The Prepper’s Conundrum: To Bug in or Bug Out? (Pt. 1)

reply to post by abeverage

Familiarity of surroundings is good to have, but sometimes one will find themselves to be for all intents and purposes lost. I rode my bicycle with a trailer hauling camping gear, supplies and a dog from Florida to Wisconsin in 2011, and realized there really are no good maps, plenty you can pay good money for, but mostly useless. I was a surveyor / forward observer in the military, so being lost was something I wasn't accustomed to being for very long.

Libraries and google earth were way more valuable than maps, most android devices have enough memory to store an entire trip across the country in good imagery without online access, you can literally see where you are by noting cell towers and water features etc., avoid traveling at night if possible.

You have to pick up anything you can use along the way, protect what you have, and look for a place to disappear at about two fists before sundown. The things that have to be picked up are, in order of importance, water, food, cooking fuel and anything else that comes up short.

Anyway, I just thought I would share that, I actually did this and really had fun after I got done being fearful of things beyond my control like getting run over, and mean "Free Dogs" as we began to call them. Being in the wilderness is discouraged by nearly everybody for some reason, maybe because many don't consider it to be in their best interest for you to realize how good freedom actually feels.

I plan on doing it again soon, but don't plan to stop for a lot longer, maybe never.



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Depends on what exactly happens and where exactly it happens, and where you are when it happens, doesn't it? And until it does, you won't know, so prepare for every possibility.

tweetybird0428
(i told you people that Obama was bad news did anybody listen? nnnnoooooo....but now you see.....it could have been different, it didn't need to end like this.....oh well i guess i'll see ya at camp. )

Were you a child or just unconscious for the years before Obama?

Read through some of the threads on this site about this very topic and then just hang your head.

I swear some of you people just make me cringe.

Thanks for the thread, it's appreciated and let's face it, timely!

Here's a video I watched earlier today. It's also timely, even if she comes off a little on the condescending side lol!



Her channel is very informative for the most part.

MyHappyDogShiner
reply to post by MyHappyDogShiner

 

Buy a good bicycle and spare parts, learn how to fix it yourself. The only real gear you have to have are cold weather gear, wet weather gear and sleeping gear, some food to carry to supplement you in times where you have too little luck fishing or hunting or foraging. Pick anything you can find up as you go.

This sounds so easy but I wish it were so. What about when you have family you have to travel with? Especially children. I agree though, I would rather get an early move on and head toward the mountains before the SHTF. But again . . . kids . . .

MyHappyDogShiner
reply to post by abeverage

 

Libraries and google earth were way more valuable than maps, most android devices have enough memory to store an entire trip across the country in good imagery without online access, you can literally see where you are by noting cell towers and water features etc., avoid traveling at night if possible.

You have to pick up anything you can use along the way, protect what you have, and look for a place to disappear at about two fists before sundown. The things that have to be picked up are, in order of importance, water, food, cooking fuel and anything else that comes up short.

. . . Being in the wilderness is discouraged by nearly everybody for some reason, maybe because many don't consider it to be in their best interest for you to realize how good freedom actually feels.

I plan on doing it again soon, but don't plan to stop for a lot longer, maybe never.



]

You, sir, sound absolutely amazing to me right now. However, as far as google maps and all those electronic maps, I mean, if an EMP attack were to occur, those wouldn't be of much use, would they?

Also, I think the thing isn't so much about being discouraged by the wilderness. I think it has to do with the fact that our minds have been conditioned so much that we are scared that we wouldn't survive a day out there. We have adapted to our luxury/commodities that we just don't see any other way of living and if it did get to that point, it would mean we were desperate or had gotten to the breaking point. IMO.

IrishCream
Thanks for the thread, it's appreciated and let's face it, timely!

Here's a video I watched earlier today. It's also timely, even if she comes off a little on the condescending side lol!

Her channel is very informative for the most part.

