I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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Hi All,

I thought I'd relate this to you all, as there are many here who are interested in survival/SHTF scenarios.

Sunday the 5th at 1:00am it started snowing. We knew it would be coming in, but what we didn't count on was Wabash County being one of the hardest hit in Indiana.

We debated leaving Saturday night, but April was hopeful it wouldn't be as bad as the weather folks were predicting.

Well, come can-see, the forecast proved correct. We had already packed the night before, and Vance (my boy) and I started loading up the truck while April grabbed a few extra things. Nikki, our dog who is part Husky and all huntin' dog, broke trail for us, as she's always done for me in the past when hunting in snow, and as she'll continue to do. I've never seen a dog handle itself in snow like this one!

I had planned for a power outage, and part of what we packed were a Sterno stove, a bunch of alcohol cans, and 10 gallons of water. I already had a lot of food in the Blazer. You know those huge ammo boxes that military fuses come in? One of those. Plenty of food, an iron skillet, and basic cookware were also in with that food. The Sterno stove usually resides in there, but we'd already lost water the week previous so the small percolator and Sterno stove were in the house.

(And a note about this Sterno stove: I like it. No, it's not as hot as propane or butane. It takes longer to boil water. I do have a propane stove as well, but I mostly reserve it for camping. The Sterno stove can burn Sterno, of course, but I tend to go to the Dollar Tree and buy their cans of alcohol. They burn for two hours and only cost a buck apiece. If I run out of the canned heat of whatever sort I have on hand, I can throw coals from a fire into a tuna can and cook with those, or use whatever's available. I've heated water before using it, then replaced the can of alcohol with a long-burning candle to keep the water warm for bathing or whatever. It's just a very versatile, compact hobo-type stove that folds up and doesn't take up much space at all.)

Our destination was my parents' house, which is also in the country, but has a fireplace. My current shop is also on that land.

We arrived and unloaded.

Well, it snowed about two inches per hour through the day and well into the night. Wabash received 16.5" of snow before it stopped.

When the snow stopped, the temperatures plummeted and the wind started. We were at -15°F and winds gusting to over 35mph.

I woke to us losing power.

I got up and broke out the small percolator and the Sterno Stove while Dad kindled a blaze in the fireplace. I showed Mom and April how to cook on the Sterno stove by making coffee, and went back and crashed out again. I've been through this before, and the best thing I know to do when it's cold out and there's no heat is to sleep through it if I'm not immediately needed. As of right then, hot drinks and hot food were taking care of any morale issues. Water was taken care of as well; Mom and Dad have always camped and they had plenty of water. Between our 10 gallons (plus two or three canteens of mine) we were well-supplied. Water? Check. Food? Check. Coffee? Check.

I woke up about five hours later; I'd not slept well the night before. The power was back on and the furnace had kicked on again.

I checked the weather using my old Blackberry 8320 Curve. It's ancient but serves its purpose. There was a snow emergency out, so we were stuck there for Tuesday.

Wednesday evening when we went from red to yellow, Dad took his Silverado (4.10, Positrac, 4x4) and I took my Blazer, and we went exploring. Got out to my home and found that the majority of the 1/5-mile-long driveway was knee deep to hip deep in most places. We were at -10°F and very little wind. We hiked through the snow and into the house. All had held up well but there was no water (frozen well) and there was no way to get a pregnant lady through the driveway.

April had a OB-GYN appointment on Thursday, and so I took her. I also started calling around for someone who might have a truck capable of clearing the drive -- most couldn't. I finally found a man with a lifted Dodge Ram, and so we set up to meet this morning (Friday) at 8:30am so I could show him where this house is at.

Well, we got here. Temps were considerably warmer and we'd had a wet snow overnight. Good packing snow that was also very slick. When I pulled over to the side of the road to let him by, the Blazer slid sideways into a ditch. I mean, I was stopped. I'd parked and was ready to kill the motor and get out, and it just slid. I've been stuck in the past in other 4x4s I've had, but I've always earned getting stuck! This way was just dumb!

Well, when I started going over, I put it back into gear and managed to keep from taking out the roadside fence, but this grade was very steep and I couldn't climb out. Heck, the plow couldn't pull me out. I had to call a wrecker to lift me out.

While waiting for the wrecker to come, I hopped in the Dodge and showed the man driving where NOT to go as the snow had covered some other ditches as well. He did get stuck once, but managed to rock free. He did tell me he'd been stuck like I stuck my Blazer at least five times that year. Well... he probably earned it.

