Hogleg
10-09-2011, 02:04 AM
My wife and I were talking last night about what happened during the great Houston bug-out caused by Hurrican Rita. She asked if there had been much posted about the Houston evacuation and Rita. I told her that there was so much content that there was no way I could read it all, so I was unsure.
I wrote this some time ago, but I believe the lessons apply to any bug-out situation. If this is old news to all of you, please excuse:
We thought we were prepared. We had hurricane “boxes” with food, water and enough other items for 10-15 days on hand. For some stupid reason I got spooked about staying home. We decided to bug out. We knew where we were going and had made detailed plans. The pick-up was loaded and ready to go in less than 3 hours. The Storm was still 12 hours away. News reports showed our BO route was slow, but moving. We were not concerned about gas supply because I had 10 five gallon cans, of which 8 were full. I filled the other two with gas from the wife’s car despite the bad taste I got in my mouth due to my lack of experience ripping off gas tanks.
Like any battle plan, it all fell apart at the first shot.
The plan was to drive about 3 miles from our house and hook up the camper, which was at a storage facility. We made it to the storage facility, only to find the automatic gate opener was not working. Someone had hit it with their car. The office was closed. I tried to pry the gate and about then a police officer pulled up. After an ID check and some serious discussion, he decided he had bigger fish to fry and let us go. We decided to proceed without the camper and this was not a big concern since we had the backpacks/tents in the truck anyway.
That whole deal caused a delay of about an hour. It ends up not having the camper was a blessing.
About two miles from where we would enter the interstate highway, traffic was stopped. Not moving at all. No problem, as I knew a back route to get us away from Houston. So did about 10,000 other people. Alternate route 1 was a fail. No problem, I knew another way. Fail. The wife picked a route from the map, which took us through some neighborhoods. Dead ends – fail. This all caused about 2 hours delay and a quarter tank of gas. The storm was now less than 9 hours away and reports had it strengthening.
LESSON 1 – Have a GOOD set of maps. Don’t rely on the typical gas station folder. After this, my wife found a Texas Atlas that is about an inch thick and has every passable road in Texas on it. It stays in the BOB now.
It took us 3 hours to get on the interstate. By then, they had opened the inbound lanes to outbound traffic and it was moving, but VERY slowly. I had used half a tank of gas to get roughly 4 miles from our house. The kids were going nuts. Everyone had taken a pee in a cup, but other bathroom facilities were being requested. The drinks and snacks we had in the cab were about gone. If I pulled over, who knew how long it would take to get back in line and people were short tempered. Common sense told me to stay away from the interstate, but after our experience trying back routes before, I decided to try it.
We actually moved a bit in the first hour. We made it another 20 miles from home, but bathroom requirements were becoming critical. So I decided to find a gas station on the feeder road. BIG MISTAKE! The line of cars had the whole feeder road blocked. There were heated arguments going on. The police were not allowing anyone to pass because of line cutters. It was complete bedlam. About then, the youngest went poo in her pants and it started to rain a little. I finally, at great risk of being arrested, locked in the 4-wheel drive and went along the grass side of the interstate to get away from the gas station mob and get the smell out of the car.
Lesson 2 – Someone will have to do more than pee. Have some method worked out. We still have not solved this, but a plastic bed pan is our current idea.
We drove for about 2 miles and found a country road. There was an auto repair place with a parking lot and lights. Some cars around, but I did not see any people. The lighted lot was attractive since we had a mess to clean up, needed to restock the cab and I would feel better about a full tank of gas. I popped the bed cover and decided right away I had problems. The clean clothes were of course, the hardest to get to. I had also forgotten to bring a funnel, so the refill was going to be sloppy at best. My sons and I proceeded to unload the bed of the truck. Gas cans, food boxes and other stuff all came out in order to reach the clothes bags. Then there was a search to find hoohaws (baby wipes).
Wife and daughter went to find place to clean her up. I sent my oldest boy to watch over them. About then, the first car pulled up. Then, out of nowhere, there were other people walking towards us. I realized my pistol was in the truck and that did me about as much good as it being in El Paso.
