Posted on 11/26/2012 9:42:52 PM PST by Kartographer
Coming home on Sunday I saw 15 accidents in a 20 mile stretch, one accident involving six cars in a tailgating fender bender. Most others were 1-2 cars, or single run off the road flat tire accidents.
This was under a 'holiday' weekend Wednesday and Sunday. What is going to happen when these folks are 'bugging out' like they hear on television? And if there is a real emergency? Where are they going to go if everyone along an Interstate Highway is bugging out at the same time? All points of the compass are going to be a parking lot within 10 miles of any major population center. Then What? Everybody gets out and walks? They wouldn't make it 100 yards before collapsing.
I don't think I can last long enough to get a piece of property and make preps, outside from the city. So I am trying to prep on site, until after the wave flows over us. I fear the European crisis and the Middle East war expanding. It is coming like a freight train and I can't get out of the way.
(Excerpt) Read more at survivalblog.com ...
I still think that everyone is overestimating the speed at which everyone else will try to bug out after a national crisis. If they’re not prepared, and the rest of the country is in the exact same state, where are they trying to go?
Plus, the “normalcy bias” would keep people sitting around until it got very bad.
What about side roads? Of course major highways would be impassible, but I see no reason why regular, smaller roads would become completely impassible. We had a hurricane that knocked out power for 2 weeks for most people, much longer for others, and there was not this mass panic despite many roads made impassible by fallen trees. Maybe it’s different since people knew it was coming and it’s a lower population than where Sandy hit, though it is a capital city. While bugging out, small roads would have increased hazards, but the volume of traffic would be lower, which likely means progress.
Finally, I still can’t reconcile preppers’ belief that one day everything will be normal, and the very next day it’s Walking Dead season 3. I think TV shows have been gasoline on the prepper fire, beginning with History’s “After Humans” or whatever it was, and more recently with “Doomsday Preppers.” This current doomsday business really began with global-warming alarmists. Remember “The Day After Tomorrow?”
I love self reliance. And I understand the legitimate need to be prepared for the unexpected because we’ve been completely coddled and were born into an environment of convenience, but I also don’t think the entirety of the United States will crumble to dust overnight. Look how long it’s taking other economies to do what we’re doing.
More importantly, I find the eagerness of people to begin their amateur rodger-dodger paramilitary maneuvers sort of alarming. It sounds like lots of fun to go creeping around and staring down your sights at suspicious “civilians” after an event, but killing people is not nearly as much fun as it looks in the movies.
That is very close to my plan, only I have a camp trailer inside said warehouse.
I suppose if I had to leave, I could take my dehydrated veggies with me. I have lots. They don't weigh much and don't take up much room.
I really do like using the dehydrated veggies in the stocks that I make.
/johnny
That was a good show. I think they had 2 of them in different places, but it just sort of stopped.
One of them made a wood gasifier to run their gennie. Not having ever seen that before (or knowing much about the history of such things) that was mighty impressive to me.
I would have said that, too, until the power suddenly went off in hot summer and I had to get my husband out. I was astonished when we got on the freeway in pitch dark about an hour after power went out. As far as I could see, the freeway was jammed and that is flat ground and a straight highway so I could see a far distance.
To me, the whole world was on that highway getting out of Dodge. I would not have believed that could happen so fast until I saw it and was in it. We had to stay in that about 10/15 miles until we got to a farm to market road going west. I was mighty glad to get off that freeway.
“12 trays for the dehydrator”
I don’t have a dehydrator - that’s why your house is my Plan B. Just thought you would like to know that. It’ll take me about four hours to get there.
BTW, stop at the edge of the area of operations, you'll know where it is, and wave a bottle from Lynchburg, Tennesse to get my attention. That's the password. ;)
/johnny
The US Government had a booklet on how to do that. You can still get it (for free) from Google Books.
One should be careful making one of those critters. I made a mistake and had one go volcanic on me and drop hot charcoal down my collar.
I still have the scars on my back.
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they aren't.
I always try new stuff to see what the hidden pitfalls are. ;)
/johnny
“wave a bottle from Lynchburg, Tennesse to get my attention. That’s the password. ;)”
I’ll pick up a bottle of Jack Daniels and put it by my front door so I won’t forget to take it. Would that be black label?
I can make rotgut locally, but them boys in Tennessee have the right stuff for making sipping whiskey.
/johnny
What part of KY?
(hat tip) to Blueflag for a EXCELLENT post!
Marcella, I completely understand that a local or regional catastrophe or interruption of utilities would result in this sort of instant mass-bug out and resulting traffic jam. Luckily I can learn from your experience there.
I was saying that I don’t see why people would get on the road to drive nowhere in the event of a financial collapse or some other national, non-weather related event, which is what preppers are prepping for if they’re gathering years of supplies and building a bunker.
It seems to me there is a disconnect. If there is some event big enough to get everyone on the roads trying to get out, and this traffic will impede your progress to your bug out location, chances are you will be with them trying to get much farther away, too, because of the severity of the situation and environmental danger. If, however, there is a situation that will require years of self-sufficiency and self-defense, you will have warning signs and time to get there. That sort of thing doesn’t happen in seconds like a regional disaster could. I guess I’m saying complete societal and governmental collapse will take a while, and people won’t flee because every community would be in the same sinking boat.
