Category Archives: TRANSPORTATION

Anything to do with moving people and “stuff” from one place to another.

Bikes of war

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Buffalo Soldiers Bicycled 132 Miles Through Yellowstone In 1896

The Buffalo Soldiers who made up the volunteer Bicycle Corps of the 25th Infantry Regiment bicycled 132 Miles Through Yellowstone in 1896.

Buffalo Solider Bicycle Corps

BOV bike img

Buffalo Solider Bicycle Corps

The 25th regiment was based at Fort Missoula beginning in 1888. The 25th was one of four regiments (also including the 24th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry) that were made up of Black soldiers — these were the Buffalo Soldiers. With the growing popularity of bicycling Major General Nelson A. Miles, as Army Commander-in-Chief, recommended that one full regiment be equipped with bicycles in 1892…pictured here is the Buffalo Solider Bicycle Corps that was formed in response to this order.

Up Close Look At A Rider

Montana Historical Society

Up Close Look At A Rider

On Aug 25, 1896, The Regiment set out to tour Yellowstone. A trip that covered over 130 miles and included some incredibly rough terrain.

 

Spalding Military Bikes

The Spalding military bicycles (which were donated by the company at no cost to the military) were furnished with steel rims, tandem spokes, extra-heavy side-forks and crowns, gear cases, luggage carriers, frame cases, brakes, and Christy saddles. They were geared to 68 inches and weighed 32 pounds. The average weight of the bicycles, packed, was about 59 pounds.

A Few of the “Necessaries” the Soldiers May Have Carried

 

 

A Few of the “Necessaries” the Soldiers May Have Carried

There were a variety of items that were issued to the soldiers that they would have carried in their pack. From personal grooming items to playing cards and other items that will help entertain soldiers not to mention the gear needed to maintain and repair their bikes.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Montana Historical Society

Mammoth Hot Springs

The Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps pose on Minerva Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park. Pvt. John Findley, front left, was the primary bicycle mechanic for the unit, and so carried a heavy toolbox attached to his handlebars. Photo by F. Jay Haynes

Climbing the Terraces

Montana Historical Society

Climbing the Terraces

The Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps walk their cycles up Minerva Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park.

Minerva Terrace

 

Montana Historical Society

Minerva Terrace

The Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps ride on an inactive portion of Minerva Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park. Photo by F. Jay Haynes, 1896

A Quote From Lt. James A. Moss

Montana Historical Society

A Quote From Lt. James A. Moss

“The bicycle, as a machine for military purposes, was most thoroughly tested under all possible conditions, except that of being under actual fire. The Corps went through a veritable campaign, suffering from thirst, hunger, and the ill effects of alkali water, cold, heat and loss of sleep. A number of times we went into camp wet, muddy, hungry and tired …. Much of the time the roads were so bad that the Corps had to dismount and push their wheels along railroad tracks.”

 

The above Article adapted from the following site…  we encourage ALL to visit and support them.
https://fortmissoulamuseum.org/exhibit/25th-infantry-bicycle-corps/

 

&&&

The following is our part….

 

Observations – covering 50 miles a day is a good rate of travel across country. It also translates into a good way to patrol your AO or to run a courier system between towns or posts.

 

Obviously terrain and load would be limiting factors along with unfriendly action in the AO. Back in the 1960-70s the Viet Cong and NVA  transported TONS of munitions and other supplies via bicycle along the Ho Chi Mien trail from the north into South Viet Nam. Most of the time they used single bikes loaded with whatever and pushed them.  Often for the heavier loads they had made bars which tied 2 bikes together so they could carry larger payloads.  After the payloads were delivered they would ride the bikes back to the north and repeat the process. They often used bikes / riders as couriers between units.

 

Often the civilian police forces in this US of A during ‘good’ weather have officers patrolling the streets on bikes [and motorcycles] along with the standard patrol vehicles.

This helps the police quietly roll up on crimes in progress. The officers get to know their patrol areas better AND get to know the people better too! Not only does this save on fuel costs it helps the officers to be more physically fit which is a win-win all the way around.

