Sheltering in an abandoned structure

So you've bugged out.  You've gone some distance and you are planning to stay at a new location for some time.  Maybe a few days, maybe a week, maybe forever.

I've been thinking about some of the things you might want to do, and things you might not want to do.

Shut everything off

If there is a chance that services might come on (water, electricity, gas) you might want to give some thought to securing those systems.  Turn off the water main, shut down all the individual breakers as well as the main and if you can, shut down the power at the main switch outside.  Shut off the gas main as well.

If the services were to come back on you wouldn't be caught off guard by water blasting out of a ruptured pipe or gas suddenly flowing from an open appliance valve. 

Scope things out

You will obviously do some sort of recon of the site before you occupy it.  But once you are inside, take some time to do a complete sweep.  Go room to room, take stock of the state of the the structure, any supplies or resources that are present, and any remains.  You're going to want to remove anything hazardous if it's safe to do so, like dead bodies.

You want to know the location as well as possible so that in the event of a conflict with others you have home court advantage if at all possible. 

Be prepared to leave

If someone else comes along, a potentially stronger force, be prepared to abandon the site and move on.  Everything in this sort of situation is a resource management issue.  Is the fight you may have to put up to keep a place worth the resources the place provides?

Have an evacuation plan.  You had a bug out plan (we hope) that got you out of your home and this far, make sure you have a plan to bug out from here.  This might require more planning and recon, but life in a world that isn't governed by the rule of law and the 24 hour news cycle is all about planning and recon.

Have another spot in mind

If you can, have another location in mind to jump to.  This sort of goes along with being prepared to leave and having an evacuation plan, but it's more also.  You will have done your local recon as part of setting up where you are.  Part of that will also be picking other spots to jump to.  You should know those locations, perhaps have supply caches near them, but not be set up there.  They are potential fall back sites so you should have already shut everything off and scoped the place out.

If you have to fall back to one of these sites a quick recon will tell you if it's safe, then you can move in.  Probably not for long though, since you had to abandon your primary site to some other group.  They will begin to occupy and scout the area, so you will probably be moving on and beginning this cycle all over again.

It might not be an enemy

You may have had to abandon your primary site for reasons other than hostile people.  Maybe a tree came through the roof during a storm, or it was flooded by torrential rains.  Having an alternate site to fall back to is just as helpful under these situations as well.

Conclusion
Do you have any additional advice or pointers?  Let me know in the comments.

Simulate a bug out? Drive the beltway!

I've spotted a number of YouTube videos recently where some folks have simulated a bugout.  I've considered how I might realistically do that, with the caveat that I live in the Baltimore/Washington area.

They always tell you that the roads will be jammed, and if normal Friday traffic is any indication I can assure you that the highways will be packed in the event of some sort of event that people feel a need to run from.

So I thought about how a vehicular evacuation might look and what sorts of things you should do if you plan to use the roads to bug out.  I will probably talk about walking out in another post at some point.  This is just things to put in your mind if you plan to evacuate your area by road.

Highways
I've seen bad traffic here on the main highways on the best of days.  You compound that with a general sense of panic and you're going to have a mess.  If you have no other way, then prepare to be sitting there for a while.

I recently drove a hybrid vehicle while we were on vacation.  Those have a bit of an advantage, assuming you're not running any climate control systems, when they're sitting in stop and go traffic.  Even some all gas vehicles now will shut off when you're sitting in traffic.  So if you have a hybrid as an option and there is no compelling reason to take something else, the hybrid might be a good option for the sheer gas savings it might offer in stop and go traffic.

Be prepared to eat, sleep, and ..... other stuff on the highway.  So pack your supplies accordingly.  You might be on the road, slowly moving, for hours, possibly days.  Be prepared to swap off driving duties, which pretty much rules out doing this sort of thing alone.

Back roads
If you can, plan a way out of your area using secondary or tertiary roads.  Be prepared for these to be congested too though.  You will not be the only person with this idea.  Drive your route, with a partner.  You want to have a map, an actual physical map, so you can mark every single spot that could be a bottleneck or congestion point.  4 way stop, mark it.  Two lanes go down to one, mark it.  You want to know all the likely problem points on your route if you can.  And every gas station, cafe, convenience store and diner.  These are all points where you might be able to get supplies, but more importantly they will be places that people will be.  And people are their own problem.

Fuel
Many people in the prepper community say to never let your fuel tank get below 1/2 a tank.  This is a good idea in general, but especially if you live anywhere that evacuation is a real possibility.  Hurricane prone areas are a good example.  You want to have a spare supply as well.  A gallon or two at least, and you do need to rotate it because gas can go bad.  I suggest a 5 gallon can if you have the space.  For most people five gallons of gas is around half a tank.  That's probably between 125 and 150 miles depending on the car and type of driving.  So if you try never to let your tank fall below the half mark, and you have a back up supply of about half a tank, you should be able to get a respectable distance, even with bad traffic.

Final Thoughts
When operating on the idea that you will bug out by motor vehicle, be prepared for it to be a long and possibly boring (or dangerous) adventure.  Do a few dry runs in different weather and make sure to note things that might become issues should you actually have to evacuate with the masses.

What sorts of things have you considered about a motor vehicle bug out?  I'd like to know if you have any advice or stories about your practice runs and how they went.