Buy an Older RV

If you're really worried about how far services losses will go, buy an older RV and park it in the drive way.  Add solar panels and you have a small self-contained system that will also provide extra storage.  With fuel prices so high there are some screaming bargains to be had and you can use it this summer if the flu fails to show up.

Most type A or C RVs have gensets, water tanks and pumps, propane heat, cooking, reefer and water heater.  Most also have grey and black water tanks as well.  You may have to replace the house batteries and add an inverter as well as the solar panels but a complete system isn't hard to do based on an RV.  You also have big propane and fuel storage and a good bug-out system if needed.

Two wheels BAD, four wheels good!

Zuki Samurai follows me everywhere in the RV.

Bebo,

Skill to do the conversion would mean you had the skills to do the same to you house.  I'm pointing out a nearly ready made fall-back that is very cheap if compared to having it done to your house.  BOV capabilities of an RV are just a small possible bonus.

Didn't see any disrespect at all, just didn't want the less mechanically skilled to be put off.  I've modified the hell out of my RV and found lots of fun doing it, but even as most of them come they offer lots to someone who can't modify or build things. 

My 1988 28 ft type A is second cousin to a bread truck and first cousin to a UPS truck.  I did add a 502, Allison 5 speed tranny and Thorley headers to make it a little less civil.

Bought the Allison and rear-end from a burned up 2003 RV, just bolted them both right in.  I did have to have the drive shaft cut down and rebalanced.  Industrial 502 bolted in in place of the dead 454 and wasn't even much more money than a crate 454.  Does have enough poop to move through your hills right smartly.

If you google "Barth" you'll see why I put the effort in to this rig!

Would an old pickup camper or a small trailer be able to be brought in? Older 16 - 20 travel trailers are very cheap and small enough to throw a tarp over if you find leaks.  If all you need is a heated room you can get conversions for the cheap Coleman catalytic to run off of bigger propane tanks if the built in heater doesn't work!  Cardboard or heavy visquene for skirting around the base makes for even more snugness. 

I'd also make sure I had some of FRS/GRS radios around if you're going to have a sick person out of ear shot.  I'm getting over a broken leg and for the first two weeks the radios gave my wife the peace of mind while she worked in the yard out of ear shot of me.  I'm mobile now, soon will have a cane to whack things with, but for a while the radios were sanity savers.  Remote hovering!

Rocky,

I plan to use the garage as a quarantine area . We already have a small a/c unit hooked up for summer use (it gets really hot in there in the summer) and a space heater for winter. I have a Roll away bed I use for company  so that will go in there. We have a small fridge left over from my daughter's dorm days also. Add a small tv and it's good to go.

The bathroom in the master bedroom has a door that leads to the laundry room which is located in the garage, so those facilities will be available for the quarantine area.

I have protective gear so I can enter the quarantine area if I have to and a system in place for disinfection in the master bathroom. Food delivery is easy enough.

I was pondering the idea of how to seal it all off ,but the Visqueen idea settled that  and is easy enough to do. (thanks for the suggestion Femvet!)

The only person I plan to admit  if  pandemic arrives  is my daughter who will be sheltering here. I think she is too young to stay where she is alone,not to mention the danger of being a young female on the outskirts of a large city post pandemic. I have discussed this with her and she said 10 days in the garage after her arrival home is a good idea, just in case.

She has grown up knowing about our lifestyle of prepping and is prepared to leave her town (97 miles away) the minute I say "Go"!

She can be home in about two hours  if she drives ,taking the back ways which she knows how to do. It takes a little over an hour if she takes the major highway home.

Her B.O.B is already in her car so she can leave from anywhere, anytime. I would suggest that you make sure your kids away from home have a kit in their cars also. Put it together and mail it to them if you have to.

The bug out bag has a detailed map with various routes to get home, in the event she can't get home in her car.72 hour food kit,  etc. She knows to keep her gas tank full and her cell phone with her at all times.

 As we are a Railroad family, she has the option of catching the train . The station is half a mile from her house,which was no accident, we purposely found her a rental house close to it. As we live close to  the station here, getting home after she got off the train is feasible.

The biggest challenge as I see it to get her home safely is when to tell her to leave. I am watching very carefully and hope I am on the ball.

As she is graduating in May, I think we have a good shot at beating the whole evacuation scenario  all together,but you never know.

As far as restocking between waves ,I am not counting on it. If I am able to it will be a bonus.

I fully expect Katrina - Like conditions, as so many people just don't seem to get the gist of what Pandemic will do to this country.