Just a quick note here--make sure to keep your BOB ready to rock.
Tonight, I was prepping a "bug out" check list, basically an itemized list of what to grab/prioritize if we ever needed to leave our home in a hurry. We repacked our BOB's last week, but in making the list, I realized there's a few things that I need to get together.
For example, our water containers are empty. Camelbaks sit in the packs, no water in them. Nalgenes/water bottles are used daily. Mind you, we keep enough water on-hand to fill them up, but it would mean an extra maybe 5 minutes delay in getting out of the house. I'm not sure how our Camelbaks would stand up to holding water over a long period--a couple months in between rotations, possibly. If anyone has experience with this, LMK. I could always store a few gallons of water near our kits, to grab-and-go out the door. Fill up on-the-road.
I've been keeping my camp knife, a BK-7 in a nearby desk drawer--needs to be strapped to the bag. My Leatherman helps with odd jobs around the house; it usually rests on my desk, and could be forgotten if we were leaving in a hurry. I should probably get a duplicate for dedicated BOB use, or just store it in the BOB after use.
I recommend taking inventory of "last-minute" items you'd need to grab on your way out the door, and try to add those now, before you need them. In a disaster, you may have only a few, panicked seconds to grab-and-go, and you don't want to leave any essential preps behind in the confusion to get out the door.
