by Ron Foster
“ Well based on that logic we should organize with them deadbeat deer skinners next door you put to work, but I am not having them meth head freaks anywhere near my house or have them sleeping with me in the same campsite.” Michael said threatening some attitude adjustment and said “Unh! And adjusted his pistol belt of mags for the AK he had been fidgeting with.
“That isn’t ever going to happen for sure. I was just saying we got to be open to possible alliances, Anyway, I will go tell Janice and her sister our latest plans, they can go with us or get dropped off in Ramer with their kinfolks.” Donald said rising and heading for the prep shed.
31 Bugging Out
It took the make do prepper tribe a few days to load everything up and prepare for the bug out to the lake. Every bit of trunk and roof space was taken up on all the vehicles and stuff was tied on as best they could. The sight of the piled up roofs and roped bumpers reminded Donald of the old cars and trucks you see in old photos of the depression where a family had gathered up every possible item of their household and headed out for parts unknown. The last thing loaded was the roof of LowBuck`s motorhome, if it hadn’t been for all space Donald wouldn’t have ever been able to dig up his orchard and hopefully transfer all his trees to their new locations. All though he was joking and running around humming a country western song “ Where are you going to live at when you get home” everyone could tell destroying his garden and orchard really bugged him. They left the vegetable annuals for Old Max and dug up three boxes of asparagus and two boxes of root crops to try transplanting. The two wood stoves and all the solar equipment filled up the back of Lowbucks motorhome.
The most important and cherished prep Donald owned was a SUNRNR power generator.
FOR 5% OFF YOUR OWN SUNR OR A EXTRA FREE PANEL ENTER COUPON CODE PREPPER1 This thing was awesome! It was the Cadillac of all portable solar powered generators. Portable it was, but that meant two strong men were required if it had to be lifted for any reason. The thing was built like a tank out of 12 and 14 gauge metals and had a very durable powder coat paint finish. I have had frying pans that were made of much thinner metal than that. It had 4 inch caster wheels that made it easy to move around on the floor but the kicker was it weighed 260lbs complete. Those handles on it were over built for durability and technologically advanced also. One of them could easily support the full sustained weight of the unit but they were also made from a special conductive steel alloy that acted sort of like a Faraday cage to protect it from a Solar Flares effects. Not being privy to the proprietary process or an electrical engineer, this special feature was always an enigma to Donald. A very useful enigma though and he felt blessed to have had the foresight to choose such a unit.
Fortunately he had the thing turned off when the solar storm hit, but it was connected to the solar panels on his roof. He hadn’t put it to a full test of a major
geomagnetic storm but he was very grateful that high survivability was built into it by the geniuses at SUNRNR (Sun Runner). As near as he could explain the protection in layman’s terms was something similar to the old gas trucks that used to drop a steel chain from their bumpers to dissipate static electricity before they filled the tanks at a gas station. The company said it was more of an isolation issue but that was as far as his understanding went. A long discussion with the friendly and informative SUNRNR General Manager Scott French had been very beneficial to Donald. In doing his research Donald had come across MySolarBackup, PowerHub, Ecotricity®,
BackupPowerSource, Xantrex™, SolMan®, GoalZero, and possibly avoided many others in his quest for a ultimate solution to a off grid affordable solution. Based on these companies or related websites as of May 2012, many are less expensive than SUNRNR, but he also noted that they offer one-third to one-half the power output and most offer less than half the storage capability (which limits solar input capability). They are also enclosed in plastic or aluminum while a SUNRNR chassis is steel and protects the user from the battery. Yes my reader, this is a major consideration you must understand for the safety and the wellbeing of your family. A battery under certain conditions can go BOOM! This craftsman made in the U.S.A. product is not some flimsy cheap and dangerous Chinese knock off dumped on the market to achieve a price point, no, it’s a quality made solution that is well thought out and exhibits a reasonable price for pretty much Mil-Spec survivability.
No short cuts or flimsy crap went into this patented design. Features such as a Rugged master on/off disconnect switch, Steel enclosure for ruggedness and safety, Sturdy and unique handles for lifting had already pretty much sold Donald to invest in the unit but the tipping point came when Scott had explained to him that the highly efficient solar panels that shipped with the product could be expected to lose only 12% of their power if exposed to a solar storm and that was if you didn’t shield or protect them with wood if you had some warning a sun flare was going off from the many available resources @SolarPrepper on Twitter were given as a “heads up “ to take some precautions. The best “Rock Solid” science and dependability was built into this thing, hell they even had KVK Precision in Shenandoah, VA who was selected by American Machinist as one of the top 10 US machine shops build some of its components.
“What is the convoy order we are going to use today?” Michael asked. “Good question, I gave it some thought but give me some of your` thoughts too. I figure that since I know the way to the lake I go first, but I don’t know Ramer too well so I am going to let Janice lead to there. I think we are dropping off her sister to stay with her mom but that’s going to depend on reception and conditions there. I sort of considered seeing if her uncle would sell us a goat for butchering but changed my mind because we need to stay moving I think.” Donald advised.