 

 

The Viet Cong used a system of bars which tied 2 bikes together at a set spacing which also kept them from shifting side to side or falling over. There were also bars which formed the load platform. Most of them as I recall had wing nuts to make it easier to adjust and assemble/disassemble them in the field. The front end could be a vertical X and the back end a horizontal V

 

Given the long history of bicycles and the even LONGER history of war, bikes make good logical sense to include in any [almost any] survival plan for long term transportation of people and materials. The bikes in addition to the following ones can also be configured for medical staff and used as ambulances.

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What are YOUR thoughts on this??

 

Winter cold

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If you have never driven on snow/ice please don’t. Stay home unless you absolutely have no other choice. The most dangerous thing is plow drivers face is other drivers that are unaware of how dangerous conditions are, and if you do need to get out go slow, give us a space to work, and don’t panic in and emergency. If you begin to slide, don’t slam on the brakes, put the car in neutral, and softly tap the brake so you can somewhat control the car until you come to a complete stop. Keep blankets in the car, and don’t let your fuel tank get below 3/4 of a tank. —

Strongly consider equipping your vehicle with both CB and GMRS radios– get a HAM license too. Have what you need to charge you devices like your phone so you can stay in touch with others AND ALWAYS let family/friends KNOW where you are AND your travel plans so you can be found. Family should have your vehicle info written down at home so the police know what to look for if you are overdue.

Never leave canned pop in the vehicle….   

Cross ref

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/journaling/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/comms-part-1/ 

May be a meme of text that says 'This is actual advice the news is giving to Southerners for driving in snow uincoo TWITTER ADVICE FROM @Chadsu42 STOPPED SLOW TRAFFIC If you rarely drive on snow, just pretend you're taking your grandma to church. There's aplatter of biscuits and 2 galions of sweet tea in glass jars in the back seat. She's wearing new dress and holding crock pot full of gravy. WBTV 3 News at 6am'

Navigation

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Navigation is a varied and important topic! In this modern day many of us count on high technology to tell us how to get from point A to point B -Z. When everything is co-operating this is effective and saves time.

BUT it is dangerous to blindly depend on GPS for example without doing a bit of old fashioned research along with it. It pays to know how to read an ‘old fashion’ printed map too. As an example a young lady [late teens- early 20s] was traveling alone, cross country one winter along I-80. She was following her GPS and for some reason it told her to turn off the interstate onto a side road where she got stuck. When she did not show up at her next check in point on time, a missing person BOLO [Be on look out] was issued for her along her planned route of travel. An observant highway patrol person noticed her ‘city car’ tracks in the snow at the off ramp and followed them to her car stuck in a snow drift out of cell phone range and rescued her safely.

Lessons learned – Good that she had discussed her trip with family and friends and had stayed in touch with them during the trip so they at least knew where to start the search. Being frugal she had snacks and drinks with her. NOT so good-She had not looked at a map of her trip prior so she did not realize that it was ODD at best to have taken that turn and she did not have a real map with her. Basically she blindly trusted the tech stuff to both navigate and communicate so WHEN it failed her she was in real trouble.

OK so where are we headed with this story?

For starters – ORIENTEERING is a game which teaches you both how to use a map and a compass to navigate in unfamiliar territory in completion with others or just your self and the clock. You can do solo OR team [2 or more people per team] completions This can take place in a large field or cross-country depending on what is available and how many people will be involved. You typically have a starting point from which you are given a compass bearing and distance to the next benchmark – from there you are given another set of instructions. Typically the bench marks are numbered stakes in the ground.

Taking a bearing all mechanical compasses have a magnetic ‘arrow’ which points NORTH and is normally red in color. Unless there is metal or another magnet interfering it will always point NORTH. [there IS a difference between TRUE [geographical] North and magnetic north] line up the direction of travel arrow with the number of degrees for your heading – there are 360 degrees to a circle. North is 0, East is 90, South is 180 and West is 270 degrees. On most compasses there is a bezel which will move – turn this until the it lines up with the RED of the needle for north. Now as long as you keep the arrow lined up that way you will be traveling in the correct direction.

