What did you neglect in your preps?

[Asbestos]

We came in from a cruise at 8:30am on Saturday morning, porting in Port Canaveral. The port was working fine. As soon as we hit I-95 heading to I-10 it all went to crap. They had cleared the fallen trees off the road pretty quickly, but there was no power and no gas stations work (and no McDonalds either). On the good side I had filled the tank just before parking at the port so we were good for about 200 miles, give or take. There were no red lights working at the exit ramps so the cars were backed up forever trying to get off.

Small trees broke, big trees got uprooted and fell. I saw a lot of trees on houses with no idea if anyone was inside and really no way to get close enough to see. Billboards were flattened. The traffic wasn't too bad. Got up I-10 and crossed the Florida/Georgia line on I-75. Started looking for a gas station. Saw one, got off, no power. Back on the road, car said 30 miles to empty when we pulled into Buckee's and they had power and gas (possibly had their own generators). Filled up, emptied the bladder, got a sandwich and back on the road. From the point on the lights were on but there were still a whole lot of trees down. As we got closer to Douglasville we had to cross the Chattahoochee and it was way out of the banks and a lot higher than I have seen it in years. We made it home and found a yard full of limbs, front and back and a lot more spiders and webs than when we left. But we made it safely.

One thing I learned for the next trip is to toss my get home bag into the car with the rests of the luggage. If we had run out of gas we would have had some food (life raft rations) and water and cover if we had needed it. As it was the only weapon I was carrying was my revolver and 17 rounds of ammo. Next trip I'll also toss in my survival rifle (.22) and an extra box of shells. Never know when someone might think they need your stuff worse than you do in these situations.

Once home we had power and AC running no problem. I have plenty of water here and a generator I didn't have to crank. But lesson there is that I haven't cranked it in a year or so and even though the gas has Stabil in it, there is no telling if it will start and I'm sure the battery is dead and I'm a little old to be pulling on the string starter.

One thing to note, while we were cruising up the ocean between Bimini and Nassau there was a tremendous storm in the distance and the lightning was flashing and lighting up the entire sky. I was about to go into shell shock since it looked so much like heavy artillery going off and that's a very uncomfortable feeling. But, when the storm passed I have never seen the night sky that clear or the stars so bright. Made me feel very, very small.

You should stretch that into 400 pages or so. Great story

 

[Spas-12 Owner]

how far away do those actually work?

Terrain is a big factor in this. I have used them as "scanners" and caught LEO dispatch miles away though.

 

[AC-130 Above]

Terrain is a big factor in this. I have used them as "scanners" and caught LEO dispatch miles away though.

i figured they are just basic walkie talkies right? So no more than a mile typically probably less than that like a CB radio

 

[Ken Ford]

Speaking of

https://www.harborfreight.com/150-lb-capacity-foldable-hand-truck-58298.html

These are a life saver if you need to move unweildly stuff over distance

Yeah I have a couple hand trucks, and a two wheel wheel barrel for moving stuff. Although I’m pretty set on Bugging In. My wife won’t take much of a move at all.

 

[DanKATL]

how do you know it not a knock off....most are....asking because I've bought a fake before, wondering how can you tell, if it's a real Baofeng???

How did you know it was fake? what was the difference?

Hard to tell until you program it and try to use it. The Baofeng's are pretty budget to start with (yes, I do own several); the fakes are worse. They can have very low audio, or worse throw all kinds of interference on the surrounding channels. I mostly use mine as a simple scanner.

 

[Ken Ford]

how far away do those actually work?

Says 5 miles. Assuming you are using a clear channel that would probably work.

I have a couple sets of handheld CBs that can be peaked a bit, too much the batteries would Drain

 

[DanKATL]

how far away do those actually work?

Terrain is a big factor in this. I have used them as "scanners" and caught LEO dispatch miles away though.

i figured they are just basic walkie talkies right? So no more than a mile typically probably less than that like a CB radio

They'll hear from farther away than they'll be heard. With the factory stick antennas, you're looking at line of sight so maybe a mile (depending on the frequency), unless both sides are very high with nothing in the middle and zero inteference.

 

[DanKATL]

Says 5 miles. Assuming you are using a clear channel that would probably work.

I have a couple sets of handheld CBs that can be peaked a bit, too much the batteries would Drain

The newer ones are supposed to be a little better on battery. I 've been scanning CB lately, it's pretty dead where I'm at; so range should be good. FM is "legal" now on CB, there's lots of new radios coming out to support it.

 

[DanKATL]

Realized the generator I bought several months ago was only 120V, and won't run my well pump... I liked everything about it, but now I need to buy another one and get a parrel get, or sell it and buy a new one. Neither option really excites me. Thankfully we did not need it.

The "parallel" generator thing to get 220 is a PITA; if you need 220 get one that supports it without any janky cross wiring. If one or the other isn't running perfectly you can fry equipment fast when one of the legs goes high/low of the other.

 

[basstracker89]

This is what I can't understand. My yard didn't even get really soggy. My house backs up to Army Corps Property that houses a lake that is fed by two creeks. The lake rose about two feet but nothing even came close to flooding. No water on the roads...nothing.

But then 20 minutes south of me in Buckhead, you had four to five foot tall walls of water coursing through neighborhoods.

I guess I just don't understand how things flood and why they do and don't. Same storm, same amount of rain. I suppose it's topography on some level. Peachtree Creek isn't even that big...how did it get that much water in it?

Topo, definitely. I knew you were talking about Peachtree Creek. That's been a problem forever. Bad management there. Remember the 500yr flood in 2009? The boat ramp parking lots were completely under water. We lived across from the Corps. No problem there or where we live now