POTTER: Surviving In my car with … stuff (I guess)

Car preparedness has always eluded me. First of all, I’ve convinced myself that my always-with-me-because-I’m-super-paranoid messenger bag pretty much has everything I would need if I got stranded (which is dumb because there’s lots of stuff I should have that I can’t carry with me all the time).

And second, it’s not that the survival things I currently keep in my car are useless and unimportant — it’s that they’re random and lacking a cohesive plan. Each item has a sort of clear purpose, when I would actually use them is vague.

For example, here’s my glove box:

• 1 tomahawk.
• 2 granola bars.
• 3 little packets of gushers gummies.
• 1 “Halo” replica Nerf gun (and other assorted action figures).

If I need to throw something sharp at bad guys or chop wood or something, I’m set. I can have a snack (and a small sugar rush). And I can play with a Nerf gun that makes me immensely happy, which is important in a survival situation (more on my Nerf obsession in a later column).

And here’s the trunk:

• 1 crowbar. For hitting bad guys or prying or something.
• 1 parang machete. For cutting bad guys or cutting vegetation or something.
• 1 1-gallon jug and 4 bottles of water. Why four? I have no idea. I just threw some in the trunk when we bought a case one time. I mean, if I get stranded, I’ll have some water, but it’s certainly not a thought-out amount to last a thought-out time period for a thought-out number of people.
• 2 ski caps, 1 pair of earmuffs, 1 scarf. At least my head and neck will be warm.
• 1 blanket. Because.
• Some washer fluid and duck tape.

But after about three minutes of research to see what other people put in their cars, I was reminded why “Surviving Everything” is about me learning to do so, rather than teaching you: sometimes I’m a real idiot (of course, sometimes I’m a freaking genius, too — let’s not forget about those times). I already had a lot of this stuff … in the house. And it wasn’t in use either. This is stuff in the garage, closets, bottoms of drawers, etc. — stuff that could just as easily be stored in my trunk.

Stuff like

• A change of clothes. That shirt and those pants living at the bottom of my drawer because I hate them yet can’t throw away for some stupid reason? Now they’ll be my crappy attire when I’m stranded and need a change of clothes (either because the ones I’m wearing get wet or ruined, or just to stay fresh and clean.
• My winter boots. They’ll just sit in storage for as long as I live in Arizona, so I’ll let them sit in my trunk instead.
• My collapsible survival shovel. Yeah, why wasn’t this already in my car? I have no excuse for that one.
• My sleeping bag. Move over, blanket. The big boy is here.

And that’s just what I came up with in five minutes. I’ll keep planning out the car, but now I turn to you. What do you have in your car to be prepared?

Note: Next week I’ll be writing about what food keeps well in the car considering extreme hot and cold temperatures, including a video of my first taste of dog food.