What is in your go-bag?

[freax]

*censored*

[madball13]

gun?

[ciphercomms]

Must be nice to not have to worry about staying warm and dry. It hasn't been above freezing here in two weeks and has been below zero many nights. Darn near half the volume (if not weight) of our load-outs is stuff for staying warm and dry...self-inflate pads, waterproof bivvies, slightly used GI intermediate sleeping bags, poly-fleece zip-up liners, and a cheap (small, light, probably fragile) pup tent.

I got really cold once...with temp's around 48 or 52 but wet and not much food in our bellies...and it scared me. It was a 'just the clothes on your back' GI exercise and we'd gotten through 90% of it...just had to make it a few more hours. We could have 'surrendered' at any time and gotten warm and dry...but we stuck it out, pretty much hypothermic by dawn...slurred speech, loss of coordination... 

[Joe]

I know it heavy but having some Vodka on hand could find it's self useful from making friends with Russians to bug repellant.

45 Survival Uses For Alcoholhttp://www.survivalistdaily.com/survival-uses-for-alcohol/

A lightweight Hammock to get you off the ground during down pours.

http://lightweighthammocks.com/collections/front-page/products/camping-hammock-army-green-brown-double

[Jim Boswell]

Joe has a good idea about the hammock. Many time I have been caught out in a summertime thunderstorm, a large trash sack makes a good rain coat and will keep the chill off you early in the morning. In years past Ontario knife made a bushman knife that you could carry in a scabbard and the handle was hallow such that you could mount it on a shaft to make a spear. I recommend one of those if a firearm is outside the law. Maybe a wrist rocket for small game? Good luck!  73'S  KA5SIW

[ciphercomms]

I didn't realize freax was outside US. Your English is better than some natives. If I read all your old posts will they indicate where you are located ?

I have some experience in Asian tropics and family in Caribbean we visit a couple of times a year. December there is much better than July...and overall US Midwest is best of all.

Aerogel might work if it is vapor permeable. You don't want transpired body moisture building up inside bag. Conventional wisdom is that 'bivvy' bags are best made out of modern micro-porous materials that allow water vapor to escape but keep liquid water out. It used to be all about Gore-Tex but there are several other similar-but-different products available now. SOL company ('Survive Outdoors Longer') makes a couple of waterproof/breathable bags for around $50...or military surplus Gore-Tex ones with prices that vary with condition.

Years ago I had large plastic bag bivvies that son and I slept out in during Boy Scout camping trip in cool weather...above freezing. I neglected to tell him NOT to pull bag up over his head and breathe inside. He woke up in the middle of the night soaking wet and freezing. We went back to the car.

The coldest we ever slept outside was around -5 F in tents with good synthetic sleeping bags. I won't say we were toasty warm, but we were 'okay' and actually slept. Most of the other scouts and leaders spent the night crammed in cars and trucks with engines running. We had a very 'old school' scoutmaster who did not believe in freeze-dry or dehydrated food...and cooking with solid frozen meat, potatoes, eggs, etc. was an ordeal in 0 degree daytime temperatures.

My wife occasionally participated with us in Boy Scout activities and she is rather proud of her own 'Polar Bear' award for sleeping outside without a tent in below freezing weather. Her loving husband spent right around the Bear Grylls allotted six hours building a very small but very cozy little shelter with a small fire at entrance overhang. It also had a lashed up elevated floor with dry leaves and pine bough padding and insulation. This was years before we'd ever heard of Bear Grylls. I wonder if he was a Boy Scout...

[ciphercomms]

I am trying to keep my location a secret. These days just the notion of being a prepper is very anti-state.

Ha ! You must certainly know that your subversive activities and intentions have already come to the attention of the various authorities, both here and there, who are responsible for ensuring that order be maintained.

Ha-ha...just kidding.

I have a nice jungle hammock, with net walls and waterproof roof, excellent condition, that I spent a couple of the most uncomfortable nights of my life in. It is available for sale if anyone is interested...make me an offer. I cannot sleep in banana-shape...and my back and bum got cold. It does work set up on ground as a mini-tent, as long as you are certain there will be no wind-driven rain.

[ciphercomms]

I don't know. I had it fairly taut...which made it pretty unstable since it is not double-wide...but still decidedly banana-shaped with my moderate weight in it. I suppose I might get used to it eventually...after a week of barely sleeping I would fall asleep hanging upside down. I may unroll it this summer and try arranging myself as diagonally as possible...but I'll still consider any reasonable offers if somebody wants it.

Our kids are going to have a real experience dealing with all of our miscellaneous belongings when we pass on. My wife wants our wills to be modified with codicils that automatically call for large trash dumpsters to be delivered to our driveway one week after either of us dies...just to help the kids out a little.

[cockpitbob]

Our kids are going to have a real experience dealing with all of our miscellaneous belongings when we pass on. My wife wants our wills to be modified with codicils that automatically call for large trash dumpsters to be delivered to our driveway one week after either of us dies...just to help the kids out a little.

When my parents sold their house and of 40 years and downsized I filled two 10 yard dumpsters.  They had a 2,500sq-ft single story house with a full basement and attic.  Yes, 5,000sq-ft of storage.  To top it off, they were both born in the 1920s and spent formative years during the great depression.  Yup, that was a pretty full house.