In my current situation, working 1,000 miles from home, the direct, high-speed route home goes through or near:
- Chicago (sort of)
- Rockford, IL
- Madison, WI
- Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN
not to mention the medium-sized city I live in and all of the other mid-size towns like Peoria on the route - all major "post-racial" metro areas that can reasonably be expected to go up should there be a spark to this long, hot summer.
For the first time, I am getting very serious about a GHB (get home bag for the car) and looking at alternate routes, especially around the big cities. Good practice in any case, and God willing it will not be necessary to implement. The major concern is gasoline to get home on - I am not in a situation where I can store so much as a pint, let alone the many gallons I would need.
Since it is the PRI (people's republik of illinois), I also have to be careful of any self defense equipment - and I have to bring it from home, can't acquire it here.