Get Home Bag

[newmuzzleloader]

This was a last minute trip so I didn't have a chance to buy a bike ahead of time- a tire repair kit is good idea I hadn't thought of.
I always have 2 knives on me, a small pocket knife and a larger buck 845 folder w/ pocket clip. I took along a puck sharpening stone and had a Leatherman in the truck.
I had sandwiches, granola bars, crackers and a half-full arizona tea jug still with me when I got to GA- scrounging food would have been the weak link. I did forget to bring my camping spork with me.
As far as making fire- I had paper, dryer lint, small kindling in a qt freezer bag. I also had a pack of those gimmick birthday candles that can't be blown out. I would have been able to have fire.
I did have a headlamp and extra batteries but no way to recharge them.

What I found really odd using the GPS- drive time was accurate but the app said I could get there in 3 days by bike and 10 days on foot. Maybe walking/riding 24 hours a day but not in any realistic way.

 

[2ndCharter]

If you are walking, you likely aren't doing 40 miles in a day.

I've done several endurance hikes (100km per day) and it takes a great deal of training to do that. If it were me, I'd plan on no more than 10 miles per day. You'll have to navigate around hazards that may not be evident until this event takes place.

As previously mentioned, a bicycle, with saddle bags, would suit you better than anything else should vehicles be incapacitated due to infrastructure issues or inoperability problems.

 

[Slackdaddy]

Many would be surprised just how many people under the age of 30 don't know how to read a map.
Hell, my (41yo) wife was in her mid 30's when I found out she didn't understand I-695 inner loop vs. outer loop. It took me a half hour of explaining and drawing circles for her to understand it. Mind you she got her master's from Johns Hopkins with a 3.98 GPA, so she is pretty damn smart with most things.

Are we related via in-laws ?? Did you marry one of my wife's sisters??
I remember when we 1st married,, she was explaining to my brother how she got to my parents,, she said she took the beltway,, we were scratching our heads and trying to find out WHY she was on the beltway,, it is nowhere near the route she took.

Through much interrogating we found out her whole family calls ANY highway,, "The Beltway",,
All while have\ing no clue what a "Beltway" is.

 

[Alea Jacta Est]

Looking at a vehicle road trip as a maybe walking or biking return trip isn’t a bad exercise. Having a plan how to get home sans internal combustion advantages is never a bad thing. Seasonal concerns and terrain reality are going to cause any plan to reach its limits. So too, age and infirmity will also cause review and reconsideration.

Flat land, a bike or a horse and nice dry fall weather would be ideal. Other than that, everything from weather to hills and everything in between, will conspire to make a trip “home” something less than simple or easy.

…my own most recent thoughts are to have a solid plan and kit with you then consider all of the existing conditions at the time you find yourself stranded abroad. Then you can determine if immediate departure is the best thing or not. Might be that nearby relocation, away from the road, might not be a good thing until things settle a bit. Depending on the nature of things coming to “all stop”, reconsideration might yield a better or more improved plan. A good plan is the basis required for a solid execution.

First thing is everything will not be what you hoped for or planned for. Semper Gumby.

A compass is never a bad thing. A map or an atlas might be worth its weight in gold. Knowing where the rivers and railroads are and where they run might be a boon too. You can only carry so much stuff realistically. Your imagination and your will are your best potential tools. They weigh nothing.

 

[Thepreparer]

I’d have more in your vehicle than in the bag, more water, snacks, blanket. Pack your bag from your vehicle before departing because depending on the season your needs could change a lot.

 

[Ponder_MD]

It's extremely unlikely a situation like that would arise. I think most scenarios wouldn't involve transit being completely shut down for extended amounts of time where I couldn't even call for a ride. However we are also in unprecedented times.

Somewhat apocalypse cosplay, but can't hurt to be minimally prepared.

Um, I walked 19 miles out of DC on September 11th from Foggy Bottom to somewhere beyond Benning Road before I was able to rendezvous with my ex-wife for extraction. I carried a single bottle of water that I retrieved from my car in the parking garage. A restaurant was kind enough to refill it for me as I walked.

I always wear sturdy shoes so footwear wasn't a problem. If you recall, 9/11 was a gorgeous, end of summer day. It was sunny, low humidity and not blistering hot. I was 28 years old and still pretty damned tired by the time I got picked up. I often think about how much worse it would have been in the dead of winter or perhaps the dead of summer, in a heavy thunderstorm or something.

