Bugout Gear

Last week at this time, I introduced you to my latest vehicle aquisition, Grimm. The next day, I told you my ulterior motive in buying him, besides his “Scares the hell out of yuppies” factor: SHTF transport. I also delayed telling you how much I paid for him.

I delayed that because I was wheeling and dealing with my friend and co-worker, Don on a second acquisition from his driveway and I wanted to present them as a package deal, as I bought them.

I not only spent Saturday afternoon wondering if I was going to be facing down a picket line of angry Teamsters this evening when I went to work, I was also out picking this up

Say hello to Grimm’s backpack, a 1974 MelMar 10ft camper.

You may remember that in my second post of last week I talked about getting out of dodge as quickly as possible to try and avoid as much of the inevitable traffic jams that would follow a mass evac due to an incoming natural disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, or a happening one, such as the local dormant volcano, Mount Rainier, deciding that popping it’s top would be fun.

The MelMar fills that bill. At only being two years younger than myself, I don’t have to feel any pain about ripping out say, the commode, and turning the 2ftx2ftx6ft room it resides in into a closet for added storage space for “The Three B’s” (Beans, Bullets and Band-Aids).

The MelMar has every creature comfort you could expect in a camper of that era, and he is ready to go as we speak. The MelMar was re-cornered just a couple years ago with all new jacks and a new roof and seals. The batteries are juiced up, the propane and water tanks are full and the plates, cups and diningware are in the cupboards. All it needs is “The Bugout Touch”: Some food, some ammo and med kits.

But that will have to wait for a bit. The Analog Wife hasn’t even seen it yet as she was sleeping while I was picking it up so that she wasn’t a zombie at work. Her and I will be taking Grimm on down to the storage yard this weekend. I’ll be making the necessary adjustments to the MelMar there until it and it’s place at Casa de Analog are ready.

She is also already planning the camping trip we’ll be taking in it this summer, which will extend the ready time a bit, but if it makes her happy, I will gladly make the exception.

By the way, total cost for both Grimm and the MelMar was $1800 ($1500 for Grimm and $300 for the MelMar).

If you’re in the market for equipment such as this, you know that that is a damn decent price by any standard. Keep your eyes open for deals and they may just wander your way, folks, just like this one did. Speaking of which, Don still has his other two trucks for sale.