RV as part of an emergency plan

[KoolBell]

We don't have to worry so much about blizzards in South Alabama. Hurricanes, and tornadoes, and we have a nuclear plant within 50 miles. We do keep some items in the RV such as canned goods and bottled water.
This thread has me thinking more about bag foods, such as mashed potatoes. They require little room, so that would be handy.
I have an entire tool box in my RV, strictly for my RV. I know most can't do this, but I made the financial adjustments to do so.
I would guess that most "disasters" would be localized in our country, and that getting 300 miles away would escape 95% of troubles.
I keep my road atlas up to date, every other year we buy a new one. I depend on that, because some disasters will knock out cell phone access to the net.
Fresh water tank stays full, and I empty it sometimes, to put fresh in, but keep it full.
I do not have enough clothes to keep the RV fully stocked, although I do keep two jackets in it. I'll rethink that very soon.
With a hurricane, we would have plenty of notice, a tornado does not give more than 2 to 5 minutes. So there is zero chance of escape from one. If it hits where we live, the RV is probably not going to be an option anyway.
Nice idea as a thread.

[Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43']

As most have posted I keep my M/H stocked with provisions, clothes, fuel, and water, etc. I have a battery operated radio for disasters. Being in earthquake country I also have a get away plan for us that will get us up to a 100 miles from home without crossing a bridge or overpass. Our elevation is only 37' so that could be important.

[Ernie n Tara]

Hi,

I consider our Jeep to be part of the emergency supplies along with the Kayaks that ride on it. We also have means of securing game and considerable fishing equipment.

As far as supplies, we keep the Electricity on in the MH at all times so it doesn't get too hot inside and we can leave it stocked, including the refrigerator within reason; no milk lots of cheese.
Finally, we live in the Boonies about an hour from the nearest big city with a large pond in the front yard, four acres of woods, and no likelihood of flooding.
JM2C
Ernie

[Wayne M]

I'm not the "paranoid" type, but I have evacuated twice for hurricanes here on the Gulf Coast. As I get older, I get wiser. The first one was Rita. We were inbetween RV's and did not have one, so we drove in the car. We decided to go about 150 miles north on I-59 to Lufkin, TX. Unfortunately, and to long to discuss here, we got a late start by about 4 hours later than we had wanted to leave. Those 150 miles were filled with other people that had the same Idea. It took us 15-1/2 hours to go 150 miles. So part of the planning is to make sure you have enough time to safely and efficiently get out of "Dodge." With hurricanes this can be done. My suggestion is 72 hours before landfall.

The second time was for Ike. This time we we departed as we had scheduled and the drive was uneventful. However, we only went 100 miles up I-45 and Ike came through as a Cat 1. We lost power in the CG and ran the generator for 3-1/2 days and when my fuel was close to 1/4 tank and knew I would loose the generator power, we decided to move. One of the problems with a disaster area is not that they don't have fuel, but they don't have electricity to pump the fuel. We had to move West (as suggested in an earlier post using I-45) until I found a stations that was pumping fuel, and I was running close to fumes.

I don't think that there are any scenarios that can provide emergency get away actions for those quick disasters, like tornadoes, earthquakes, etc., but for those disasters where there is a long term warning system, plans can be made, fuel and food can be gotten and stocked in the MH/RV, and getting out of Dodge is the best maneuver. As for stocking food, 300-400 miles later there has to be a grocery store along the way to pull in and stock up. Hurricanes are all that I worry about, and I'll take my chances on supplies, if I have to, on the road.

[Bucksmom]

This is a very interesting thread....

Since I work in an animal industry, I can tell you that something called the PETS act was created because of the horrible issues with animals in Katrina. Like many of them, I would not have evacuated without my animals. Therefore, there are many governmental and NGO groups working on developing co-located shelters so that people WILL evacuate because they CAN have their pets located closely to them. Better for pets and people. my comment about 72 hrs minimum of dry food includes the 4 legged pets too. and keep a copy of their vaccination records as well.

Water supply for those of you gonna head to the hills....

Water Treatment for International Travel: Expert Advice from REI

this will even give you some info on the water borne pathogens you need to worry about.

[wa8yxm]

You know. I"m tempted to insert the lyrics to a song here but .. I'll let folks interested google it.

Joel Mabus: The Preacher and the Flood.

