Getting out of the city -- 600 mile trek

[Catholicnerd]

My wife and I are in a position that a lot of you might be in: we live in a fairly large American city, roughly 600 miles away from our nearest relatives. While we do have bug-out property, it's on the other side of the country, and we would probably only be able to get there with plenty of advance warning.

What sort of plans do you have in place to make contact with your parents, siblings, etc. in the event of a regional disaster? Given where we live, car travel would most likely be out of the realm of possibility (it practically is on a normal day). Even if we could get the car out of the city, we'd need another tank-and-a-half of gas to get where we're going. And because we live in a high-rise apartment, we can't exactly keep jerry cans in our living room...

We have plans to hike out at this point, but it will take at least two weeks at a pretty good clip to get up there. Have any of you confronted the possibility of long-distance hiking? How have you prepared for it?

 

[Deborah K]

No, haven't considered long distance hiking. We live in a rural town in the mountains, on land. We have a dig-in plan and 2 bug-out plans that include friends and family. No hiking strategy though.

 

[phill4paul]

If your bug out pack isn't handy then it's not really a bug out pack.

If I were you I would make up a simpler pack to get you as far as you need to go.

Then I would start checking the local Goodwill and other second hand shops for some bikes. I found an 18 speed FS Elite w/ brand new knobby tires last week for $25. Either that or a 50cc motor scooter.

 

[tmosley]

It shouldn't be a problem. Keep some gold in your apartment and you can use that to bribe your way across the country. You can either use it to buy gas, or to get a lift, or even to get on an airline or someone's private plane. Hell, you could use it to rent a helicopter for a day.

This is the best reason to keep at least a few ounces of gold. Gold will get you where you want to go, no matter what the circumstances.

 

[TruckinMike]

Don't forget silver and/or low weight gold pieces. You don't want to let go of an ounce of gold when a few pieces of silver might do fine.

I have pre-64 half dollars, 1 oz silver, and 1 oz gold pieces

Good insurance.

TMike

 

[mt4rp]

A map of train tracks towards your destination. (a) you could hop a train (b) Follow the tracks visually from a secure distance (out of sight, out mind)

 

[JoshLowry]

A map of train tracks towards your destination. (a) you could hop a train (b) Follow the tracks visually from a secure distance (out of sight, out mind)

Pretty clever way to travel in a SHTF scenario.

 

[Catholicnerd]

All good suggestions. We're slowly building up our hard currency reserves. Just silver at the moment, but we'll get that gold soon enough.

Thankfully there are Union Pacific tracks all the way up our planned route, but I'm worried that if S really HTF the Feds will be guarding the trains or the infrastructure will be so badly damaged that the trains won't be running. I'm also worried about being preyed upon by less-than-savory types who'll be following the tracks as well. Best to stay out of visual range, I agree.

 

[ryanduff]

A map of train tracks towards your destination. (a) you could hop a train (b) Follow the tracks visually from a secure distance (out of sight, out mind)

Not when those trains are heading to FEMA camps!!!

 

[tmosley]

All good suggestions. We're slowly building up our hard currency reserves. Just silver at the moment, but we'll get that gold soon enough.

Thankfully there are Union Pacific tracks all the way up our planned route, but I'm worried that if S really HTF the Feds will be guarding the trains or the infrastructure will be so badly damaged that the trains won't be running. I'm also worried about being preyed upon by less-than-savory types who'll be following the tracks as well. Best to stay out of visual range, I agree.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. Not many people really think of trains these days. You might meet some vagabonds, but as long as you have a pistol (preferably more than one for each person capable of handling them), and keep a watch (ie at least one person is awake at all times), you ought to be fine. You will probably be leaving before things get so bad that the trains stop running (even if money was worthless tomorrow, the trains would still run for at least a few days on the fuel they have as cargo owners seek to trade for hard currency).