The following non-fiction article describes an abortive grid-up bug out made by a SurvivalBlog reader, in response to several articles (thankfully erroneous) that were posted on www.arcticbeacon.com between January 22 and January 26, 2006. The author’s experience is not unique. Several of my friends bugged out to their retreats in late 1999, only to return to the Big City early in 2000, when Y2K turned out to be a non-event. I also have an aquaintance–incidentally upon whom the John Thomas Rourke character in Jerry Ahern’s The Survivor paperback book series was based–who bugged out to a retreat in a remote region of Northern California immediately after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980. He was convinced that it was the first stage of WWIII. Hindsight is indeed 20/20, and it is easy to say “He was a Chicken Little.” But the essential truth is that it is better to bug out early than it is to hesitate and be trapped in the metropolis like the sheeple. The following piece teaches some valuable lessons.
Although this was a case of “false alarm”, it is still quite instructive.You will note that Larry mentions that he did not have room in his vehicles to bring all of his supplies with him. I cannot emphasize this enough: It is crucial to both do a “practice load” and to pre-position the majority of your supplies at your intended retreat. You may have only one trip Outta Dodge, when the balloon really does go up.