“Extra food is always good to acquire, any particular reason that we are not laying over? That is, I mean other than you wanting to get bugged in somewhere?” Michael said arching an eyebrow.
“Well I don’t have much sympathy for folks that got warned to prepare and didn’t do anything for themselves or their families. When does another’s neglect become my responsibility? We got way too much stuff showing and I don’t want to be asked to lend, barter or be asked if anyone can follow us at the moment. So, we are not stopping more than maybe ten minutes before we move on. I also want all the daylight we can have to get moved in when we get to the lake camp. Donald responded and no longer second guessed the evacuation he had undertaken to insure their survivability.
“I agree, no sense hanging around if it’s possible it could cost us in anyway. That route you are going by skirts the major towns but what do you think status of the law enforcement is at the moment?” LowBuck added
“The ones that are functioning at all are already probably thinking of dividing up the last of the
commandeered gas and food and staying home to protect their families by now. I am guessing some of them will be forming up their own little rogue survival and defense communities and that can be dangerous to whoever lives near them. Cops are outnumbered at least a 100 to 1 as for hungry folks being armed now so
I doubt anyone will want to be wearing a uniform anymore. There are a lot of cops that are preppers to remember. They all are probably bugging out or have already done so. We are in dark and desperate times now, we protect our convoy and tribe and its full steam ahead from now on until we can find a reasonable refuge. It sucks that we can’t stay around here but with who knows how many thousands of acres burned around us, bad water and too many possibly violent and armed folks heading our way it’s time to go I must say.” Donald concluded looking over the heavily armed group listening to him.
“Janice might know the way better, but I call point man” Michael said. “ I can recognize a roadblock or ambush quicker than her and can be out ahead of you all on my motorcycle but still keep her insight and she can signal me if I am about to miss a turn. You should follow her leading the rest of the cars and LowBuck can take up the rear with that battle wagon of his. I would put
him in the middle or up front but you can’t see around that motorhome and I don’t want anyone straggling or not knowing what going on in front of us.” Michael advised from an experienced military point of view.
“Well if you’re going to be up scouting ahead, how about putting Janice in the Motorhome to direct him. All those damn sand bags he has in that thing makes it sort of like a tank and if for some reason we got to turn around he needs the most room and I would rather have a tank in front of me to bust through or behind me to protect my rear if we happen to run into a problem.” Donald suggested.
“So are you going to take rear guard?” Michael said rubbing his beard? “Yea that way if you see something disturbing up ahead you can get him turned around and then zip back around him and pick point position back up in front of me.” Donald offered.
“Sounds reasonable I think Donald. Swap guns with me and Amy though. That AR of yours is lighter to carry than this AK and give Amy that short Mossberg cruiser model 12 gauge you got. She is riding with me on the bike until we clear the town of Ramer. Who is driving in back of Bubba?” Michael asked Donald.
“Good question, we got to keep in mind that for this kind of driving we need somebody other than my mom driving her car. If Janice’s sister is driving her car, that only leaves Cat or Amy to drive my Mom`s . If Bubba is playing tank we need Cat in there with him and Janice for the extra firepower so that leaves Amy needing to do it. I know you would appreciate her extra firepower with you but we can’t drop a vehicle full of preps and she is our only extra driver.” Donald reasoned.
“Sorry Babe, you just got drafted.” Michael remarked to Amy. “That’s Ok, Donald can let his Mom ride with him and he can protect her.” Amy said thinking it was nice that Donald could take care of his Mom.
“ I got a bit of a problem maybe with Mom riding with me I am sorry to say. Sorry Mom, I got to think something through here out load for a minute. The two most dangerous positions in this convoy are point and drag. I might get a bit compromised to put it delicately to do my job in either position if necessary if I was looking out for her as a son instead of soldier. I am not expecting any trouble but, knock wood, if I do need to respond to something I don’t want to have you freaking out dodging hot brass from my rifle and me trying to drive at the same time. I know Mom you are tough and resilient but I would rather have you riding in one of the other vehicles if you don’t mind.” Donald said with some trepidation.
“ I understand.” Donald’s Mom said a bit meekly and a bit horrified that her son was talking so freely about maybe shooting someone.
“You ride with me.” Amy said smiling at his Mom and drawing her attention. “Thanks” Mom said showing a small smile despite her anguish over yet another bug out trip amongst all the health problems she was concerned with. She had another thirty day of meds left and she had overheard Donald talking to Janice about a little known fact that geomagnetic storms affected a lot of heart patients adversely for some yet unidentified reasons.
Donald had stocked some substitute herbals for her but no one knew their effectiveness and he had just winged it as for how to wean her off the prescription meds by slowly introducing some alternatives he hoped could sustain her.
“ Bugging out was always a stupid proposition unless you were going to a prepared place to bug in at. Bugging out and planning to run out of gas going to an unknown destination was just plain ludicrous. But what choice did he have? Donald mused to himself. He had no intention of actually forcing anybody out of the summer camp and hated that he had even brought the subject up. He had just wanted to make everyone aware of how desperate they were going to be once they undertook this desperate journey. Upon arrival they would have to be seeing things quite differently from having their own deeded land under them.” Donald considered.
