Urban Bug-Out Day

Alright....if you have your mind made up already I am not going to waste my time in any type of discussion with you

 

Hmmm.....well, convince me...so far YOUR half of the 'discussion' has consisted of 4 sentences.

 

Andy,
I don't have the money to drive a couple hundred miles in on a logging trail to work every day, so I have to live relatively close to a large metropolitan center if I want to continue doing my line of work. It is a calculated risk I have to take. I don't plan on BO anywhere, I plan on Buggin In. If I had to run somewhere, it would be a 18 hour drive to my brothers and that isn't going to be very feasible either. I did move out in the country, but not far enough to get away from the other fleeing folks, so in that case, I have plenty of defensive ammo. And actually, no castle is impermiable, so no matter how far out you go, if someone thinks you have resources that are valuable, they will eventually come and take it with enough man power. Ergo, in a total SHTF scenario, it is just a matter of time before you get a visit, mine will just be sooner than yours. If you are lucky, I will be able to thin the heard down a little for you.

 

Thanks for the replies.....and I'm NOT picking on ya'll....but I am curious...

I've posted this before on different board when the 'bugout' post comes up.....

and mostly gotten the same response:

"I'm stuck here because of my job"......

To which I say IF you really, really, really believe there is going to actually BE a reason to bug out, then HOW important is THAT job ???

Are there not jobs in areas that are far less likely to suffer from a SHTF situation ??

I DO live in a real good situation.....but trust me.....'luck' or 'fortunate' had very little to do with it.....neither did family inheritance or wealth ( ahahahaa....you'd have to know my family to know how funny THAT is.... ) or winning a lottery ( never played )........30 years of dadgum hard work, sacrifice, forgoing consumer goodies/vacations, and just plain planning is what has put us where we are today....

Got my Social InSecurity statement just the other day....still laying here on the desk. I started working in 1966 ( according to them.....they don't know what Dad put me thru....ahahahahaaa ).......and the BEST year I ever had according that record was $22,919 in 1988......my average for the last 10 years, without putting a calculator to it, looks to be around 8 grand.

Really been chasing that buck, ain't I.......ahahahahaaaaaaa.......

When we bought our hunk of undeveloped mtn land 24 years ago, I was making 12k/yr and my wife was knocking down a fabulous 6k/yr.......and we went into debt 75k for a dream, and to be out of town. Only reason we got this place was the guy financed himself.....I can't imagine a bank would have lent us the money based on our incomes.....heck.....even I thought we were nuts....ahahahaaaaaaaa....

So wealth, or rather the lack thereof, ain't got a lot to do with finding ya a better place to live.

And I'm not suggesting 200 miles back in the wilderness....Short of going to Alaska, I'm not all that sure you could even get that isolated anymore......I'm just saying there is a LOT of rural land out there with enough distance from major population centers.

And, if like Sniper...you plan on hunkering down and staying....ok...prepare for that and go for it ( and thanks BTW, Sniper.....take out ALL YOU CAN to keep 'em from coming this way ! Can I contribute to your ammo fund ? ).......

The question I have is for all those sitting around making up a bag to throw in the car to flee the suburbs......I keep seeing visions of those clogged roads right before a hurricane, and if you do manage to get out, what then ?

Do ya have a place already set up for long term living ?

Is the plan to just move in on relatives with what's in the car ? Is that fair to them ?

I dunno.....

Didn't mean to come off as holier than ya'll......or step on toes.....just asking have the 'bugee's' really thought this out.

 

