Ken over at ModernSurvivalBlog.com and I have traded a couple of emails lately… I think his posts are well thought out and well researched. Today he had a post that I thought was perfect for you urban and suburban dwellers like myself. The post is on what the safe distance might be for you to have a Bug Out Location or retreat from your urban or suburban location.
Ken mentioned 150 miles. While I think 150 miles may be a nice sweet spot for most locations, it really isn’t for NYC and Northern NJ. The reason I say that is 100 — 150 miles inland from NJ and NYC locations are some secondary home markets where people from NYC, Philadelphia, and NJ have summer homes (if you are going north or northeast from the mentioned locations). These homes are going to be the immediate targets of their owners if there is a SHTF situation. There are some remote areas in or just beyond the area that may make sense, but you would have to know the area to find them. In fact, I know that many of the areas where those homes exist the population more than doubles in the late spring and summer months. If anything were to happen (SHTF), and people migrated to those homes, the local areas could not handle the population increase. i.e. grocery stores, farms, etc. Civil unrest would ensue after just a couple of weeks, I have no doubt. This would be especially true if refugees and locusts started to populate the area looking for food and shelter.
If you would like to read the post on ModernSurvivalBlog.com, you can click here to read it.
For those reading this that do not know, I am a huge advocate of bugging out early when living in the Sub(urban) environment. This is especially true if your Bug Out Location is stocked with the supplies that you need to be self sufficient with your family… Bugging out early will also help to avoid the masses of unprepared that will be on the road stuck in traffic (as indicated in the post on ModernSurvivalBlog.com).
I’m with you on distance, the further the better! Right now I live in the DC (Northern VA), but would try to get to my parents farm in rural Nebraska should thinks start to fall apart. Several tanks, too far, really. At least until I can move…
You might want to add the feature that allows folks to subscribe to comments on a post, it’s pretty handy.
I’d say you need to be a tank of gas away from large metro areas. By that I mean that far beyond those areas, so basically pretty far away — far enough that the hoards can’t follow by vehicle. Could be several tanks, if you live among a series of large urban areas. I know that’s not very practical, but if it’s really TEOTWAWKI, it’s better. That’s why I’m looking for a job “out west.” Helluva time to do so…
Suburban Survivalist, I was thinking up to two tanks away, personally. My truck has a 15 gallon tank, and there is a 14 gallon pump tank you can get at Walmart that I can strap to the truck and cover under a tarp.
And yeah, a helluva time to look for a job. Good luck on that. Hope you can get something soon that is a solid opportunity.
Oh, and love the avatar… 🙂
I’ve been at this for over 20 yrs. Depending on where I was it was at least 150 miles from the biggest metro area around. Smaller towns were ok but I still put some distance from them of at least 50 miles. Now as I’m older and have many more to protect and many of those are females, my current 2 safe spots are 3 tank fulls away by good highway. By back roads and 4x4 trails more like 7 tank fulls. If the worst comes to pass and were all on foot because of the children its an even 2 months on the trail avoiding all types of and towns or cities. Thats why I’ve been putting supply stash points and refuel points out on different routes for yrs.
Even at 150 miles from my current location I think that if you know where and how to design your Bug Out Location, one can probably live for some time without any issue. It becomes the influx of refugees and locusts that will invariably show their faces that will pick the area of resources. The question then becomes do you defend or go. Do you have multiple fall back/BOLs? Is it financially feasible, etc…