Everyone talks about bugging out or hunkering down. For you, is there a fairly clear-cut line between the two?

There is for me, and that line determines what I do, how fast I do it, and what I take.

Staying: my best best for most circumstances. Our local list of probable disasters consists of flooding, a hardhitting Arctic Express (dumping four feet of snow on a county that probably doesn't own a snowplow), a cobweb of earthquake faults, two volcanos, highway or RR toxic spills, and fire (home or brushfire).

Staying home would be best for the first four. Travel would be difficult to impossible, so making plans for leaving the area would be pointless. My property is high and has good drainage, I'm out of blast range of the volcanos, a good earthquake would probably knock down many overpasses and many tree-lined roads, thus making travel impossible.

Running would probably be best for the last two. A house fire demands quick decisions and fast moves. It could be done on foot, but a vehicle gives more maneuverability. A moving fireline would be predicted, and give time to collect some things. Running very far would be pointless.

If there were some kind of mass panic, nuclear attack, plague, etc, running at all would probably be pointless. Everyone would probably run out of gas and be stranded with minimal supplies and maximum problems in a strange place. I don't know that I can think of being in any worse position.

Staying, I have more stuff at home, know which neighbors I could probably trust, have shelter, a wood stove & lots of blankets.

So, what kind of problems do you anticipate facing where you are now? If you had to leave, would it be fairly temporary, or unnecessary to go too far, or would you be thinking that you might as well keep moving, because there would be little or nothing to come back to?

Sue

I agree, for me running would probably mean that area where I live have become uninhabitable. About the only reason I can think of, would be a radioactive fallout following some sort of nuclear incident.

Luckily, most of this forum's readers live in free countries, so information is available to them. During the Chernobyl nuclear accident, people in the affected areas were not even told about the incident for 36 hours following the explosion at the reactor. This of course lead to many unnecessary dead and sickened people. (Then again, perhaps a widespread panic was prevented?)

The problems I need to concern myself with are earthquakes which can strike with little to no warning at any time, and wildfires such as the one east of LA right now. Fortunately I get lots of time to prepare for wildfires so bugging out would be very controlled. For earthquakes after the quake there's little point in leaving, the damage has been done. If the home is destroyed I leave for good, controlled -- get reservations at hotels along my route and start driving.

In any wide-scale emergency, bugging out for me entails traveling through even more highly populated areas or going into the desert. A half tank will get me just far enough to be worse off. Even if I leave at the instant of first public notification (zero delay), the traffic will get worse as I drive through more populated areas and 100 miles up the road I'll be sitting in a parking lot if I get even that far. My only shot at bugging out is to allow my paranoid half to take over and anticipate the need to leave; that would make it very difficult to keep a job.

So I anticipate staying. Food, a roof and a bed, water and electricity until they're shut off. At that point we make hard decisions. If I decide to leave for a wildfire I'll go far enough in my truck with my stuff to be out of the way. Then I wait and see what happens, maybe take in a movie. If the home is taken out I keep going to my other home and let the landlord deal with the house; otherwise I return and life goes on.

If a wide scale emergency causes me to leave early and the situation is not the dlilusions of a paranoid mind, I'm probably not returning ever. I go to my other home and pick up a new life.

Summarizing:
Plan A is to stay and bug in.
Plan B is to assess and make deicisions once the situation is clear.
Plan C anticipates the situation being very bad, dictating a move early.

In truth, sometimes I'd like to execute Plan C immediately, but there's no going back.

For me , bugging out is a poor choice no matter what is coming my way . I'm prepared to B.O. on short notice but I'd need at least 24 hours notice of an impending disaster to make me B.O. Around here even a relatively minor occurance creates major traffic problems . Once when I was out grocery shopping a severe thunder storm blew in . It didn't last long but was severe enough to knock out power for a few minutes [ good thing I had my little flashlight on my key chain ] and knock down some trees and branches . What is usually a 10 minute drive became an hour of traffic jambs and trying to find alternate routes home . If a real disaster hit I don't think me or anyone else would get very far . I'll take my chances bugging in .

I really have no plans for bugging out. In Central Ohio, there are no huricanes, no volcanos, no fault lines to speak of. My location is no where near any targets of opportunity for nuclear devices or biological targets. If a tornado is sighted, hunker down. If it takes the roof off, it will probably get all the supplys as well. In a house fire, I would be more concerned with getting everyone out safely than grabbing stuff. Not enough forest around for a fire big enough to make us leave.

Our plans are to stay in place regardless. The worst calamity that we could face to make us leave would be an extended power outage beyond the limits of my planning. Most of my contingency planning has been for power outages, due to snow, ice, or other ugly weather. Need to keep heat in the house, the sump pump running, and food in our bellies. If we decide we need to leave, it will be controlled with plenty of time to load up.

Realistically I only face the threat of earthquake, and chemical, biological, or nuclear attack or accident. (I suppose there is some risk of volcanic activity also, but I think there would be ample warning of that.)

Assuming I have survived a quake then I stay put. I have 30 days worth of supplies stored seperately from my house. Within hours of a quake relief would be pouring into the affected area. (I know, it is not wise to rely on outside help--and I don't--but it would be silly to pretend such help would not be coming.)

In the case of NBC incident, then for the first few hours I am going to be glued to the radio. How would it be to immediately hit the road, only to find out the wind has shifted? If practicable I'm going to make damn sure what the situation is before I head out. This would give me a chance to coordinate with family as well.

If I absolutely, positively have to leave, and the roads are definately passable, then I hook up the travel trailer and go. If the roads are questionable, then I hook up the ATV's behind the truck and go. And if the roads are impassable, then I fire up the ATV's and avoid the roads entirely.

I would plan on returning home as soon as I could unless some sort of contamination made it impossible.

Boy thats a good one to think about. I live about 20 Miles east of a major city( but on the edge of civilization , as there is no life west of interstate 15 ) It is 35 to 40 miles to the mountians,50 miles to the desert and 15 miles to a foreign Country ( Mexico ) Going to Mexico during anytime is dangerious so South is out. West and North is also out, L.A. to the North and the Pacific ocen to the west after passing thru San Diego NO WAY. I am faced with the posibilty of invasion from all sorts of people coming across the border, and hords of people coming from the city. Interstate 8 and Hwy. 67 will be the only way out. Earthquake, the house I live in is a frame structure and most of the time they will last thru a quake Hence stay home. I have a Major seaport that could cause me problems If somebody with a sutecase bombcomes calling due to most of the time the wind is from the west. If I know about it in time Hwy 67 will get me up wind the quickest. Evacuation from San Diego, Im out of here on interstate 8, due east to the mountians. Loss of electricity will cause a lot of problems But that I can take care of, so its stay home UNTILL all of the city dwellers head this way then it's a crap shoot as to what I have to do. Fire, after 30 years in the fire department I can handle that, It's either burn or not burnd no two ways about it. Flood no Problem or snow either.
In my situation it's a hour by hour call, But eather way as we have learned from all of the members of this site and from the Boy Scouts BE PREPARED.

Big Al, may I surmise that you would be totally dependent on stored water there, in a no-power-in-the-whole-area scenario? That's one thing that always drove me crazy about living in the desert.

Sue