Looking at Vehicles

Back in November I made a post about transportation during disasters. At the time, I only concluded that a good pair of boots should be part of any travel plan.

Over the past month (you know – the period where there were no new posts!) I have been looking at and pondering the appropriateness of different vehicles. This endeavor actually has roots back in August when I was preparing for fire season and realized I had no effective means to evacuate the area with my supplies. Yes, that is when the Decision Matrix I posted on 12/28 started to take shape. That Matrix will be an ongoing work-in-progress as my insight grows.

That Decision Matrix begins with a question of Awareness or Warning. If you get some advance warning of a situation, you then can properly Evacuate. However, disasters such as earthquakes or industrial explosions provide no real warning. Your option is only to prepare for Escape after the disaster creates complete havoc in your area.

My trailer in use at the 2012 Overland Expo.

The "kitchen" box rode nicely on top for this trip.

My current means of transportation is a large BMW Dual Sport motorcycle with a trailer constructed out of a Dragon Missile Transport box. This was designed as an Escape Vehicle. It can clamber over various terrains (limited more by my skill as a rider than by the vehicle!) and negotiate paths through stalled lines of traffic due to its narrow wheelbase. The bike has a range of 200 miles on 5 gallons of gas. Strapping more fuel on the trailer quickly extends this range.

While this vehicle is probably the best all around option for escaping a congested area, it has limited capability to carry a lot of supplies. In addition, it does not function well as an emergency shelter!

What is the best vehicle to meet daily transportation needs, capable of easily loading and transporting a good mass of supplies (evacuation focus), can be lived in as needed, and can be relatively unobtrusive in appearance?

I have been thinking about NPR trucks for several years. There are so many of these on the road that there are tons of spare parts and nobody gives them a second look. However, they are too big for parking garages and stand out too much in many neighborhoods. I am also concerned that the tilting cab makes it very difficult to have direct access to the back storage area. In addition, the height of the bed is very high for loading (really want to take my motorcycle).

Last month I stumbled upon a converted school bus. It was 28’ long with a living/sleeping area in the front and the back set up as a “garage” for 5 dirt bikes. That is pretty cool. However, it was very old and the back door was too small for my cycle. Obvious parking issues too! But wow – like that rear garage concept. As my one son stated, any vehicle that can spit out another vehicle is always cool. Maybe we have watched the Batmobile convert to the Bat Cycle a few too many times?

After that I found a great vehicle – a 24’ step van. A step van is like the big square bread trucks or UPS trucks. They are very popular now with the food truck crowd. The nice thing about these vehicles is that they have strong suspensions for carrying heavy loads, a low floor for easier loading, and a very square shape which makes for simpler shelves and maximum storage potential. There is also completely open space between the lower sides and the frame rails where you can mount water tanks, solar battery banks, generators, and extra storage. The wide back doors also make for easy loading. Add a good ramp and you are good to go. But damn they look big sitting in a parking lot and heading down the highway. Still, I see a whole lot of potential here.

From there I looked at a box van. This one had a cube about 6’ high, 8’ long and perhaps 6’ wide. It was completely set up as a stealth camper. I loved it – even though it was still too high to fit in most parking garages it would easily fit in most parking spaces. Like the step van, there was plenty of protected space underneath for storage – in fact fresh water and grey water tanks were already in place. But where do I put the Bat Cycle?

Time to help someone move. I decided to rent a regular cargo van (good thing since it was raining!). Very discreet, reasonable gas mileage due to the shape (versus the big boxes I had been looking at), easy to load gear into, and good accessible shelter – though a bit tight. These are great all around vehicles though you may not want to plan to spend too much time living out of one due to the tight space. Perhaps adding a small “toy hauler” to this would make sense but I would like to avoid having to deal with a trailer.

So much to consider – and in the end there is no choice but to make major compromises. I haven’t even addressed the capability of 4-wheel-drive or what type of fuel system may be best. We will see where this ends up. Never was an actual Bat Truck!