

Then, after the disaster strikes and circumstances develop that make it look unwise to try riding it out at home, monitor your path to the water. You will need to have scouted out the tributary running through the city beforehand so that you know under what conditions it’s deep enough to carry you downstream to the Mississippi or other connecting river, and what obstacles there may be (fallen bridges, etc). When the path is clear and those conditions are met, drive to the river with your boats and gear and launch. Travel to a pre-selected wilderness area, and start living the good life until society settles down.