Tried to view it but it won't play.

reply to post by Kmhotaru


Yeah I just saw that myself, *sigh*. I'll get the hang of this embedding/linking stuff eventually lol!

Let me try again, it really is worth checking out!!



In case it doesn't work; her cannel is ThePatriotNurse and the video title is "How to Spend Your Prepping Money? FOCUS!". She has tons of info available on YouTube and her website.

Btw, I am not trying to market for her because she does have things for sale and she does seminars for a fee. I haven't bought anything from her, simply gained knowledge from what she shares for free... I can get behind free knowledge lol!



Edit: Crap, didn't work... maybe she has some kind of block or something?!

reply to post by Kmhotaru

One adult hauling gear and the other hauling the kids, of course there is always the risk of getting smeared by a car, but when I was using my cycletote trailer on the road people were really careful around me because they though I was hauling kids in my trailer. We did come over the smokies on the way, best to stay in the foothills, the roads are narrow and the curves and hills will leave one in a state of what amounts to being blind most of the time with no margin for safely vacating the roadway if a crazy cage monkey with a death-wish slides through.

I noticed also, that people were fine with us being around as long as we left after we rested up, a few times we were even brought breakfast in the morning, several times we were given money. There are some out of the way places where you can stay for one or two days, like boat landings, athletic field complexes etc., when the weather is bad nobody blames you for sitting it out in a park shelter for a bit.

I did learn that there are ways through the mountains that the outdoorsmen know about which are dirt tracks running through the lowlands and riverways after we fought our way over the tops on the roads. there are usually ways through where the rivers run where you can get a bicycle and trailer through, but be watchful for a higher spot to go to in case of the river rising rapidly from rain upstream.

Anyway, having kids along is not unworkable, and if I had kids I would be practicing for the worst case scenario, better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

I wouldn't worry so much about an EMP, as it would imply a nuclear explosion, and that being as destructive to everything as it would be would deprive the "monarchy / ruling / religious leaders " types of resources to hold hostage when this whole mess restarts and cycles through again, and again, and again, as it always has and always will.

Once one sees those who believe themselves to be in charge are full of bullspit, it's really easy to free your mind for more fun thoughts.

Be free, don't be afraid.

It's impossible to know what you'll be dealing with when the SHTF. So yes, you need to have contingency plans. For some people the only viable option is bugging-out. Obviously if the nature of the S that HTF renders your current location non-viable you'll have to BO no matter. Locations in or near high population densities also require BO. In HPD areas essential resources will be depleted in frighteningly short amounts of time. Just look at recent weather emergencies (even though non-crisis events) and see how quickly food stores are emptied. The government will work quickly to relocate people out of HPD areas and into refugee facilities (FEMA camps if you must) in an attempt to maintain order. Keep something in mind, they won't be doing it to take care of the people. They will be doing it to protect the infrastructure. As the enormity of the SHTF situation dawns on people they will panic and civil order will implode. Essential services will begin to collapse as workers defect to be with their families. Police, Fires, Hospital, Utilities will be effected. For these reasons getting out of HPD areas early is critical.

TPTB will quickly begin to restrict travel. So BO won't be a matter of packing up the family roadster and heading for the hills. The worst possible scenario, IMO, is to get caught mid-BO in a mass evacuation. So unless sheltering in-place is a non-starter due to strategic or tactical concerns, that IMO is your best option. There are just too many variables launching yourself into unfamiliar geography during a mass crisis/panic.

Your first order of business --- now --- is to objectively assess your SIP location. How sustainable, defensible, and non-reliant is it. Do you rely on public utilities for water? Is food available? Fuel? Can you shelter and heat your location entirely off-the-grid? Can you defend it? How easily could your water supply (non-utility) be polluted? Refugees from HPD areas will follow major roads out of their areas. How exposed is your location to those routes? If the relative risks indicate that SIP is your best option you should be preparing it now. You should have a written household plan, be stockpiling what you will need, have aerial photos of your area, etc. and, of course, have an evacuation plan if it comes to that.

