With all the talk about survivalism on this site the past years something I fail to read about is when is a good time to just 'bug out' and abandon where you are dug in?
In essence the world ends zombies walk the street, radiation gets too high, earthquakes, nuclear war, whatever happens, happened. You are safe in your own personnel shelter, some more lavish then others.

But are we to stay in the same place indefinitely?
I knew someone in Oklahoma who had his s!@t together: weapons, food, water, air and everything else, but lost his home to a tornado and had to abandon his land and shelter with nothing but his families lives to show. Yes, the shelter saved them from the tornado and it was more like a underground home then a shelter, but it was no place to live with a family and kids, even for a short shunt.
Personally I would want to find a place to go that is a safe, clean, fruitful environment. Trees, fish, game, soil to grow food and most of all a place where I could live above ground, not in a hole like a rodent.
But that is the question, when do you stop trying to stay alive and begin trying to live again?
What do we bring, how much and how do we travel?

I bring plenty of liquor

interesting point. most of us I think look at a single event (natural disaster, nuclear leak, mega-streisand) but then it goes down it might be 'gradual'. I suspect some folks will start buggin out and the gummint will have to step in and say 'it's okay, no need to bug out', which will lead to more bugging out. at some point there'll be a critical mass point where too many people are gone or going to sustain society.
to me the most critical point is when the utility people (water/power) leave their posts. that's when it gets ugly.
if it goes down like that the gummint will either force critical people to stay/work or militarize vital services (many National Guard units are trained for utilities/support).
nightmarish stuff. I'm preparing for something like can't go home 3-5 days from flooding or quake damage. anything longer and...dunno

Personally, as funny as this sounds...ive fantasized alot actually , if thier was ever a dawn of the dead thing going on, what would i do...my comclusion..u know something is very wrong, dead people walkin around running after others., leave ASAP but have/formulate in advance a safe place. The longer you wait around, the worse its gunna get for you, no matter the situation. A friend years ago, ex military guy, infomred and taught us all in our late teens, miid 90's about the NWO, adn governement coming for yuor guns, or you ect, society collapsing. his answer..get out before things get too thick. remember, if you think yuor safe in yuor home, home bunker..thier are people who are going to be desperate enough to want what you have to survive, and even kill you to possess it now. leave, re grooup, situate, and fight survive for another day. Remember in the early 90's..teens would shoot you in placeslike the bronx and brooklyn, just too have your new sneakers? you have too assume others dont have the best of intentions with you. And being trapped in a house no matter how full proof it seems, is going torequire many people to oversea, form a perimeter around aneighbrohood, defend for that matter..it could be just like sitting in your own casket, just not dead yet. the idea is to get out, before confescation or takeover happens.
example...my fathers mother came to here to america, ellis island, in 1937. Her name was agnes, from Berlin germany. she saw this guy, hitler, coming up in power and somehow knew war was coming, and no good was going to come form germany with this guy. SO she got out before it got worse. and of course it did. she did the smart thing* had she stayed...who knows. allies bombed her and her place to death? russinas could have repeadetly raped her before killing her, maybe even hitler simply didnt like her, or the SS and rounded her up too. who knows. she just by instinct knew..to get out quick.
Of course, thiers a huge differnece, between zombies and NWO. in the movie dawn of the dead, technically, they had it made in the mall!!! ide imagine zombies still rot and fall apart. all they had to do was wait and let time n nature finish em. they were safe in the mall. the glass doors where shatter/bullet proof. doors were welded shut.
in terms of a NWO scenario..my friend had said, he thought it was best to get ito Canana, or norther NY int he woods for a bit, let the heat fly over. it would simply take too much effort, time, guns you and me dont have by comparison to miltiary grade stuff and technology. people will riot, and yuo dont wanna get cought up in that. the stupid ones will stay and pick eachother off, aka thugs, thieves, people running around breaking windows and god knows waht else. those are the same ones whod eventually be rounded up or shot dead. in terms of canada, thats of course, canada hasnt merged wtih america, as well as mexico. safer to bypass the boarders of canada..they cant watch every squar foot of the boarder thier compared to mexico.
find new friends who sympathize and are willing to fight back one day. get enough together to come back and take back what they governemnt took form you, bringing liberty n freedom with you and the wrods of the constitution of the united states. Learn..survival. build a log cabin in the woods, jsut so so its placed strategically, so it camoflages as good as possible into the thickess of the trees in the background.
I dont thnk having a home bunker is a good idea. because yuor very lilmited on movement inc ase thier is an emergency..unless you have an escape route and path, a good mile away form any intruders tryin to make thier way in. Anyone desperate enough to get in, can simply dig away at the ground, and who knows..place thermite charges, explosive on the outter hull of yuor purchased bunker till theyve made a hole to enter through. maybe mess/tamper with your ventilation system so yuo suficate to death in their. too dangerous.

