It is something that none of us wants to imagine, being stranded in our car/truck on the side of the road in a remote location, perhaps in the cold or dark, out of signal or with a dead cell phone. The feeling of helplessness in that kind of situation is awful.
Except for one thing. You don’t have to be helpless. You can take responsibility for your own and your loved ones’ safety, perhaps even survival.
There are many, many websites out there that outline what you should keep in your vehicle for winter travel. This is one year we should heed those suggestions and keep a plastic tote in the trunk or back seat with things we might need in case of emergency. And there is no real excuse for taking off with a cell phone battery that is already run down. It is too easy to charge them.
We still laugh in our family about the time The Boy, fascinated by wolf prints on the edge of an icy creek, slipped and fell in during a Montana winter excursion in the Crazy Mountains. The difference between a fond memory and a dangerous case of hypothermia was that box with a towel and a set of dry clothes that he could put on as soon as he was dried off properly. What made it funny was that they had been loaded into the box early in the fall and by late winter they were seriously too short for his long lanky frame. But he survived.
Speaking of short, one other to do before you set off on winter travel is put on pants. You wouldn’t think anyone would have to be reminded, but the number of people who take off in shorts and flip flops is mindboggling. Yes, your car/truck has a heater. A heater that will not work should your vehicle become disabled. Pants and shoes with closed toes should be the rule if you are traveling any distance at all. Even a short walk in flip flops is miserable if there is a wind chill of -10.
****************** Generally speaking, I try to give national politics a wide berth, but recently the ideas coming out of the White House seem very inappropriate. Buying other countries when we have a military presence there that has sufficed for a long time? And then using national security as a justification?
Don’t piss down my leg and say it is raining. This land grab is for natural resources and profit, plain and simple. Have the courtesy to treat the public like it has a brain. Then we can talk, even agree to disagree.
And don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a liberal bone in my body. I don’t have media bias and you who have read my hogwash for years know that. I don’t hate anyone and I respect the office of POTUS. But this is too much. I did have to laugh when the winner of the Nobel peace prize gave hers to the president after he cried about not getting one himself and using that as one of his reasons to try and lay claim to a sovereign country. Just silliness. Rant over.