HJL,
I wanted to add my thoughts. First, and foremost, I think speed is the key here. In the first minutes and hour(s) after some type of TEOTWAWKI event, whether CME, EMP or even earthquake or similar, human nature is such that people will be trying to get back to their own safety nets first. The time for bad guys to try to take all your swag doesn’t happen until after things get desperate.
Waiting
We’ve all experienced a local power outage – when things go dark, and the house gets quiet – do you or anyone you know immediately go grab your homies and start accosting people driving through the ‘hood? No. You don’t. You just wait for the power to come back on, while constantly checking your mobile phone to make sure your battery hasn’t died. That’s because you have no idea of the seriousness of the event. It takes hours or maybe days to understand that things aren’t getting better. Even when civil unrest occurs – what generally happens is – hoodlums (and their ilk) wait until nighttime to begin any hijinks – and most of them still wait for somebody else to start the ball rolling.
Just in Time
What this means is that if you can figure out how to get home in a few hours from T-0 (TEOTWAWKI minus zero), you stand an improved chance of getting there without negative social contact. For me, assembling my breakdown .22, gearing up in full 5.11 camo, and busting out that new machete I’ve been waiting to unleash on the zombies; is more likely just an invitation to any well-meaning LEO, Armed forces personnel or almost anybody who identifies as one of the good guys — to interrupt my journey with a litany of questions or worse.
Whether you’re talking 20 miles or 100, I’d strongly suggest a bicycle, skates, a skateboard, a recumbent – almost anything that will help expedite the journey. Even if you can’t make it the whole way home, the more distance you cover in the first hours, the higher your chance of making it home unmolested.
Communication
Additionally, M.M. suggested stopping to communicate to friends/relatives your status; weigh carefully the impact of delaying your own journey any longer than you must. Emotionally distraught relatives may exert significant pressure for you to remain with them, until their family arrives back home, and extricating oneself from that situation can have far-reaching consequences.
If the trip is long enough, or you’re late enough in the day that darkness is coming, I’d consider staying the night at a friendly location and resuming the journey in daylight. But I’m not sure I’d sleep at all – as a husband and father, the idea of a SHTF event happening, and my family being under-protected at home, I have a singular focus, get home now. Speed wins. YMMV. Regards, D.P.
Good article, remember people will not be savy to what is happening for the first day, the second day they will be slowly thinking of food, the third day with little or no communication they will begin to panic. Some will still be in a daze, but most will be hungry and start looking for answers and then food and then trouble will begin.
Thirst is first,when the cans of soda are gone watch out for the “red bull” breakdowns.
Lets not forget how quickly Los Angeles 1992 changed. I believe it was less than 4 hours before Reginald Denny was pulled from his truck and beaten to within an inch of his life. Then the really bad stuff started. I believe that you have to be in situational awareness condition Yellow at all times. If you have your get home bag with you, and you have kept it, and yourself, ‘gray’ so as to not attract attention, then your chances may be slightly improved.
Not to disagree with the points you make, but I would note that the kick-off of the 1992 riots was preceded by a lengthy trial and lots of media attention. The people who were inclined to riot had lots of time to psych themselves up; the announcement of the verdict was the tripwire. The good thing about such events is that they are easily forseeable, and you should be prepared in advance accordingly.
I agree they had psyche-up time, but remember groups riot when their sports team lose, and when it wins, or when a President they don’t like gets elected. Some groups are ready to rob and loot as soon as the power goes off (see recent hurricanes). If your daily drive takes you through “bad areas” (often downtown) its past time to move. Walking through those areas – even walking on the Interstate – won’t be safe
Also remember that as time goes on most everybody will decide they have to be someplace else. That time may be sooner that you think. Once you encounter a traffic jam it won’t eventually clear like normal. It will just get worse, never ever clear and you’ll be stuck there till you find yourself a refugee along with miles of other people, so have your plan B ready.
You all do have a plan B right?
The ability, or willingness, to see
trouble coming is the best defense when
it comes to avoiding it.
This is called ….. Situational Awareness.
So, what happens when you are driving down the road in your new SUV when there is an EMP? Your doors automatically locked when you reached 10 MPH, your windows are electrically controlled and the EMP has shut down everything electric on your vehicle. You can’t get out through your locked doors or roll down your windows to escape. Your BOB is in the spare tire wheel well and if you do break out of your SUV you can’t lift the locked lift gate to get to it.
Oops! Maybe you should have bought that Land Cruiser instead! That’s the one complete with a set of tools and access over the rear seat. 🙂
Seriously, the more sophisticated vehicles become, the more we need to ‘think ahead’ and provision for the Black Swan events before they occur.
Simple; pull the handle on the door… It will open, regardless of whether there is power for the door locks or not…
The doors locked, I pull onthe handle and it unlocks. Easy
Regarding riots, these are almost always localize events. We all sadly know where it happens. Anyone who doesn’t avoid these areas,even as a short cut is a fool
If you are more than three days from home on foot or alt.transport. One of the most important if not the most important, is to be sure you family knows and or trained to hold down the “fort” till you get home. Please these comments should not be considered criticism of the authors excellent article.
