Normal People Preparing for TEOTWAWKI – Outfitting Your Bug-Out Vehicle

We’ve done a lot of talking about “The End of the World as We Know It” or TEOTWAWKI.  In the first post that kicked off this series, “Bugging Out vs. TEOTWAWKI – Don’t Get Them Confused,” our whole premise was that just because TEOTWAWKI happened, doesn’t mean that we are bugging out.  As a matter of fact, in that post, I argue that if it’s TEOTWAWKI that is exactly the time that you should be hunkering down and bugging in – NOT bugging out.

But now we’re coming full circle.

I have a favorite prepper fiction series – the first book in which is called One Second After.  The author, William Forstchen, takes us on a journey through the mid-Atlantic states just after an EMP attack which shut down normal life.  The main character, John Matherson, doesn’t take long to realize what’s going on.  He’s a former military man and a current history teacher at a local college in the mountains of North Carolina.  He helps his community pull together in the aftermath of the EMP, so that while they can’t life like they used to live, they can have at least a semblance of a ‘normal’ life if you consider living like they were in the 1800’s a “normal” life.

At one point in the three-book series, the people of the town found out that a group of marauders was headed right for the town.  People had to make the choice of whether to stay and defend the town or to leave.

This is where we find ourselves in our Normal People Preparing for TEOTWAWKI series.  What would we do if we KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a large and dangerous group were headed right for us and our neighbors which have banded together to keep some semblance of life going?  Do we stay and defend our place or do we finally bug out?

I’m not here to argue for either of staying or leaving.  What I am here today to discuss is – if we decide to leave – what steps should we take even now to prepare us better for that eventuality?  And since I believe that if it’s time to bug out, we need to have a way to get our families out safely, I do believe that we need a bug-out vehicle.

What I’m NOT saying about a Bug-Out Vehicle… 

I’m NOT saying that you should go and take out a second mortgage on your house so that you can afford a fully-stocked, brand new vehicle like a Toyota Sequoia Tundra.  Those things can run you almost the cost of a HOUSE!

I’m not saying that you need to spend any money on fancy gadgets.

I’m also not saying that there will come a time when you HAVE to bug out.

But as a prepper, I believe that we should be prepared for as many eventualities as we can – and for my family, that includes the possibility of having to bug out during TEOTWAWKI.

Choosing a Bug-Out Vehicle

What are your options?  As I see it, there are two.

(1) Use your current vehicle.

No matter what vehicle you have now, as long as it runs, it should be your first option.  Now that doesn’t mean that you won’t have to do anything to it in order to make it bug-out ready, but using what you’ve got is a WHOLE lot less expensive than buying another vehicle for an eventuality.

So if you choose this option – to use the vehicle you already have – what do you need to do now?

Keep up with your maintenance.

Our garage – they call themselves a Car Care Center and I kinda like it – has an option once every year or so of having an upgraded oil change where they go over the entire vehicle and look for anything that might be amiss.  Whether or not your garage offers you this option, make sure you ask for it at least once a year.

Checking out potential problems before they become problems serves two purposes.  First off, it helps you to be able to better budget for items that you know are coming up soon.  That’s HUGE as it keeps you out of debt.  Secondly, it helps you better take care of your vehicle which may need to be used in a bug-out scenario.

Make sure that you are keeping up with the maintenance.  Take care of issues before they become problems.  Make sure that your tires are solid.  TEOTWAWKI can happen in so many different ways.  There’s no guarantee that an EMP will take out all electricity, and there’s no guarantee that even if it did, that your vehicle would be taken out.  I found this article that says newer cars have better shielding and should survive.  No matter what, your current car should – at the very least – be considered as your Bug Out Vehicle.

Buy Extra Parts for Your Vehicle

If you plan on using the vehicle that you have now as your bug out vehicle, then you want to stash away some extra parts NOW.  You know that you’ll need new brake pads.  Grab an extra set now.  You’ll need to change your oil at some point.  Make sure now that you’ve got what you need.  Something as simple as windshield wiper blades or windshield cleaning fluid can cripple you in if you don’t keep up with all of them.  I am admittedly NOT a car maintenance expert, so I leave these types of things up to my garage and my husband.

Keep your vehicle stocked now. 

I did a whole series on The Prepared Vehicle.  We talked about stocking food and water in your car and discussed how to take care of sanitation and dealing with unexpected illnesses while in your vehicle.  Another topic we covered was what we need to be prepared for minor mechanical issues with your vehicle.  We also talked about preparing your vehicle to provide comfort to those that need it during unexpected times.   Keeping ourselves and our passengers safe while in our vehicles was a fifth topic discussed.  The sixth topic we covered was first aid and illness prevention when it comes to people in our vehicles.  The series wrapped up with the topic of “Putting At All Together” in such a way that you can still ride in your vehicle even after you’ve covered your bases and stocked your car now.

