by Mark Bunch
President Royal Gorge Gun Club/
Chairman Fremont County NRA
Should you stay or should you go? Many of you reading this are probably in the same mind-set that I am in, as I plan to stay in place. Staying in place makes the best sense if at all possible, because you know what the score is in your neighborhood. Leaving to head off into someone else’s neighborhood, town, state or mountain range is fraught with potential unknown dangers. It also severely
limits what you can take with you and guarantees that someone you don’t even know might just move into your abandoned house and set up shop with your supplies that you had to leave behind. Think scumbag homeless drug addict loser drinking your wine and eating your burgers.
However, I also recognize that I might not be able to remain in place and I might have to relocate my family to somewhere else. Natural and man-made disasters happen all the time and the severity of them is increasing. The best bet is to plan on sheltering in place but to also have a backup plan to bug out and be ready to do so on very little or no notice. To determine what you need in a bug-out motor vehicle, first you have to assess your particular situation. In terms of where you live or work every day, how far are they from safe bug-out locations that you consider viable in the event that you can’t stay where you are. Do you have mountain property or do you know someone who does?
Most of you reading this live in a rural area or in a surrounding area that is also a small town. However, many people choose to live here but have to commute to a bigger city for employment. If that is the case, your bug out plan will have to account for you getting home to your family from wherever else you might be when the SHTF for real. Will you be starting from within a large city, among the sprawling subdivisions of suburbia, or from a smaller city or town? Have you assessed a variety of potential evacuation routes to determine if your everyday car or other vehicle can negotiate them in any weather or traffic conditions? Will reaching your chosen bug-out location require driving on unpaved surfaces, in other difficult conditions, or do you plan to switch to alternate or backup transportation once you get to the end of the pavement?
Will the backup transportation be hoofing it on foot with your bug-out bag, or will you need racks to carry a bicycle, canoe, kayak, or perhaps a trailer hitch and the capacity to tow a boat, ATV, or motorcycle trailer? Will you be traveling alone, as a couple, or as a family? How much luggage space will you need for everyone’s gear, considering that the minimum will be a well-packed bug-out bag for each person, plus additional food, water, and other equipment if possible? Asking yourself such questions, it doesn’t take long to figure out whether you can make do with your everyday vehicle or if acquiring something more specialized is in order.
Disadvantages to Traveling by Road
Before you begin thinking about buying or customizing that perfect bug-out motor vehicle, stop first and consider the reality that in a true SHTF scenario, particularly in a big urban area, there will be many real drawbacks to any kind of travel on public roads. The main such drawback, of course, is that practically everyone else will have the same idea of attempting to drive out because that’s all they know to do. But all you have to do is watch the news reports of a major hurricane evacuation on the Gulf or East Coast to see the problems that ensue when a mass exodus from a big population center is attempted by road. There will inevitably be traffic jams slowing movement to a crawl or complete gridlock just from the sheer number of vehicles. On top of that, chaos caused by mechanical breakdowns, vehicles running out of fuel, carjackings, and possibly even road blocks set up by the authorities (or worse, those who would take advantage of the situation) will plague the only road out.
Travel by road of course limits you to known, defined routes where it could be hard to avoid those who would stop or ambush you along the way. This sort of concern would be more relevant in the later stages of the aftermath of a major SHTF event, but it’s something to think about. If you are going to bug out by road, be prepared to make your escape early, before the potential for such trouble develops.
Key Bug-Out Motor Vehicle Considerations:
Gasoline vs. Diesel – Gasoline is by far the most common fuel used by the motor vehicles most people own and drive every day. Diesel is the only viable alternative, as electric motors and other experimental technologies are not sustainable options in a bug-out scenario, at least for the kind of full-sized vehicles discussed in this article. Diesel fuel also delivers approximately 17% more power per lb. of fuel than does gasoline.
One advantage of gasoline engines over diesel is that because they are so common, more people are familiar with them and they are easier to repair in the event of a breakdown. They are also cheaper to purchase initially, reducing the total cost of the vehicle as compared to the same model equipped with a diesel engine. Other advantages of gasoline engines include lighter weight for a given horsepower and more horsepower than a comparable-sized diesel. Gasoline engines also generally run quieter than diesels. A disadvantage of gasoline as a primary fuel, however, is that it is harder to store for long-term use, because it is more volatile and dangerous than diesel and must always be properly vented and kept in approved containers to reduce the risk of fire or an explosion. Gasoline also degrades over time unless it is treated with conditioning additives like STA-BIL to keep it fresh. And if your vehicle is powered by gasoline, once you exhaust your supply and it fuel becomes unavailable in a post-SHTF scenario, it cannot be improvised at home, unlike diesel.
