Fuel for Thought

[MaryN]

So, this is the scenario. The worst has happened. Cities across the country are in flames; mobs are rioting and no-one seems to be able to control the situation. Sections of the Grid are shutting down; this has affected the shops, communications... everything. People in the cities are in a panic and fear is spreading.

You are nicely prepared in your own place. You are confident that you have all you need to, at least, hold out until, hopefully, some form of law and order is restored. Your community is tense, but it is holding together. So far so good.......

Your wife has become very worried about her elderly mother. She is insisting that she goes down there to check on her, and possibly bring her back. It is a long trip and you are very concerned that it will be a dangerous one. You do not wish to leave your property - the potential for looters or vandalism while you are gone is not enormous, but it is there; but your wife will not be told "No!". She decides to go by herself, and will brook no argument.

Faced with the stone wall, you help her to load the car with what she will need, check that the fuel tank is topped and wish her, well, "Safe Journey". She is to call you as soon as she gets there.

Well, she arrives in one piece, but it was a difficult and frightening journey. She is going to bring her mother back with her. Just one problem, she was not able to fill the fuel tank on the car, and has now got less than half a tank left - not enough to complete the journey home. Petrol stations, with the Grid down, are not operating, and there is no fuel stored at her mother's home.

You have a car yourself, but it is a large beast and the problem with fuel would be the same - enough to get down there, but not to complete the journey back. Your wife's car was the storage unit for the spare fuel, and obviously that is not available.

Faced with an increasingly hysterical wife, what are you going to do..? Or, what should you have done?

[bigpaul]

no stored fuel at your house? oh dear how remiss!! should have filled up all the spare fuel cans as soon as any downturn happened, then you would have the fuel to meet wife half way with mother in tow, top up her fuel tanks and bring both vehicles home.

[Scythe13]

I would have sent my wife off in my car. It looks like a screwed up ol' Vectra, but it's amazing what a lack of hubcaps can make people thing. Granted it's a 2.2 TDi, so the fuel issue wouldn't be too bad. Plus I have a minimum of 25 litres of extra fuel in the boot in cans, BP seems to think I'm planning to open my own petrol station haha.

I do need to start storing petrol for the wife though. Her last car was diesel, but now she has a petrol, that changes everything. I need to start getting petrol stored for her...that's more cans, more variations, and all when I'm trying to get us to standardize everything! Women hu?! haha

Okay, so, if I was in that situation, wife at her mothers, and myself at home. I'd get one of our neighbours to watch the house. Tensions are pretty high, you said, but we have a good community, regularly having BBQ's where at least 4 or 5 families meet together. We help each other with DIY, gardening, and things like that. So I'd feel safe enough leaving someone to watch the house. We have a neighbour that's a prepper, so I would feel more comfortable. I'd let her know and ask her to keep an eye on the garden. She's very trust worthy and we hang out with her pretty much everyday.

Before my wife set off, I'd give her one of the radios, and get her to leave it on and keep it on a specific channel. That way we'd always be able to contact each other. Batteries are on charge, so a full battery would be there for her. She knows how to use the radios, so that's what's important. We have already spoken about this scenario, and have 2 already agreed routes. Both converge on a single meet point. At this point if she was not able to wait there, she would provide a mark on a preset obstacle, e.g. a certain tree, or a drain cover, that would tell me the route back she had taken from there. So either she will be waiting for me, or I'll know she's made her way back down Route A or Route B. Both routes are very low profile.

The most logical MO from where she is, would be to swap to her mother's car or to siphon off petrol from her mum's car, and use that to get back. The wife knows how to siphon fuel, and there's a hose pipe at her mothers (but this is an awesome reminder of my need to include a couple of siphon pumps in our boot kits as well as sort the wife's fuel needs...thanks Mary) so she can just cut a length of that.

Maintaining good comms would be the key to getting through this situation for us. Thankfully the MIL only lives a pretty short distance from home, and I know they can both cycle that distance (they're both VERY healthy, MIL plays tennis regularly and loves to cycle) so I'd probably tell them to bring a couple of bikes too. Hopefully this should cover any issues. But I'd rather they didn't take the bikes....for the reason below.

I would demand that the wife takes a gun with her. Not to be kept in full view, maybe just slipped into the footwell or something like that. They should still be able to make it all the way home with the cars though, so no need for the gun. Let's say the car option is not there. If they had to go on foot, the weapon would not be an issue as the routes are already very concealed and they're unlikely to be spotted travelling back. Only a few small areas where they may be spotted. Nothing major.

[Midnitemo]

That's a toughie....firstly I think you fell at the first hurdle(planning)I personally wouldn't have let her go alone and the calculations would have been done&re done regards fuel useage , but whats done is done , first thought is to rendezvous en route siphon of any fuel left in the least economical car which is to be abandoned , make the return journey home.....if that's not possible because of the escalating situation then either sit it out(hopefully) or if the mountain can't come to Mohamed then Mohamed must attempt to get to the mountain...elderly mother is not going to yomp to your's after all.

[Jonas]

Have the wife (and her mother) return as far as they can get. You go and meet them at that point in the other vehicle and bring them home. You may even be able to tow the car that is out of gas, but if not, you still have everyone home and safe.

You might also want to take some tubing to siphon gasoline from one vehicle to another if that would allow you to get both vehicles home.

Finally, had you been aware of the situation, you might have gotten your mother-in-law back to your home before things truly devolved into mayhem.

[Mortblanc]

(21 May 2014, 18:12)Jonas Wrote: Have the wife (and her mother) return as far as they can get. You go and meet them at that point in the other vehicle and bring them home. You may even be able to tow the car that is out of gas, but if not, you still have everyone home and safe.

You might also want to take some tubing to siphon gasoline from one vehicle to another if that would allow you to get both vehicles home.

Finally, had you been aware of the situation, you might have gotten your mother-in-law back to your home before things truly devolved into mayhem.

Absolutely the correct decision. Get in the vehicle and get as far away from the turmoil as possible. Distance is safety in this situation and you drive as far as you can on what petrol you have in the tank.

You do not have to go all the way to the objective to put fuel in their rig. Head out to meet them half way home in the second vehicle with extra fuel.

But choice two was also correct. Mom should have been moved to safety at the first signs of trouble.

There are folks stuck in Crimea that wish they had!

---

Comms are critical in this situation. Your wife needs to be notifying you of the landmarks as she passes them so you will be looking for the vehicle, or at least know where it was at last report, for the meet up.

Just hope you do not discover an empty burned out shell.


And there is the concept of the people being more valuable than the stuff, so you lock up and go with her!