Lesson 3 – Keep you weapon on you. Out of all of this, I felt so silly over this one item. I KNEW BETTER.
Two young men got out of the car. They had their headlights shining on our gas cans sitting on the ground, boxes of food and water spread everywhere.
“Hey mister, can we buy some of your gas? We are about out” said the first one.
“WOW! Look at all that water he has – can we get some of that too?” came from the second one.
Then a man and a teenage girl walked up: “Sir, we are desperate. We are out of gas and have no water – could you help us out?”
“If you folks need some water, no problem – I will give you some. I am sorry, but I can’t help you with the gas. We barely have enough to get to where we are going” was my response.
“But you have so much – what is that – 50 gallons? I have cash, how much for a can of your gas buddy?” one of the young men said.
The next car pulled up about then and rolled down the window and said “Is he selling gas? How much”?
“Naw - He is being a stingy bastard” someone said.
“What’s the problem guy – you got lots of gas it looks like to me” someone else said.
I proceeded to try and load stuff back in the truck. Hell with filling up. Just get it back in the bed and get out of there. I looked up and saw we now had a crowd of 10-12 people, standing around, talking.
Someone, I am not sure who, threw a wad of money at me and proceeded to pick up one of our cans. I stepped in and stopped him. “No way dude - it ain’t happening. This is going to get out of control real fast if you don’t back away. Go get your money and just back away.” I said.
About then, the rest of the family came back. My oldest (14) went directly to the cab. I could tell he was heading for the pistol. While I had my chest stuck out proud, I also did not want to escalate this whole mess.
I asked the wife if she had found water and a hose to help with the cleanup. She had, and pointed to where it was at on the far side of a building.
I yelled out “Hey! Hey! If you need water, there is a hose on the side of that building. If you need gas, cut the hose and siphon these cars (waving around to the lot). If you don’t have anything to put water in, I will give you some water. Now please just leave us alone.” It worked!
We got everything back in the truck and headed out. Somehow, in all of this, we ended up missing a gas can and one box of food.
LESSON 4 – Think about the packing order of your bug-out-buggy. I believed gas would be all we would need and had it at the back. Food and water were next, following by packs and clothes. We have a bed cover, which restricts access towards the cab, so you have to pull everything out to get to it. Think it through.
While the wind was gusting a little by then, the radio was saying the storm had shifted east. We could expect wind and rain, but the worst was going to miss us.
After the rush worn off, we all became very tired. I was a danger driving. Again, complete indecision set in. There was no hotel room within 100 miles of Houston. We were out in the country anyway and too scared to go back towards the interstate. I kept driving on country roads, trying to generally head west and avoid any small towns. That truck did not have a GPS and our handheld was packed away in the back. I found out later that we had been heading North East, right back towards the storm.
LESSON 5 – Don’t wait until you are exhausted to figure out shelter. With three kids in the back seat, sleeping in the truck was not going to be a good solution. With the wind, a tent was just plain silly.
LESSON 6 – Have a frigging compass or GPS in the truck. They are for more than just hiking.
I found a bridge on a secondary road that was a railroad overpass. The wind was getting serious by now and the rain was making it difficult to see with tired eyes. I parked under the bridge and turned off the lights to sleep for a few hours. Everyone was sprawled out, miserable, hungry and fussy. I had just nodded off when someone saw water next to the truck with the lightning flashes. We were parked right next to a creek, and the water was up to the edge of the road. We had to move to higher ground. We drove for a short bit and the road was blocked by a downed tree limb. It was large enough to have hurt us in the truck – another worry.
I doubled back, found another lane, and it went through an open field (we could tell from the lightning). We just stopped the truck where there were no trees. The gusts would shake the truck, but only the kids were scared it was going to tip over. It really was not that bad. At one point in time, I decided to at least get some of the food we had in the back. Ignoring the rain, I almost lost the bed cover when a gust hit it, and gave up. All of our prep was for nothing. All our stuff was within 5 feet of us, and we could not use it.
