Originally Posted By: Lono
Originally Posted By: Dagny

Routes out of town -- I live in the city and my commute to work has been less than a mile for the past twenty years. It's only because of camping that I have emblazoned on my brain all the routes to the mountains from where I live. It's only because of hiking that I have an extensive collection of topo maps for those areas.



Dagny, you raise an issue interesting to me, I was just reading a report of a 5 state disaster scenario in which local DC residents were polled and asked about their preparations in the event of an attack, it was a dirty bomb scenario - locally destructive, but not so heavy in terms of loss of life, but also likely to prompt many to evacuate large areas of the DC region. I thought it was interesting that the overwhelming majority in Virginian and DC/Maryland would plan to evacuate north and south, with only a small number heading west, to Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and the mountains. Report at http://www.vdem.state.va.us/library/behavior_study/index.cfm if you're interested.

This may just come down to local topography and available routes, but it strikes me that either you would head for the west because of where you live in relation to DC, or maybe because you are already familiar with the terrain, and you are truly prepared to head for a lesser populated region, which can support you in the event of a crisis?


Thank you so much for that link, Lono, I will read it momentarily.

My plan is to head west, to the mountains (and valleys). That's all my close friends' plan because we've hiked and camped out there so much. I'm from Oregon, all my instincts are to go west.

My teardrop trailer (and quite a bit of camping gear) is in storage 100 miles from DC in the mountains due west of here.

There is no reason for me to head toward Baltimore or Richmond. And I have no desire to go to those places, especially in the company of millions of evacuees on I-95. And the wind here usually comes out of the west so especially in a dirty bomb or some other scenario involving air dispersal, I'd want to be heading west.

A dirty bomb is the most likely survivable mass evacuation scenario where I live. If an actual nuke went off then by every study I've seen, I live in the zone of vaporization.

Thanks to years of car camping, I'm far less daunted by evacuation or shelter-at-home scenarios. I know I can get a good night's sleep in my Honda Element, wherever it is parked (well, except the bad neighborhoods), or my teardrop trailer or a tent (I have five tents).

Thanks to car camping (and the ingrained habit of topping off my car's fuel tank), I'm packed and ready to go at a moment's notice.

Even Gidget's food and med bag is packed and in with my stuff.