Discussion: Winter Emergency Car Kit - Are You Ready?

[Shibadog]

All the conventional wisdom is that if your car breaks down you stay with the car.

I seem to remember hearing stories both from NTC and 29 Palms in which a soldier or a Marine got separated from the Convoy and wandered into the desert and died.

I just remember a family in the High Sierras in California they took Wrong Turn and ended up on a dead end Road out in the middle of nowhere buried in the snow and if I remember right at least dad had to leave the car to go find help.

When I was cleaning carpets I think it was shortly after the blizzard of '97. I did I don't remember if it was a move out or the house was going on the market.

When I arrived the person who was signing for the work told me that the previous owners of the house had been caught in a snowdrift on the road that I had driven in on. According to the person who met me they froze it out in that car less than a half a mile from their home.

Sometimes you are better off moving.

Hence the reason for the 100 hour candle and the space blankets. A candle in a coffee can makes a fair heater. Won’t run you out but ya won’t freeze. Years ago a friend (firefighter) was stuck in a blizzard on a closed interstate for almost 20 hours. Candle in a coffee can was his heat, was bringing in a steak for dinner. That was cut with a knife and cooked piece by piece over the candle. A cup was used to melt snow. Then heated and hot cocoa mix was stirred in. He stayed in the car most of the time (occasionally exiting to clear the tailpipe and run the engine for a few minutes.). Being prepared was the difference between being miserable and at risk and being moderately comfortable in a record winter storm.

 

[SimonRL]

What’s winter?

 

[Retired Bum]

What’s winter?

I've heard that is the time of year that cold white stuff comes out of the clouds and they may have ice on the road. Why they want to put ice on the road is a mystery to me! I love ice in the margarita, not sure about driving on it.

 

[Anchorite]

All the conventional wisdom is that if your car breaks down you stay with the car.

I would think that wisdom comes from others knowing your whereabouts -- in other words, if you file a flight plan, then things go wrong, I could see that making sense. As you don't arrive when and where you're supposed to, then it ought to be easy to back-track until you find the lost party.

If I were fleeing flooding, for any reason, I also don't know how much sense it makes to stay with your car.

 

[powerboatr]

we plan just like tornado season, spring, summer , fall , winter, etc
we have power at the ready
100 gallons of fresh water, food for a week if not more
we keep the freezers pretty equipped

 

[Shibadog]

Being out on the road is an area of preparedness a lot of people neglect. You see folks in cold weather going out without a coat because they’re in a car and it has a heater. Stupid. A breakdown and you’re in trouble in short order. Have appropriate items with you and it’s an inconvenience. Fail to have things you need and it can be fatal.

 

[Retired Bum]

And it doesn't matter if you in the North, South, East or West, always, always carry water. About a gallon per person, per day. That rule of 3 is unforgiving!

 

[powerboatr]

And it doesn't matter if you in the North, South, East or West, always, always carry water. About a gallon per person, per day. That rule of 3 is unforgiving!

this reminds me
we got stuck for 2 days just north of houston one year.... we were down on Galveston beach.. for a week really nice.. mid 60s
left for Columbus texas to spend a few days on out way to san antonio
woke up next morning and without warning we had ICE everywhere.. literally shut the thousand trails down. it was weird to say the least
ended up staying an extra day to let it melt we had food and water.. walked the dogs around in the freezy stuff

 

[The Night Rider]

I've mentioned this before. I learned my lesson the hard way.

At my first Duty Station I got selected to go to a Rifle Qualification at Vilsek(?).

It was supposed to be Live fire and night fire and come home. We got to the range in a Blizzard. We couldn't see anything beyond 25 yards away.

We ended up staying overnight.

The next day someone decided that since we had the range anyway why not send. the entire Battalion to qualify. At some point it was decided that the entire Battalion was going to qualify on all small arms and crew served weapons.

We were supposed to be there for one day we ended up staying for five.

I never left main post without my Ruck and prepared to stay for 5 days again.
I went through similar experiences after that but I never got caught short like that again.

 

[Wirenut]