Preparing on a Shoestring Part 8: Transportation

Transportation is a central part of prepping.  If you have to bug out, you must have the means to travel.  Preferably, you will take much or all of the resources you have with you.  To do that, you must have a mode of transportation beyond your own two feet.

Foot travel has been used as a mode of transportation since the dawn of Mankind.  It will get you from point A to point B.  It is also slow, tiring, and ill suited to the transport of much more than the person doing the walking.  That said, it is a viable mode of transportation.  Assuming a well distributed load that is packed in a way so as to be carried comfortably, a load no more than 1/3 of the carrier’s body weight, good physical condition, and a person used to walking long distances with the weight of such a load, a person can reasonably expect to cover 10 miles a day for short durations in good weather over good terrain.  Extended travel of more than a few days, rough terrain, or bad weather can easily cut that average distance to as little as 2-3 miles a day.  Bad weather and injury or illness can easily stop travel altogether for the duration.

Bear in mind that you will require more food and water if traveling on foot.  It takes fuel and water to keep your body going under exertion and walking long distances with a load is definitely exertion.  If your travel is stopped for whatever reason, you will still need provisions.  That alone severely limits the distances you can expect to travel on foot.

The answer is the wheel.  The next step up is some sort of wheeled carrier.  Wheelbarrows are a bear to push or pull in rough terrain and the single wheel versions are not all that stable.  These should not be relied upon except in cases of extremis.  No, a two or four wheeled cart is the order of the day for such things.  Game carts are superb for the purpose but are, as usual, expensive.  There are several work arounds.  There is always the 2 wheel wheelbarrow.  It is still a bad option, but is slightly better than its single wheeled cousin.  Four wheeled garden carts and the “little red wagon” are both good compromises.  They are stable and relatively inexpensive.  Children’s wagons can often be had from yard sales and flea markets for a few dollars.  They won’t be able to carry much more than you could carry on your back, but will let you travel farther because it takes less energy to just move a load than it does to carry it.  Garden carts are more expensive but have more room and can carry heavier loads without equipment failure.  They also have tires suitable for rougher terrain.

A game cart affair can be manufactured by anyone with a little ingenuity.  Some lumber or tubular metal, a couple of bicycle forks and wheels, some fasteners (like screws), and a little time and trouble would produce a workable cart.  This contraption and true game carts can greatly increase the amount of gear and provisions a person can take with them.

Hand in hand with the cart is the bicycle.  Bicycles greatly increase the distances a person can travel.  I feel safe in saying that a person in reasonably good shape with a decent mountain bike could reliably average 20-30 miles of travel a day in fair weather over moderate terrain.  In good weather and good terrain, a person in good physical condition could reasonable expect to average 50 miles or more a day.  Adding a trailer would of course shorten the average daily distance but would greatly increase the amount of resources one could take with them.  You are not only not carrying your goods, you are not carrying yourself when using a bicycle.  You are only expending energy to move you and your loaded trailer rather than carrying your goods and body weight.

The next step up is animal transport.  Horses and mules can both be ridden and can both pull and carry loads.  They are immensely strong and can negotiate terrain that would be impossible for other kinds of vehicles.  These two,  along with donkeys, cows, oxen, dogs, and even goats have been used as draft and pack animals for millennia.  The up side is that they do the work of traveling rather than you.  They can carry immensely heavy loads compared to what a human can move by any means, and if necessary can be eaten, though I won’t vouch for the flavor of some of them and the loss of such an animal greatly reduces your ability to travel with your goods.

The downside of livestock for transportation is that, as living creatures, they can be spooked.  Sitting on a 1200 pound, frightened horse is not an easy or pleasant experience…trust me.  They can be stubborn.  They can get sick or hurt.  They can die, but then again, any form of transportation can fail on you.   As living things, they require food and water just like humans.  The other side of this limitation is that they can live off the land much easier than humans can so carrying provisions for them is not quite the problem that it is for humans.

Still, animals are a vast improvement over foot travel and in some cases can be considered part of your provisions.  They can also be valuable working tools when you get where you are going if need be and don’t require combustible fuels or replacement parts to operate.  Also, if you have both genders of the same species (except in the case of mules, which are almost always infertile) your working animals can breed more working animals.

Then we have motorized transport.  The accepted standard in the Prepper community is the 4 wheel drive SUV or pickup truck.  Diesel engines are heavily favored over gasoline engines but not totally.  Non-electronic engines are preferred but are costly and not readily available in the US.  Recommended modifications to these vehicles are as varied as the people who own them.  GM products are favored with the Suburban as the front runner, but most major automakers produce at least one suitable model for the purpose.  My prep vehicle is a 4 wheel drive Ford Expedition with a modern V8 gasoline engine.  It is a stock vehicle because I don’t really have the funds to trick it out with all the appropriate goodies and my wife would have my hide if I did that to her truck.

All that aside, any vehicle is better than none if you need to bug out so long as it will run.  The worst that will happen is that it will come to terrain where it will go no farther and you will have to abandon it along with whatever you can’t carry.  You still got that far without having to hoof it.  A pickup or SUV is preferable to a car and 4 wheel drive is preferable to 2 wheel drive.  A vehicle equipped to handle rough terrain is more capable than one that is not.  One equipped to provide protection against biological or chemical hazards is better than one that isn’t.  The other side of that is for the money you would spend to build the “perfect” BOV, you could buy a few acres of ground in a place that would make for a good retreat property.

It is good to have someplace to go, but you have to be able to get there, come what may, for your destination to do you any good.  With that in mind, consider what modes of transportation you have available and build your bug out plan around them.  Once you have done that, you can decide what you want to improve your transportation to and work toward that goal.

Good luck and happy trails!