Every so often I watch “Parks and Recreation” simply because I really like the character of Ron Swanson. Another reason I like him: he has a bugout bag hidden in city hall so he can leave his office in a hurry if he has to.
While I admire the creativity, I’m not a huge fan of that sort of “hiding in plain sight”. But, sometimes there’s just no other way.
After 9/11 there were more than a few people in NYC who realized that once the bridges and tunnels are closed for security reasons you pretty much are on foot if you wanna get off that island. I know people who stashed mountain bikes (especially the folding variety) in the storage closet of their law firm’s office and that sort of thing. And more than a few office drones have a small daypack with comfortable shoes, water, and other necessities.
Anyway, I always enjoy it when certain preparedness standbys make an appearance on shows I enjoy. Case in point:
“Goodnight. And if there’s an apocalypse, good luck.”
That’s how I put my kids to bed each night.
How big city folk reconcile where they live, with the acknowledgment that they may need to depart permanently on short notice, I’ll never understand.
Tim,
realize that a permanent bugout of most of the inhabitants from a city is a very rare occurrence in recorded history. If you ignore WW2, it’s vanishingly rare. Pompeii and it’s sister city is the first that come to mind, and they weren’t very successful in getting out of Dodge.
Individuals and small groups fleeing would be a bit more common, perhaps, but they are mostly associated with warfare of some sort. Rampant disease might be another reason.
What it comes down to is only in times with electrical grids, where the associated infrastructure can cease to function and transportation has allowed people to not bother stockpiling food, is a bugout scenario a feasible situation.