A co-worker told me that on a trip to NYC, that he was supprised to see how common get home bags had become in the offices he visited. Not wierd any more. When “it” happens, you won’t likely have any warning. Good just to be prepared. What could it hurt. Just do it!
I live in the general area, but not in NYC. Simply put, NYC people remember 9/11. Everyone has seen the pictures and knows how horrible it was – people walking across the bridge, covered in soot, trying to get to safety. They’ve been through Hurricane Sandy. They have snowstorms and the potential for earthquakes. If public transportation goes down, they know they will have to walk. Preparedness is becoming more mainstream.
Good article and would have liked to see you develop your thoughts more. Pro 22:3 The clever see trouble coming and hide; the simple go on and pay the penalty. Pro 27:12 The clever see trouble coming and hide; the thoughtless go on and pay the penalty. And from Websters 1828 CLEVERNESS, noun 1. Dexterity; adroitness; skill. 2. Mildness of agreeableness of disposition; obligingness; good nature. The bible also calls the clever-prudent.
I live in Northern NJ and work in NYC. I am pretty well prepped at home, but as a friend reminded me, if SHTF while I am at work, I need to get home. I have a change of clothes for all seasons, boots (as I am usually in a suit), a hammer (no real weapons because NYC sucks), ways to obtain and sterilize water, food, etc., a nice bolt cutter to snack a “city bike” and take it as far as I can, and lots of other necessary things in my backpack in my office.
I also need to cross the river back to NJ, but figure I would go North into Westchester County and work it out from there, as i am not keeping a kayak or raft in the office as well.
i cant wait to be able to quit and get the heck out of here.
Your plan should not include using bolt cutters to “snack a ‘city bike'” as that is stealing – and furthermore, that bike my be part of someone else’s emergency preps.
Buy yourself a folding bike – JWR has recommended: “Montague Folding Paratrooper bikes are available from one of our loyal advertisers, Safecastle. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) is is $695”
Put that in your office – or wherever you deem best.
I live in Northern NJ and work in NYC. I am pretty well prepped at home, but as a friend reminded me, if SHTF while I am at work, I need to get home. I have a change of clothes for all seasons, boots (as I am usually in a suit), a hammer (no real weapons because NYC stinks), ways to obtain and sterilize water, food, etc., a nice bolt cutter to snag a “city bike” and take it as far as I can, and lots of other necessary things in my backpack in my office.
I also need to cross the river back to NJ, but figure I would go North into Westchester County and work it out from there, as i am not keeping a kayak or raft in the office as well.
i cant wait to be able to quit and get the heck out of here.
To Stuckinnj and any others who need to Escape From New York: Go up the Henry Hudson on the West Side, along the Hudson River, on the walking trail. No enemies to the left! Just water. And on the right, a wide highway, and a park on a steep slope. It’s impossible for predators to sneak up on you.
Walk to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge, and take the first right exit if you live north of it. That will put you on the Palisades Parkway. Again, no buildings and no crowds, and plenty of walking room on the grassy shoulders.
This route keeps you as far away from buildings and dense crowds and city streets as possible. It is tree lined most of the way, with broad highways between you and attackers. Most other people on it will be trying to get home too, and less likely to be predators.
Going through Westchester needlessly is unwise. You have to go through the Bronx, or Yonkers, which has a lot of bad areas. It is dense and urban all the way.
Do not attempt to cross the Hudson River by water unless you are very experienced, or in deadly danger. That river is an estuary, it has tides, and half the time the top of the river is running north while the bottom half is running south. You should see the huge ice floes floating UPSTREAM in winter. Incredibly nasty currents.
Also, once you reach the Palisades, you can conceal yourself in the woods if you need a rest. And plenty of saplings so you can cut yourself a walking staff/weapon.
There is water along this whole route, so with a Life Straw, you won’t dehydrate.
For “stuckinnj” : I have a real problem with your plan to steal a bicycle to leave NYC. If I caught anyone trying to steal my transportation out of an area in a SHTF situation they would never make it to their family, just another no-show. I put that plan on par with that moron on “Doomsday Preppers” who said he and his gang planned to raid others for supplies – now he has 3 hots and a cot, and a roomie named T-Dog.
City Bikes are NYC bikes, 20 to 30 of them in a row for rent at locations all over the city. I think stuckinnj was thinking of the bolt cutter for use in a grid-down situation, otherwise he would just use his credit card to rent one. They don’t belong to individual people.
Avenger2354 is correct. I think they’re sponsored by Citibank. They don’t belong to an individual, though it would still be taking something that is not yours. At any rate, they are locked in to the bike racks in a way that I doubt bolt cutters would work at all. I’ve never used one, but they are common in NYC. https://www.citibikenyc.com
I did not know about this Doomsday Prepper guy until your comment B. This guy was not a prepper, he is the enemy. NG should have investigated this dude a little before putting him on and giving prepping a bad name. Sex Offender…. really? Ugh!
I got it made for getting home. My bike is in a locker with my lock on it right outside my office. The entire route to my home is downhill. 3/4 of the route is on restricted access federal government land. It is 12 miles from office to house. I can do most of it coasting and be home in less than half an hour. Along the way I can stop at the one grocery store in town and load up on any immediate needs that I can pack on the bike for the last 1.5 miles. The only thing I can’t do is be armed in a fashion I would like.