JR —
My primary motivation to getting out/ bugging out amounts to “I will not let my wife and daughter be taken”.
I think we too could defend our neighborhood against repeated assaults by ‘irregulars’. BUT we would take losses and I could not bear the thought of what might happen to my greatest treasures on earth if we were to stay this close to ATL.
Risk v. Reward.
I have the advantage to being a relatively healthy and active single guy whose children are grown and gone and who has at least met his grandchildren.
I am free to make a stand. I forget sometimes that I'm blessed that way.
/johnny
(Most of these apply to temporary disasters, not to SHTFs)
Take your important papers (deeds, birth certificates, bank info, etc). Make a copy of each of them. Keep the copy in a different place than the original (such as having one folder under the seat, and another in your suitcase). Make sure neither is in a place where it will fall out of the car every time you open the door!!
If you have some warning time, such as with hurricanes, pay as much down on your credit card as you can ahead of time. You don't want to hit your limit just as you're running out of gas. Also, have enough cash to fill the gas tank 3 times and to eat, as some places won't be able to take your card.
(Half the calls I got the day before Ike hit were from evacuees who needed to buy gas and were already at their credit limit. Fortunately the company had emergency policies in place to let us temporarily raise their limit if they were from the evacuation zone.)
If it's a temporary disaster like a major storm or hurricane, see if you can arrange to have your bank make next month's bill payments for you. Some will, some may charge a fee for this service. Trust me, if you're rebuilding your house and your mailbox is lost somewhere in the Atlantic, you aren't going to want the hassle of having your card declined because you missed a payment.
Be armed. A traffic jam makes for an easy target.
Leave the luxuries, take the necessities. You don't need a 67-piece gourmet cookware set. You do need food, water, and medications. This shouldn't have to be said, but it does.
Take a copy of your diploma or certification. If you can't go back home right away, you may need to make a new life where you find yourself, even if only for a few months.
Assume the majority of places you see along the way have been used by thousands of other refugees that day. That gas station might not have gas, they might be sold out of soda and potato chips. And there's a good chance their bathroom is out of TP. Bring as much food, water, and sanitary supplies as you can.
Know the back roads. Not just where they are, but how usable they might be. Some roads flood every spring. Some might not connect with where you're going. Main highways are more likely to get the attention of police and repair crews, but they are also more crowded. Weigh your options carefully.
Count heads after every stop. You wouldn't think this would be necessary, but if you're stressed and frantic it's easy to miss the obvious. This goes double if you have small kids who might be hidden by a blanket, make sure there's a kid under that blanket!
If possible take a copy of everyone’s medical records. if the strain causes a condition to flare up, you might need treatment at an unfamiliar clinic. It will help if you have a paper copy they can look at.
(I say “if possible” because my own medical records would fill half the truck. Use your common sense.)
I'm sure I'll think of more later, and I'm sure some of these could be debated, but I have stuff to take care of for now.
Overpriced advise is always suspect.
I thought in Obama's America "a penny for your thoughts" had been adjusted upwards by a cent...
I don't worry about the deed, lawyers and the county have that.
Birth certificate? Nyet. Not worried about that either. I was born. I can prove that much. County has copies, as does Uncle.
Handy cash is important. It also makes you vulnerable. I keep an ace bandage in my go bag so cash and coins that clink can be wrapped up like a bandage on my body.
I think the most important points that you made is to observe what happened in the past and orient yourself to the facts at hand. Of course, one has to decide and act on that.
/johnny
I was saying that I don’t see why people would get on the road to drive nowhere in the event of a financial collapse or some other national, non-weather related event, which is what preppers are prepping for if they’re gathering years of supplies and building a bunker.”
Yes, there are two types of events - the sudden kind with which I and others had to act quickly, and the slower kind, and I agree with you that “normalcy bias” will stop people from reacting quickly.
If my husband had not been so sick, we would have stayed home as I have battery fans and a way to have light forever. When I prepare for a coming hurricane, I turn the thermostat down to 65 a day in advance to cool inside wood and furniture - everything. The house will stay cool for a day when power goes out if I “precool”. I didn't have the option to precool when the power suddenly went out, so I had to get him out of the hot house.
In a meltdown of the economy, when banks close, then it's panic time for the population. Power shutdown starts in a few days after there is no money to be had. People are not going to hit the roads then - they will have to internalize this, get past “normalcy bias” and finally realize it's true, they are going to starve to death with no money to buy food, then there is no food because trucks stop.
People are still not leaving as there is no where to go and they can't leave anyway since there is no more gasoline.
It is my belief, and this is borne out by Katrina and Sandy, that bad guys (looters)(zombies), stay where they are as that area is familiar to them. If they thought to leave later, there is no gasoline to allow them to leave even if they had a car. They stayed.
I think the zombies stay close to home and live and die there. This idea is in opposition to James Wesley Rawls who, with many others, think zombies will attack in hordes in the countryside. I don't think they ever make it there.
I believe fiction stories of zombie attacks outside their usual living area, is not what happens.
I am set up with security around my house and security methods inside as it would be foolish not to do that, but I also think roving bands of killers outside their normal living area will not happen.
I made another mistake when I got my husband out of the house and traveled more than 50 miles west and that was, I did not take my gun. It never crossed my mind to take it. That's another mistake I won't make again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.