Quick Tip #4

Since this winter has been so ridiculously cold and brutal I thought that I would give you all a quick tip on how to set yourself up to be able to survive a broken down vehicle or a stranded vehicle, whether because of weather related problems or mechanical malfunctions. Most people carry cell phones on them, so you should not have a problem letting someone know you are in trouble unless you are in an area with no service. One thing I do as soon as I get into my car is to plug my phone in so that it is charging. This way if you break down or get stranded you know you will have power in your phone. The last thing you want to do is to pull out your phone when you need it most and find out it is dead. Three things I highly recommend that you carry in your car are a quality sleeping bag that is rated to go into the negative digits, some form of food that does not need cooking and a bottle of water. If you break down and have no idea when you will be rescued climb into the sleeping bag right away (this will conserve your heat) and place the water and food in the bag with you. This way you will slow down your heat loss and your water and food wont freeze. Also by having the food and water in the bag with you, you won’t lose heat because you had to open the bag up and go looking for your food and water which by now might be frozen. The last thing you want to have to do is to bring a bottle of frozen water into your sleeping bag to thaw it out well also being very thirsty. I hope these simple tips help somebody and like all of you I sure can’t wait until spring.