Hey, look at that, my truck is skidding. Oh and now I’m sideways on the highway. There’s the snowbank. Aaaand now I’m upside down.
It was January 4th, 2014. The only reason I remember the date is because the Chiefs lost the most ridiculous playoff game ever that day. And I was at home watching it on the sofa, nursing a sore body because I had flipped my truck on the way to work.
Back to the accident.
As I hung there upside down I went through the mental checklist.
Not bleeding. Nothing’s on fire. Don’t smell gas. Woohoo, a successful crash!
I unbuckled myself and realized I was going to have to trek through deep January snow in sub-zero temperatures. Fortunately I always travel with emergency gear in the car. I scrambled around and changed out my sneakers for snow boots, then retrieved a thick down jacket I kept behind the passenger seat, put on my Gore-Tex gloves, and climbed out into the cold.
Thanks to a good Samaritan, I didn’t have to walk the twenty or so miles to the nearest shelter. But I could have walked it, and that’s the point of this post. We need to be ready to roll at any time, in any circumstance.
Evacuations, Everywhere
You may have noticed that people are having to evacuate a lot lately. It used to be that forest fires and floods were seasonal eventualities that only rarely turned catastrophic. Nowadays we have toxic train derailments and industrial plants exploding with the frequency of Blockbuster Video Jiffy Pop on a 90’s Friday night. Has the world really gotten that much more dangerous, or is something else afoot?
I used to live in Southern California’s Conejo Valley where wildfire ash raining down was a yearly thing, but we never came close to ever having to evacuate. Wildfires used to threaten homes only in the most dire of circumstances, but today they come up out of nowhere and wreak unfathomable destruction. Of the twenty largest fires in CA history, twelve of them have occurred since 2017, with exponential devastation in acreage and structural damage.
In Maui the climate-change-induced-perfectly-natural-3000 degree-wildfire reduced houses and bodies to ash in minutes, and incinerated metal even though the Pacific ocean was only a few feet away. Those trying to flee were instead boxed into a kill zone with nowhere to go but the ocean, yet it also torched boats on the water. What would you have done?
Floods and hurricanes have always damaged cities, but the last twenty or so years seems to have upped the frequency. If you’re looking for a science project for your kid this fall, have them research how geoengineering, cloud seeding, and solar radiation modification, can jack up the weather across the globe. Remember the days when widespread haze wasn’t a frequent, predictable weather pattern that had highly precise start and end points? Remember real clouds and blue sky?
We’ll save the methods and motives of these events for another day, but heed the warning: These disasters, natural or man-made, may be coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
Do you live near train tracks, industrial processing, or chemical facilities? Do you live in a flood plain or fire hotspot? Look around your county and start thinking about the potential of a sudden evacuation, then ask yourself if you’re ready to bug out should the air raid sirens start blaring or your phone chirps that grating Emergency Broadcast System…or even if you suddenly see Russians parachuting out of the sky (I’ve been preparing for that one since 1984). If you’re ready for those things, great. If not, let’s talk about it.
Bug Out Basics
I don’t like to run away. I’m more of a stand-your-ground kind of guy but sometimes you don’t have a choice in the matter. How you bug out and what you take with you may vary depending on where you are, what you’re fleeing from, or when you’re fleeing, or where you might have to flee to. Let’s begin by looking in our pockets.
Everyday Carry
No, I’m not referring to guns here, but we’ll get to that later. What is in your pockets, right now. If you don’t have pockets, what can you grab in a split second while running out the door? A phone? Probably most of us could grab that and it’s a good start. How about a pocket knife? You might want to start carrying one, even a small one can help immensely for any number of purposes, and were you forced to flee your home in a hurry you’ll soon find it an invaluable tool. In addition to the knife, I always have a flashlight, tactical pen, and a little cash in my pocket just in case I need to go somewhere or do something unexpectedly — like break a car window to get in or out of a vehicle, or cut the restraints to get a child out of a carseat in a flood. Get in the habit of thinking what you’d do if you had to leave pronto, and keep a few things on you.
Bug Out Bags
For your home you’ll want to create what preppers call a bug out bag. This should be a backpack, something you can hang by the door or keep in your car, with straps you can throw over your shoulder in a hurry and carry for miles, days, or weeks if necessary. Keep it stocked with water bottles, purification tablets, socks, energy bars, canned food, a lighter, knit hat, cash, thermal blanket, basic first aid supplies, a multi-tool, feminine hygiene products, thermal underwear, paracord, lip balm, a warm jacket, solar charger (for phones, radios, or flashlights), and a hand crank radio. You can purchase one at varying costs but you’ll save a ton of money customizing your own.
If you’re a gun person you’ll also be wise to keep a firearm, holster, extra magazines, and ammo in it as well (or near enough to it to grab in a hurry).
If you have pets, keep some leashes and/or pet carriers ready to deploy. There are plenty of collapsible options that take up minimal space.
Taking these preliminary steps are relatively cheap (starting at around $100, not including the gun) and effective means for ensuring you’ll have at least a fighting chance out on the street when the stuff gets real. But let’s take it to the next level and extend our reach a little.