We waited it out until dawn and headed back home. I figured out later that we had never gotten more than 60 miles from the house, which was undamaged.
I wrote this some time ago, but I believe the lessons apply to any bug-out situation. If this is old news to all of you, please excuse:
We thought we were prepared. We had hurricane “boxes” with food, water and enough other items for 10-15 days on hand. For some stupid reason I got spooked about staying home. We decided to bug out. We knew where we were going and had made detailed plans. The pick-up was loaded and ready to go in less than 3 hours. The Storm was still 12 hours away. News reports showed our BO route was slow, but moving. We were not concerned about gas supply because I had 10 five gallon cans, of which 8 were full. I filled the other two with gas from the wife’s car despite the bad taste I got in my mouth due to my lack of experience ripping off gas tanks.
Like any battle plan, it all fell apart at the first shot.
The plan was to drive about 3 miles from our house and hook up the camper, which was at a storage facility. We made it to the storage facility, only to find the automatic gate opener was not working. Someone had hit it with their car. The office was closed. I tried to pry the gate and about then a police officer pulled up. After an ID check and some serious discussion, he decided he had bigger fish to fry and let us go. We decided to proceed without the camper and this was not a big concern since we had the backpacks/tents in the truck anyway.
That whole deal caused a delay of about an hour. It ends up not having the camper was a blessing.
About two miles from where we would enter the interstate highway, traffic was stopped. Not moving at all. No problem, as I knew a back route to get us away from Houston. So did about 10,000 other people. Alternate route 1 was a fail. No problem, I knew another way. Fail. The wife picked a route from the map, which took us through some neighborhoods. Dead ends – fail. This all caused about 2 hours delay and a quarter tank of gas. The storm was now less than 9 hours away and reports had it strengthening.
LESSON 1 – Have a GOOD set of maps. Don’t rely on the typical gas station folder. After this, my wife found a Texas Atlas that is about an inch thick and has every passable road in Texas on it. It stays in the BOB now.
It took us 3 hours to get on the interstate. By then, they had opened the inbound lanes to outbound traffic and it was moving, but VERY slowly. I had used half a tank of gas to get roughly 4 miles from our house. The kids were going nuts. Everyone had taken a pee in a cup, but other bathroom facilities were being requested. The drinks and snacks we had in the cab were about gone. If I pulled over, who knew how long it would take to get back in line and people were short tempered. Common sense told me to stay away from the interstate, but after our experience trying back routes before, I decided to try it.
We actually moved a bit in the first hour. We made it another 20 miles from home, but bathroom requirements were becoming critical. So I decided to find a gas station on the feeder road. BIG MISTAKE! The line of cars had the whole feeder road blocked. There were heated arguments going on. The police were not allowing anyone to pass because of line cutters. It was complete bedlam. About then, the youngest went poo in her pants and it started to rain a little. I finally, at great risk of being arrested, locked in the 4-wheel drive and went along the grass side of the interstate to get away from the gas station mob and get the smell out of the car.
Lesson 2 – Someone will have to do more than pee. Have some method worked out. We still have not solved this, but a plastic bed pan is our current idea.
We drove for about 2 miles and found a country road. There was an auto repair place with a parking lot and lights. Some cars around, but I did not see any people. The lighted lot was attractive since we had a mess to clean up, needed to restock the cab and I would feel better about a full tank of gas. I popped the bed cover and decided right away I had problems. The clean clothes were of course, the hardest to get to. I had also forgotten to bring a funnel, so the refill was going to be sloppy at best. My sons and I proceeded to unload the bed of the truck. Gas cans, food boxes and other stuff all came out in order to reach the clothes bags. Then there was a search to find hoohaws (baby wipes).
Wife and daughter went to find place to clean her up. I sent my oldest boy to watch over them. About then, the first car pulled up. Then, out of nowhere, there were other people walking towards us. I realized my pistol was in the truck and that did me about as much good as it being in El Paso.
Lesson 3 – Keep you weapon on you. Out of all of this, I felt so silly over this one item. I KNEW BETTER.
