What to Bring when Evacuating

Today I am packing for a week long road trip.
I am packing enough clothes and toiletries for me the husband, and two little ones for the next seven days.
I am packing enough snacks, blankets, drinks and toys to make it a comfortable ride to our destination and back.
There is a pack and play, a stroller, bottles, cameras.
There is a lot. Enough to fill my SUV to the brim.

I don't have a list to look at in the event of an evacuation or emergency. The kind of emergency with notice where I might have twenty minutes to pack my car to leave. I think I could handle it. But then I try to pack my family for the week and it has already taken me two hours. I am sure I could cut it down to 20 minutes if I had to- and if my husband were watching the kids.... maybe.

I should try to pack for a trip in 20 minutes. Just to see if I could.
Maybe next trip.

Theoretically what would I do?
First I would grab the binder, and the large first aid kit and throw them in my car. They are bright red- I like to think that they would be easy to find if I was in a panic racing around the house.
Next I would grab the 72 hour kit . with the evacuation plan inside.
and my purse.
Then I would get the two big bags we have. One is a huge laundry bag, the other is a bag from my husbands mission. They are large enough to fit me in. I would take them upstairs and throw clothes, shoes, coats, underwear, and blankets until they were full.
Next would come my camera and hard drive.
Lastly- grab some grocery bags and fill them with stuff in the pantry. The 72 hour kit has enough food for a few days, and there is water and a few snacks always in the car anyway. But if I had the time, I would throw in a bag of canned goods, cereal, crackers, etc.

If I had even more time I would systematically load our entire house into that SUV minus the furniture and pots and pans I am sure.
First on this extra list would be a few favorite toys of the children's, a stroller, a pack and play, each of the children's boxes of memories and scrapbooks.
I feel like that is all we really would ever need. If we had all those things I don't know that we would even miss anything.
I wouldn't bring my wedding dress- but I would miss it.

My husband would be in charge of loading the kids in, filling the car with some of the gasoline we have in the garage- then turning off the gas or water, whatever was necessary for that particular reason we were evacuating.
The kids would just have to wait out the twenty minutes in the car I guess.

I even know where we would go. To the Freeman Farm. This is where we are headed today too, but just for a visit. It is super comforting that the in-laws live on an 80 acre farm out in the middle of no where. When we are there, I always love how it feels to be on a farm- like land could sustains us, and no war or riot could find us.

I think we could do it.

There are lists everywhere online about what to pack in an evacuation. I don't think any of them are very complete. Most often they list everything in a 72 hour kit, important documents and pictures, and your evacuation plan. . But when you have a 72 hour kit pre-packed with an evacuation plan in it- and all your docs and photos in one easy to find binder, it is easy to move on to the next most important items to pack.

I don't usually love the flylady- but she has a decent list that all starts with P's to help you remember what to grab- here

I think we could do it.