(2) Buy another vehicle as your bug out vehicle.

If you decide to purchase another vehicle that you plan on using as your Bug-Out Vehicle take a few things into consideration.

4-Wheel Drive as a Bug-Out Vehicle

Whether you’re driving through ice, snow, or rocks, having a four-wheel drive will help keep you safe.  When four wheels are working together, pulling in the same direction together, you’re going to get further, faster, and in a safer manner.  You don’t know what kind of weather in which you’re going to have to bug out.  Having all four wheels driving together in any weather will be better.

Off-Road Capability for your Bug-Out Vehicle

Having a vehicle that is capable of taking you across shallow or dry creeks, across a rough landscape without having to follow roads would be invaluable – especially during TEOTWAWKI.  People could barricade roads, but with off-road capability, you’ll have other options.

Diesel Engine

While diesel costs more than regular gas at the moment, a diesel engine is up to 20% more fuel-efficient than a conventional gasoline engine!  Diesel engines are simpler in that they don’t have spark plugs or distributors.  Their engines are built sturdier, so they go longer before needing major work done to it.  Also because of the way that diesel engines are built, diesel vehicles are faster ‘off the starting block’ than gasoline-powered vehicles.

Storage Space

Whatever vehicle you consider would need to have enough space for your family and the items that you need to take.  Consider something with a luggage rack or a large storage capacity – a pickup or an SUV even.

Price

If you are going to purchase a vehicle based on its EMP survival capability and price, this article walks you through seven different vehicles that should survive an EMP that cost less than $2000.

Stocking Your Bug-Out Vehicle

Gas

I’m not talking about the kind of gad that you get when you eat beans.  When we’re talking about TEOTWAWKI and gasoline, you have to remember that gas will be a commodity.  It will be hard to come by.

Start by storing some gas.  It’s easy enough to rotate.  Buy yourself four to six 5-gallon gas cans.   Fill them and store them safely.  Keep them for a month then rotate them.  To rotate them, the following month, use them to fill your car and refill the gas containers.  Do this every month.  This way you always make sure that you have at least one – if not two tanks of gas at all times.

In the case of TEOTWAWKI, you may also want to invest in a siphon to get gasoline out of other cars that you find abandoned.  Having a few extra of those 5-gallon gas cans would come in handy to put the siphoned gas into.

Not only that, but gas will degrade.  Even if you have a bunch of gas stored, it won’t keep for long.  Make sure that if you store gas that you also store a gas additive.  You’ll need enough to treat what you regularly store and extra for what you siphon.

Packing Your Bug-Out Vehicle 

Earlier in this post I mentioned “The Prepared Vehicle” series from last year.  While that has a place up above, I think I need to take a little time to expand on things here.  Our vehicles should always be stocked for living life now.  But when it comes to TEOTWAWKI and Bugging Out, other things should also be taken into consideration.

If you’re leaving forever and NOT coming back, then besides just having a tarp, you should plan on taking a four-season tent with you to provide shelter for your family.  You need to be more prepared for cooking – perhaps you bring a collapsible grill that you can put cast iron on over a fire and use it to cook.  You should have a more robust first aid kit if you’re never coming back.  When you plan on bugging out during TEOTWAWKI is when you add a hatchet (can I just say here that I LOVE the Fisker’s Brand!) and an ax.

And then there’s the question of what do you do if you need to abandon your Bug-Out Vehicle?  You need to be able to take your extra items with you.  We keep an extra, compact, light-weight backpack in our van in case we need to take more out of our vehicle than we planned on.  Depending on the terrain of where you’re traveling, perhaps even a foldable wagon would be called for.

Emotional Impact

One last note before I close out this article – don’t underestimate the emotional impact that leaving behind your home will cause you and your children.  Why do I bring this up here?  Because this article is fundamentally about leaving – forever – the home that we had known both before and after the world as we knew it collapsed.

This will affect you emotionally more than you realized.  It will be easy to think that it’s just stress of the situation that you’re in – and that will play into it.  But realize that you will grieve over whatever modicum of “normalcy” that you had experienced to this point.  It’ll be easy to have an incredibly short fuse – to yell at the ones that you love the most.

If you know about it NOW, you can also prepare your hearts for that time when you might have to leave.  You’ll be sooner able to deal with it in your own heart and recognize it in your own voice.  If you see it for what it is and acknowledge it, you’ll be able to move on from it more quickly than you would otherwise.

What About You?

Do you have a fully stocked Bug-Out Vehicle ready to go at a moment’s notice?  Or did you have no idea that there was such a thing as a Bug-Out Vehicle?  Do you already have your current vehicle stocked?  If so, with what?  What do you still need to buy to make your transition from your home to the long-haul or on-the-run more possible?  Leave a comment below so that we can all be better prepared.

Together let’s Love, Learn, Practice, and Overcome

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