Boondocking in a natural disaster

My buddy bought a large package of oatmeal from Costco, and rotates it into the house every 3-5 months. He also has some granola bars, and other long lasting food in his motorhome all the time.

We live in Earthquake country, so we are always concerned about the big earthquake that might take out our fresh water supply, electricity and natural gas.

It is not like it would surprise us if it happens, during the Martin Luther King day earthquake in 1994, my cousin lost natural gas supply for 2 weeks, and no electricity for a few days. It was not all that bad though, he lives in Northridge, and works in Santa Monica, where he could go to any restaurant, or shower at his wife's work.

Without chain saws you would have been really stuck, but at least someone had the equipment to start clearing the roads. At least those in RV's with a full fresh water tank need not panic, they have just about everything they need to stay an additional week or two.

Fred.

I think that having a supply of long life foods, a weather radio and some water in your tank is all that you really can do. Also, try avoiding areas where bad storms are predicted. I saw some of those pics of the Cherrystone Campground in eastern VA. If a tree decides to come down into your rig in a campground, that's not something that you can really prepare for.

Is that you in the videos? Your a TV star now. Can I have your autograph?

I have my TT set up with 2 deep cycle golf cart batteries. I have plenty of water and food in there for a week or so. Maybe more but, I'd get tired of eating things like canned beans by the end of the week. I usually don't have more then a 3-6 day supply of meds in there though. Around here where I go camping if I'm stuck for longer then that it means the world as we know it has come to a end and nothing is going to matter anymore anyway.

when Hurricane Fran hit our part of NC we were without power at our home for 4 hours short of 2 full weeks .... based on weather projections we filled the camper's fresh water tank and made sure we had plenty of propane for our camper's generator .... we also stockpiled gasoline for our Honda 2500 generator .... when Fran moved on we moved inside the camper and there we stayed until power was restored .... county water was restored before the water in our tank was depleted .... our FloJet macerator pump took care of moving "stuff" from our camper's tanks to an access to the house septic tank .... all in all, we made it just fine

Jim

During hurricane season we are better prepared than other times during the year. We have the trailer ready to go any time a storm is in the area.

With an RV and tow, why stick around for a disaster? sounds like a perfect excuse to skip work for a few weeks / months and do some camping.

I was thinking to myself if my isolated northern town ever has another big wind storm, I'll grab my generators, credit cards, dog and hit the road in the RV! My house and its contents mean little to me, it's just stuff, all my important documents, family photos and movies are backed up online.

Like Golden we live here in EQ central and hopefully we'll be able to get the MoHo to the house from storage. We have supplies and we have obligations. The couple across the street are in their eighties and they have quite a few family members to help but we're right here with them and as long as their home is safe we'll take care of their other needs, even if the house is demolished we'll care for them until their family gets here to care for them. The young couple down the street will need shelter for the baby and themselves. The reasons for keeping the supplies and staying put are myriad. This is where our family will come in a disaster. There are lots of reasons for helping, as my Grandson says, "It's the right thing to do".

Primary problem will be drinkable water and best option is to carry around a pint of household bleach. The bleach can be used to treat whatever water you put into the RV.

1 teaspoon of bleach for every 5 gallons of water is all that is needed to kill the bacteria. Use 1 teaspoon for each 10 gallons of good water to keep it good if you plan to store it ahead of time in case of a disaster.

Good to plan ahead as these "natural" disasters are going to continue to occur with greater frequency. The coastal states and especially Alabama are vulnerable and for the most part their governors have their heads up where the sun does not shine.

Like D. E. Bishop and Golden, I live in Earth Quake country.
I spent most of 15 years Boondocking so I always keep the RV stocked with dry goods and water. After every trip I would make sure it was fueled, water refilled and all perishables were removed and the dry goods restocked. I always drained and refilled my fresh water tank every 60 days if it had not been moved, assuring that I had fresh water.

I have my Class C parked here at home as I did with my old Class A.
And no, My house will not fall on my RV

That way if we lose power or water as we did in the Quake of 1994 we are prepared.

It is also nice to know that I can help my neighbors like I did then,with the generator running I managed to run lines to 2 houses so that they had some power to keep their food cold and we had TV to keep us all updated on everything.

I lost my house in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake so have some perspective but earthquakes which tend to occur in any given area about every 50 years. Earthquakes do not happen year after year and they are not occuring with increasing intensity and there are seldom oil well drilling and fracking induced earthquakes that compared to the damage to states like LA and AL with the canals dug by the oil companies that contributed so much to the devastation that resulted from Katrina.

If I was going to live in such an area I would have my house jacked up 8 feet and use the space below it for my getaway vehicles. If natural gas was available in the area I would pay the $3k to get a generator installed as seldom is the flow of natural gas interrupted but electrical power often is lost of days or weeks or with the black areas of New Orleans, for months.

Cash is also important as with power down stores will not be able to process credit cards but will continue to take cash. Gas pumps need electrical power so having full fuel tanks in the cars and RV's may help.

If you add a small amount of bleach to the fresh water tank in the RV and to any 5 gallon drinking water containers at your house the water will be drinkable for up to 12 months.