Category: G. O. O. D.

Letter Re: Railroad Routes for G.O.O.D. Ways Out of Town

Jim,     Thanks for your help and support for all of us that are closet preppers working our daily grind but having this subject always in the back of our mind.  My job takes me to the west side of Washington state weekly and I live on the east side in a rural setting.  I know I am not alone with the thought of “how am I going to get home” if a sudden event happens.   As you have talked about, railroad lines are an option.  One can purchase a railroad atlas online that is helpful in thinking …


My Path To Preparedness, by C.R.H.

Many people feel the need to be prepared for TEOTWAWKI or SHTF situations, and I am one of those people. I do not know what leads other people down the path to preparedness and preparation but the answer for me would just be a simple case of awareness because of the close to home disasters that have happened in my lifetime. My father (a Vietnam veteran) taught me to always be reasonably prepared for any situation because you never know what can go wrong, and he led by example by keeping food stores, first aid and medical supplies, and emergency …


Letter Re: The Queensland Floods

Jim, I’m almost 58 years old –  have lived in North Queensland (“Qld”) most of my life.  This is the worst flooding in Qld that I can remember – it is so widespread.  I have a house in Townsville, but have spent most of the last two years at my retreat area, 4.5 hours by car from here, and Townsville does not usually experience a lot of rain.  However, found myself in Townsville before Christmas, and the road then flooded over at Ingham, and was not able to drive to my retreat area to be with my daughter for Christmas …


ATVs for Preppers, by S.K.

I am sure that there are many out there that have four wheelers or other all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) part of their prepping. These are a great addition for many reasons. First they are able to get decent fuel mileage (will vary on terrain and driving style), they can carry a lot more weight than you could carry on your back, and they can cover lots of terrain that a full size vehicle would have difficulty if even possible. They are great in carrying a Get out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) bag because they can have racks mounted on the front and …


A Christmas Gift for the Unprepared — The Starter Prep Kit, by Sean F.

Christmas isn’t what the television commercials would have you believe. It’s not about diamond jewelry, new cars or power tools. It’s not about trinkets and treasures and toys. It’s not about online shopping and last minute bargains. It’s about love. Not love of possessions or material wealth, but love for friends and family. And because you love them, you naturally want them to be happy and safe. In easy times, this isn’t a problem. But what if the Schumer really does Hit The Fan? Will the ones you love be able to sustain themselves and survive? If your family is …


Inventory, Organize, Adapt and Overcome, by T.C.

My wife and I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and we have been in serious preparation mode for about a year now. Let me explain what I mean by serious preparation: I am talking about creating a defend in place (bug-in) plan and a bug-out plan along with identifying and obtaining the necessary resources to carry them out. Understanding how to Hunt, fish, trap, raise livestock, garden, can and preserve food along with the necessity of having an alternate heat and readily available water sources are still a way of life in the Appalachian Mountains. …


Letter Re: An Adequate Bug Out Vehicle (BOV)

Hello JWR, I have a comment for the recent article by Ed in Kentucky. He listed several good points that include: debris passage, water passage, off-road ability, range, and tow capacity. I’ve seen some great pictures of School buses, Trash trucks, work vans built up to be livable and what I call “sleeper” vehicles. Imagine an ambulance in the exact same scenario. Instead of using the more common Ford E-150, and then build it up (with shelves, extra fuel tanks, interior stuff, etc.), get an Ambulance and build it down. Run through Ed’s list again – scroll down now and …


Letter Re: A Veteran Policeman’s Observations on The Golden Horde

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James,   A lot has been written warning us of what will happen when the City Dwellers find their homes are untenable and vacate [en masse as The Golden Horde] for “the country”, but I haven’t seen anything on what the make-up of these hordes will be. The generic term “city dwellers” encompasses a lot of territory. Who will they be,what kind of shape will they be in, how will they be armed…all of these need to be examined. One category needs to be examined, I feel, more closely than others. Since I have seen posts on your site lately …


Letter Re: As Simple as Changing a Tire

Hi  JWR:           Just a quick addition to the comments about changing a tire from an earlier blog article. In a real disaster, natural or military/terrorist, the roads will likely be covered with debris, much of which may cause your Bug Out Vehicle (BOV) tires (that’s plural) to get punctured. I would certainly recommend several cans of some kind of Fix-A-Flat [or aerosol Slime] and a tire repair kit. But, even more important for us preppers who want to be ready for everything possible, we know that our vehicle’s trunk will be filled with all kinds of  emergency supplies.   Recognizing …


An Adequate Bug Out Vehicle (BOV), by Ed in Kentucky

A really tough Bug Out Vehicle (BOV) can be quite expensive, and possibly beyond most people’s ability to acquire and prepare. One also needs to ask how “serious” of a BOV can he/she actually afford to buy, maintain, and insure ? BOVs can be viewed as being on a scale of 1 to 10 .. a Yugo being perhaps a 1, and a specially designed “escape” vehicle being perhaps a 10. It’s probably true that situations most likely to happen, can be handled by a BOV in the 4 – 6 range on that scale. These would be some things …


The Art of the Cache, by James C.

I am sure many of you have planned for the possibility of a wide scale disaster, but you cannot carry all of your equipment when you get out of dodge. So caching is the best option however your cache cannot just go anywhere. Obviously certain locations experience heavier traffic, so in time of natural disaster, large scale riots, or terrorist attacks, it is good to choose locations away from this traffic. These caches also need to be on your bug out route, so if you have not prepared an escape route, do not plan your cache locations yet. These locations …


Bugout Base Camp: My Solar School Bus, by T.K.

In a true breakdown scenario, one of the most crucial survival advantages, if not the most, has to be mobility. Pandemics or violent gangs that overwhelm congested populations can be escaped. More fertile land — wilderness with wild edible plants, big fish in the lakes, and game in the woods — can be reached. And if you can carry your shell on your back, along with an independent source of energy, you’ve got the ultimate survival advantage. An RV qualifies if you have at least $60,000 to toss around in this economy, but a more affordable, challenging (and fun) solution …


Two Letters Re: My Deuce and a Half – The Ultimate TEOTWAWKI Bug Out Vehicle

Dear James, It is heartening to see enthusiasts for the military M35 series of trucks, but I must take issue with some of the comments made by Tom E. in his recent post. My Background: I have been working in the automotive industry for over 35 years as a consulting design and testing engineer for both civilian and military builders. Specifically, I worked for AM General in the 1980s on the M998 HMMWV problems, the M35A3 proposal, and the FMTV proposal (the LMTV version was the replacement for the M35, the contract was won by Stewart and Stevenson) and currently own …


My Deuce and a Half–The Ultimate TEOTWAWKI Bug Out Vehicle, by Tom E.

I have been an avid follower of SurvivalBlog for several years now and you and I want to thank JWR and my fellow readers for helping me to get prepared.  I am not nearly where I want to be yet, but thanks to your books and your blog, I am leaps and bounds better prepared than I was even two years ago. I am writing this article to help others discover what took me some time and research to figure out – what would be the ideal kind of vehicle in a TEOTWAWKI bug out situation?  You’re ready.  You have …


Letter Re: Christmas Ideas for the Prepper

Every year I seem to be caught in the same dilemma. What to get the kids for Christmas. Being the divorced father of three kids presents many challenges. First I am always upstaged, which does not matter to me, I am not trying to buy my kids affection. Second, today’s kids get almost whatever they want, if they have a job to save for that Ipod touch or new Blackberry then all the power to them. This year however I am taking a different approach. I have a 20-year-old daughter living in the big city. An 18-year-old daughter living with …