Follow up to the bug-out/camping.

[K5mitch]

I hashed out some details with my girlfriend last night. She really surprised me with some of the ideas (as far as certain supplies) she had. After discussing things for a while, I told her my general thoughts on preparedness; lots of people don't even think or prepare for emergencies. If she asks her coworkers what they would do if they went home to the charred remains of a house, there is a lot of them that would only have the clothes on their back. We don't have to have all-encompassing plans, just some well thought out plans for likely occurrences (such as fire/blizzard/power outage) and have at least verbalized and thought about what we might do in case of a larger emergency. We'll be leaps and bounds ahead of most people in my opinion.

As I just stated, our planning isn't really for EOTWAKI, but more so for blizzard, fire, and power outages.

Our first order of business is getting a deposit box at a local bank, and making some notarized official copies of important documents. I still haven't decided where the best location would be for the originals, but I'm thinking keep the originals in the deposit box, and certified copies in my fire safe.

I'm finishing up on a total inventory of all things of value we have in the apartment. I'll have a printed copy in the deposit box, along with several digital ones.

For a third layer, I have a couple spare hard drives that I'm backing up all our digital information on. Each vehicle will have a backup hard drive in it. In addition to the hard drive, we'll outfit the cars with some basic emergency kits:

Change of clothes, food, water, blanket, candles, matches, flares, flashlight, batteries, cash, folding shovel, and tire chains.

Then we need to work on turning her camping pack into a grab-bag:

Change of clothes, few pairs of good socks (not girly socks, but real socks), food, cat food, first aid kit, toiletries, sleeping bag + bedrool, multi-tool, flashlight, batteries, maps, matches/lighter/flint, compass, and signal mirror

The proposed idea is, if either of us are snowed-in somewhere, we at least have some supplies in the vehicle until we can get home. Or, in the case of my "return from work to burning house" example, we at least have a change of clothes and some food and cash while we figure out where to go (meanwhile, important documents and insurance info is stored in a deposit box and on the backup hard drives).

If we're in the apartment, and have to evacuate due to fire, broken pipe, or what-have-you, we can just grab the cat, both our bags, and be on our way. Once again, important documents and insurance info stored in the deposit box and on backup hard drives.

If we have to leave town, then we will try to call ahead to a hotel/motel. If the phone lines are clogged up, I'll try to contact someone on my VHF radio over the local repeaters to see if there's anything available in the surrounding area. We could also head Norteast for 4 hours, or East for 3 hours to get to family, and if that direction doesn't work, I've got some friends in Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.

As far as the firearms go, we should both have our carry pieces with us. In the case of fire-type emergencies, I won't waste my time grabbing anything else. If we have to leave town, I'll probably grab the shotgun and the 10/22 if it's convenient and we have enough time.

I think she's starting to learn the "prepared" mindset. Her eyes really opened when I used the classic seat belt analogy. "When people get into their car, they put their seatbelt on... not because they plan on getting into a wreck that day, but because there's a chance. When I bring up situations, like what to do if you think someone is following you, or what to do if the building is one fire, it's for the same reasons. We think about and plan for these instances not because we want them to happen, but because there's a chance they may."

I'm going to try to build on this with her, and ask some questions as we go about our daily business. For instance, walking into Wal-Mart... where are the exits? Emergency exits? Best route of escape if the front is blocked off for some reason? It'll be good for the both of us, but more for her as she realizes that there's a lot more going on around her when she takes of the 'condition white' blinders.

This post really isn't very S&T-esque (nor was my last thread, really). But from my viewpoint, opening my girlfriend's eyes to a new level of awareness was pretty spectacular. Our little exercise and planning for mundane emergencies helped her realize bad things do happen in this world. She enjoys going to the range with me, and carries occasionally to humor me, but never did she really understand why I carried or paid attention to minuscule details. But never has she considered like brought up in another thread; the 'hotel security' guy at the door isn't quite what he seems, that man standing outside a convenience store might need to be kept in view, or that you might want to reconsider cussing out that man who just cut you off.

Well, I think I've made this one long enough.

 

[Exmasonite]

congrats again on the excellent drill and having a SO who's open-minded and smart.

just a random thought/question:

any chance of keeping a long gun in one of the vehicles? even a little breakdown survival rifle or a shotgun w/ collapsible stock.... if you're concerned about being able to get to your long guns, why not just keep one with you?

 

[K5mitch]

I've got a perfect gun for that, but it has way too much sentimental value.

My first shotgun: NEF Pardner in 20 gauge

My brother and I got identical ones for Christmas when we were 6 and 9 years old, respectively. With the exception for some very very very small rust where I forgot to wipe it down after a hunting trip a long time ago, it's pristine.


If I come across a used pardner, I'd pick it up with that in mind. It's small, and quick handling. LOP is pretty short, but it's a shotgun in a fairly robust, compact, and cheap package

 

[Titan6]

Actually preparedness is an S&T topic I think, so long as it falls into the realm of the possible and not some post-apoplyptic scenario where you run around like Dolph Lundgren shooting everything that moves.