MAPS there are basically 2 main types of maps for this discussion ROAD maps which the lady in the story above should have used and TOPOGRAPHICAL Maps which are very useful in other ways and do show roads on them as well. They show terrain features such as gullies, big boulders, houses, forests / fields and such.

Orienting a map with the compass. Move the bezel until N is lined up with 0 or 360 degrees [same thing] and the direction of travel. Put the compass on the map aliened with the north south line on the map. Rotate the map/compass together until they are lined up to the north. Your map is now oriented to the lay of the land.

Judging distance on a map is easy once you know the scale of the map. For example if the map is 1:62,500 that means that one inch on the map equals about one mile. There are different scales for maps.

Many people have trouble telling distances. You can make it easier and more accurate with a simple tool and a tape measure. [cross ref Ranger Pacing Beads which help you judge distance traveled.] measure out 100 meters on a straight level area like a side walk. Start out on your right foot and count how many PACES or steps [count the times your right foot hits the ground each time as one pace] it takes to cover the 100 meters. Do this several times and take the average number of paces it takes to cover that distance. Repeat the process going up and down a slope. Write all this down and you will end up knowing the distance you travel in each condition. It will take more steps going up hill to cover 100 meters than on level ground. Once you have all this figured out see how many paces to cover the 100 meters running. While you are doing all this it is important to TIME yourself so that you will know about how ling it will take to cover a given distance.

You are now ready to plan a trip or adventure.

The best way to get good at this is to join an orienteering club or group and PRACTICE often.

CROSS REF —

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/comms-2/ parts 1 and 3 are good too

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/re-hydration-drink/

What other skills do you want to discuss?

bad weather traffic

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Blog bad weather traffic accidents

Ah springtime in the Rockies. We have been going from temps in the upper 60s & 70s to upper 20s and low 30s with rain and snow. So today, the roads were slick with ice covered by snow.

Between yesterday and last night at least 4 public service vehicles slid off the road and nk telling how many civilians.

About 1100 2016-04-30 there were reports of traffic accidents with injuries on the interstate blocking the west bound lanes. It took a good 30 minutes for the first fire/EMS to get to the scene because of the other vehicles blocking the flow of traffic [for miles] . Responding vehicles had to weave in and out between stopped vehicles and drive on the shoulder of the road. Due to the stopped cars in the way they the fire chief requested that the neighboring county respond units from their direction which was still flowing.

During the hour plus of this incident to this point police, fire/EMS did the best they could as it was a very dynamic situation.

Lessons learned and points to ponder.

When the road in front is blocked especially on the interstate there is NO reason to go around stopped cars [in the right hand lane] just so that you can stop up the left hand lane. If you are driving in the passing lane and see blockage ahead do your best to change into the right hand [driving] lane. The left hand lane should be left clear for emergency vehicles.

This is another situation where having vehicle to vehicle communications [like ships have] for local area Comms would be great to get local road reports. Yes, cell phones are great for specific point to point Comms. Cell phones on the other hand are not so good when it comes to talking a few cars over unless you know their phone number. Given that most if not all truckers already have CB radios, CBs are great for local information.

The biggest issue is that comes to mind is….. If you don’t HAVE to travel during bad weather, STAY HOME. IF you do have to travel during bad weather be sure to top off the gas tank. Let family know where you are going, what your plans are and when you expect to be home.

What I would like to see the vehicle manufacturers do is equip all new vehicles with with a built in FRS type radio that only has 1 or 2 frequencies on it so that cars can share information and receive directions from public services. This would be similar to ‘on-star’ except that it would be free and close in local.

What are your thoughts?

