James Wesley:
With respect to “Marc in NJ”‘s comments posted on 3/6/07 – He recommends that if one is a bachelor, then getting an apartment/condo near work (in the city) to use as a forward base, then
have a truck to haul things. If you’re going to do that, why not go with a motor home/RV and rent a spot at a mobile home park ? No need to pack, just be on your way.
Might not work in really big cities where such places are hard to find, or you may have to do some interesting negotiations with a parking garage near work.
A smaller RV, something like a mini-Wini, wouldn’t be much less maneuverable than a pickup, would have more amenities and you could keep things organized in it better than a panic-packing of your condo into the back of a pickup.
You do have a trade off on the 2WD rather than 4WD issue. But if you’re in that much of an urban area, there isn’t that much unpaved out there. I do have to disagree with you a bit on the “Golden Horde“/”300 mile” rule. I think you’re right about people going into a mass exodus of the cities, but I think most of them are going to be trying to go to some destination – Grandma’s house, Uncle Fred’s place, etc. People being what they are, that will have them following major transport arteries.
I think being off of those by several miles will lead to “out of sight, out of mind” for most of the refugees.
Consider the pictures of WWII refugees walking along the side of the roads – when there’s wide fields nearby. They’re all following the road, heading for presumed safety, not spreading out over the country side.
I think folks will stay on the interstate or US highway until they run low on gas, then get off at the exit and try to refuel. If they can’t, they’ll start walking their original course for the place they’ll
think is safe, rather than spreading out at random over the countryside.
I agree that 300 miles from anywhere is safer, but I think that “a day and a nights walk for a couch potato from the interstate” is a decent buffer if you can’t get the 300 miles. If you’re 20-to-40 miles from the interstate, then you’re outside the distance that Mr & Mrs Joe Q. Video will walk after he runs out of gas in the minivan, and the DVD stops playing, and the kids start whining.
And, sad to say, they’re the most likely prey for Mabu & the Barbarian Horde… which means the Horde will mostly likely sweep 10-15 miles to
either side of the interstate to scoop up prey. Just my opinion – Take care, – Jeff
JWR Replies: It is not so much the refugees that worry me–it is the dedicated looters. (The members of what Kurt Saxon dubbed “Killer Caravans.”) The looters that are both clever and resourceful will be willing to burn up lots of precious gasoline looking for isolated houses and farms that look like easy pickings. (They won’t want to risk taking significant casualties.) By bursting through the doors of the “right” houses at o-dark-early, they know that they’ll A.) find at most two adult defenders, who’ll they hope to catch sleeping, and B.) they’ll find plenty of food and fuel so that they can continue their rampage. Statistically, a looter will probably survive no more than 4 or 5 such encounters, over the course of several weeks or months. So after six months or so, there won’t be many looters left in business. Picking a retreat that is 300 miles from a major metropolitan center and that is away from channelized areas or refugee lines of drift will drastically reduce your chances of ever having such uninvited visitors. In essence, it will be suburban NRA members that live closer to the cities that will be slugging it out with the looters. They will be thinning them out for you. I hate to sound Machiavellian about this, but better them than me. I want to live to a ripe old age and enjoy bouncing grandbabies on my knee.