Tom Bihn Go-Bags

[WillisR]

I've accumulated a lot of Tom Bihn bags over the years, but had them come in handy for something I never thought I'd have to use them for: evacuating from the Marshall Fire in Colorado. We had about 45 minutes of warning as the fire bore down on our house (which survived, though just barely) and managed to quickly pack all our computers, tablets, and chargers and safe contents into an old Super Ego loaded with Caches and Snake Charmers, clothes and toiletries into an Aeronaut (Clear Packing Cube as a dopp kit, and two-sided laundry stuff sack FTW), road gear into a Paragon, and miscellaneous stuff including stuffies, video games, keepsakes and dog food into a Truck and a Monster Truck. And our hound got to perch in the car on her favorite Skookum Dog mat. Everything worked out okay, fortunately. But I highly encourage folks who live in a place where you think there's even a remote chance you might ever have to do this to make a packing list, get your stuff organized, and be ready to go fast. It's hard to keep your head on straight when you don't know if you're packing for an hour, a couple days, or forever.

[Cooner]

Glad to hear you're safe. I have a friend in Lake Tahoe whose house likewise just barely survived the fires a few months ago.

[WillisR]

Many thanks! It's scary stuff for sure.

[bchaplin]

Wow, happy to hear that you all (and your house) are ok. Good point about being ready to go!

[Surrealle]

Glad you and the pup are okay!

There's actually a couple threads in the Packing List section about emergency/bug out bags.

https://forums.tombihn.com/forum/tom...ergency-go-bag

Here's one I was able to find but there's others if you're interested.

[bchaplin]

Semi-related: Drivers stuck in their cars overnight on I-95 in the DC storm. Good reminder to keep some food and blankets in one's vehicle (which I consider every time there is a story like this, and then forget). That hit home to me because I was recently in the area, but headed home prior to the snow.

[G42]

This was a thread I started previously about emergency kits/bug out bags.

https://forums.tombihn.com/forum/tom...hr-bug-out-bag

My S25 car BOB is still in my car with me while I'm on my cross country roadtrip. In addition, since I've been on the east coast during winter, I have coats, a mega snow brush, scraper, folding aluminum shovel, blanket, etc. I also have my camping gear from the trip out.
Now I've started a meandering drive back to CA, the Southern route, but first I have to get out of the northeast/mid Atlantic region and snow 🙂
Stay safe everyone

[WillisR]

Wow, these links are great. I think "The number one thing I’d suggest is just to start." is fantastic advice. It's going through the exercise more than anything.

[setrombley]

Speaking of, my "hide out for a tornado warning" bag (which is really just a "sit in an emergency stairwell for a few hours without freezing or dying of boredom" bag) is an actual TB Grab Bag, with the bright orange sides. Easy to spot and grab in a hurry!