How far do you think is too far? What's the farthest a bug out could be from your home? If you have a bug out location how far is it from you? How do you plan on getting there? I am extremely interested in what everyone has to say.
This question has been discussed on several sites, not including DPF. I'd say, what are you comfortable with in traveling? What is your population grid looking like? Some people believe that its just not good business to travel after an event, but I put it into the perspective "What Event". Do you have the lead in time to get there? If you have the intelligence and data that supports you to move to your BOL prior to the event than your in good shape of making it there before it happens. If your behind the power curve than you should have a plan to get through to your BOL under those conditions. I do in both cases and I also have one written that occurs when the event is in midstream (like a river, the water ebbs and flows and you'd be naive to place everything into one basket).
Some people say that even moving 20 miles is not possible. My belief is that movement = life, staying stationary in one spot that has been advertised or known is just asking for trouble. Yes and that sounds contradictory when we are speaking of a BOL, but if your BOL is located in a population density of say 1-2 people per square mile, than your lowering your risk of groups or isolated people who are not from your area showing up at your well developed and properly disguised BOL.
So the question is not distance but whether you are going to make the decision to leave or stay. You will find their are many different ideas on the theory of bugging in and bugging out, based on where geographically and people's assessment of real threats. We could throw the many "what if's" (as Roninsensei and JimLE pointed out), been done before in military analysis of history and when you speak in prepper language, its one that we've spent hours, days and weeks throwing around in DPF's forum. Example: When would military jump in, when would a federal declaration of martial law or the infringement of civil liberties be acted out. We could as, I like to say...what if's and I am sure some that read this will disagree and that their right.
So why invest in a BOL and the preps. Well, lets see, I like my friend Maverick and I hope he doesn't mind using his prepping life as an example of someone going in-depth with his planning. Hope you don't mind Maverick, but its worth showing why I admire his planning, efforts and why I trust him as a friend/mentor. Maverick, lives in rural Washington, people in my world or any city dweller prepper would say, his home is pretty much secluded and pretty much as good as a bug-in location (in fact, from what Maverick has passed on his forum threads, I can only imagine for me, its "God Country", somewhere, if I kicked the bucket today, I could at least feel free in my last moment of Earth. So why does Maverick have a BOL, simply as a rule, he realizes that despite his best efforts, it doesn't hurt to have a back-up to his primary. Based on his past comments, he chosen a spot that not only serves as a BOL, but as a rally point for his loved ones if they are on business or traveling for pleasure and not home with him after an event. I'm not Maverick, but my daughter who is in college, knows exactly where our rally point is located, knows the location of important caches sites along our BOL, and has the smarts/field craft to survive either alone or with her friends that she might bring along.
So your proposed question is not only interesting, but challenging. I am going to answer what I know of my reasons for having to have a BOL, rather than BOI. My plans have been worked on for years and I'm not going to say they are full proof because no one can tell how things are going to turn out when the event forces us to act. Let me you give a bit of a background, I live in a moderate size city of 100,000 people, we have a prison 10 miles away that houses many bad people, their is no long-term plan to prevent these guys from escaping should a true event occur and guards start to focus on their loved ones. Additionally three five major highways bisect our community and two large metropolitan areas are two hours away by car. The city receives all their groceries via four major cities (Lubbock, Dallas-Fort Worth, Bentonville, Arkansas (Denton, Texas Distribution site) and Oklahoma City. The grocers (11 total) and 32 mini-marts can sustain (provided no resupply occurs) for about 4 days, at which time, their will be no food. Their is a small Army Reserve Unit and one Army National Guard unit that can provide if federalized some limited law enforcement to augment the law enforcement. I will not comment on their level of preparedness, nor the cities/counties/states law enforcement capability to enforce martial law or quell public disturbance, but I would say that within a week of an event, provided their is no resupply, people will become scarred and react. That gives me less than 48 hours to decide whether staying or leaving is the solution. This gives me 48 hour of intelligence gathering from the web, national and international news (note: International news, depending on the media, may give a different slant that the national news). This period of time is not the time to panic, this is the time to assess and exercise your plans one last time.
Since my gear is stored in several locations and is on moveable skids, loading is pretty simple into a trailer. Additionally, located 10 miles from town is my larger BOV with gear and a preloaded trailer. I have now 11 cache sites, a hide-site, a semi-prepared BOL, a unprepared BOL and my primary BOL. My secondary BOL (my brother in laws site) is located in Montana and one is located outside the U.S (not owned by me, but leased). So distance is variable t me, meaning depending on your route and the threat.
I would say, the more robust your plans, the more interaction is needed with community leaders along your route. Example, while I use some roadways that skirt some towns, I make it a point to annually, email key leadership in those communities that I may travel through. In addition, the two communities that fall directly along my route of travel, not only do I know community leaders, but I know many of the people in those communities, contribute monetarily to the two local churches, and have shared meals with my neighbors adjacent to my new land this summer. This is key in having a good relationship and not be looked at as an outsider (which you are if your not local, which I am not).
Now some people may say this is not smart as a prepper, but I also believe their is a higher power above and believe that when an event does occur, we will all need to pull our resources to survive. Hence why I respect some of my DPF friends here and their mentorship toward me. In any case, I will always have their backs.
Oh and note, the three folks who have shared...they know I will always have some brisket waiting for them too...not to mention a few others who will read/advise you also.
Sorry I might have been a bit long and not gave you the answers of hard core distance, but you have an idea of how to create a blueprint...as Roninsensei commented its "LOGISTICS" and the specifics at hand.
Happy prepping!