I lived down in that area for several years. You might also want to consider ice storm preparation as well. This is a little different than a blizzard in that the effects are often worse and more far reaching.

I think it was late winter '94 when a series of ice storms followed by heavy rain blanketed the area cutting off power for about 10 days, water for 6 days and made travel really difficult for at least four days. Flooding was particularly bad for those near the New River. Some people were even worse off depending upon where they lived. The colleges, schools and most everything were all shut down for a least a week for miles around. Once everything was up and running again it was a while before the grocery shelves were fully restocked.

Since Radford and other smaller towns in the area depend heavily on hydropower and the area was flooded and iced over the power outages had some brownouts in C-Burg and other certain areas as well.

My new girlfriend at the time (now wife) never questioned my preps again.

 

[K5mitch]

I remember those storms, I was in Dale City (Northern Virginia) at the time. We got a whole bunch of snow in addition to the ice. I'd group ice storm in with blizzard, it's just an easy way to address severe winter weather. We just moved back to this state from Kansas. Kansas routinely gets ice storms in the winter (snow just really blows around all over the place).

 

[theotherwaldo]

I went through a class II hurricane - Dolly - last week, which gave me a chance to go through the GTH drill. A few flaws:
-The back-up generator failed on my antique motor home, so I lost some frozen food.
-The back privacy fence blew down, reducing security and allowing blown debris to hit the back of the house.
-An uprooted shrub damaged a water line, which I still need to fix.
-Dropped limbs, superficial damage.
Other than that, everything went pretty well.
No zombies, native uprisings, survivalists, etc, etc.

Well, except for ravening hordes of huge mosquitoes.

 

[theotherwaldo]

-And yes, K5mitch, what you went through in your post is the essence of S&T. It is the act of recognizing the need for situational awareness, which is the first requirement for S&T.

Keep at it.

 

[FieroCDSP]

Regarding the back-up hard drives, use an encryption key on it. You can get the ones that use a USB plug-in as a key and the software installs. No USB key, no work. You don't want a hard drive full of important info being stolen from your car. Kinda hits the opposite extreme from what you're trying to avoid.

 

[anyheck]

re: hard drive encryption

I would suggest against using one of the USB key type encryption systems because they are (generally):

a) Proprietary and not well security audited
b) Often use lower-quality encryption
c) If you loose the hardware key the data is lost (assuming powerful encryption)

I would suggest checking out http://www.truecrypt.org/. There are commercial solutions as well, but truecrypt is the bees knees.

It is free (as in beer), open source software (free as in thought), and cross platform.

Also, hard drives are not well suited to long term storage in the conditions inside of a auto. Nor is CD/DVD media really. You may want to consider encrypting your data on a CD or DVD and mailing it to a friend or family member to stick in a closet for you. Keep the password in your mind, or written down in a place where it is meaningless to others or physically secure.

There's a saying to the effect of "If you don't have a backup of your data, and an offsite backup of your data, you don't own that data, you're just borrowing it from fate."

Words to live by.

Regards.

 

[benEzra]

Check out the link to the "Listening to Katrina" blog in the sticky at the top of this forum. Lots of good firsthand experince there, with ideas and some templates for checklists.

 

[SMore]

Our first order of business is getting a deposit box at a local bank, and making some notarized official copies of important documents. I still haven't decided where the best location would be for the originals, but I'm thinking keep the originals in the deposit box, and certified copies in my fire safe

.

I spent 4 weeks in New Orleans after Katrina assessing safe deposit vaults. In flooded banks, the doors were rusted shut and entry had to be gained through holes drilled in the walls. Once inside, we found thick mold growing on everything, and in some cases the top tiers of boxes had floated up and off the stack. It took months to open up each vault, remove the boxes, transport them to a warehouse, decontaminate them, and then arrange for the owners to come to the warehouse and pick up their items, which in many cases were long since ruined by mold. In other words, don't rely on a safe deposit box to protect against flood. Expect a delay in accessing the contents anytime there is a major disaster.

 

[K5mitch]

I spent 4 weeks in New Orleans after Katrina assessing safe deposit vaults. In flooded banks, the doors were rusted shut and entry had to be gained through holes drilled in the walls. Once inside, we found thick mold growing on everything, and in some cases the top tiers of boxes had floated up and off the stack. It took months to open up each vault, remove the boxes, transport them to a warehouse, decontaminate them, and then arrange for the owners to come to the warehouse and pick up their items, which in many cases were long since ruined by mold. In other words, don't rely on a safe deposit box to protect against flood. Expect a delay in accessing the contents anytime there is a major disaster.

I really appreciate that info. I'm on pretty high ground where I'm at. It would take a flood of world-ending proportions to reach my residence. The primary function for a safe deposit box would be for fire (or similar event) losses.

I still haven't figured out where to keep the originals. None of the banks I'm considering are in the 100-year flood maps, so the flood risk is relatively low imho.