For those of you who're not wanting to carry alot of water, consider the Sawyer Mini, carried along with an empty nalgene, pilots flask (they're 1/2 qt., fit flat in a pocket, love those things), 1 qt. Canteen, etc.
The Mini comes with a 1/2 qt. bag you put the water in, then squeeze out.
The thing is awesome, I've drank alot of the Puyallup river with it.
The more I think about this it sounds like two bags would be better. A box/ container of items that are heavy to stay in the car and a small to medium rucksack with items to walk out.
This is the truth! Some credit card companies get all suspicious if a transaction occurs in a different area/time frame than usual. Combine this with being being outside of your mobile phone service area, and therefore unabe to reach the CC’s customer service, and well, we are back to gold ducats.Originally Posted by Cookie Monster
There have been some good suggestions here.
You are subject to extreme temperatures on both ends. Arizona is damn hot in the summer, and significantly cold in winter.
Since you have a vehicle to haul all this stuff around, I'd suggest keeping a sleeping bag in the trunk. It doesn't have to be a super expensive technical lightweight one, but it certainly could make a difference if you wind up spending the night curled up in your back seat.
Also, while "staying with the vehicle" is generally good advice, if the vehicle in inoperable and sitting in the hot sun on the side of the highway on a 120-degree day, staying IN the vehicle is probably a bad idea. Some kind of a tarp so you could rig some shade in a local where you could see the vehicle might be a good idea.
We also carry a personal locator beacon, as we spend quite a bit of time out of cell range.
I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.
This is the direction I'm leaning. I just learned today that the company bought a car that we (primarily me right now, but other current employees will also be able to use it and we're planning to expand in the future) can use for travel, but I've already brought up emergency equipment with the boss, and given his LE background, he's on board. I'm going to put together a list of stuff that will live in the vehicle full-time that isn't temperature-sensitive or a problem in the case of a break-in, and duplicate that equipment in my POV. The pack will just contain my clothing/hygiene/weapons/cash that is either temperature-sensitive or not something I'll be sharing with co-workers, and be one easy thing to grab and go as I'm heading out the door. This leaves me with only one thing to carry into/out of the house/office/car, but I'll still have everything I might need for a variety of scenarios, and if I ever have to move away from the car I can take what I need, and leave the rest behind.
If someone expends their carry ammunition and needs to restock from their vehicle, what are the chances they will have kept their empty magazines on them? If one feels the need to pack spare ammunition, would it not make more sense to load them into magazines.
Toilet paper is definitely something that belongs in every vehicle and pack!
Personally, I've always sucked at switching from a summer setup to winter setup early enough. (It's when the roads are covered in ice and I'm crawling along in very slow moving traffic when I start to think "oh yeah... packing some warmer clothes in case we get stuck might have been a good idea".) That, and I've been in some situations where the weather is just ridiculous for the time of year. So personally, I prefer just having one set of stuff, even though part of it would be unnecessary at any given moment in time.
I keep some sort of a metal container in my vehicles. That plus fire, or just using the heat from the engine, and I figure I can thaw out water bottles that have frozen. So I just keep bottled water in the vehicle always.
I really wish people wouldn't think of water purification methods as some sort of one size fits all solutions. None of the methods are perfect and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. For example I have no doubt the filter mentioned above works fine for removing bacteria from water - but what if you are in an area with a serious norovirus epidemic?
If i'm in my truck, my bag goes in the truck.
Maxpedition Riftcore backpack
Inmarsat satellite phone (where I travel, cell service is... lacking)
Mechanix Wear gloves
Wool beanie and/or a desert "sun" hat depending on the time of year.
Lifestraw water bottle/filter
Adventure Medical Kit - Day Tripper (boo boo kit)
SAM splint
Blow-out medical kit with tourniquet
SOL Escape Lite bivy sack
MRE
Petzl headlamp
Spyderco H1 Pacific
toilet paper roll in a ziplock
SOG multi-tool
100' 550 cord
magnesium firestarter and a couple Bic lighters
25' Duct tape
5 Chem-lights
a AA and a AAA LED flashlight
Chris Reeve Green Beret fixed blade
FN 5.7 pistol with 3x 20 round magazines (glorified centerfire 22mag, makes a great small game getter and half-assed SD pistol)
PacSafe 55L stainless mesh backpack protector (to lock the Riftcore to the rear seat frame to prevent smash and grab or rummaging theft if I have to leave the bag unattended for short periods)
There's a well stocked medical kit in my center console with lots of nitrile gloves. I come across car wrecks a lot (usually one or two serious wrecks a month) and there's never enough gloves to go around.
During the winter I also throw a Hill People Gear Mountain Serape in a stuff sack on the back seat.
Pelican cooler locked up in the back of the truck with a minimum of a case or two of iced down water.
Last edited by JodyH; 12-24-2018 at 10:39 AM.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
For thawing frozen water bottles, the closer you get it to skin, the faster it is to thaw. Stick a frozen one under your armpit for 5 or so minutes and it will be thawed enough to drink (assuming it's not sub-0º where you are sitting). That's not a fun way to do it, but if you're out there and your choice is drinking bottled water or tepid water filtered through a sub-optimal system, then it seems obvious which one you should choose.
I agree on keeping lots of bottled water on hand when possible. One of the major lessons we can learn from things like disaster management and relief is that clean bottled water is critical to keeping people and animals going. My dog goes everywhere with me, so clean water for him is a must (and me too). For those who don't want leached plastic in their water, the Mason-jar trick mentioned above is a great idea (and one I may well steal).
I've mostly used the "replace it as I drink it" plastic bottle solution. But I'm sitting here right now, drinking a Topo Chico mineral water that's been in a cooler outside for five days currently. It's cold and fresh and it's reminding me that glass has a lot to offer over plastic. Particularly when I'm not carrying the load and the car is.
That's an excellent point. All survival problems are local.
Other things to consider are: 1) to purify water, you have to find a source of water and 2) there can be some sketchy stuff in the water beside bacteria and viruses, such as runoff from parking lots or agricultural areas that use an abundance of herbicides and pesticides.
We've carried Datrex Emergency Water in our vehicles for years. They've sucessfully survived both super hot and freezing temperatures. This summer I had a little adventure where a busted ball joint left me without a driveable vehicle 14 miles deep into the National Forest and it was nice to have a couple of liters of ready to go water on the 95 degree day. We also have purification tablets and a Sawyer in a car.
In this case, I knew I coudl self extract in a few hours so I hydrated with what water I had on hand, refilled my bottles with the pouch water, and partied on. Had my situation continued to deteroriate, I had ample supplies of water I could filter or purify with tabs, since I was in a river valley.
I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.
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