If you’ve been watching the news lately, you’ve probably seen that Winter Storm Damon is hammering the East Coast right now. For those to the south, that means a lot of rain. For people in the northern areas, like me, that means a lot of snow and ice. The best thing to do when you have a lot of snow and ice on the road is stay at home. Unfortunately, there are times you have to go out – like when you need to get your son from work.
Winter Preparedness | Car Emergency Kit
My son got his first job and his first day of training was last Wednesday – which also happened to be the day that Winter Storm Damon hit our area. It began as ice and quickly turned to snow – a lot of snow. In our little community, the snow plows stop running after dinner which I think is the dumbest policy in the world. What that means is that when I had to get my son from his job at 8pm, the roads were horrible. I live on a dirt road that is off a windy, paved road that is off our Main Street. When even the Main Street isn’t well plowed, you can imagine what my road is like. Actually, you can see our road in the picture below. What would have been a 7 minute ride to get him from work took me 30 minutes – going 15 miles an hour or less.
As I watched the cars in front of me skid all over the place, I prayed we didn’t end up in an accident and I said a silent thank you prayer for the fact that we had a car emergency kit in the trunk just in case we did. What you have in your car emergency kit for winter preparedness will depend on where you live and your level of car repair skill. If you have no car repair skill (like me) make sure you get AAA to come fix the flat, tow you out, charge the battery, etc.
Yes, this is really my trunk. Excuse the mess. That’s how we bring the hay home for the ducks and chickens. This is what I generally keep in my car emergency kit:
- Road flares
- First aid kit
- Oil, jumper cables, anti-freeze, jack to change the tire
- Blanket (or solar thermal blanket)
- Flashlight with batteries or crank flashlight
- Cat litter (to put under the tires for traction if you get stuck)
- Ice scraper
- Bottled water
- Energy bars or granola bars
- Collapsible snow shovel
- Extra gloves and dry socks
- Duct tape (you never know)
- Ice scraper
- AAA card and cell phone
- Car cell phone charger
Also, I will give you the best advice my Dad ever gave me. NEVER go out for a drive wearing anything less than you would need to wear if the car broke down and you needed to walk home. That means wear boots, bring gloves and a hat and wear your winter jacket. I don’t care if you’re going 5 minutes down the road. You won’t want to walk back home in your slippers/sneakers, yoga pants and hoodie when it’s 10F outside. Don’t wait till you need it, start putting together this car emergency kit today.
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