I tried to follow the Metro Orange Line to I-495/US50 because my company had an office there where I could obtain more water and shelter but physical obstacles pushed me south onto Benning Road. I had no idea how dangerous that was until later on. Thank God everyone was preoccupied with the attacks instead of being curious about the white guy in a plaid shirt, on foot.

 

[Alea Jacta Est]

I’d have more in your vehicle than in the bag, more water, snacks, blanket. Pack your bag from your vehicle before departing because depending on the season your needs could change a lot.

This^^^

Situation pretty important. Seasons change. Beware your water in car freezing in winter.

 

[Ponder_MD]

As previously mentioned, a bicycle, with saddle bags

Specifically for the OP, this is not a bad idea. He has a work truck with storage space.

Sailors sometimes carry folding bicycles on their boats to get around the port towns that they visit: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/best-folding-bikes-2-324714

@teratos idea of a small, folding electric scooter is not a bad idea either. Pick a middle of the road model that will be reliable, compact but that you won't mind abandoning when it runs out of charge because you're not going to want to carry it when it's dead. If you're 40 miles from home and an electric scooter gets you 15-17 miles, it could make all the difference.

This one will carry 220lbs.: https://www.hiboy.com/products/s2-e...QKbVqxoZUQAPeDFVXaLEsrWPKyYihtqhoCuqAQAvD_BwE

 

[lazarus]

Specifically for the OP, this is not a bad idea. He has a work truck with storage space.

Sailors sometimes carry folding bicycles on their boats to get around the port towns that they visit: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/best-folding-bikes-2-324714

@teratos idea of a small, folding electric scooter is not a bad idea either. Pick a middle of the road model that will be reliable, compact but that you won't mind abandoning when it runs out of charge because you're not going to want to carry it when it's dead. If you're 40 miles from home and an electric scooter gets you 15-17 miles, it could make all the difference.

This one will carry 220lbs.: https://www.hiboy.com/products/s2-e...QKbVqxoZUQAPeDFVXaLEsrWPKyYihtqhoCuqAQAvD_BwE

If cost and storage are less of an issue, a cheap electric bike with saddle bags, a spare battery, a "solar power pack" and a good sized folding solar panel is a pretty darned good "get home" setup. Even from very long distance. It depends heavily on the weather still, but bike early mornings and evenings when you can't charge much, charge during the day then. A 100w folding solar panel can generally charge up an eBike's battery to full on even a winter day if it is sunny all day, unless you are in the woods. The spare battery plus the battery pack also gives you about 3x the range of just the eBike's battery alone.

A pretty healthy adult (I don't just mean 20 something and fit) with saddlebags on the bike and a 500w motor with a 36v/20ah eBike battery in typical terrain on the east coast outside of the mountains, can probably manage 50 miles in a day pretty easy for the one battery (the battery will probably last 30 or so miles with moderate assist, living you 20ish miles doing most of the peddling). With basically 3x the battery power would let you have assist the entire time. Probably even getting you 60 or 70 miles in a day.

My limited eBike experience, you can pretty easily keep up 10-12mph just fine on an eBike with moderate assistance and probably go 30 miles or so. To juggle charging the eBike batteries and the solar power bank, realistically you'd probably only manage around 2 charges in a day on a sunny summer day juggling charging and biking. Winter time, maybe a full charge a day. With a big push in there you could run both eBike batteries, plus use up what was in the solar battery bank to recharge one of them while you bike without doing much or any solar charging. So a big push day you might handle even 100 miles with assist for a lot of it.

An option to is if you match the voltage, you could run a 30-50w panel along with a 50-100w panel paralleled together to charge the solar power bank, and the 30-50w panel may be small enough you can open it and leave it on the back of the bike on the saddlebags to squeeze in some power while biking on sunny days.

A lot more expense, a lot more stuff, you'll have cloudy/rainy/snowy days that mean you get little to no charge. So maybe you are only biking 20 or 30 miles that day and no assist. But it is a good way to get much more distance per day without needing to pack, say, a dirt bike (and possibly need a motorcycle license) and also need to probably stop for gas for that dirt bike (or strap an improbably number of gas cans to the dirt bike).

 

[[Kev308]]

This^^^

Situation pretty important. Seasons change. Beware your water in car freezing in winter.

I had a situation a few weeks ago where I was dying of thirst and all of a sudden it hit me, "I have water in my get home box!" I opened it up and it was after a couple freezing nights. Then I had the realization that if the water froze it would gotten everything in my bag wet. So now I just keep it separate.

Specifically for the OP, this is not a bad idea. He has a work truck with storage space.

I do have room in my truck as long as I keep it clean, but it would be a hassle working around it. A cruiser skate board with 70mm wheels could be an option if I strap it to the inside roof.

