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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Travel bans



Most of my readers are old enough to remember the September 11, 2001 attacks. There's an awful lot that one could say about that day, but I'm going to focus on one small aspect: the shut down of transportation.

All air traffic was shut down for days. The bridges and tunnels to Manhattan island were closed. Even shipping took a hit.

A lot of people were stranded. It was pretty upsetting, especially if you were in an airport on one coast of the United States and needed to be on the other coast.

At least it was still possible to drive a car across the country. That could have been shut down too.

Things changed in a day. People were stranded, but there were work arounds and it was only temporary.

My lovely wife and I plan on being far from home for almost six months. If the world can change that much in day, how could it change in months?

As we prepare for out trip, Syria and the rest of the Middle East are in turmoil. The fires are getting hotter over there. Sabers are rattling. The United States is not immune from repercussions.

At the very least, it's safe to assume that a wider war would cause oil prices to spike even higher. Transportation fuels could become much more expensive and difficult to get.

Roads could be blockaded -travel restricted to approved vehicles only. Bridges might shut down. Even major seaports could be closed if there are terrorist attacks.

The government could even do things like shut down civilian access to the GPS system. That could shut down a lot of private boat traffic as many rely on it almost exclusively.

My lovely wife and I could be two thousand miles from home and discover getting back suddenly got a whole lot more problematic. At least we have more options that most. Our van can use multiple fuels: diesel, heating oil, hydraulic fluid, and just about all vegetable oils. If the roads are open, we can find a way to drive on them. Our boat uses the wind, and we have a lot of paper charts and a good compass.

Who knows? We might have to take our sailboat home. It is possible to sail within 100 miles of our place in the mountains. We'd have a number of options for getting home from the coast.

Odds are that this is just an intellectual exercise -a game of “what if?” Most likely the worse thing that will happen is that the price of diesel will go up, again. However, you never know.

-Sixbears

18 comments:

  1. What if can be a good game to play, especially in THESE troubled times.

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    1. Only problem with that game is that playing it too much can freeze a person in place. At some point you take a chance and get out in the world.

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  2. Stranded on a beach in florida in the winter are you worried or hoping?

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    1. I do want to come home in the spring, when the snow's gone and the ice's off the lake. Until then, FL is fine.

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  3. Never hurts to plan for the "what ifs", just in case!

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    1. I was a Boy Scout who took "be prepared" seriously.

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  4. Map reading is a tool that is very, very useful.
    Remember when gas stations would give them out for free?

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    1. You can still get them at most state's rest areas.

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  5. When I travel your very thoughts are mine too...then again, there are only two types of people - survivors and victims.

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    1. When it gets right down to it, we are all from a long line of survivors. Those of us alive today are just trying to keep the streak going.

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  6. This is why, when we set out in our boat it was always with the thought in mind that a return might not be possible. Therefore we always packed for this eventuality to the extent it was possible.

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    1. I'm gonna need a bigger boat . . .

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    2. Yep bigger is always better but one works with wutcha gots ! Besides even your little O'day is much larger than a bug out bag and will work. Just always leave home never forgetting things which after a SHTF moment ya could not get along without.

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    3. Good thing we used to backpack. Even a tiny sailboat is huge in comparison.

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  7. Enjoy your trip. It's sad that in this day and age part of the thought of traveling has to have such a negative side.

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    1. I plan on having a good time. Most people met along the way are good people. However, I'm also a realist.

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  8. There sure are a lot of advantages of having a vehicle that can run on different fuels and a boat that can use the wind. You got the best of both worlds.

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