When is it time to go?

That's a great question and I have thought about it over the years.
Everybody say's: When the SHTF I'm going to do "_________" !!

I got news for everyone. When the S has HTF it is too late to do anything.

It's too late to run to Wal-Mart to grab those last minute items,
It's too late to run out and buy a firearm & ammo
It's too late to pack and "head for the hills"
It's too late to try to stock some food.

Consider this. How many Japanese do you think made it to Japanese-Mart to get supplies when the Tsunami came in?

When the SHTF that means THE CRAP HAS ALREADY HIT THE FAN! It's done, It happened already.

The bad thing about sites like this one and others is there are doomsday predictions seemingly daily about something that's going to happen tomorrow, the next day or next week. Everybody basically says, " Well we'll know in a day or two if it's true".

The problem with that is that once you know it's true........ It's already happened. Yep....The Crap has hit the fan.

Just for a hypothetical scenario lets say you live in Phoenix, Arizona. That's Maricopa county.

Maricopa county has about 4 MILLION + people with Phoenix having about 1.5 MILLION people.

Let's say the earthquake, asteroid, nuke, HAARP, Aliens, Chinese or whatever does happen.

Well somebody on ATS predicted it last week and you were just waiting to see if they were right.
Hmmm, Damn they were right because it just happened. Now what to do?

Well you AND 1,499,999 other people have to get out of the city (how fun with that be?)

You have about 90 miles of desert travel to get to anywhere that MIGHT be safer.

I don't know, I am rambling now but the point is that unless your psychic you won't know the fan is clogged till it happens and it most likely will be too late then.

I know people have to work and many have to live in the cities but you may think seriously about getting to a safer starting point for when it does happen.

I am lucky enough to be way outside any large city, my town has less than 13,000 people and it's already in the hills in the middle of a National forest. I will be in the same boat as far as not knowing till it happens but
98% of the chaos I will experience will be on the Tv assuming it's still working. What does go down in my town will be on a so much smaller scale. If I do have to get out of town and "head for the hills" for some reason that spot is less than 25 miles away and in the opposite direction that the city people will be coming from.

ramble, ramble......

Maybe watch the going on's around you more so than the predictions on here. reading a prediction and waiting to see if it's true is a bad scenario waiting to happen.

Any of that make a lick of sense? Probably not.

If so, sorry for wasting your time.

I think real stuff happens very quick in just a few days and the entire world is done. We can take a look at our history when meteorites swept our planet many times. It happened very sudden. I think now you can see clear signs everywhere on earth, so it's just your decision of when you will take an action to bug out. But I suggest that we all should accept the law of nature. All humans will die one day, they can be cautious but in the end as it's time to die no body knows when it is and from what cause. I suggest to spend every moment worth living.

All you can do is be as prepared as you can be and then make a decision when your gut tells you to.

For most people, however, bugging out is not a viable option. Most people (like me) who are trying to be prepared, have food/water/med supplies/guns and ammunition on hand...for stuff like natural disasters, personal financial problems, unemployment, family emergencies...when the actual S hits the actual FAN, most people (like me) have really no place to go...and if we did go, we would be incredibly unprepared to transition into survival mode (all my ancient Girl Scout/church camp training notwithstanding).

You do the best you can...hope (or better PRAY) for the best, then prepare for the worst as well as you can in your situation.

There will be no warning signs for a situation described as SHTF.

You may have a natural disaster like in Japan. That is just a localized emergency. You don't have to run for the hills with your BOB.

You could also have a slowly developing situation like a depression. It won't just be announced one day on the internet. Things you use would just slowly disappear from the stores. If you see that happening, stock up before it's too late.

Everyone who is concerned should begin by stocking food and other necessities. There are plenty of lists available.

Start by preparing for whatever type of natural disaster that your area is prone to. Then expand your preparations.

First, a "bug out" plan is only valuable IF:

-the crisis is localized; i.e., flooding, wildfire, hurricane, chemical spill, or small-ish meteor.

-your preparations in place at the destination are markedly better than your current residence. Meaning, your hovel in midtown suburbia is now worse than living "out in the woods." This is true mostly for those who don't know much about the woods.

-You have few or no connections or "roots" where you currently reside. No spouse, lovers, parents, friends, children, pets or houseplants that you will feel guilty for abandoning.

-the roads are reasonably clear between you and your destination

And most importantly:

-You are prepared for the fallout of what happens to your life if/when it turns out you were wrong.


That last bullet is why no one ever leaves, until their life is totally destroyed.

In my opinion, (for whatever its worth), its time to go if you live within 150 miles of a major city (ie. Charlotte NC, Miami Fl, Los Angeles CA, etc...). Once the masses in those cities realize the shtf, there will mass panic and any small town within that 150 mile radius will, in the minds of the masses, surely have food and supplies, and thats when the real trouble begins...

Just my take on it