Short version of the story:

IT's raining (40 days 40 nights) and finally the dam gives way... The preacher prays as the police roam the streats "GET TO HIGH GROUND, FLOOD COMING

Well, the police tell the preacher to evcuate: "Don't worry about me God will protect me"

As the water gets deeper a boat rows by, A power boat (Coast guard) comes by and a helicopter flyes over all offering to take him to safety.

Finally he's stnding at the pearly gates.. Robes dripping all over "I just don't get it, I though God would save me"

A majestic voice says "I sent two boats and a helicopter, What more could I do?"

[chasfm11]

Originally Posted by Bucksmom

This is a very interesting thread....

Since I work in an animal industry, I can tell you that something called the PETS act was created because of the horrible issues with animals in Katrina. Like many of them, I would not have evacuated without my animals. Therefore, there are many governmental and NGO groups working on developing co-located shelters so that people WILL evacuate because they CAN have their pets located closely to them. Better for pets and people. my comment about 72 hrs minimum of dry food includes the 4 legged pets too. and keep a copy of their vaccination records as well.

Water supply for those of you gonna head to the hills....

Water Treatment for International Travel: Expert Advice from REI

this will even give you some info on the water borne pathogens you need to worry about.

That is great info. Because this thread focuses on RVs and the things that are unique to them, here is another consideration.

Water*|*Water Filters*|*Tabletop Filters*|*Berkey Light Water Filter - Lehmans.com

While neither cheap nor small, it is a possible solution to drinkable water. Lemans offers a number of other things that could also be useful

[chasfm11]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

I don't think that there are any scenarios that can provide emergency get away actions for those quick disasters, like tornadoes, earthquakes, etc., but for those disasters where there is a long term warning system, plans can be made, fuel and food can be gotten and stocked in the MH/RV, and getting out of Dodge is the best maneuver. As for stocking food, 300-400 miles later there has to be a grocery store along the way to pull in and stock up. Hurricanes are all that I worry about, and I'll take my chances on supplies, if I have to, on the road.

Agreed. For any kind of a localized event, replenishment after a good slug of driving shouldn't be an issue. But consider that it might not be limited to a localized event. The Japanese earthquake and Tsunami is an example.

I look at this planning as an "expansion". If I can do it today and I don't need to do anything different in order to accomplish it, I probably don't need a plan. It is when I push the envelope a little further that I have to think about it a little more. Perhaps a few more items or a slightly different approach will provide additional or longer support. How far can I stretch?

[easdsa]

A couple of weeks ago, we actually were seriously considering hooking up the mpg and leaving home.

We were watching tv, and I smelled smoke. I looked out the back door, and saw smoke coming from the southwest. A quick look out the front door showed a neighbor's field on fire. About that time we heard the fire trucks leaving town, so we knew help was on the way. We actually talked about how long it would take to hook the mpg up to the Mercury, get what we thought we absolutely needed to save, and get going. True, going to the nearest campground would have been more than far enough, but what about something like the Joplin tornado? Joplin is only about 100 miles west of here. That much warning would be plenty to hook up, gather up, and leave.

I'm keeping more gas in the car these days, and we'll probably start keeping more stuff in the mpg now, too, especially since the temperatures will soon be much more pleasant.

[Hooligan]

Some good input.
We have used the MH on several occassions to evacuate because of Hurricanes. The MH has also been a great advantage when we have decided to ride it at home out and were without power for a few days after. Like Wayne we were caught late leaving, we were still within 2 miles of the house after 2 hours on the road and decided sticks and bricks beats a MH in a hurricane. (Opal)
I keep the MH plugged in, refrigerator running, and stocked with canned goods. (Track drop dead dates to rotate supplies) Normally keep fuel full and keep 1/2 tank fresh water.
We also have a container with copies of financial, legal, and medical records, photos, and other "Can't live without" items, that hit the road when we do.
Another concern is medicines. Using mail order we have up to a 90 day supply on hand but some meds can only refill for a 30 day supply. Most large chains can refill anywhere, but with Ivan, we needed to refill a prescription at a Walmart in Meridian, MS but the Walmart here with our records was out of commission and our record could not be accessed....
With a few hours notice we can be underway and self-sustaining for 2-3 weeks. A major widespead disaster with little or no prior notice could be extremely challenging.

[chasfm11]

Hooligan, you bring up a couple of great points.

