Traveling in post SHTF situations

[Grunwald]

I'll certainly agree that a few well trained and equiped operators can hold their own against larger, less trained and/or less well equipped groups! However, consider this very likely post SHTF scenario. A group of several family units of somewhat trained and practiced folks against a group of 40 or so well armed, hungry Hell's Angels, many former military and most veterans of the worst prisons! They are the purist form of human (?) preadotors now, what will they be like in that world when driven by starvation? I mentioned Somalia because these types of groups rule the land, taking what the want, when they want, leaving death, destruction, rape, torture and maiming in their wake. I just don't think that most folks are mentally prepared for what they will face if indeed WORL occurs. I pray we don't find out!

Scumbags like that will seek other, weaker prey if you terminate a few of them.
You've mentioned Samolia, but that is not the best example. These warlords mostly terrorise unarmed and untrained population. There are better examples in Africa. Examples of South African mercenaries taking back oil facilities and shipping routes from so called rebels. We're talking about a handfull of men with special forces background beating battalion strength adverseries. They did it by being smart, stealthy, prepared and efficient.

 

[mud]

im not saying go hermit and flee now but if you are worried move. appt. aways bad place to be.think new orleans/la riots a one to five day ordeal a lot more probable than madd max .but never hurt to be ready for bolth.200 unprepared people panicing with in 300 yards of your door real dangeous

 

[chariot13]

Living on the outskirts of Springfield has got me thinking about my ability to get out of an urban area and to my safehouse in the hills which lies 75 miles north east.

Unfortunatly hunkering down in a apartment complex is not the ideal situation for surviving a SHTF situation. Aside from difficulty of security and extremely close and un prepared neighbors I cannot store more than 2 months of food/water due to space issues.

Ideally I would try to forsee some warning of disaster and get to my BOL ahead of the incident and initial panic. Unfortunatly this is not always the case.

What are the benifits and risks to traveling immediatly after panic ensues, what about two, three weeks after the initial panic?

Is it more dangerous to move within the first day of panic while violence is not as prevalent or wait until things die down and travel then, although those people 3 weeks after meltdown would often be more prone to have the "Me or Him" mindset. Which would be more dangerous?

How long will it take for highways to become clogged, random acts of violence to occur, and general not safe to go outside situations to onset?

of course these figures change from incident to incident but what do YOU think will happen in these circumstances?


- Invasion of a foreign army

- Drastic financial collapse

- Massive disease outbreak

- Large earthquakes

- Hurricane / Severe weather - Hot/Cold

Lets hear what you guys think! i am specifically looking for comments on best ways to travel post incident and best times to travel post incident(Day/Night, Vehicle/on foot, immediatly after/ delayed bug out)
thanks for reading! looking forward to hearing some opinions from other preparedness minded people!

Look at day 1 of the latest shooting, then day 3 and 4, 5 & so forth. Notice it has gotten worse. Thats how it will happen if such a thing you say as SHTF happens. It will get worse n worse the longer you wait. The 'gun n ammo crisis' didn't really take hold till after 2-3 days then it was full blown.

The faster you move when something 'crazy' happens & considered truly SHTF, the better.

 

[mud]

best time for activity travel,gathering,what not set out right befor first light get safe by 10.dirt bags are most active 1200pm to 300am.400am to 1000am animals and hard workers are out

 

[WhyteCheddar]

Much of what I read along these lines seem to focus on individuals.
When you have a family your issues are multiplied.
It seems to me that travel by vehicle would be problematic.
Like others have said, a good dual sport bike seems like the ideal conveyance. But the family thing again.
It makes sense to make your safe location your home if that is at all practical.

 

[Cortes]

I think planning is key for a situation like this where you will be traveling. Make sure you have enough fuel in cans to get to said location and then some, have multiple routes pre-planned out and drive them a head of time and make note where things are along the way, have a secondary location also planned out.

If you have to lets say cross the cascades from Eugene to Bend in winter, and St. Helen's or Hood went off and the ash is dropping you may not be able to drive those roads.

The more you plan, the better off you will be.

This is good advice. I would like to add that "enough fuel in cans" really means twice or more what you think you will need. Anytime spent in stalled traffic, or say in the case of an earthquake, bridges down everywhere, you will burn up way more fuel than just zipping down the freeway at 70 mph.

And keep it rotated. What is being called "fuel" these days doesn't have the shelf life that it used to. It'd be pretty disappointing to dump a 5 gallon can of separated water, rust and ethanol into your vehicle and make it unusable in the middle of nowhere.

So true. If you buy non ethanol premium, which is available all over, treat it with PRI-G, it will be fine in most automobiles for 2 years. It may not work in a high performance motorcycle but in general it will burn fine.

 

[crazytrpr]

I suggest that you have a good mountain bike available. A person is good shape can cover 30 to 80 miles in a day. This is of course dependent on the situation.

True dat. with traffic jams or impassible roads a mountain bike would do a city slicker like me best as a bugout or bug in vehicle

 

[revjen45]

Ural | Russian Sidecar Motorcycles
A bike with a sidehack and power takeoff to the hack wheel seems a good thing to consider.

 

[8ball]

If we have a big quake, it's likely all bridges and most roads and waterways will be useless. You can't get to the water in your bug out kayak if there is quarter of a mile of liquefied soil and wreckage blocking the way. Look at the photos of the 64 quake in Alaska, then multiply it by two.

So if your house is still standing, I think everyone should have a bug in plan as an absolute minimum.