I can see both aspects of this one. I know up untill about 4 years ago we lived in the armpit of a major metro are, right down in the sludge of it. We got lucky and found out our land lord was about to loose 13 acres 100 miles out from there for taxes and aranged to have my folks cosign a loan for 15k and move out here. Not that we are here there are damn near no jobs that pay over minimum wage and even those tend to be scarce and with gas prices what they are comuteing for less than $20/hr is pretty much volunteer work. So yeah makeing a living for us is rouph to say the least but there are a lot of things we can do for our selves because we are out here that would be a lot harder in the city and so can live off a lot less money. That said, before we were able to get out my basic plan was to try and grab what we could and head for some empty land that was still in the family (had no claim to it other than relatives owned it as a vacation spot and dad had grown up there) because that was the best of the lousy options we had at that point and had piss poor credit and no cash. Had wanted out for years and finally made it and wouldnt go back under any circumstances but know what it is to not have that option.
Now even though my primairy plan would be to get home and hunker down, we also have an air force base about 30 miles away that could be a target, hiways and train tracks that could always have accidents causeing chemical spills andd so on so we also make sure to have plans for what to do if we have to bug out includeing that the family would meet here if possible and if not then at some friends a few miles away and if that were out then a little place about 25 miles away and so on and then haveing the kits packed and a different piece of land in the family about 150 miles away where we could head for.
I think regardless of if you are in the city or in the best area off in a nice remote area or whatever, its important to have a BO plan. Nuclear waste travels the roads of the US every day and for saftey reasons they avoid populated area and main hiways so that means if you are rural then they want to haul that past your driveway. So what happens when the neighbors fence is down and the cow is in the middle of the road in front of that truck carrying nuke waste? Or a train carrying toxic stuff or even a tanker with pesticide or fertalizer for agg use has a wreck in your area or a wild fire, etc, etc, etc. My point being no matter where you are it is always possible that there will come a time when you may have to leave in a hurry. It may not be (and most likely wouldnt be) a national thing but could be just as devistating on a local level, or even a house fire. Just haveing a kit in the vehicles or ready to grab and go to get you by at least for a couple of weeks or more can make all the difference.
Just my thoughts on it.

 

No prob on the ammo, I'll take whatever anyone wants to give. I am back to shooting good quantaties again. Matter of fact, found some fish and game land that I can actually get 500 yard night shots to test my newly loaded tracers out E.L. If I am a lucky man, I may have some video footage of tracers through a night vision!!!
I think the reason for a lot of the apathy about buggin out stems from Y2K. A lot of people pumped a lot of money into provisions that weren't even needed. From a BO perspective, it is hard to justify the money to stock a lot of this equipment and not knowing if it will ever get used. I have a ruck for both my wife and myself that I am thinking of tearing down and selling the componenets off as there is no way the wife and I will ever hoof it anywhere now, to old and a baby. If I can't drive out, it is bug in time.

 

Super Sniper!

I think that most see it as a calculated risk. How many times before have true SHTF situations happened? I see preparedness as not preparing for a nuclear weapons attack, zombie attack, or the end of the world as we know it, but more like an extended loss of power, short term losses of food, water, etc. Just this summer because of hurricane Rita I had an additional 13 people in my house and it was predicted that we would have category one winds. I was prepared. I had enough water, food, gas, and other supplies to make life comfortable for an extended period of time if we lost power, water and could not acquire additional supplies. Even a generator to run the hot water heaters if need be. I didn't expect an extra 13 people, but that is what happened. Most left after a couple of days, but we did have and extra five family members for 17 days. So as far as bugging out, I don't see that so much for me, it is more along the lines of bugging in. Now as having said all that, yeah I do keep thousands of rounds of extra ammo in inventory.......................just in case. And there are also hundreds of acres of land right behind my house, and a good sized lake full of fish, and I have a lease of a couple hundred acres with fed hogs and deer 8 minutes away........................

 

Well Andy where did you live before you got your land?

I don't know that you understand most of the folks here as opposed to other sites, most of us are a little more hands on, and practical in our knowledges, skills and application there of.

Yeah hurling the important crap in the car and heading out is ideal, but I doubt anyone here has any illusions about the necessity of being able to hoof it out on foot, if that is an option.

Then again it totally depends on the situation and what is indeed going on, and what actions are open to oneself.

Then again we can all sit here and plan, but until we are hip deep in it we cannot truly know what our response will be. Planning is a good start but things come up when it gets hairy.

 

I disagree Melbo, think of all the money to be made on that last day when all the Yuppies realize that this may be the last cappuchino they may ever get!
Instead of stocking up on guns and ammo, maybe we should open a Starbucks and stockpile coffee beans! Talk about the ultimate bartering material in a SHTF. Hell, CRC would probably keep us in business herself until after the reconstruction period!

 

I always thought the best barter material would be Beer, Chocolate, Cigarettes, Coffee, and toilet paper!

 

How about Porn, lol J/K