 

[lazarus]

I had a situation a few weeks ago where I was dying of thirst and all of a sudden it hit me, "I have water in my get home box!" I opened it up and it was after a couple freezing nights. Then I had the realization that if the water froze it would gotten everything in my bag wet. So now I just keep it separate.



I do have room in my truck as long as I keep it clean, but it would be a hassle working around it. A cruiser skate board with 70mm wheels could be an option if I strap it to the inside roof.

A couple of things there. Foil containerized water should be fine to freeze. Like the stuff you find in life boats. I have a few in each vehicle. Never broke open. Not cheap, but you can get a box of the stuff for not all that much.

Datrex, among others.

Amazon product ASIN B0134DAXJ2
Long as heck shelf life. I’d keep a proper canteen or water bottle in the bag that can be filled. Only 4oz a packet, but keep 8 in a bag for about a liter of water. Or just keep a whole box in your trunk/cab. 3 days of water is laughably optimistic for the box. That’s how much water might keep you from being thirsty as heck for three cool days that aren’t super dry lounging about. Call it a day of water for a person exercising some.

Can always keep two boxes in a vehicle. The packaging adds little weight to the water. So you can just dump the box in a get home bag from your vehicle (or just dump it in the bag from the start).

Usually if I am going most places that I’d consider “a drive” and not commute/day drive distance I usually toss a 1.5l bottle of water in my car/van or times two if my family is coming along. Often don’t use it. Sometimes do. Just habit.

 

[RetiredArmyGuy]

I’ve been putting together a get home bag for work. My worst case scenario would be a distance from Capitol Hill to Frederick, which would cover 40 miles. Average get home would be 20-30 miles. My priority is my life, but I would not ditch my work truck unless it’s a necessity, but I think the walk home could be done in a day, if not at least to a friends house or back to the shop. Trying to keep this super light, any further suggestions?

Kit includes:

-3 contractor trash bags (for shelter or rain gear)
-headlamp and flash light
-paracord
-duct tape
-4 bottles of water
-small hatchet
-Wally Mart crocs (always wearing water proof boots already)
-socks
-snacks
-wet wipes/ hand sanitizer
-First Aid kit

My second dilemma is that this is starting to look like a kidnap kit. Lol
Anyone ever have a problem getting searched and the cops being like, “...the hell is all this stuff?”

I would add a compass and tourniquets to the first aid kit.

 

[GMCometh]

I don't want to comment on the gear, because a lot of information has been provided. With that said, I want to mention that 20-30 miles is a lot of miles. Experienced hikers and backpackers have a hard time doing it.

If you haven't already done so, you need to start walking daily. Start with a 5K training plan, substituting the running for walking. Work your way up to a 10k and so on until you can walk 20+ miles in a day.

Hal Higdon offers numerous running plans, which can be downloaded for free.

 

[Doctor_M]

...Then I had the realization that if the water froze it would gotten everything in my bag wet. So now I just keep it separate...

I keep lots of extra water in my vehicles year round for search and rescue. They freeze in the winter, but I don't think I've ever had a water bottle break. The bottles have a lot of give in them so they will swell and deform, but they don't break. Now I go through them pretty regularly so I'm not sure how the would do if they went through a couple of years of freezing cycles, but a couple of freezes and thaws will probably be no problem.

 

[pitpawten]

Re: trying to get back home if you're far away from home or not able to get in touch with loved ones and a big event goes down.

Having a predetermined plan of who goes where and after what amount of time of being out of contact will help with this.

If things go extremely South do you want your loved ones sheltering in place for an indefinite period of time waiting for you to get back, especially if they haven't been able to hear from you?

 

[Alea Jacta Est]

I want to echo GMCometh above.

overestimating your own abilities is the beginning of the end

forget being a gunslinger

GHB…get home bag

Doesnt matter what you have in it if you can’t walk a mile or carry that load…be it twenty or even forty pounds of “critical shit”

Being prepared starts with mental state, then knowledge/a plan, then physical ability. While most folks with a string will and equally strong constitution can do more than they might think, it’s my opinion that sans training of some sort, you’re just BSing yourself.

When is the last time you walked a mile? How about five miles? Have you ever humped a ruck? I mean a pack with say twenty five pounds…. That’s not a heavy pack and depending on your load, ain’t much stuff. Besides distance waked, what was the terrain? What looks like a gradual slope/grade when you’re driving or seeing from a distance can be a bugger a couple miles into a movement that’s gonna be several miles. Worse still on a hot, humid, sunny day. Have you considered resting during the day and moving at night? Following roads, rivers and railroads ain’t a bad plan until it is. How often will you stop to surveillance what’s ahead?