Cross ref – http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/3-on-the-3s-for-3/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/comms-part-1/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/cb-radio/

Mormon handcarts

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Mormon handcarts for evacuations

Recently while checking up on friends and family on Facebook I ran across a picture of a family I know. They were participating in the sesquicentennial celebration of the pioneer trek the “Mormons” [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints] did when the early church migrated to Utah. The hand carts that they built and used for this trek were very sturdy and could carry a heavy load. The people were very sturdy too, both then and now.

Literally these people carried all of their worldly goods with them. They walked over one thousand miles rain or shine, pulling the handcarts for months on end. In this day and age how many of us could pull that off today? Not many I bet.

Every year our town has “Frontier Days” 9 days of rodeo and party. There are 4 parades during this time and the local LDS members [Mormons] always has handcarts in the parades. Very interesting to watch.

Hold that picture in your mind and follow me down this rabbit trail if you will. ; ]

I have seen what some people call their 72 hour kits. Some of them have weighed in at 70lbs and they think that they are going to bug out on foot when the SHTF. Or worse they don’t plan on walking at all so they have boxes of stuff in the car and then hit the long parking lot of the freeway out of town and use all of the gas in 10 miles of bumper to bumper traffic.

With this in mind another friend and his family built a Mormon handcart to base their bug out plans on. I think that he had a good idea. Following is a report on how large of a payload could be carried by the handcarts.

***The handcarts generally carried up to 250 pounds (110 kg) of supplies and luggage, though they were capable of handling loads as heavy as 500 pounds (230 kg). Carts used in the first year’s migration were made entirely of wood (“Iowa hickory or oak”); in later years a stronger design was substituted, which included metal elements.[10][11][12]
The handcart companies were organized using the handcarts and sleeping tents as the primary units. Five persons were assigned per handcart, with each individual limited to 17 pounds (7.7 kg) of clothing and bedding. Each round tent, supported by a center pole, housed 20 occupants and was supervised by a tent captain. Five tents were supervised by the captain of a hundred (or “sub-captain”). Provisions for each group of one hundred emigrants were carried in an ox wagon, and were distributed by the tent captains. Excerpted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_handcart_pioneers ***

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/shelter-mobile-1/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/ready-or-not-things-will-happen/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/ready-or-not-fun-things-will-happen/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/driving-plan-1/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/rally-points/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/why-72-hours/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/cb-radio/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/are-you-prepared/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/water-storage-2l-coke-bottles-2/

Bartering bikes

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We have a guy in the neighborhood that purchases used bicycles fixes them up and then sells them. With the price of gas and with the economy not being so good he has really started having trouble keeping bikes around. He said that people who are on fixed income or that don’t have much money are starting to come to him more often to get bikes as their only mode of transportation. He lives in the lower income section of town so he is right in the middle of the people who are having the most trouble.

On the other hand we had one bike that we weren’t using any more, along with 2 bikes that the grandkids had outgrown and 1 bike that needed work on that we did not know how to do. So the question was what do we do? Try and sell our bikes in a garage sale? Put an ad in the paper? And then after we sold them, if we could, we would have to find other bikes that the grandkids could ride now. That would mean looking through the paper for used bikes their size or coming up with the money for new bikes both of which take time.

The solution we came up with was taking all of them [total of 4] over to his place and negotiated trading them in for 3 bikes that were usable for the grandkids to ride and was in workable order. Bartering is a good way to get rid of what you don’t need any more and getting what you do need. We ended up not paying anything in the process and we got what we needed and he got more bikes to sell.

So a couple of the take away on this is that you can trade for things that really do not need to be new, thus saving money and that you can take a skill such as working on bikes and turn it into money.

Evac kit container

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CONTAINERS FOR YOUR KIT

Perhaps the second most important ‘thing’ about emergency kits, is something to carry all that stuff in. Having a container that is well organized, makes for easy access of any item during a frantic moment. Periodic inventory is also easily accomplished when you have a printed list and your equipment organized in appropriate containers that are laid out in an orderly fashion. The container you must be easily carried by family members. There are several types of containers you may consider.

