10 Reasons Why You Do Not Want to Bug Out

The Prepper Journal ^ | 10 Jan 15 | Pat Henry

[SkyPilot]

Kudos to you for taking care of your Dad in that situation.

And yes, after Ivan, it was muggy and hot as hell. I made it Georgia (where Ivan hit me as powerful Tropical Storm, lol). It was hot and muggy there as well, but we had power.

After Sandy, people in NJ and NY lost power for over a week. Sandy hit in mid-autum, and right after wards, the temperatures went into the mid 30s at night.

For those without power or a generator, it didn't become a quality of life situation not to have power. It became almost life threatening.

For this with generators, some people (like my cousin) quickly discovered that he never thought about how much gasoline he would need. He had some lawnmower gas on hand in 1 or 2 gallon cans, and that was about it. He went out looking for gasoline, and ran into lines that took 6 or 7 hours in order to get fuel. All of the approved gas canisters were sold out in a 200 mile radius.

His "plan" was to siphon out gas from his automobiles, but he found out the siphon would not work on modern cars. He said there was a bend in the line that made it impossible.

When you little kids are freezing, and all the hotels are booked, and you have no power, no hot water, or in the case of well systems - no water at all - things can get bad quickly.

If you do keep gas on hand, store it away from your house, and use fuel preservative.

[TADSLOS]

No, it isn’t. Just enough to get you back to your house, if you get “delayed”.

[SkyPilot]

A 4 seat sandrail ( VW Based ) Corvair powered, dual ignition, one being old fashion points and a dual fuel carb ( nat gas / propane tank aboard as well ) is what I envision as the ultimate bug out sled. Kinda of a hi-po version of the "Chentworth" buggy our spec-op guys had a while back.

Reminds me a bit of Mad Max.

[SkyPilot]

Remember the “Happy Days” episode where Mr. Cunninham wanted to build a bomb shelter for his family? In the end, everyone wanted a “seat” in the shelter and there would not have been room for anyone.

[cherry]

if you are lucky enough to have a home, and a yard, and some neighbors you know, and a fairly safe community with many who will be in your boat, then stay home...

its not safe to out far away from other people....that is the exact scenario that wanderers want to come across to rob, rape, take over your BOL and the people inside....

stay with your community....we will need help if or when the SHTF.

[GoneSalt]

When you’re anchored out, you have to go get people that want to visit. And mormon missionaries don’t swim, nor do JW or most of the wackadoos out there. Waterborne thieves do exist, but they are few and far between. But for the most part, you’ve got a most. With fish. And up the rivers, wild pig come to the shore and you see kayak fishermen also packing a crossbow, they go creeping up the creeks they never know what comes to water.

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[yarddog]

Daddy was better set up than I was.

We both lived in a rural area but he had a 220 Volt generator already hooked up to his water pump. You can get by with surprisingly little water and in our case there was a nice creek flowing only 50 yards behind his house.

We got all the water for washing and flushing from the creek and that water was pretty clean.

Of course we had to cook using the grill. Could have switched to using wood if we had to but never did. No one in the community suffered at all. They were all rural people who sort of knew how to get by.

[kaehurowing]

Everyone needs to have a Burt Gummer as a next door neighbor.

[GoneSalt]

most / moat, dang spellcheck

[SkyPilot]

Kartographer,

I didn't know you a had a ping list. Can you add me?

One of things I saw during Katrina was the problem of pets.

Shelters would not accept them. For some people, the dilemma of pets vs. humans sounds trivial. But I will tell you it was a real problem and situation for many, many people.

People were told, flat out, to leave their pets if they were evacuated (sometimes forcibly). To many folks, their pets are family. They might as well be asked to leave their infant behind. Again, some people might think this is a stupid issue, but it was real.

When people stock food, they should also consider their beloved animals. The grocery shelves might not just be out of bread and milk - if they are not looted or functioning at all.

[cripplecreek]

[taildragger]

SP, the times would be Mad-Max-ish, it might be the prefect vehicle, speed and agility might be everything...

[Nervous Tick]

Too late! We already done bugged out.

(City => country)

[ChildOfThe60s]

A whole lot depends on where you are & what the crisis is.

We live in a small town now, an hour from a good sized city. With the preparations we have made (and considering our ages) there are *very* few scenarios where leaving has any possible potential advantages.

The feral humans from the city will work their way here, but it may be hard going for them & I think we can make their arrival rather unpleasant.

Who knows how any disaster will play out? But realistically, she and I will live or die here. If it is the latter, I will send some of the scum to hell before I go.

[Georgia Girl 2]

We currently only have a 14LB Chihuahua but we keep a giant bag of food on hand at all times and canned food. She would be good to go for months.

[Teflonic]

I think the best option is to have a secret fortified room in the center of your house or attic. Make the house look deserted but retain the ability to wipe out a gang that stays too long. Mount peepholes and firing ports from your secret room ideally positioned so that all the areas in the house are be covered.

[VerySadAmerican]

Great point. You’d better be prepared to go if you have to. If one home catches fire from some idiot starting a fire in his kitchen, every house will eventually catch fire. If a house catches fire, it’s time to move out.

[Rennes Templar]

We have a 2500 watt propane generator with a 1000 gal. tank. One year of food and water in the garage. Hope we never have to use it.

[Squawk 8888]

but some day, a train may crash and we have to bug out of town

That actually happened in a suburb of Toronto- a train hauling propane & chlorine blew up and they had to evacuate half a million people for several days.