Eugene,

We used to have a bugout plan then Hurricane Rita shattered our illusions.

Let me clarify that some.

If all of Houston is trying to escape it'll need to be something more dangerous than a class 4 hurricane to get us bugging out. That being said, we'll load the Honda Pilot with water, food, gas (tied on top disguised in old suitcases), important papers, guns, a chemical toilet and join the streaming hordes. Both our vehicles are permanently stocked with maps, gear and some (3-6 liters) water. I top the gas off every time I've used 1/4 tank, DW always refills the Pilot at 1/2 tank. In an evacuation we'd add much more water plus the other stuff mentioned. We have friends in Austin, TX (three hours away). If we need to go farther we'll head north to family in Iowa or Minnesota. We've made that drive several times before and know it well.

DW is a stay-at-homer and I work 13 miles straight down the road. Between us is a mixture of suburbia and rural land. There's a railroad track that runs directly from my work to our neighborhood plus assorted other possible on-road choices. The girls are in preschool ten hours a week, otherwise they are with DW. The preschool is less than two miles away from home. If something happened while I was at work and we had to leave seperately we have out-of-state contacts set up who we can both check in with (assuming phones work )to see where each other is. That being said, it would take A LOT to get DW/DD1/DD2 to leave home without me. She'd rather hide than run.

I actually think our most likely reason to bug out would be due to a release of hazardous materials from a train derailment. If that were the case the area of effect would be relatively small and we wouldn't have to deal with all of Houston trying to run. In this circumstance we have a checklist in the binder for emergency evacuation. It lists what we need to grab, where it is, what priority it is and whose responsibility it is to grab it. However, a trial run shows it takes 20-minutes or so to do everything on the list, due mainly to trying to handle DD1/DD2 at the same time.

Sidenote: Thanks to the show "Jericho" DD1 knows if she ever sees a mushroom cloud she needs to get inside and turn off the A/C unit. Not bad for a 4-yr old.

Hopefully this helped a little, if not please ask for clarification. I like talking about this.

-Blast

p.s. The reason for taking the guns mentioned above would be to keep others from getting them. They would remain locked away in the vehicle. During the Rita evacuation there didn't seem to be much need of a gun. However, if the situation dictated it a pistol would be with me.