Diesel is most commonly used in work trucks, construction and farm machinery, and larger vehicles designed for a long, hard service life. Diesel engines are expensive and require more knowledge to maintain and repair, but tend to require less maintenance over a much longer lifespan than the typical gasoline engine. Diesel engines also get better fuel mileage. Perhaps the greatest advantage of diesel engines in the aftermath of a long-term grid-down scenario would be that biodiesel can be made from cooking oil and other organic byproducts, allowing you to keep using your
vehicle even if gasoline isn’t available.
Choosing between gasoline and diesel boils down to what kind of scenario you are preparing for—long vs. short term. Most people already drive the vehicle they will likely use to bug out if needed, and for most bug-out situations that will probably be relatively short-term, a powerful and economical gasoline engine will work just fine for an escape vehicle.
Blending In – There are many advantages to remaining inconspicuous and blending into your environment in your bug-out vehicle. In the urban environment and on the highway, a vehicle that obviously looks like a bug-out vehicle will attract a lot of unwanted attention. This is where an ordinary four-door sedan can be the best camouflage of all. It will be so plain and nondescript that it will be almost invisible among the traffic. This is especially true if you choose a model with no status-symbol branding and no especially attractive styling or color.
On the other hand, if you are driving a massive four-wheel-drive SUV loaded down with backup vehicles like bicycles, canoes, ATVs, or boats, everyone who sees you will assume you are well-equipped with supplies and gear. This can make you a target for those who are desperate. You should make every reasonable effort to cover or hide obvious supplies, especially those highly desirable jerry cans of extra fuel, until you get away from the city.
Once you get out of town, blending in is more about the ability to hide the entire vehicle. In the back country, earth-tone colors like green, brown, tan, or black are easier to hide. Flat paint is even better, and chrome and other shiny parts should be taped or painted over, or you should consider carrying camouflage netting of the type used by the military to drape over the vehicle once you have it parked. This can be supplemented with vegetation from the surrounding area.
One other point to consider is that if your plan involves traveling remote country or primitive roads at night, especially in the desert where lights can be seen at a great distance, you may want to wire in a manual interrupter switch so you can disable your brake lights in such situations. On many nights out in open country, you can see well enough to drive slowly without your headlights, but if your brake lights give you away, there’s not much point. Some newer vehicles also have headlights that stay on all the time and this will have to be fixed as well. If your vehicle does not also have a switch to disable the interior cabin lights when the doors are open, you may want to wire one in or simply remove the bulbs of any lights that may come on at an inconvenient time and give away your position.
Part II
More on Key Bug-Out Motor Vehicle Considerations. Cont’d
The EMP Threat – Much has been written on the subject of the vulnerability of modern motor vehicles to a possible EMP (electromagnetic pulse) event. Whether caused by a deliberate attack involving a nuclear burst in the atmosphere or possibly extreme solar flare activity, a strong enough electromagnetic pulse is said to have the potential to render most modern motor vehicles totally inoperable. The reason is that such vehicles rely on complex electronic circuitry for their ignition and a variety of engine controls, and once this sensitive circuitry is destroyed it cannot be repaired short of complete replacement of the affected parts.
Many survivalists concerned about the EMP threat advocate choosing an older model, usually pre-1980, because such vehicles do not have on-board computers to control ignition and other vital functions. Whether you base your bug-out vehicle choice on this advice depends on how real you consider the EMP threat. In the spectrum of all the possible SHTF scenarios that could cause you to need a bug-out vehicle, the likelihood of a man-made or natural electromagnetic pulse powerful enough to shut down modern vehicles is relatively slim. Still, if you are confident in your mechanical ability to maintain an older vehicle, it wouldn’t hurt to have all your bases covered by taking the EMP threat into consideration in your choice.
