Author of Be Ready for Anything and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
If you missed the previous challenges, you can catch up here:
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
- Day 8
- Day 9
- Day 10
- Day 11
- Day 12
- Day 13
- Day 14
- Day 15
- Day 16
- Day 17
- Day 18
- Day 19
- Day 20
- Day 21
- Day 22
- Day 23
- Day 24
- Day 25
- Day 26
- Day 27
Today’s Challenge
Put your bugout bag to the test.
Tonight, sleep outside for one night, even if it is on the back porch or your balcony. You don’t have to go to a campground – just outside.
Only use the supplies in your bugout it for this. If you really want to test things out, use your bug-out bag for supper, too. You can also do a campfire meal if you’re allowed to have a fire where you live.
Do you have the supplies you need if this was a necessity?
Here are some resources on bug-out bags.
- How I Built My Ultimate 25-Pound Bug Out Bag
- Lessons from an Urban Survival Course with Selco: Your Gear and How to Pack It
How good is your bug-out bag?
Is there anything you need to add to your bug-out bag after this test? Is your bag filled with the supplies you need? Share what changes, if any, you would make after this test.
Find this challenge here on the forum.
Well tried to, gear was fine it was just that a neighbor called the police and had to go inside after their visit. Guess they claim it is illegal to sleep in a non-designated camping area. It was snowing and now tomorrow expect a phone call from the management company about it. many off my neighbors suck
In urban areas, there’s no way I’d want to sleep out in the open without cover (or with tarp or tent) if I had any choice. One example (there are many) of what does work is a camper cap in the back of a pickup. If you install blackout curtains, a take-apart cot (for when you need all the space for other things), and a way to secure the tail gate while you’re inside (which might take a little drilling work and DIY effort), you have a good start. Next you need to understand that parking out and away from most vehicles is a dead giveaway to security types. So parking where business employees (or hotel guests, eg) park 24/7 can work well.
Some business parking lots require your registration; some don’t. Find out first — the easy way.
If you park where there is significant local lighting (like parking lot light poles, eg), that will typically overwhelm any dimmer light you’re using inside your quarters — to keep your presence non-obvious.
If you snore (get a good friend to tell you if you don’t know for certain), then remember to park where things are fairly noisy — even if you need earplugs to get to sleep yourself. Otherwise, no matter how innocent your blackout curtains appear, your snoring can give you away. And getting rousted after you’ve just gone to sleep is not fun.
A couple of examples that do work are 1) Walmart parking lots in the section where employees park all night long, and 2) hotels with covered parking. You might wind up paying $7 or so per night (one typical penalty fee for “losing” your time-stamped entry time ticket), but that’s a LOT cheaper than paying $80 to $125 or so per night for traditional hotel quarters for some kind of conference you paid to attend.
Some regions are a lot more barbaric than others. I saw news recently where Daisy’s county in Virginia passed a rule that outlawed sleeping in your car, even if you needed to pull over to catch a little shuteye to keep from falling asleep in moving traffic and killing people. Since YMMV, you have to be alert to what works in your area. There are frequent videos on YouTube about the how-to of “stealth camping” to give you some ideas. If you run a search on “how to stealth camp” with a dependable search engine, you’ll get lots of suggestions.
–Lewis