Cold Weather Car Gear

About a year ago I wound up stuck on the road for a while thanks to a blizzard, and I thought I'd make a short blog post about what I found handy to have with me, and things I found out would have been handy during that time.

Long story short, last November I visited family, then was driving to my (then) home several states away. The trip would usually take ~3 hours, but I wound up on a 17+ hour drive. I did some on the ground reporting live through part of the ordeal. The largest chunk of time was me getting stuck behind a tractor trailer that had jack knifed on a hill, with probably several miles of traffic in both directions and the hill behind me too steep to climb in the snow. The second half was me getting stuck several times, each time being saved by good natured strangers with tow straps and shovels. I took some notes on the things I used or wished I had at the time, and with the cold weather about to get in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, I figure I'd turn my notes into a listicle style post.

• The first and most important thing I used was winter clothes. Except for my socks, which I'll mention in a bit, I had a full set of winter gear with me. I was able to hike probably several miles to see what was going on, or venture off into the woods to take a pee, and managed to remain warm.

• I also had plenty of fuel. I was pretty conservative with how much I let my car idle, but when it was running I could both heat the cab and have USB power from the dash. I also managed to not run out of fuel before making it to the next gas station once things got moving. I have a habit of going "oh well, I've got enough fuel to get me here and back," and cutting it close to running out. Had I not topped it off I definitely would have run out - a trip that takes 6x the time it usually would burns a lot more fuel than expected.

• I was also glad to have some tech accessories. My power brick, as well as cables to charge my phone from my power brick or car, were really handy. Combining that with having entertainment on my phone that wouldn't burn a data plan (offline videos, music, audiobooks, games) got me through a bunch of time before I drained my power brick nearly dry and started rationing power.

• Having water on hand was also really nice. There were probably about ten hours in between starting my drive and when I could get food and water from civilization, and having a full water bottle was nice. I also had food with me, not that I intentionally had any on hand, but just since I was visiting family and they sent me back with leftovers. The food was certainly nice, but it's easier to go a while without food than it is without water.

• I also had some analogue entertainment on me, which was nice, especially after my power bank started running low. I had a notebook or two and some pens with me, which was a great way to kill some time. And, just by blind luck, I also happened to have my wind up radio/flashlight combo in a duffel bag. I wouldn't usually have it in my backpack, but I listened to a lot of radio with it to conserve my car's fuel & battery, and using it as a light kept me from draining my usual battery powered flashlight.

• Speaking of being lucky and having things on me, warm socks were really handy. After taking a walk I got a bunch of snow blown into my boots, which began to melt. I was wearing some thin cotton socks, and my feet got really cold, really fast. For the life of me I couldn't seem to get them to warm up, even running the car's heater, until I remembered that I had some wool socks in my car since I'd visited family and brought a few changes of clothes. After putting them on, my feet warmed right up, despite being wet in freezing temps. Both wool and polyester wick moisture away, while retaining heat regardless of being wet or dry.

• Looking at my notes, I mentioned I wished I had hand warmers. I think I wrote that down before I remembered I had better socks, wishing I had hand warmers to shove into my boots, but an easy source of heat could be really handy. I should probably pick some up at some point here.

• Something else I didn't have, but that I've since purchased, is some traction pads. They're little plastic and metal folding pads you can wedge under your tire, hopefully giving you enough traction to get your car out if you get stuck.

• Finally, something I really should have done, was get my snow tires on. I had (and still have) a good pair of studded snow tires for my car. And yet I was dragging my feet, putting off getting them swapped out. Then, next thing I knew, I was driving my Fiesta through a historic snowfall in a pair of regular summer tires.

Anyway, that's all I had from my notes. Stay warm everyone.

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