If you have to shelter in place, you will likely have a lot of the items you need, but if you have to leave your house, where are you going to go?

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This is an important question and it may have many answers depending on the threat, but figuring out where you are going to go in a disaster is something you need to solve now.   The best way to tackle this question is to look at what threats you are facing. 

If you live near the coast and a hurricane is coming your way, you may only need to escape to your aunt’s house ten miles inland and on higher ground.    If you live in a major city, and you need to get as far away as you can, where are you going to go? 

The goal is to figure out where you want to go now, and then as you develop as a prepper, you get all the items you need to get you there by car or by foot. It will take time, but it all starts with knowing where you are going to go.   

Now if you don’t have anywhere to go, pick a destination that you know will be safe and have the supplies you need. For example, if you live in New York City, you don’t want to head northeast towards Boston because people from that area may be heading your way. The best strategy would be to head towards Pennsylvania or upstate New York where it is a lot less populated and rich with natural resources.   

Here are some tips for picking the right place to go:

• You want to pick a place that you can access by a variety of routes. If one main road is cut off, you want to know other ways to get to your location.
• Ideally, you want to pick a location you can reach within one tank of gas. If you are going a long distance away, maybe you should consider taking the needed fuel with you. Carrying fuel can be dangerous. 
• In almost every disaster scenario, higher elevations will be safer. Sometimes traveling to higher elevations can be tricky in a natural disaster, so make sure you have a vehicle that can get you there.
• Look at the resources of your bug out location. Make sure there is an ample water supply, food production and other needed supplies.
• Make sure it is safe. You don’t want to hop out of the frying pan and into the fire they say. Make sure where you are planning to go will be safe and try to pick the safest way there. Even if the safest way may take a lot more fuel.   

Also keep in mind that you may not have a vehicle to help you bug out. Your vehicle could be fine, but the roads may be blocked or a bridge may be out. It is important to really start thinking about how to get to locations with and without a vehicle. It might make you pick new locations.      

I hope this helps in picking your bug-out locations for different threats.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments.

If you have tips, please add to the comments as well.

Thank you for reading.