Agree with the majority that buggin' in is better than hiking cross country, especially with small children. In my case I have the limitations of being older and my wife having knee replacements. We aren't walking out. I have BOB's in each car, each good for one person for a couple of days if stuck in a snowstorm. In the house I have larger 3 day kits in plastic containers (more food, shelter, water, FAK, etc.)
So if I need to get out of the house the personal BOB's go in the AWD wagon along with the house 3 day kits, 5 gallons of water (or more), tent, sleeping bags, pet food in plastic pails, pets in carriers, couple of Ham radios, GPS, and whatever clothing my wife can pack in the 15 minutes it will take to pack the car.
The car will handle the kits, my wife and I, and my mom and DD1 who live nearby. If I have to I can strap some additional stuff to the roof. The trick is to get to my siblings homes at 100, 700, and 850 miles (in 3 different directions) or far enough upstream to find a hotel or shelter. The weak link (the one I see) is I'll only get about 350 miles on a tank of gas. Do I keep some gas in containers and take it along or hope for gas at 300 miles distance?
I hope you have some way to carry the gas externally and not inside the car. I have noticed that most cars are designed around a 300-400 mile range. It seems that as the gas maileage goes up the tank gets smaller so the range stays the same. So haveing some way to safely carry extra gas puts you at an advantage over others.
One question for the group. If you need to bug out in a vehicle do you trust the interstates or head cross country on the secondary roads?
from being stuck in traffic jams in the past I'm betting the highways will be a parking lot. Even a simple accident during rush hour will cause problems. However back roads may not be any better. Usually the first or second closest to side road will be packed as well from people getting off the highway looking for another route. My plans are currently to take a route that is somewhat diagonal when compared to the main highway to avoid the roads most traveled. So part of my prep plans are #1 extra gas since I'll be adding more miles to my route, #2, good maps, not just a road atlas or state map, you need county level to show all the small roads, #3 CB radio and scanner to listen to what is goin on when near the main roads and #4 get familair with some of those roads, find state parks and go have a picnic at one on a weekend to get on some of those roads and get familair with them. This also makes a good bug out test, get up on a sat morning this sping and and decide to take a trip since it looks so nice out, grab your bob and some gear and load it and go. then see what you needed and didn;t have or should have taken with you and add those to the bob.
Previous Topic
Index