For prescriptions, we are required to use a mail order pharmacy. Over the past couple of years, it seemed like the easiest thing to do was to let that pharmacy contact our doctor when a refill was needed and there were no more refills included. Now, I plan to have our doctor write new prescriptions for all of DW and my medications and put enough refills on them to get us to the next checkup. This pharmacy has national capabilities so assuming the that some sort of disaster drove us away from home, we should be able to get our prescriptions delivered to an alternate address.

Financially, a similar plan seems warranted. We keep some cash on hand for emergencies (and it makes even more sense to do that now with the ridiculously low interest we can earn) but having a bank with national reach should let us continue to tap into our finances in an emergency. I've converted all of bills to electronic delivery so if we can get onto the Internet, we can continue to function just like we could at our sticks and bricks location.

Right now, I'm doing a better job of collecting paper records in a single package that I could grab quickly. I've been converting most of our paper to electronic images and have a provision to have multiple couples of those images with us. We could display them on our laptop screens or, with access to a printer, print them out. But there are some things that need to be hardcopy and I want to make sure that I've collected all of those. I'm trying to limit the list of things to grab in an immediate emergency to 20 and setting up so that I know where all 20 are.

Months after I first started this emergency planning thinking, I attended a seminar where the speaker told us that the major of actions that we would take did not involve buying things. That sure is turning out to be true.

Lastly, I must confess an underlying concern that I've had. Like the situation in Katrina, I look around at examples of civil unrest and have become concerned that even a minor disaster could rip the fabric of our society. My thought process for the RV was that if I could separate our family for say 30 days from the environment near the disaster, our safety would be improved. Since I know many fulltimers live out of the RVs all the time, I know that the 30 day period is possible on many levels. I'm trying to address those levels where it is more difficult.

Lest anyone think that I've become obsessed with this topic, based on the activity on this thread, don't worry. The seminar speaker warned us that this topic could become all consuming. On the contrary, I'm taking a very methodical approach. Actually, I've been working on emergency planning for over a year. The seminar speaker presented us with a top ten list and I had already handled 8 of them. I had the 9th item in place the next day. He suggested building a food stock by purchasing a couple of extra items each week, rather than rushing out to buy a bunch of stuff all at once. This way, there is a natural cycle of expiration the can easily be handled with normal food consumption and there is no big associated financial hit. Doing this planning over that length of time removes any temptation to make it into an obsession. I don't expect the sky to fall tomorrow but by the end of 2011, I expect to be able handle emergencies better than I could at the beginning of 2010.

[BigV]

We keep a small supply of canned goods and Mountain House meals and bottled water in the MH. Not real big on buying bottled water, but it is better than keeping the fresh water tank full for long stretches.

I don't live in a flood zone, but earthquakes and volcanos do happen here.

[luluxiu]

Some go as far as possible, otherwise we live in the sticks, so we are here we want to retire and I are building a house in the mountains proved a disaster as far as possible. I caught nine kinds from DW how to build a bunker above the ground, Joplin until the tornado hit earlier this year, it is only seventy miles north of us and now she pushed me to complete it.

[wa8yxm]

Originally Posted by mustang652

Week after next I'm goning to have a port put on the RV tank line so I can use it for the propane grill and or the portable propane stove. Previously I have thought that I do need to rethink the emergency food supply in the RV, but it gets so hot here in Vegas I'm not sure what could be stored safely.

Again if you go with one of the freeze dried long term food programs (I named one up-thread) the food is not too bad (Rather good on the sample I tested)

However that is not the reason for this reply.. that port you mention in the quote is.

Camping World sells one called "Stay-a-while" if I'm not mistken, this appears to be (From the documents) a fairly good copy of the Marshall Brass "Extend-a-stay".

Both of these are very well designed, include all sorts of safety features such as check valves so that gas can not "Back flow" the wrong way, and other safety features.. If you disconnect the portable bottle without turning off the main tank, you loose the propane in the short hose that connects teh tank to the valve/adapter.. If you remember to turn off the main tank, same thing, you loose the propane in the hose (there is no way to do it without loosing what is in the hose, this is normal and not a problem)

With some of them, if you do that you get a high power stream of Propane shooting out at over 100 PSI till you either 1: Get that valve closed, or 2: Run out of gas in the main tank.

Thus I recommend the two products named above, Extend-a-stay and stay-a-while.

NOTE: There are also "Extend-a-flow" Which lets you tap the main tank for the grill, but on a Motor home with fixed tanks I like the extend-a-stay better as it lets you use the portable tank to feed the furnace.. I've had to do this a time or two.