Bug-out transportation

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Ideally we will find our place and have our homestead set up before the SHTF. If we do, we’ll just bug in. That’s a much simpler, more doable situation. But if we don’t get moved to our new place in time, we’ll need to have a bug-out plan for how to get there. Chances are good that an emergency that requires bug-out will happen while I’m at work in downtown Houston. I hope not, but if that’s what happens then I’ll need reliable bug-out transportation to get to back to my family.

SHTF Transportation / My Bug Out Vehicle

After reading Going Home by A. American, where the main character walks hundreds of miles before gets back to his family, I decided that I would like to do things a little different. I work about 20 miles from home. That’s not too far, but I’d rather not spend the first hours of an EMP emergency situation, when people are wandering around disoriented and wondering what happened, walking home. With the right bug-out vehicle, I could use that time to get home and get out. Instead of walking, I want to be able to hop into a vehicle and head home. Don’t you? If we are hit by an EMP, then you really need to have a vehicle made prior to 1980. The key is, it has to not have a computer in it. No EFI (electronic fuel injection), no digital radio, and no built in GPS on a screen on the dashboard. It has to be “old.” In the book One Second After the main character’s mother-in-law owned a 1950s Studebaker and a 1965 Ford Mustang, both of which were not affected by an EMP. So I’m thinking of buying a late 1970s truck. Maybe an old Chevy.

If I can find a decent truck that runs, and has a working AC — hello I commute to work and back in the Houston heat — then I can take it to my wife’s uncle, who is an old school mechanic. I could ask him to check it out and help me make it super reliable. Then I could use it as my daily driver, always keeping enough fuel in the truck to make it home.

I would keep a small bug out bag in the truck; with food, water, HAM radio (inside a small Faraday bag of some sort) and a firearm in it. That way, in case of emergency, I could check in with my wife with the HAM, so she doesn’t worry, and to make sure everyone and everything is ready to go. Then I’d drive home quickly before the masses know what is going on.

I’m not sure about additional vehicles at this time. Do we pile all of the kids in the back of the truck and head north? Or do we have a second EMP-proof car — maybe an old VW bug — that we could put the rest of the family in? I think having a hand powered fuel siphon would be a good idea, to get extra fuel from disabled vehicles along they way. Good maps or a road atlas will be important too, with several different routes to our bug-out location highlighted. Routes that avoid major cities whenever possible. I think having an armed passenger who is emotionally prepared to protect and defend against anyone who tries to hurt us or take our stuff will be important, too.

We’ll drive as far as possible, as quickly as possible. I’d hate to have to spend the night in a place that I don’t know during the drive. I guess this all depends on where our Homestead ends up. We aren’t sure, yet, where that will be. But we do know that we’ll be heading north.