bug out 3 of 3

LONG BUG OUT 3

Okay, we’ve talked the unemployment-being-the-signal-to-bugout theme to death.  You have a mid size dependable vehicle that gets 20 mpg and you have 1500 miles to go.  Most of your supplies are at your bug-out location, with the bare minimum at your city location ( just in case something keeps you there ).  A six month supply of wheat is six Mylar bags, twelve assuming a spouse.  Two or three water filters, a grain grinder, two guns and a minimum load of ammunition will easily fit in a small vehicle if the clothing ( you do have plenty of winter wear and linen, yes? ) is lashed to the outside.  I know there is a name for them, but the “two washers and a bolt with an eyelet” doohickey can be installed on the trunk so you can securely lash the duffle bags of clothes outside, still leaving room for your gas cans.  If you have a twelve gallon tank you need another sixty five gallons of gas.  I can’t imagine you can haul that many five gallon jugs, so get as close as you can.  You might not have any choice but to have a half way stash.

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No, Dorothy, it is NOT paranoid to assume the lack of gas.  Gasoline is a JIT item, as is most everything else, and any small disruption such as the 5% OPEC embargo era will see massive shortages.  Economic communications break down ( the computers communicating with each other for EBT payments-how about a hacker attack paralyzing our entire economy that way? ), overseas supply breakdown, delivery company bankruptcies, etc.  Much can go astray.  You might need to rent a storage space in a small town on the interstate, buy metal Jerry Cans, fill them with ethanol free gasoline and stabilizer, and eat the cost of that month after month.  But, hey, you piss away $200 a month on cell phones and cable, so $30 for a storage shed isn’t too God-awful.  You might also need to pretty much drive straight through, be armed and never leave the car unattended.  It isn’t Beirut levels of combat, but certainly not a care-free jaunt.  Sixty miles an hour, to minimize dangerous driving while tired, gets you there in one complete day.  Yes, a bit more, for pee breaks, stretching your legs and grabbing some McPukes burgers, but more or less twenty four hours.  Plan the trip so that you arrive half way during business hours of your storage location. 

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You can plan on buying gas if it is available, and also plan on taking food like jerky and whole wheat crackers plus energy drinks if nowhere looks safe to shop at.  And, yes, I’m aware you are not supposed to store gas in a storage locker.  I’m sure your local firefighter appreciates your common courtesy in this matter of common sense.  But he wouldn’t put you up in his house if you run out of fuel, would he?  And, yes, I might be too paranoid in this case.  You might assume gas won’t be an issue since you are leaving early enough.  Fine.  Stash a bottle of whiskey in your supplies and when you are stuck in a poor location surrounded by cannibal bikers, raise a glass to me being right to be paranoid and eat your own bullet.  Kidding.  Kind of.  Actually, the supplies in the car might just be enough to see you safely through if you never see your bug-out location.  After all, other things could see half to three quarters of your supplies destroyed or denied you.  That is why you have multiple stashes.  I just think planning for fuel outages isn’t the worst idea.

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Perhaps a stash of food, ammo, filters and the like at your gasoline storage locker wouldn’t be a bad idea.  Both as a supplement to the gas, and as the sole equipment if you planned on no gas supply at all.  It would be your oasis in the desert assuming worst case ( not sure if you’d want to store any guns there-in the case of theft, do you want a gun you purchased to be used in a crime?  Not to mention the monetary loss ).  I don’t think all that many people are going to be content with a bug out location half way across the continent, so surely this is worse case?  Even if for some bizarre reason you were traveling even further, the same planning principles should hold.  I understand you think you can outthink the collapse and time your bug-out right before the infrastructure starts seeing breakdown, but I would advise you to reign in your hubris.

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It is bad enough that you are staying in the big city.  You know it is not the best idea.  Don’t compound that less than ideal strategy by adding on delusion and optimism for your bug-out.  Did anyone forecast the OPEC embargo in retaliation for our stance on the war?  Did you see the collapse of the Soviet Union?  Did you time the 2008 economic collapse?  Did you stock up on rice before it was rationed, BECAUSE you knew that would happen?  Most bad things are not anticipated other than in generalities.  Don’t assume the best, assume the worst.  Waiting to bug out is less than ideal, even if completely understandable.  Hell, most folks are probably much better anchored to their families than I am.  I understand my bias shows through.  But when you accept a less than ideal living situation, have a smart exit strategy.  Have enough supplies with you in case of attack or break down.  Assume no supplies en route.  Assume you don’t get out quite early enough to avoid SOME problems. 

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Once you get there, more likely than not, you will need to live almost normally for a period of time.  You’ll still need to take care of business.  You know you left in time, but you can’t guess how long before those in power are violently overthrown.  You need to take care of your bills by declaring bankruptcy, file for Food Stamps and other legal and everyday living arrangements.  None of it might even matter, disruptions occurring too quickly for anyone to care about your problems, or things could drag on for a long time.  If you are legally stuck owing on your mortgage, I hope one of you got yourself off the document ( fake divorce, incorporating, or however else you manage ) so that the other legally liable one can “disappear” when you leave the obligation.  The debtor is off any papers on the bug-out, doesn’t apply for benefits, just disappears.  The other brings home the bacon, if applicable.  I hope your marriage still retains that level of trust.  If you are able, how about getting a lawyer to release you from the obligation, now, if possible, and you stay renting?  I know that might be a stretch for the spouse to accept, but it is an option.

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I guess what I am valiantly straining to achieve here is to convince you that there is a medium position you can achieve.  Not panicking now and living on junk land, poor and miserable and divorced and hounded by the courts, nor staying in an urban jungle so long you need to fight your way out using a $100,000 armored car mounted with semi-auto linked ammo $7k civilian version SAW’s with FLIR scopes.  You can have the best if both worlds, with almost no extra cost, if you merely possess the discipline to make a plan and stick with it.  This is not a place for “yeh, buts”.  It is not a place for hubris or denial or wishful thinking.  If you habitually lie to yourself to minimize pain, this is NOT how you want to plan your Crowd Escape.  Better to just do it now and remove your questionable judgment from the mix.   I would also suggest you seriously contemplate your life attitude at this point, with a pot of heavily sugared coffee on a morning you remain uninterrupted. 

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You know you will be unemployed one day.  It IS going to happen.  Are you sure you want to wait until the very bitter end?  Is it possible to embrace a near cashless existence, rather than fear it as you do now?  What are you working for?  To appease the wife?  To keep from getting bored?  For meaning in your life?  Habit?  Do you want to roll the dice on the timing of the collapse because you think it is a safe bet, or do you do it because you fear change?  No right answers.  I fear the worse and settle for close to least.  You aren’t me ( I’m sorry ).  You see things your own way.  Just be honest with yourself.  I actually want to help.  Believe it or not. 

END ( todays related link http://amzn.to/2uZeuaS )

 

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