Well, if you have an older vehicle, one with points instead of electronic ignition, and carbed instead of fuel injected, and you keep a spare alternator in the faraday cage, you might be able to use the car after the fact. That is stretching it a bit, though.

Of course, getting the gas when all the pumps are shot and the power grid is offline is problematic anyways. In any case, nothing that would still be usable would still be used the same. If I had a functioning motor vehicle and only had one tank of gas to use in it, you bet I would save it as long as possible.

I think the point is the technology we've come to rely so heavily on over the past hundred years is still pretty fragile stuff, and any number of events can throw us back to the good ole days. Unlikely as they may be, I think it is prudent to maintain at least a basic fall back plan for such events. Oil lamps, candles, wood/hog fuel stoves, manual pumps, these are all relatively inexpensive and useful items to have around. Hey, if it works up at elk camp, then why not at home? To me, it is cheap insurance.

You know, them rural folks that seem to just get by year after year without really joining the rat race, yet being able to make do with a lot of their own efforts are probably more likely to remain relatively unphased by the average catastrophic event. I know a few families who put up 300 or more quarts of locally produced food stocks using a pressure canner or two and a wood stove out back. At any given time, they have at least 6 months of food put up for the entire family, a working well, a fuel source, and a fair distance from any real strategic location. They also have a vast array of manual and powered tools, and since they usually take care of fixing things themselves most of the time, field expedience is often a daily activity.

I been thinking real hard about taking my bankroll and heading out to the boonies myself. The only drawback is that as I get older, I suspect my reliance of modern medical services will grow, and being 100 miles from the nearest hospital might be a critical factor.

I guess that is the way it goes.