We finished plowing and I went to flush the water lines inside the house and make sure we even had water. It was 34°F out, so I figured we had, and we did.

The wrecker came, lifted me out, and I forked over a Franklin. This blizzard was getting expensive! What I do isn't making me wealthy! Luckily, State Farm Insurance covers towing and roadside, so I took the receipt to them while April was packing our stuff and got the money right back.

We made it home around 2pm today, or maybe a little after. We're all wiped. I'm trying to catch up on paperwork which I couldn't do at my parents' due to spotty internet and, more importantly, most of my records being electronically filed from this "home office" of mine. (The home office is also my man cave, also a walk-in closet. It has a desk, laptop and printer, and is filled with fishing poles, guns, and a breaker box. Just enough room to turn around, but barely. Room for one person.)

That's what I get to do now: Catch up on paperwork; go back to reality.

That's how we handled the worst winter storm in 20 years. Not a bad showing at all. It helps when you grow up tent camping, I think, and can stay comfortable. Entertainment is essential, too, as boredom takes its tole on morale. I like and appreciate my work, but I was doubly grateful I was able to walk to the shop.

I never did get through all my OTR radio programs I have on that old Blackberry, nor did I get to read the issue of Backwoods that I bought.

Regards,

Josh
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Re: I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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I'm glad you made it through, Josh. There's nothing wrong with a little preparation for emergencies, especially when you know what's coming immediately down the pike.

A couple of Midwest winters showed me having camping equipment, wood to burn, candles, canned food and water set aside was a good idea. I don't miss those ice storms one bit.

Jim
Cynistoicureanism: The world view best expressed by "I can't trust 'em any farther then I can throw 'em, There's nothing I can do about it anyway, So let's have a drink".

Re: I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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Saturday saw us taking a cab to a grocery store as the Impala is mostly dead. We got a glimpse of a 'break down'; shelves were being emptied right behind us and the lines were insane from the night before. It seems that the remedy for bad weather in St Louis is eating egg sandwiches while drinking milk. :lol:

We have a potable water supply at the house and if we lost power we would still be ok as we have light sources and a gas range. Freezer is rated for three plus days in summer heat in the basement and nearly unlimited time when the outside temp is under 45*.

We will be selling custom packaged long-term storage food items from Thrive by Q2 this year, then we will be able to bug in for most any reason for a couple weeks. Both Winona and I plan on getting our HAM licenses this year and some gear.
In a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich the chicken and cow are involved while the pig is committed.

Re: I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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CDFingers wrote:Glad you made it back OK. Now you get to decide whether you packed too much stuff. Best of luck.

CDFingers
You know, I think we had just the right amount. April did pack too many clothes, but that's just her! Telling her she can't pack clothes or shoes is like telling me I can't pack a gun (which I did -- the Mosin-Nagant, but more for the practical reason of getting trigger fitting and rear sight fitting done than any other. The 1911 is more than capable of handling any hunting chores.)

Regards,

Josh
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Re: I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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A lot of folks overlook the small emergencies preparing for a zombie apocalypse- glad you made it to the folks house safe and sound, with the necessary things to make it through. Never hurts to have some emergency food/water/gear on hand.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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Anything can happen. Just ask 300,000 people in WV without potable water for the foreseeable future due to the chemical spill on the Elk River.
"Only voluntary, inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism. Our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction." ~ Alexander Solzhenitzyn

Re: I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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shinzen wrote:
OldScratch wrote:Anything can happen. Just ask 300,000 people in WV without potable water for the foreseeable future due to the chemical spill on the Elk River.
Yikes. Hadn't seen that one in the news.
A craptacular situation. Made me very happy to have our six 55gal rain barrels.
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

Re: I Had To Bug Out This Past Week

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shinzen wrote:
Mason wrote: A craptacular situation. Made me very happy to have our six 55gal rain barrels.
Putting a couple of those on my list of things to get. Costco's got a pretty cool setup for $100 shipped- similar to what you've got?

http://www.costco.com/Shelf-Reliance%C2 ... 66218.html
I make mine out of syrup barrels I buy for about $20 a piece. I use soffit vents as filters on the inlet and boiler drains about six inches from the bottom as outlets. They sit on pressure treat stands about 18" high for some head pressure. They are mostly used to water the gardens but in event of emergency could do drinking water duty.

The Costco thing is a storge barrel as far as I can see. You could cut the top and add a soffit vent to make it a rain barrel. It looks to be very similar to the syrup barrels we use but ours are white.
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

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