Posted on 06/12/2009 3:21:05 PM PDT by appleseed
I think as a boy my favorite stories were always about epic journeys or quests. I always saw myself as the lone hero; bravely making his way through a barren landscape overcoming impossible obstacles and having fantastic adventures along the way. As preppers I think many of us still believe that WTSHTF our trip to “Get out of Dodge” will be an adventure such as those we read in books. I’m afraid however; the reality will be much grimmer than we can imagine. I fear that it will be more like The Road by Cormac McCarthy or the recent novel One Second After by William R. Forstchen , than anything else.
I live in the Chicago metropolitan area, yes far behind enemy lines so to speak, and have been a prepper for most of the last 10 years. Like many of us I must live in a big city because of my job. I need money to survive. Living here is no big deal if you learn to ignore the local politics. My kids are grown and I have no long-term attachments here. If the world falls to pieces I always felt I could leave in an instant. I have the requisite pick-up truck, keep it full of fuel, pre-positioned much of my supplies with my son at a relatively safe location in a small town (population 5,000) about 600 miles from here. I’ve got my G.O.O.D. bag packed and I’m ready to go when ever things go south. Or am I ready?
Let’s review my bug-out plan. Wait a second, I have no plan! This blinding flash of the obvious hit me as I was stuck in rush-hour traffic last Friday evening on my way to my son’s. It took me nearly three hours to get from my apartment on the far north side of the city to I-80 on the far south side. This was the route I assumed I would take to skedaddle. Think about that; I was on Interstate highways the whole time, leaving at 8:00 PM, and it still took me nearly three hours to go less than 80 miles. What’s really scary is that I was thinking all along how light the traffic was. I had no alternative routes in mind. Yikes!
Well, I’ve got to tell you this dear readers, that realization scared the bejeebus out of me. I was so unready to bug out. I had the stuff, the means, the mindset, etc., however, in a meltdown near-panic situation, I would’ve have been just one more member in a stream of hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the big city. This experience got me off my duff and forced to review what I will do when the next shoe drops in our ongoing economic nightmare.
I drew up a list of what was necessary to implement an action plan to “Escape from Chicago 2009”
1. Have a bug-out kit ready at all times a. No problem I have a bug-out bag packed and ready to go. No last minute packing required. However; I hadn’t checked it in quite some time and when I did I found plenty of things to replace and replenish. Batteries lost their charge. Foods had expired. So did many of the common medications I packed. BTW, I also now have a 72 hour bag with me whenever I leave the house. You can never be sure when the worst thing you can imagine will happen.
2. Bring as much as you can with you. a. Unlike many of you, I am not a man of any particular religious belief system. However, like most of you, I feel what makes us truly human beings is our compassion. I have to say that I don’t think while bugging out, I could look a frightened hungry child in the eyes and say no - nothing for you. Bring more than you need. If you don’t need to share then all the better; there’s more for you when you reach your destination.
3. No stopping to buy last minute items. a. If it’s so bad you need to be bugging-out do you really think others don’t know that and are at that very minute stripping the local Wal-Mart clean? During the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the grocery stores were near impossible to get to and if you could, it didn't matter; they were closed, or had been looted, and were empty. Also, shop owners, for example, may attempt to defend their stores with firearms (a la the Los Angeles Riots) and you don’t want to be caught in the crossfire. I know, I know, Chicago has very strict gun laws so there won’t be any shooting except by a few gun-toting NRA/survivalist types .
Finally, one interesting image comes to mind when I think of someone “liberating” goods from a Wal-Mart. During the Katrina emergency I recall seeing a video of a very obese woman wading through chest deep flood water, polluted with who knows what, holding a Dyson vacuum cleaner she had “liberated” over her head. No electricity, no home, no floor for that matter, but she had an expensive vacuum cleaner she had probably always wanted. Also, an interesting side note is the lack of bookstores looted.
Read the rest of this letter at http://survivalblog.com/
Thankfully we work at home here, but in the vehicle I have what I call a “Get home bag” It can last the wife and I a good day or two to get us home if we are away.. and the only real reason would be visiting someone in a nearby state or a vacation... in our vehicle.
In the home, in my store room I have 2 other BOBS packed as well as food and supplies in Rubbermaid tubs. It will ALL fit into my vehicle. We also store gas and keep the vehicle topped off most of the time.
