When its time to Bug out in an emergency

[Lakota Wolf]

If your in any of the areas of the evacuation in or around Florida, and you have to bug out,,Take your RV, (if you have one road ready). With the mass amount of people vacating, Motels and hotels  are booked and packed solid, and several evacuation relief centers are at max capacity.

Several RV Parks in safe zones are offering free spaces to park and Walmart and Sports centers and malls are also open for parking.

When you do *bug out with your RV, fill your fresh water tank with fresh water, (bottled water gets sold out quickly), Take as much dry food and non persihables as possible, (Dont overload your RV).

Keep a portable radio flashlights and batteries, Be safe with candles.

If possible,, locate propane station and top off tanks or grab a couple small ones for spares. Expect the worse, and hope for the best,

In large groups of RV'ers,, they will pull together in their own way and make things run smooth. If you have en external genset, DO NOT TRANSPORT EXTRA GAS IN THE RV.

Take important papers and put them in quality zip lock bags, And ONLY take take what is nessasarry,,, Your funiture and TV and other electronics can be replaced, YOU CANT. You have a slight advantage with an RV,, You wont have to find a shelter to hunker down it till the threat is over,, You have a home on wheels and can move farther away from the threat if need be,, and if your going to another familys home,, you wont be putting them out,, You will have your own accomidations while visiting and waiting.  Be safe,,

[Lakota Wolf]

To some this may sound like an inconveience, especially if you only camp once or twice a year,(possibly more). But have you and family really have a Bug out plan conceived?

(A Bug out is term meaning time to go, drop that juicebox, lets go)

At least, once a year ,maybe on a lazy day,, your RV sitting in its parking spot, Out of the blue, practice your bug out,, Have each person know a particular duty,(Family with kids),Who grabs what, who gets the pets etc. It may sound silly, But it can be very serious when the *bird droppings hit the fan and everyone runs around like their head with its body cut off.

Take a simple hour out of your day,, I know, its unusual punishment if your kids have to put down their video game,, But its only an hour,, I think they will live,,, worse case they will only need 10 or so years of therapy. Run your plan like a fire drill.  Make the scenario, a huge wildfire is just over the ridge and fast moving,, An Earthquake hit, or a Chemical factory just went Boom. Sounds silly just make believe, But this stuff DOES happen. How long will it take for you to get your stuff together and get outta Dodge?  (sorry kids,, the Nintendo,Playstation and WII  cant go,,) Can you hook up your trailer quickly AND safely? Do you have important papers,Food,water, paper products,(Toilet paper is essential, seriously) Clean clothes? And no you dont need to take that evening gown or that Tuxedo, And shoes,,, well lets play it safe and  say 2 pair for each person, (I know of some women who will want to take all 4,000 pair, but common, be realistic). Do you have your escape route planned? Fuel topped off, Quickest route and a rough idea on destination?  These are only a few things to consider. But most importantly Have a Game plan set and practice it, so everything goes smooth.

P.S. Its just my Wife and I, and I will several times a year, do my hookup,(besides inspection time), just to time myself on how long it will take me to hook and book. Not rushing, my time is less then 1 hr from start to finish). Think Smart and think ahead, And most of all be prepared and safe.

[Ralph Javins]

Good niorning, Lakota ?Wolf, Daniel, and Russ; 

     Gentlemen, thank you.  Yes, this topic certainly is current.  The suggestions and comments are  applicable for any time of the year and for all locations.  Having a mobile and moveable residence does make responding to a true emergency much more practical. 

     One of my justifications for having the Winnebago Elandan is for just exactly this kind of a possible need.  And it is surprising what can come up that might require a fairly fast move to a safer place.  Today we are seeing such things as forest and rangeland fires that can come up in ways that are not expected (a 15 year old boy playing with fireworks in Oregon just recently), now a series of three (3) hurricanes or tropical storms in succession for Florida, and I thought that I was quite safe up here in the Pacific Northwest, until 1980 May 18 when Mount Saint Helens went off.  California is not the only place with earthquakes; the New Madrid Fault along a section of the Mississippi River could do it again.  And we are not yet truly sure of the long term effects that the "fracking" technique for petroleum and natural gas drilling is going to do over an extended time period.  We do know that Oklahoma has had thousands of relatively small earthquakes over the last few years, but we do not yet know the long term outlook.   It is looking like there really is not a truly "safe" place to be just about anywhere in the United States.  All of us seem to have some sort of hazard somewhere nearby. 

     The Idea of keeping your RV loaded with fuel and at least enough supplies to keep you going for a couple of weeks without any outside support does look like a really good plan to consider.  While freeze-dried food has been a recommended long term food system, there are many regular products in our local grocery stores that have a long term storage life also, and they are much less expensive. 

     Yes, take some time to consider how your RV could become a place of refuge if the normal place where you are becomes untenable for some reason.  Lakota Wolf, Daniel, Russ, again, thank you. 

Enjoy; 

Ralph 

Latté Land, Washington 

[Daniel Long]

I've been keeping at least a 1/2 tank of gas (more like 3/4 or full) in my main with about 15 gallons of gas in jerry cans nearby. The LP tank is always topped off and the stock of canned goods and such is always around. Dry stuff like the Ramen noodles and mac and cheese is also around. Good point about the water tank! I found that having that topped off works out great. You can always find some place to dump the grey and black tanks when needed....

[Russell E Johnson]

Great words of wisdom, Lakota. It always pays to do some preparation work ahead of time. Keeping a fresh stock of food stuff for the RV requires some extra work but it does make getting things together much easier. We usually kept the MMP stocked with all paper products, soaps, personal use items, etc. that are all non perishable. In a matter of 60 minutes we can be on the road because all the food stuff is boxed up--just grab and go. Of course the MMP is not in travel mode right now, some fool decided to repair the delamination LOL. Be safe and leave early all you who are in the path of Irma.