ShotLady
Well, how does a lady get out of dodge ? Or rather the crazy L.A. Basin ? First of all , you really need a place to go or a target. Just wandering will get you nowhere fast. So, lets say you have a friend in a small town at least 50 to a hundred miles from where you are.
First thing I would do , is to get every map available from where I was and where I intended to get to. Especially road maps, topo maps and state land maps.
Next , I would find the least likely to be traveled from really looking over my maps, especially forestry maps with the un improved dirt roads. Hunter and logger roads .
Using a highlight felt pen, I would then trace over the routes most likely to succeed.
Next, on a sat morning, I would with a full tank of gas, and my bob bag's etc, take said roads and see if they are actually passable. Making sure to have fully charged cell phone with me.
Now, even after maybe a few failures on getting through these roads, you would have an idea of what is going on. Hopefully reaching you destination.
Once you have discovered the back ways to this target, then maybe you could stay in a motel and spend a day or three getting to meet the locals. To actually go there with no acquaintances would be a mistake when the chips are down. You would not want to go there under almost any other circumstances as you would be dealt with much dis trust and suspicion. From living close to a very small town, I can tell you that it takes quite awhile to become one of them and that is living there full time.
But, you have achieved getting out of the crazy part anyway.
Now, lets imagine that it is winter when all the stuff hits the fan. You now have to traverse those same roads under much harder circumstance's then you imagined. Mud, falling trees etc. You may reach a certain point that it is no longer possible to drive, and have to abandon your vehicle in order to walk. This is where it is going to become dicey at best. Now you will have to also leave the larger amount of items that you have with you. Can you do that ? What are you going to carry to survive while walking and enduring the hardship of winter ? From this point on, will determine life or death for you. You would need to step a few yards off the actual dirt road and walk parallel to it, in order to keep direction, but also to not be seen should there be other people on the same road. If you do run into other people, how will you determine if they have bad intentions or not ? Once you make your presence known to them, it is do or die. If they are bad, it will be bad for you, and if your lucky they will be good, and maybe you can friendly up with them and travel with them. Safety in numbers type of thing. You decision making is what will determine your outcome. NOT all your guns and ammo.
You must have the ability to pre-judge people as to there true nature just by looking at them and their actions. If you figure that there about 7 million I believe in the L.A. area, and at least 10% of them will have the same idea's as you do, you will most likely run into a few at least.
Also remember that you will be going up and down major hills to get there. Not much flat land as I remember it.
Last thing I will suggest here, not trying to be a chauvinist or anything like that , is for you to find a partner to do this. Maybe if you go to some of the local sporting good stores, hiking and backpacking centers you may be able to find the right person to pair up with. A woman alone will have a very tough go of it.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