“Hey I forgot to pack all those solar driveway markers at my place. LowBuck stop at my house on the way out and we can put them on the roof of your motorhome with the trees. I also got a box of tools we need to tie on up there somewhere.” Michael said while going over a mental checklist of last minute items to load.
“I got a little bit of room left, hey Donald you got anything else to put up on the roof?” LowBuck inquired.
“Yea I need to take down my solar garden lights but that’s it.” Donald responded and went to fetch them.
32 The Church Yard
Donald didn’t expect much trouble on this trip. He figured it would be pretty much like driving after a hurricane without the storm damage to worry about. A lot of peoples blank stares, barely any traffic and folks just going about the daily business of surviving and trying to recover. This time was different though and the caravan was prepped for everything imaginable. Donald had driven himself crazy thinking about and trying to prepare for all the “What If`s” that might threaten them on this trip.
What if the military, the cops, a town militia or even just some bunch of criminal yahoos had a road block up somewhere? He doubted any official roadblocks would be up but you can’t tell about some of these small towns or community neighborhood organizations forming up for protection or scavenging and looting. Everything loot able was probably gone by now. Starving folks would most likely be watching the highways in hopes of seeing a food truck or relief convoy. Donald had no plans for being mistaken for either. Protecting his supplies against normal desperate people was bad enough but he wondered how many official types were out and about “confiscating “food stuffs under obscure emergency power acts? He was hopeful they had plenty of forewarning if they run up on any organized road block so he could try to save at least some of the supplies. If it was a National Guard Unit or something they didn’t stand a chance if they tried to defend their food. Donald and Michael had chosen the most back woods , obscure country route they could design to avoid any possible or likely “Hot Spots” that could jeopardize this bug out.
The big scary what if was ,what do they do if the summer camp was burned down by wildfire already? What do they do then? Depends on how far they got before they found out any kind of devastating fact like that. Gas was the big “What If” then. They could limp back to Ramer maybe and set up some kind of living. Janice’s relatives owned a small country family church and cemetery. Maybe they could bunk there until they made a better
arrangement in a pinch. Nothing worse to get yourself into than ending up a displaced prepper or road refugee about right now Donald had pondered. The lake wasn’t an ideal place to be bugging to in this situation. Most folks if they had a Lake house would have already bugged in by now thinking that at least they could fish for some food. Most of those people too probably had an arsenal of heavily used fine deer rifles and shotguns that had been carried to many a hunting trip. Having that many avid sportsmen around was problematic to think about. Most families know their neighbors on the lake and have interacted over a many hot summer. Donald’s little tribe of travelers would be considered outsiders, interlopers or even possibly criminals of some sort by the communities unless they chose some uncontested place to bug in at. On the bright side though folks up at the lake are generally educated and friendly in meeting and greeting strangers. Donald had about 5 other spots marked out on their lake map that might be suitable bug in locations and worst case was the state park or a Lake RV area.
“Just too many things to think about, it was all or none now. Donald mused as they convoyed out the back way towards Ramer. The trip had been smooth so far and they hadn’t really seen anyone out on the road. It had been decided that Janice would take the lead 5 miles before town with the walkie talkie. She could radio back to LowBuck if she spotted any trouble and her being related to darn near everyone in town would help out if there was a need for introductions.
LowBuck cursed the solar storm taking out his and Donald’s CB radios. Donald and he had worked out a few hand signals but it was starting to rain and this last half mile was going to be a bitch because he had to be on his guard looking around as well as have his window down to signal at a
moment’s notice. He was already getting soaked as he followed Janice and Michael into town. Well maybe he didn’t have so much to grouse about after all. Poor Michael on that motorcycle must be catching hell but decided to push on. What’s this? They turning in? We got here a lot quicker than I thought we would of LowBuck mused as he turned the motorhome into a small white country churchyard.
Janice got out of her car and explained to the group quickly that she and her sister were going up to her uncles house to get the church key and tell everyone we were in the area. Michael sat in Donald’s truck out of the rain awaiting her return.
“Looks like we are going to be stuck here until this weather blows over some. You are going to call me a dumbass but I forgot to get that trap out of the culvert we set for that raccoon. I didn’t even think about it until I got part way down the road.” Donald remarked.
“Me and LowBuck went out and got it on the way by when we were getting my solar fence and driveway lights. I am still amazed most of them still work after that solar event. “Michael replied grinning that he had covered Donald`s butt in retrieving the valuable trap.
“Man, I really appreciate that. The loss of that one 220 conibear trap these days is about the most bone headed thing I could have done. One trap can be one meal, one chance at a meal, the only chance etc. Well I appreciate you running a bit of due diligence, water under the bridge now. I guess trying to wear too many hats and plotting and scheming is making me careless. I guess we just be back in hunter gather mode soon enough right Michael?” Donald replied smiling and starting to look forward to just concentrating on foraging and not speculating what might go wrong next but he knew it was illusionary to think that way.