Standard vs. Automatic Transmissions – Though they have fallen out of favor with most of today’s drivers, standard transmissions are simpler and less likely to fail than automatics, especially in older vehicles (today’s automatic transmissions are much improved). Standard transmissions are easier to repair if they do fail, and cheaper and easier to replace if necessary. The typical vehicle equipped with a standard will also get better fuel economy compared to the same vehicle equipped with an automatic. Another important advantage is that vehicles with standard transmissions can be push-started in the event of a battery or starter failure.
A possible disadvantage of standard transmissions is that they require more coordination and both feet and both hands to operate, at least when you are starting off or shifting gears. This could become a problem if you are injured, or if you need to do other things while driving, such as the worst-case scenario of having to return fire to defend yourself from the occupants of other vehicles or would-be carjackers.
Four-Wheel-Drive (4WD) and All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) – Four-wheel drive and high ground clearance are essential if you plan to drive to a remote bug-out location that requires traveling over rough terrain or long distances on unpaved, infrequently maintained roads. They may also be invaluable in an urban evacuation scenario where the roadway is blocked with various obstacles and you need to drive on the shoulders or across curbs, medians, or ditches. The disadvantages of four-wheel-drive vehicles are that they more expensive to purchase initially and will likely require more maintenance and repairs than simpler, two-wheel-drive vehicles.
Most four-wheel-drive vehicles allow the driver to switch from the four-wheel-drive mode to two-wheel-drive for traveling on the pavement. This is the arrangement used in most SUVs and in trucks designed for some off-road ability. But all-wheel-drive (AWD) systems are becoming increasingly common in passenger cars and car-based crossover SUVs. Whereas regular four-wheel drive can cause problems on dry pavement, all-wheel-drive vehicles use a center differential that allows the axles to turn at different speeds. All-wheel drive can make for improved handing on the road, particularly in adverse weather conditions.
ATVs and UTVs can also make great escape/bug out vehicles, the downside to them is that you are going to have to drastically reduce what you are planning to take with you, however, they are still a good option and much more maneuverable on congested roadways or having to go strictly off road. I have a Polaris RZR 1000 which would make an outstanding bug out vehicle, providing you pull a trailer and outfit it with as many racks and storage bags as you can possibly attach to it. I put a heater and gun racks in mine, as well as a finished cab for all weather usability. They normally get better mileage than your huge 4×4 truck or Jeep, however, you are going to have to figure out how to carry your own fuel supply.
Carrying and Storing Additional Fuel – Other than a mechanical breakdown, running out of fuel will be your biggest worry when bugging out by motor vehicle. You can’t count on being able to obtain more fuel after the onset of a SHTF scenario, so you should make it a habit to always keep your tank topped off and to keep on hand enough jerry cans of fuel for a complete refill for when you burn through your first tank. This extra tank of fuel will give you quite a long range in most motor vehicles and allow the reserve you need for long delays in traffic jams and other unforeseen events.
Clearing Obstructions and Getting Unstuck – In addition to spare parts for your vehicle that you need to carry to ensure that you can keep it running, there are few other items specific to bugging out by motor vehicle that you should carry to improve your chances of getting where you want to go. In the aftermath of a SHTF scenario, you may find that you need to get through a locked gate or a barbed-wire, chain-link, or other type of fence. Heavy-duty wire cutters will work on many types of fences and a pair of 36-inch or larger bolt cutters will defeat most padlocks and chains. You may also encounter a roadway blocked by fallen trees or other obstructions. These may be the result of hurricanes or other storms, or deliberate man-made attempts to close the road. A chainsaw in your vehicle will allow you to open up all but the worst of these, but if you choose not to carry one, at least take along a large handsaw or axe. Likewise, a powerful bumper-mounted winch or a hand-held come-along can be used to clear broken-down vehicles and other obstructions out of the roadway. The winch or come-along will also be essential for pulling the vehicle out if you get stuck in mud or other soft conditions off-road.
Again, don’t forget to include a shovel as well, if you get stuck while traveling off-road or in snow, a good shovel can make all the difference. Don’t plan on being able to use a credit card to make purchases while on the road, as I have been many places out of town before where a gas station’s internet was down and their credit card readers were inoperable. Always carry cash in small bills just in case.
(The Author Mark Bunch, has been an avid prepper/survivalist for decades and teaches several types of classes for preparedness and survival at his RGGC Armory along with his instructors Sam Tittes and John Pruden. They also teach many firearms classes from beginning concealed carry classes all the way to extreme distance rifle shooting classes. You can reach them at 719-276-3030)