BACKPACK: This is the most convenient, versatile, and appropriate container in which to store and carry your Evacuation Kit. We strongly recommend that you consider this type of container. It should be of large size, of waterproof nylon or leather, lightweight frame (internal or external), padded shoulder straps, and padded hip belt. It need not be expensive. If you are not able to use your car to evacuate, a backpack will allow you to carry your kit comfortably for long distances while freeing your hands for carrying small children or other items.

BELTPACKS (fanny packs): These must be a waterproof nylon or leather and are especially good for expanding a backpack. However, they are simply too small to be seriously considered for a 72-hour kit by themselves. However, the basic essentials such as fire starters, knife (s), string, iodine tablets and signaling equipment should be carried on your person.

POLYETHYLENE PLASTIC BUCKETS: These are air tight and waterproof, but are also awkward to carry for any distance. If you do use one of these be sure to attach a sturdy padded handle. They come in four, five, and six-gallon capacities.

DUFFLE BAG: Very awkward to carry long distances. If used, get the kind that has shoulder straps and looks like a backpack, which makes it almost as good. Also be sure to get one made of water resistant nylon. Do not use ones made of cotton.

TRUNK OR FOOTLOCKER: Must be sturdy, and waterproof with strong, padded handle(s). They are great for placing in your car, however, they are very difficult to carry when full, and generally require two individuals.

PLASTIC GARBAGE CANS: They hold a lot of items and are good for initially collecting items in for the kit, but to carry them, even just to the car, is difficult at best and impossible for most to do. For this reason I discourage anyone from considering using a garbage can for his or her 72-hour kit. If you do use a garbage can, get one with wheels.

LUGGAGE, wheeled. Get the kind that has good wheels and strong straps/handles. A main compartment with several outside pockets is best, if you are going to go this route.

This is just a start on the topic. Cross ref post http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/ready-or-not-things-will-happen/ about the Quick Start Guide book.

Driving plan 1

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For your next trip OR as the start to your evacuation planning you have to know how much fuel you will need if you are driving. How far will you be traveling? [Break this down into days or legs with planned rest stops.]

To estimate this you will need to know what your current gas mileage is. You should be tracking your mileage anyway along with the oil and other fluids used in your vehicle.

Every time that you get fuel, log it into your travel records along with your odometer reading. Then divide the miles traveled by amount of fuel used = miles per gallon.

Example I drove 350 miles and used 21 gallons = 16.7 miles per gallon.

Take the projected total miles you plan to travel and divide that figure by your current mileage, the result will be the projected number of gallons fuel you may consume for the trip. ADD 10% for variance and safety aka fudge factor.

To keep things simple enough so that even I can understand it.

My current vehicle gets 10 miles to the gallon of gas in town [actually it is closer to 17 miles to the gallon but that is harder to do the math]. The miles per gallon –mpg- that we get out on the highway is 20 [actually we get closer to 23 mpg].

Total projected round trip miles is 2,000. So the problem is set up as,

Total projected trip miles / mpg
=_____ fuel amount needed.

We always plan for the worse mileage so that we can take side trips if we see or hear about fun stuff while we are gallivanting about.

How far do you plan to cover during each day or leg of your trip?

Back when we were much younger we would split the driving between 2 or 3 adults and we would cover 1,200 miles in a day [24 hours] so that we would have more time at our destination.

Realistically if you are going to see stuff along the way and be a tourist don’t expect to cover more than about 300 miles a day IF that. And plan way stations along your route.

As an example one year a friend from our military days was visiting from ‘back east’. At the end of his visit I took him to the state capitol to catch the Amtrak train home.

The drive was planned to take 2.5 hours with a planned detour of 4 hours to a park along the way. The park is a natural rock bridge that had been carved over the centuries by a large creek.

The park portion had several hiking trails and there were those standing BBQ cook areas with picnic tables that were comfortable for the lunch we had packed.