The notion of covering say twenty miles in a day is just a notion until you actually do things to ensure your own endurance.

Start walking today…or consider a different plan that you and your bag and your water can actually manage. “I can do it.” That’s great up until it’s BS and you should have known…

 

[Doctor_M]

I want to echo GMCometh above.

overestimating your own abilities is the beginning of the end

forget being a gunslinger

GHB…get home bag

Doesnt matter what you have in it if you can’t walk a mile or carry that load…be it twenty or even forty pounds of “critical shit”

Being prepared starts with mental state, then knowledge/a plan, then physical ability. While most folks with a string will and equally strong constitution can do more than they might think, it’s my opinion that sans training of some sort, you’re just BSing yourself.

When is the last time you walked a mile? How about five miles? Have you ever humped a ruck? I mean a pack with say twenty five pounds…. That’s not a heavy pack and depending on your load, ain’t much stuff. Besides distance waked, what was the terrain? What looks like a gradual slope/grade when you’re driving or seeing from a distance can be a bugger a couple miles into a movement that’s gonna be several miles. Worse still on a hot, humid, sunny day. Have you considered resting during the day and moving at night? Following roads, rivers and railroads ain’t a bad plan until it is. How often will you stop to surveillance what’s ahead?

The notion of covering say twenty miles in a day is just a notion until you actually do things to ensure your own endurance.

Start walking today…or consider a different plan that you and your bag and your water can actually manage. “I can do it.” That’s great up until it’s BS and you should have known…

This! I'm far from the 20 something stud I used to be (or at least the one I have convinced myself I used to be). Middle age has settled in, I've got bad knees and am carrying at least 30-40 lbs that I can do without (and I'm not talking about my pack)... but I have been getting out and walking at least a couple of miles (I usually get in 4-5) every day, and most days, I put on my search and rescue bag just for the extra 20 lbs. It helps... plus my wife usually walks with me and it is nice quiet time with the Mrs. I might not be able to consistently do 25 miles per day in rough country, but could I make it 100 miles in a week across a fairly familiar area... I'm pretty sure that is reasonable.

The only really good thing about carrying extra calories around one's mid section, is I'm not too worried about loading down the truck with MREs... I keep a couple of food items in the kit, but water is more important. I can live off the blubber layer for a few days without worrying too much about it.

 

[smokey]

Maps... I have a physical bound atlas of the US with topo lines in my car, however there's an easier and more portable means of ensuring you have maps of your area on you. Google maps allows you to download big chunks of their maps for offline use. In other words, if you have zero signal, you can still pull up a map and navigate using the saved maps and the gps chip in your phone. If you're going on a roadtrip through places with no phone signal, this can be pretty awesome. It won't automatically update traffic info and things like that, but you can still get around just fine with no signal on a downloaded map.
It's a nice alternative to having to buy a garmin unit.

 

[gamer_jim]

The google offline maps expire after a while and the Google Maps app won't let you view those expired maps.

Another offline map solution is the OsmAnd app. It uses Open Street Maps as the source. The business directory isn't very accurate but if you just need a road map it's great. The navigation is so-so. It doesn't have the real-time data that Google Maps has for navigation. The OsmAnd maps never expire but can be updated frequently. You download by state so you don't need all of North America unless you want to get it. This helps keep the storage usage down.

 

[Alea Jacta Est]

This! I'm far from the 20 something stud I used to be (or at least the one I have convinced myself I used to be). Middle age has settled in, I've got bad knees and am carrying at least 30-40 lbs that I can do without (and I'm not talking about my pack)... but I have been getting out and walking at least a couple of miles (I usually get in 4-5) every day, and most days, I put on my search and rescue bag just for the extra 20 lbs. It helps... plus my wife usually walks with me and it is nice quiet time with the Mrs. I might not be able to consistently do 25 miles per day in rough country, but could I make it 100 miles in a week across a fairly familiar area... I'm pretty sure that is reasonable.

The only really good thing about carrying extra calories around one's mid section, is I'm not too worried about loading down the truck with MREs... I keep a couple of food items in the kit, but water is more important. I can live off the blubber layer for a few days without worrying too much about it.

Sounds like you’re working your plan there Doc. Most excellent.

I‘m pretty sure 12-15 miles a day is doable in the right circumstances.

Don’t forget your electrolytes and don’t forget something to blunt your stomach acid if you’re planning on not eating for a prolonged time (more than a day).