So many variables, but as a general rule, those who moved rather than dig in had a higher chance to survive.. I guess grab as much intel at the time and make the best guess..

As one poster said, it's good to have contingency plans..

Huge country, Russia, Canada, USA, fine, small country, not so good, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, England, wales, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Ex Yugoslavia, just where would all those people bug out to?
Bugging out totally depends on the size of the country, Just supposing All 8,000,000 Londoners (England) leave that city, just where would they go? with 54,000,000 already in the places the Londoners are headed?
In some parts of the world, bugging out is just not an option.

The ole lady's mom has ten acres in the river bottoms. Above the flood plain that is.

She lives with pretty mininum everything.

Horses, guns, wooded property, and farm animals.

Better plan than some and not as good as others.

I try to avoid the survivalist obsessions with mob violence and martial law. I prepare and plan for those, sure. But a lot more probable scenarios are even more important to prepare for:

-being victimized by ID theft
-having your house burn down in a fire! ( annual odds: 1 in 260)
-loss of utilities during a storm
-loss of income due to recession/depression
-burglars

Several of those are not mitigated by "bugging out," which is a passe military term for abandoning a fixed position.

Before you abandon a position, I think the question should be, "How good is the position you are leaving."

If you live in a third-floor apartment, in view of a highway, and more than a mile from even the nearest grocery, I'd say you're in deep mud. On the other hand, if you live in a rural county out of sight of the paved road, with your own windmill and your own chickens on a wooded lot above some decent acreage, you'd be giving up an ideal position.

The next question is, toward what are you falling back?

Taking your chances in the woods in normal conditions is an enjoyable risk that heightens the senses as well as the feeling of liberty. Taking to the woods after the collapse of civic order, just as Autumn is really coming on, could be either ingenious or depraved.

Because after a month of real winter, there won't be a lot of folks left in the woods. The folks that ARE there probably won't feel like sharing.

If that's your thing, dude; then by all means do it. Don't let anyone else talk you out of it. Your skills and knowledge give you what you need, and you are ready to overcome the various difficulties that are never expected, but which always arrive. Appendicitis. Toothache. A broken leg. But you've got the training such that you could treat those anywhere.

rickymouse
I'm just planning on ignoring the people trying to get me to leave. Who wants to leave your nice warm house just because someone says there is a possible disaster brewing.(

I'm with you, rickymouse. Surviving in the wild, even for a little while, can be brutal, especially if conditions are harsh. I aim to stay in my home as long as I can but be prepared to leave if we have to.

The advantages of being in your own home? You have friends and neighbors nearby. You have all your "stuff" handy and you know where it is. You have the psychological advantage of knowing your territory, knowing the sounds of your home and neighborhood, being able to sleep in your own bed, etc.

I have survived outdoors, but when push comes to shove there really is no place like home.

reply to post by dawnann7


I did a real lot of camping when I was younger. I even lived out of a customized van for two summers. I lived in a fifth wheel for a year also. It is a lot more fun living in your home. It was a time of my life when I enjoyed it, I was young and healthy. For those who want to do that it is fine. My daughter has friends all over the world that she can stay with if she wants to go. She inherited her ability to get along with people from me I think. My wife was very antisocial when I met her, preferring to just talk to a few friends. She got a job working for WIC a while ago and now whenever she goes to the store she is talking to someone or another. What a change. I don't know why she wants to retire, she says she doesn't like her job yet she is on facebook talking to her coworkers all the time. Maybe she doesn't realize that when she leaves she will no longer be part of the group. Being among your kind is always good for part of the day, it keeps your energy level up. On top of that, if you are busy you do not have the time to die.

I think it is wise to take every situation on its own merits.
Look at situations like Palistien, Katrina, Syria, fukushima, Detroit...etc

Also I think one should try off the grid when it isn't nesessary so one really knows what will matter

Always depends on the situation, but 9 times out of 10, people plan on bugging out to where I moved decades ago.
Go figure how that one is gonna work out.