Its easy once you make a plan.. now that said, I would ONLY bug out in extreme emergency.. I am pretty well isolated out here in Pahrump Nevada (and no.. I am not Art Bell.. lol) so I tend to think about getting HOME to my supplies and not bugging out to who knows where.
Remember if you plan to bug out PLAN alternate routes, and have a place to go.
You may think that place that “no one knows about in the woods” is a good place.. but trust me.. so do about 200 other people. Stake your Bug out location out well.. know its surroundings and plan everything you can. No one wants to plan while TSHTF
Yup, it makes much more sense to stay put and fortify your AO rather then to run to an unknown location.
"Kenya"
Good advice, but I hate thinking about it because the worst enemy when the SHTF will be the unlawful citizens, like in Katrina, that will use the event to murder, rape, rob, etc.
Haha - too obvious
Right on, right on.
I’ve warned family members to flat out refuse to ‘get on the bus’, and to head for the hills when it rolls through town to ‘rescue’ people.
I’ll take my chances in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains over a jam-packed stadium or dome any day of the week.
I have a packed BOB/72 Hour Kit that I keep in the back of our Tahoe all the time. As much driving around that I do with the kids, anything could happen at any time, and I want to be at least minimally prepared.
I think people underestimate the difficulty of getting out of a city. Picture the traffic jam after a large concert or sporting event, multiply that by ten (at least) and you get a pretty good idea. The thought of trying to get out of the Phoenix area scares the crap out of me. If such an evacuation happened in the summer, there would be an enormous number of casualties just from heat exposure.
For this reason alone I’d love to be living in Texas. Have you seen their road system? It’s incredible. Hundreds of roads leading to just about every nook and cranny.
I do have an article about the Vehicle 72 Hour Kit on my blog, which I think is helpful. thesurvivalmom.com
for later
bflr
ty for the pin as!
Many Freepers live in rural areas. You might want to check and see who’s already in the direction you’re planning to head in advance.
All you city folks who think that escape into the countryside is a good survival plan should think about what those already living in the country will be doing in anticipation of the hordes of looters from the cities coming in.
I can assure you that those already living in the back woods will be far better prepared to fend you off than you will be to trespass on their properties.
Even in civil times, city folk don’t have much success in dealing with the challenges of the woods.
Example: we had a city guy come visit our farm to deliver some building supplies.
After he unloaded the truck, he decided to take a walk in the woods around our home.
Three hours later, a neighbor called and asked if we knew anything about the crazy naked guy in their tool shed pouring gasoline over his body.
Seems like the city guy had never heard of ticks or chiggers and during his little stroll through the woods he became covered with them.
His solution - run to the closest farm, strip off his clothes and pour gasoline on his body to rid himself of the ticks.
Our neighbor normally would have shot a trespasser breaking into his barn - but in this case, he called the sheriff and then called other neighbors to see if they knew who the guy was.
If you live in the city, don’t assume those who live in the country or woods will welcome you with open arms.
Most won’t.
PING
Great post appleseed!
If the SHTF, the cities and suburbs would become one giant Charlie Foxtrot.
IMHO, the optimal situation would be to already be living at the bug out location. If the SHTF, traveling would be extremely dangerous.
What I’m trying to figure out is how to transition from currently living in a city, working at a 9 to 5 job, to moving to a rural area off the grid.
“Three hours later, a neighbor called and asked if we knew anything about the crazy naked guy in their tool shed pouring gasoline over his body.”
LOLOLOL!
Got my copy of Enemies Foreign and Domestic yesterday via UPS. Can’t wait to dig into it. Thanks for the heads up.
Once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down! Also, be warned... your paranoia is going to be elevated. :-)
Over a decade ago when my oldest son was 10 we visited Boston. At the end of the afternoon we were sitting on a bench at some marketplace somewhere and he said to me, “The smell of cities makes me sick and gives me a headache. Can we go now?”
Sometimes I pity people who have to live in the parasite nests (”cities”) but then I remember what they elect and how they vote and I just want them to stay there, sitting crosslegged in their own urine and feces. Please, just stay there where you belong.
I just added your survivalmom.com link to my favorites, and will be adding it to the blogroll on my page. Thanks for doing this!
My wife already thinks I'm nuts. To her credit, she has been through the wringer just as I have been. I guess I'm lucky as far as the wife is concerned. She sees things as I do to a point, only my way of thinking is a little more radical than hers.
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