I keep my spell book to enlarge my storage area so I can keep my entire house in there!:smile_big:
Cargo Room: Infinity!!!!
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My list -
There's always quite a bit of water and "non-perishable" snacks in the vehicle (yes, I count years-old McDonald's fries in this category!) simply because I still have a decently young kiddo. I can see this being less and less of a thing as my child is now an early teen, but truth-be-told, I kinda like having access to some of this stuff rather easily/quickly, particularly if I'm either leaving work late or getting there early. There's easily enough water to last three people in the car for a full day, based on this alone.
But our typical commute is all in the city and inner-ring suburbs, on local streets that are populated with many commercial, residential, and municipal buildings, so in all honesty, this is worst of the worst-possible case kind of stuff. I've had an acquaintance from another online community whose wife got trapped for about 10 hours in the 2011 Chicago snowstorm, and this taught me some lessons, even for someone who commutes as short of a hop as we do.
Each of our Subarus has a wool blanket simply for comfort, and this doubles as good common-sense safety/emergency items, year-round. In the winter, I've got a well-insulated parka whose pockets are stuffed with extra gloves, extra headwear, a scarf, and traction cleats for my boots in the trunk, along with a pair of insulated boots (I'm a benchtop scientist spoiled with underground parking near my lab, so I don't necessarily wear boots, even when there's snow on the ground or in the forecast). The wifey is always bundled up, as her job often requires that she trek outside from one of her clinics to another. A snow-shovel and a longer snow-brush complete the winter kits in each vehicle.
Also in-cabin, each vehicle has a small 1xCR123 LED flashlight. As @
Soca noted earlier (
https://www.ascentforums.com/forum/...rgency-supplies-do-you-carry-2.html#post88203), even modern rechargeables have a limit as to their temperature range (hot as well as cold) and self-discharge. Using lithium primaries like the CR123A means that, barring significant use, I can simply have good peace-of-mind switching the batteries once every three years, coinciding with our lease turn-over. As a nerdy flashlight collector, I already buy CR123s by the case, so the expense is really not much of an issue. :nerd: Each car has a small fire-extinguisher: as several others have noted, this is simply to buy what little time is needed to safely get out of the vehicle (or to do the same for someone else, if-necessary). Its intended use is only
in extremis - I've been eyewitness to two vehicle-fires in my life, now, and I know just how fast they can progress: I'm under
no illusion whatsoever that their presence is about somehow saving my vehicle.
A small "boo-boo" kit with the usual creams, ointments, OTC pain relief and assorted Band-Aids can also be found in-cabin, and this is kept well-separated from the major bleed kit (Combat Gauze, SWAT-T [because this works for the doggo, too; I always carry a CAT as a primary, and I also always carry the typical shooting-sports "blow-out kit" on my body: in-reality, this gives me access to at least three tourniquets and two packs of Combat Gauze at any time, plus chest seals...realistically, this is all that I can do, but in the wife's car - and I'll fish this out and into my car when we road-trip - there's a very small field-surgery kit, too], duct-tape).
Seat-belt cutters for each passenger.
A pack of fuses along with a fuse tool, some electrical tape and 3M Automotive Trim/Molding Tape rounds out the in-vehicle stuff.
The trunk is where most of the stuff goes. For the Ascent, I was actually pleasantly surprised by that little hold under the floor panel. For my wife's WRX, I pull the foam liner between the trunk panel and the spare, and use the space as-is.
Each car has the following:
- spare glasses for the primary driver of the vehicle
- GoGirl, wet-wipes, toilet paper, maxi pads (I live with two women! :angel: The aforementioned acquaintance whose wife was trapped on her daily 20-minute commute Chicago freeway trip - she was fully prepped because her spouse is like a lot of us here in this thread, and prepped her vehicle...which she thought was just crazy - up until the very moment she got stranded with her fellow motorists. The only thing she wished she would have had was some way of urinating without making a mess, so, lesson learned.)
- large and small trash bags
- jumper cable
- duct tape
- basic tools: screwdriver with bits, pliers (I always have a multi-tool on my person)
- breaker bar with 19mm deep socket
- shock cords
- heat-insulated gloves
- 1 quart motor oil
- 1 quart Subaru "blue" Super Coolant
- 1 quart windshield washer fluid
- 2x16 oz. bottles of drinking water
- 6-pack of road flares
- Two 2xCR123 flashlights, with 2 pairs of extra batteries in a battery case
- road atlas
- LifeStraw
- fixed blade "survival knife" (it's more a sharpened crowbar, I'm not looking for Rambo action, rather, this is a robust cutting tool that can double as a second pry-bar) and a robust folding knife
- compact "survival kit" with BlastMatch, WetFire tinder, JetScream whistle, signaling mirror, and cable-saw (the last two I really could care less about, but the first three in a pre-packaged format made it worth the cost)
- a good butane lighter
- ARK kit
- mylar survival blankets
- ponchos
- three days' worth of dog food
- water dish for the dog
- extra dog leash and collar
- poop bags
All of the above fits under the floor of the trunk, so there's no lost space.
For road-trips, I'll put in a small box of supplementals, plus a case of drinking water. If it's winter time, extra water-resistant outerwear and footwear for everyone.
- another pouch of 6 road flares
- LED road flares
- two more ARKs
- freshly charged jump pack
- chemical hand warmers
The case of drinking water takes up the most room, but I also use it as consumables during the trip. The supplemental kit really takes up very, very little space at all, and typically ends up occupying dead-space that's unable to fit luggage, anyway. True, the WRX's trunk does get a little tight with all of that, but we rarely use my wife's vehicle for road-trips any more, given the little girl and the dog. But when it's just the two of us, the winter kit (er...cardboard box :smile_big
I put in her car to hold the shovel, snow-brush, and blanket can easily be stuffed with our extra winter items.
There's always a little cash in each vehicle, too. Nothing outrageous, just a twenty, a ten, and a five. The coin trays are always fully stacked, too, so that's enough for everything from paying for a bit of gas to parking to tipping the valet (and if the valet should steal whatever cash is in the vehicle, so what, it really ain't much).
We're really pretty lucky in that our prescription medication list is pretty slim, and it's all "non-perishable."
In reading through this thread and seeing what other members have, what I'd like to add are:
- radio/comms (needs research, but I have a buddy who is big into this category) and/or emergency GPS locator
- solar backup
- winter traction aids (needs research)
- tire repair kit with compressor
- AED (needs research)
- vehicle-mounted "blow-out kit" (mainly to increase my bleed-control capabilities, given the number of seats in this vehicle, I think that this may not be a bad idea - I really like Dark Angel's HEDR, but I wouldn't mount mine on the headrests: Headrest Emergency Deployment Rig (HEDR) Trauma Kit)
- vacuum packing the additional winter wear
- vise-grips
- kinetic recovery straps
- reflective safety vests
And as more than one member already wrote,
KNOW HOW TO USE WHAT YOU HAVE.
This goes for everything from a portable jump-starter to a tourniquet (remember, use a dedicated trainer tourniquet for training!) to a handgun to a traction aid. If you don't know how to use it, you're only carrying what you're carrying as an amulet, nothing more.
When you have an emergency, it shouldn't be the first time you've tried to use what you have - and you shouldn't have to think about whether you may or may not have what you need/want, and where that item may or may not be located in our rather cavernous vehicles. :tango_face_wink:
