Getting to the Farm

We live in an Earthquake zone and we could get the Big One any time. I am concerned about I could get to the farm from our home in Everett. The farm is on the other side of the Snohomish River. There are bridges over the river as well as several sloughs in the mouth of the river. In the event of a serious earthquake, those bridges could be damaged and my access to the farm could be cut off. That might make driving there difficult or impossible.

An even more certain possibility is major disruption in fuel supplies leading to decreased fuel availability and sharply increasing prices. Remember the 1970's when gasoline was rationed and the price quadrupled.

Of course if the roads are open, even in the case of bridge damage if the bridges were open to pedestrians but not heavy vehicles, I could get there by bike. It's only 15 miles and the route is mostly pretty flat. An hour each way? There are also several bus routes that connect Everett and the Smokey Point area. One bus leaves Everett Station every 30 minutes and would drop me only 2 miles from the farm. So I could ride the 1 mile to the Everett Station, ride to Smokey Point and then ride 2 miles the farm.

If I had a bike trailer, I could transport modest quantities of food back home, but I would have to ride the 15 miles. The bus bike racks don't accommodate bike trailers. I am also looking at electric bikes. I am 68 years old and I don't have the stamina I did 40 years ago.

These are things that I think about when I am waiting for sleep to come at night.
So when we bought the farm, I considered alternative access. Fortunately, there are several bus routes that connect Everett with the Smokey Point area.