*bump*
Great story, a fantastic story for those that are hobby preppers. What is a hobby prepper? I am for one. I am in the Army. I move every two years, I have a weight allowance for moving, there are many materials that the moving company will not take. Gardening is difficult and long term projects impossible. BOLs are friends and family's houses since I might buy a BOL then move to the opposite coast. I keep preps, I have plans, but I am limited in how much I can store. Aside from BO plans and certain preps I focus on skill building and designing a kick *ss property and home for when I retire.
I see the dedicated prepper as someone who builds or buys a long term location, eventually moves out of urban areas, etc.
Joe knew just enough about prepping to get himself in trouble, he prepped because he enjoyed it. All his gear was out of date but he was active on a survival forum. He became fixated on The List. All this crap he needed that he read in many books. Without all the crap he sent his wife and son to buy, they could have departed MUCH faster, from the house in one vehicle (that had fuel). He could even have taken the whole family, under equipped in one vehicle with nothing. He could have fueled at or next to Wally World. Then simply bought all they needed at Wally World based on only one vehicle room and capacity. They would have been going 80 mph down the interstate when the news hit the networks. With only 150 miles to their destination they would have made it easy.
Lesson: All the preps in the world and skills in your head dont matter if you are stuck in the middle of the mob. 4wd, winches, gas cans, are only good if they get you out ahead of the crush of unprepared people.
Secondly, depending on the construction of his house, sheltering in might have been a good alternative when he realized he was looking at departure way behind the power curve. He indicated he was no where near downtown. Three months worth of food is plenty of time to chill in the basement. Radiation is lovely in that it is easy to understand. You protect yourself with Time Distance and Shielding.
Distance: He lives in the burbs, this provides distance to keep you from the blast and more distance for fall out to fall out before reaching his house. If he does get fall out, he fills in his basement windows, turns off the ventilation and uses the earth to shield him and his family. Finally time: most fallout doesnt stay that radioactive long, three months of recovery time will allow the fallout to decay a goodly bit. In three months he should pop the family in the car and haul ass in a greatly depopulated urban area if they dont get rescued first. If searchers are in the area it is safe enough to come out and move directly away from the city center.
Lesson: Be flexible, he was influenced by his friend's plan, his own previous planning and not adapting when the secret was made public. At that point he should have looked and said, "the panic is on, I am still not able to leave for quite a while and I need gas still. ****it, I will shelter in place."
Thought on fuel storage: I have stored gas to get the vehicles out of dodge based on the distance to the BOL and all vehicles having at least half a tank (family SOP). I need to store gas so I can BO even if one or both of the vehicles are near empty. I can always take the gas with me if I dont need it.
