The Winter Emergency Box

While I was in college I traveled in my 1968 baby blue Volkswagen bug most every weekend from home (in the mountains) to school (more in the mountains). About the first of October every year, Daddy would make up a Winter Emergency Box for my car.

Below is a list of the things he would put in it:
• One of Mother’s homemade quilts
• An ice scraper
• A flashlight
• Extra batteries
• A gallon jug of water
• Several packs of Nabs (those cheese crackers with peanut butter in them)
• A bag of kitty litter
• A can of Comet cleanser (this and the litter were for use on icy roads)
• A pair of gloves
• A pair of socks

The first year he did this, I started to put it in the trunk and he quickly stopped me. He told me to at least keep it in the back seat and that when I was traveling by myself to have it within arm’s reach. He said that way if I was ever trapped in the car, I could get to it. So most times, when I was on the road, it was in the other front seat.

Thankfully I never had to use it but even now when the leaves start turning color I think about stocking my emergency box. I don’t always actually stock a box for myself but I most always have a small bag of litter stored under the back seat of my van and a flashlight in the glove compartment.

I probably need to renew that fall tradition of stocking the box. With all the new storage contraptions (Rubbermaid, etc.), it would be fairly easy to do.