Two young men got out of the car. They had their headlights shining on our gas cans sitting on the ground, boxes of food and water spread everywhere.
“Hey mister, can we buy some of your gas? We are about out” said the first one.
“WOW! Look at all that water he has – can we get some of that too?” came from the second one.
Then a man and a teenage girl walked up: “Sir, we are desperate. We are out of gas and have no water – could you help us out?”
“If you folks need some water, no problem – I will give you some. I am sorry, but I can’t help you with the gas. We barely have enough to get to where we are going” was my response.
“But you have so much – what is that – 50 gallons? I have cash, how much for a can of your gas buddy?” one of the young men said.
The next car pulled up about then and rolled down the window and said “Is he selling gas? How much”?
“Naw - He is being a stingy bastard” someone said.
“What’s the problem guy – you got lots of gas it looks like to me” someone else said.
I proceeded to try and load stuff back in the truck. Hell with filling up. Just get it back in the bed and get out of there. I looked up and saw we now had a crowd of 10-12 people, standing around, talking.
Someone, I am not sure who, threw a wad of money at me and proceeded to pick up one of our cans. I stepped in and stopped him. “No way dude - it ain’t happening. This is going to get out of control real fast if you don’t back away. Go get your money and just back away.” I said.
About then, the rest of the family came back. My oldest (14) went directly to the cab. I could tell he was heading for the pistol. While I had my chest stuck out proud, I also did not want to escalate this whole mess.
I asked the wife if she had found water and a hose to help with the cleanup. She had, and pointed to where it was at on the far side of a building.
I yelled out “Hey! Hey! If you need water, there is a hose on the side of that building. If you need gas, cut the hose and siphon these cars (waving around to the lot). If you don’t have anything to put water in, I will give you some water. Now please just leave us alone.” It worked!
We got everything back in the truck and headed out. Somehow, in all of this, we ended up missing a gas can and one box of food.
LESSON 4 – Think about the packing order of your bug-out-buggy. I believed gas would be all we would need and had it at the back. Food and water were next, following by packs and clothes. We have a bed cover, which restricts access towards the cab, so you have to pull everything out to get to it. Think it through.
While the wind was gusting a little by then, the radio was saying the storm had shifted east. We could expect wind and rain, but the worst was going to miss us.
After the rush worn off, we all became very tired. I was a danger driving. Again, complete indecision set in. There was no hotel room within 100 miles of Houston. We were out in the country anyway and too scared to go back towards the interstate. I kept driving on country roads, trying to generally head west and avoid any small towns. That truck did not have a GPS and our handheld was packed away in the back. I found out later that we had been heading North East, right back towards the storm.
LESSON 5 – Don’t wait until you are exhausted to figure out shelter. With three kids in the back seat, sleeping in the truck was not going to be a good solution. With the wind, a tent was just plain silly.
LESSON 6 – Have a frigging compass or GPS in the truck. They are for more than just hiking.
I found a bridge on a secondary road that was a railroad overpass. The wind was getting serious by now and the rain was making it difficult to see with tired eyes. I parked under the bridge and turned off the lights to sleep for a few hours. Everyone was sprawled out, miserable, hungry and fussy. I had just nodded off when someone saw water next to the truck with the lightning flashes. We were parked right next to a creek, and the water was up to the edge of the road. We had to move to higher ground. We drove for a short bit and the road was blocked by a downed tree limb. It was large enough to have hurt us in the truck – another worry.
I doubled back, found another lane, and it went through an open field (we could tell from the lightning). We just stopped the truck where there were no trees. The gusts would shake the truck, but only the kids were scared it was going to tip over. It really was not that bad. At one point in time, I decided to at least get some of the food we had in the back. Ignoring the rain, I almost lost the bed cover when a gust hit it, and gave up. All of our prep was for nothing. All our stuff was within 5 feet of us, and we could not use it.
We waited it out until dawn and headed back home. I figured out later that we had never gotten more than 60 miles from the house, which was undamaged.