How far do you think you would have to go to get 'somewhere' safe?

I'm with Eugene on the availability of rental trucks. I've had to wait for a reserved one to show up, and they didn't show up for two more days after my reservation.

As an experiment, call all your local truck rentals some day soon, and ask how quickly you could get a truck. The answers may be very educational.

If you've got a halfway decent tow vehicle, I would agree with those who suggested dragging a trailer of some kind. I doubt that your gas mileage would be much worse than a rental truck. I don't think any of them get much more than 8 mpg, loaded. Having your own rig in the yard, even if you could make it home soon enough, your wife could start loading according to a printed plan, and you could be that much further ahead.

What's your plan if a situation arises when you're not available to the family? You may want to consider a setup that your wife can handle (mostly) alone. No, it's not desirable, but it could happen, compliments of Mr. Murphy.

Sue