These two spent a lot of time setting up this elaborate trip and project.
We know they were dedicated to being "survialists" and gaming some ruthless games where only one person can be the winner through their survival skills and their lack of morals.
I think they have spend a very long time setting up this survivalist fantasy:
So think like a survivalist: Be prepared, and leave No Trace
Leaving their tower computer to burn in the pickup/camper tells me they had a lot of information on there that had to be destroyed and not available to anyone. So that was planned.
I am sure they bought burner phones in Port Alberni to take with them, maybe several. If they are going to escape without a trace, they can't have traceable phones pining. I'm actually more sure about this as I think this through.
They also must have secured weapons and ammo in Port Alberni. These are the essentials of a survivalist. Best to do this in a place where you can do it in an organized fashion and I have to think where better to do this than in your own area and the back channels you know about.
Money ? Has to be untraceable cash. They might have slipped up on this, perhaps, if they used any of the victim's cards, but I think cash only would have been the plan.
And I think their general route and destination was planned. As the FBI analyst said, there is a tremendous amount of planning that goes on before an episode like this, but not so much in the follow-through when undetermined situations arise.
Maybe they did intend to get to Churchill. If you aren't paying attention, you can easily mistake the railroad line from Gillam to Churchill as a road. And as they drove more dirt roads farther and farther to the east, it must have seemed a good choice. Note that they did ditch the vehicle very close to the VIA Rail line to Churchill.
I think they planned this all very very heavily. And have had at least some ability to monitor LE and the news.
But this adventure is no fun unless you can impress your friends and enemies. Impress them at your real-life game skills. So maybe there are some gamers out there, some net-confidants that know about some of their plans and have been getting updates. I think that has to be part of the plan.
The more I think about it, the more I belive they made a great many plans for this and some have come through. If you think of the model of an internet-survival game, you can watch them tick off the boxes as they go....
MOO