Vehicles
If you’ve made it outside and can get to your vehicle, you’ll hopefully have plenty of gas in the tank. If not, your first stop should be to fill up. If you’re fleeing your home, grab a few of those stored gas cans we talked about in part I. I have a friend who once fled a hurricane and had to travel through several states before finding an operational gas station (cool story; God miraculously kept the car running). Keep some gas handy or get to the station before it closes or runs out of petrol.
Now that you’ve got the gas, be ready to react to hazards. Every vehicle should always have a first-aid kit and some food. Period. A good, compact first aid kit will cost around $60 and it’s worth every penny. But you should also purchase a quality tourniquet for around $30 to keep in it. DO NOT buy cheap Made-in-China for anything I’m recommending, especially tourniquets. Here’s a great source for stocking up your first aid kits both at home and for the road. We’ve got a small medical grab-and-go bag on top of our fridge that can mitigate pretty much any injury short of next level EMT stuff.
As for food, you can always buy a box of high calorie energy bars, dried peanut butter, nuts, or canned goods (for warm climates or summer months). Anything with a long shelf life and high calories is the goal.
Keep in your vehicle a paperback Bible, journal, a compact survival or medical book, and some activity books and drawing stuff for the kids.
In a separate backpack in each vehicle you can store a few old blankets, jackets, shoes, socks, and hats for each family member— this is where we banish the ugly but highly functional articles, like the KC Chiefs gear my grandma used to send me every year. Stock them with the ones that nobody wears anymore and won’t be missed, like old sneakers that your kids can no longer wear to church but could travel 100 miles in through the woods. You’d be amazed how many clothes you can fit inside a $5.00 thrift store backpack.
If space allows, you should also have a basic tool set, extra motor oil, coolant, a tarp*, more water, and a tire repair kit stored long term in your vehicles. Also more ammo, and possibly a collapsible baby stroller or rolling cart of some kind. The stroller might seem unnecessary, but if you’re forced to ditch your vehicle and walk, you’ll be happy you thought of it.
* A better option than a tarp is to waterproof an old bed sheet. It’s much more versatile and durable in the long run. Here’s a how-to video.
There are some options for vehicle-mounted gun safes, but I’m not a fan of leaving guns in cars, even if locked and hidden. People steal stuff all the time. A survival ax or machete on the other hand are good things to keep in the trunk, and they won’t break the bank if someone jacks them.
Lastly, I choose not to live in a flood plain, but if I did, I’d have a boat. Just sayin’.
Where To?
Now that you’re on the road and stocked up for a few days, where should you go? It’s time to start thinking about that now. Do you have like-minded friends or family members who will take you in? Can you safely get to a pre-arranged destination on foot or by vehicle while thousands (maybe millions) of others are running for their lives? Think about it now. Run a few scenarios through your head and then ask those folks what they’d do in the event of a regional disaster.
This is a good time to point out that in the event of an emergency, the authorities are not your friend. We’ve been conditioned for years to “await instructions” from the government about what to do, where to go, and how to conduct ourselves in an emergency. That needs to change. The past three years should have made it painfully clear that some governing authorities have zero interest in your personal safety. They’re concerned only with following the plans and orders of others — often idiots or maniacs — above them, and will do so even if it places innocent lives in jeopardy. Cops, firefighters, and national guardsmen join up to serve and protect their communities, yet there are multiple examples of each of these authority figures unwittingly getting it wrong, often with deadly consequences.
The rule of thumb should therefore be to get as far away from other people as possible. Take to the hills, a friend’s place, a remote cabin, a campsite, a dusty road in the middle of nowhere, etc. If you’ve got nowhere else to go, find yourself a piece of wilderness and lay low for a few days till you can get some decent information about the state of the world around you. And crack open that Bible.
While fleeing the fires on Lahaina, 18-year-old Junior Vasquez had the wherewithal to get to his siblings and elders and drive them to safety. Amidst the chaos he was confronted by police officers who directed him to turn onto Front Street. He defied them and followed his instincts instead, taking a different route and saving his family in the process. Nearly out of gas, he was able to connect with his mother, Makeleta. Those who turned onto the street the police directed them toward died. Makeleta credits God with directing her son, but his courage to take charge and do what love does, shepherd those in need to safety was also key.
Their story should serve as the winning template: Get out and get moving and be willing to take authority of your own circumstances, no matter who tells you otherwise. Have gear and the means to get your loved ones to safety in the middle of the day or the middle of the night, while sitting in a movie theater, or commuting on your way to work. Disasters happen. So do EMPs, mass shootings, and invasions, so prepare now for what you’d do if you had to run for your life, maybe in the middle of winter. These are scary scenarios to ponder, but as with all things, follow the Holy Spirit and your gut instincts; go where they direct you, and He’ll always clear a path for you in the storm. And never, ever, blindly follow the static action plan of a low-level government yes-man.
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This is the third installment in my ongoing Prepping for the Apocalypse series. Check out the previous post, and keep an eye out later this year for Part IV: HAM Radio.
Prepping For The Apocalypse…With Seven Kids In Tow
Prepping For The Apocalypse With Seven Kids In Tow: Part II, EMPs
Or more about preparing to meet the everyday dangers around us:
Condition One: When Tenths of a Second Matter
Looking for a fun new story to share as a family? Check out The Dread Pirate Roberts, my fan fiction sequel to The Princess Bride now available for free in its entirety.
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