Help me stretch my GBH plan!

[jbohon]

[emsalex]

Are there lockers you can rent down there? Maybe a large pobox, and keep a bag there. that is what I would try if I could not pack a separate bag. As for what to put in it I will let someone else comment on that,

[cannon]

depending on which part of So Cal. you go. You can leave a secure box at my place with your get home supplies.

Pm if interested.

[Los]

If you had no vehicle and had to go another 100 miles, a bicycle would be ideal. Not that you will take one with you everywhere, maybe make sure you have $ on hand or something valuable to trade for a bike?

[Federalist]

This is not an easy one, so you should consider the barest of essentials. In your case, you will have a long way to go, so walking really is not a great option, and you will need to find a way to hitch a ride somehow. Here is what comes to mind for your needs:

• Water (collapsible container and purification tabs)
• Shelter (HD space blanket)
• Food (Datrex 3600)
• Barter items to hitch a ride
• Multi-tool
• Flashlight

You already will have clothes.
All of this should fit in a fanny pack or thin daypack.

[EmptySkuLL]

First question, are you going to be putting this in your checked luggage or carry on? This will determine what you can put in your "bag". Obviously liquids and knives/tools will be prohibited in your carryon. You may give some thought on using a "piggyback" style luggage that lets you zip off a portion to use as carryon so that you have some items with you, and the rest can stay in the checked portion. I used to travel quite a bit for work and I loved using the Eagle Creek brand luggage that converted from wheeled luggage (might wanna think about that if you have to walk up north) to a backpack, it also had a zip off 2nd backpack on the front.

I'll second the use of Datrex or "Coast Guard - Lifeboat" rations (Mainstay, Mayday, Datrex, etc). However I might suggest that you go for the smaller portions or the ones made by "New Millennium" which are powerbar sized portions. These will "stuff" down or pack better in luggage or packs than the larger 3600 calorie bars (those are about half the size of a building brick). Bonus on these types of rations is that they last for 5 years in temperatures that would make MRE's go bad, and they dont require any water or provoke thirst when eaten. Would NOT suggest you do MRE's, for your purposes its too heavy & bulky for what you get calorie wise.

As far as water, purification tabs and a container are probably going to be your best bet for water. You may want to also add a Aquamira frontier filter for use if you should run out of tabs. Think about using a single walled stainless steel container for your water and having some way to start fire, at the very least you can boil any water you find should all else fail. You should probably also get a few "lifeboat" water packs for absolute emergencies. They arent big but if you have to actually hump it out of SoCal, your first ordeal is probably going to be dealing with walking across the desert for a bit till you hit the mountains (and any decent water sources).

In all honesty Federalist is right, you are going to have a long way to go. In addition to barter items (gold & silver coins) you may want to have enough cash on hand in your bag to buy ANY form of transportation outright (bike, motorcycle, scooter, mule, skateboard, etc) assuming at that point cash is still worth something. Whatever it is, beats walking...

[jbohon]

[REPR]

Depending on your budget you could rent storage. Anything ranging from a $35/year bowling locker to a $60/month climate controlled 5x5 storage unit. Just some ideas if you decide you just want to keep the bag there with more supplies.

[thenodnarb]

I'm sure a friendly calgunner would let him keep a GHB at their place. Either that, or he can bury a survival cache. Even if its just a knife, rations, purification drops, bic lighter and a water bladder and maybe some odds and ends, it could fit in a large ammo can and be buried along his planned route. Its probably cheap enough to bury a couple along the way.

[cannon]

IMHO what you'll need/want to get from L.A. to Sac will take up more space than a carryon and some of the items may not pass TSA muster.

Since you apparently get a rental when you are in SoCal. The rental will most likely be your way home.

Find/rent a secure place to cache your food, water, supplies, weapon(?) and extra fuel.

If it goes bad you'll want to get to your family ASAP.

[cavemanlrrp]

If you fly into same air port every trip and rent car at same. Find a place to stow GHB and maybe collapsible bike (that will fit in trunk) near by airport.
Rent car, stop by stowage, throw GHB etc. in trunk. Reverse on return trip.
Also you may want to purchase some things for GHB down there to avoid TSA restrictions.
It's good your thinking ahead.

Best
caveman

[Taidaisher]

When you fly south for work, where are you working?
Can you stow your provisions at your job site?

I'm in Santa Clarita, both home and work. PM me if you want to discuss storing stuff up here.

[Taidaisher]

When you fly south for work, where are you working?
Can you stow your provisions at your job site?

I'm in Santa Clarita, both home and work. PM me if you want to discuss storing stuff up here.

[EmptySkuLL]

Giving your situation a bit more thought, I have come up with 2 different ideas that you can consider, depending on your budget.

First one: You may want to try to rent a small storage space in an easy to "break into" place. What I mean by that is a storage unit that has access from outside the building, not some high rise space or a unit that is locked and controlled by an storage employee. That way you can access it even if you have to climb the storage facilities fence (incase of mass power outage, most places have electrically operated gates), or if you really need to get at your stuff outside of normal facility operating hours.

In your case, I would store extra fuel for the type of vehicle you rent, and extra supplies of food, water, etc... Keep a bicycle there for your backup transportation, and get a bike rack so you can load it on the rental car. Another backup option is a small scooter or moped. You can find some trailer hitch attachments that can load those little scooters (like how they haul those "rascal" powered wheelchair things) hell they even make ones that hold full on dirtbikes. Whenever you rent a car just be sure to rent one with a trailer hitch. Visit the storage every few months to rotate out fuel & water, and to refresh your supplies.

Second option: get a small RV trailer and put your supplies inside. Store trailer at an RV storage facility. Same thing as above, make sure you rent vehicles with a trailer hitch. This is essentially the same as the above idea, but I kind of like it better in the fact that you can take all the stuff with you simply by towing it. Just like the storage facility idea, keep fuel, food, supplies & backup transportation in the trailer.

In either case, depending on where you work down here, you may be wise to search for either facility as far north (Santa Clarita/Lancaster) or as far east (Victorvile/Barstow) as you can. The advantage being cheaper site rental in the "boonies". Just dont pick one so far out that you arent willing to go there every few months to check and refresh your supplies. Another advantage in keeping your stash out of "city" limits is that it doesnt make you a "rob me" target. You have a (somewhat) empty car until you get to where your stuff is.

[jbohon]

the more I think about this, the more it looks like a rented storage/ locker of some sort or a generous fellow calgunner may be a good option. I normally work in Ontario, pretty close to the airport. I really like the idea of a bicycle stored somewhere. not the eaisest method of transportation home, but not nearly as bad a walking. also requires no fuel (other than me) and has a small storage footprint. my only concern with the storage idea is access & egress after hours or if they lock down. I can always hop a fence, but getting out with gear may be another problem. maybe a pair of boltcutters in the storage to help get out of the facility?