The site was / is very beautiful and has a rich history as an oasis for the local American Indians. One of the pluses is that it is well protected from the wind. Some of the other features included more than enough fresh water for the tribe and their animals. There are several apple trees which are reputed to have been planted by the Indians. Game such as fish, deer, rabbits and birds are plentiful. I didn’t have time to search very hard but there were many edible plants such as Purslane, plantain, cattails, milkweed and burdock.

I can really see why the Indians would tarry there and perhaps even a good place to settle in the general area.

Round trip was about 400 miles and took less than a tank of gas. Total time away from home was under 12 hours

That was a brief example of a travel journal entry.

www.preparesurvivethrive.us

Extra petrol

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Extra petrol

As I write this regular unleaded gas is under $1.75 a gallon. The friend that I was talking with commented that he hoped that the prices would stay down for the trip he has planned for this summer. I asked him if he had his fuel storage as well setup as he had his food and water storage. [He has a full year of food and water put up.] He said he did not and asked what I meant.

The following is the gist of what we discussed. Once this system is set up, it will not cost you any more to maintain it as what you would normally spend on fuel for your vehicle. Start off with 5 gallon fuel cans [gas or diesel whatever your vehicle uses]. Given the about half off what we are used to paying for fuel I would think that you could start off with 12 fuel cans. If you want to get more cans great, if you want to get fewer fuel cans… whatever… that is up to you. Number the cans 1 to 12 so that you can rotate them. Depending on how much you drive, you can use one can a month and you will have rotated all of your fuel out in one year. The procedure for this would be to transfer the fuel from the can to your vehicle prior to heading to the filling station and then filling both your fuel tank and the can.

If you have the space to safely store the extra fuel you have and depending on how many vehicles you are storing for, you may want to store more than 12 cans.

When it comes time for the trip, load up the extra fuel cans and take them [all] with you. During the trip or at least the first part of it, use the stored fuel. When he gets home from the trip or during the extended lay over he can start refilling the gas cans and place them back into the rotation cycle.

To make transferring the fuel consider having either a large funnel or siphon pump OR both. It is way easier to transfer the fuel if you have a helper. Given that 5 gallons of fuel weighs about 40 lbs you may want to consider 2.5 gallon cans. Also the transfer pump is easier to use than a funnel.

Are there safety concerns with storing fuel? Well.. DUH, of course there are. Keep in a well ventilated space away from sources of ignition and avoid breathing the fumes. Also, I would not want to transport it inside the passenger compartment of your vehicle. Check with your local fire department for the rules on storing and transporting fuel.

Ireland 6

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6 ******************
Minus 80 days and counting

The Republic of Ireland and North Ireland have a very long and interesting history. Florence and I were writing to each other during most of the time referred to as “the Trouble”. She would send me newspaper clippings so I got to see some of it “almost” first hand. There was also a very long drought during that time and many farmers lost their crops and animals. Now I am reading about it in the “history” of Ireland. It does give a person perspective, though. Ireland is a country that has struggled through wars, droughts, famines and political unrest, and yet they are among the friendliest people in the world. When we think of US history, we are looking at a couple hundred years (if you don’t look at Columbus and the Native American Indians). Ireland’s history is a few thousand years. A house in our area that is was built a hundred years ago is considered old. There are castles in Ireland (and Scotland, England, Germany, etc.) that have stood for several hundred years. We sometimes forget that WE are the rookies in the history game. I’m just glad I studied American History in school and not Irish History. I’d still be there and we’d only be up to the Industrial Revolution!

Here is an interesting thought: Remember the movie “Around the World in 80 Days”? I have the same number of days to get ready for a one week trip and I’m panicked that I won’t be ready in time or forget something. [following ‘project management’ guidelines helps a lot with planning trips ect…-R]

Although, I have to say, my kids are being very helpful in making this trip happen. Dan will take me to the bus that takes me to the airport and then pick me when I return. He is also keeping my dog, Indiana Jones, while I am gone. I could put Indiana in a kennel, but he was a rescue from a puppy mill and spent the first six months of his life in a crate, so I think he done his time in Hell.

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/a-week-in-ireland-with-the-locals/