I got into my car after work and made a discovery- the driver's side door won't latch. Grumble, stupid thing is frozen. Bang on it, and give it a shot of warm Wd-40 and work it a bit. Then I realize that I'm throwing the latch with the lock locked and neither of the handles pulled. Dang thing has failed in the open and won't close for you no matter what you do position. Great.

Call the garage- they have someone there, yeah!! They think they can at least look at it tommorrow. Great guys, Williston Wheels, and they are as hard core on customer service as I am.

So... Pull some of the hook up wire out of my bag of tricks. Wire the door shut and slide in from the other side. CAREFULLY drive it the two miles there. Put every thing I don't want sitting around in the back pack I keep in the care for such occasions. OK, six miles to go. Haven't done that in a while.... Stopped for fried chicken at the half way mark (see, not an emergency for anyone else). Took two hours to do the six miles, but I wasn't pushing and it's got a lot of up and down.

Observations
-Empty backpack in car is good.
-Headlamps are the bomb.
-Keep a road map for your town in the car or EDC, it will show you short cuts.
-Boots that are a little slippy are a pain in the butt and will be replaced soon.
-Layers. I was wearing a sweater and light jacket, with the sleeves of the sweater rolled up and gloves to keep my hands warm.
-Listen to your little voice. I almost didn't wear sweats and wool socks under my utilities this morning, but the little voice told me to. I listen to the voices, they keep me warm.
-Mini-climates are an amazing thing. Get west of the airport, heading towards the lake, and the temp goes up 3-5 degrees and the wind nearly stops after a mile.
-Keep your ears open. Had a dog try to rush me, heard it at about 35 feet and it stopped when I turned and wuffed at it. Ear buds would have let me find out if it was playing a game.
-Beards are manly for a reason- we can wear less to stay warm.

Nice shake down of my EDC for the reason why I carry that gear.

And now I'm getting up early and taking the bus.... Ugh. Ear buds then. At least I'm going tobe able to grab a new bus schedule.

Obviously you are lucky enough to live close to work. Before my own business, my last office was 47 miles away.

Oh yeah, no mass transit to this area.

It is great to have everything you need. If nothing else, it saves time and aggravation. It is also nice to find out what doesn't work in a non-emergency too.

Regarding the bus, I am kind of uncomfortable wearing ear buds (mp3 player/radio I assume) on public transportation or in public in general. I find that they hinder my situational awareness.

Then again, I am just an old fuddy dud...

"I am kind of uncomfortable wearing ear buds (mp3 player/radio I assume) on public transportation or in public in general. I find that they hinder my situational awareness."

That was my first thought, also. It's not the inner voices that tend to use knives.

Sue

Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in WIND,SAND AND STARS about his first mail flight. His pilot mentor didn't discuss grand things on the chart, but the unseen little stream on one 'landing strip' that could flip a Breguet and three trees on another.
Walkers know things drivers do not; dangerous dogs,one parallel road with a subtle, but exausting grade and gravel sidewalks, where the public bathrooms are.

It is this type of emergency, rather than TEOTWAWKI that we are likely to encounter - and our kit helps us do it well.

And if you haven't practiced a bug out recently - well, maybe you should.

On earbuds...I usually only use one earbud these days (to keep an ear out for the kids), but it keeps me from being totally cut off from what's going on around me. Remember to take turns with which ear's wearing the earbud.

Dave

He doesn't have to worry too much about SA on this particular "mass transit" system. It really only serves the Burlington area and frankly the bus is never so full you can't get a seat in the back and keep an eye on everybody. I live in the same town and took the city bus to high school, (19 years ago)

Yup to both Bigreddog and Chris.

My comment:
Wire is wonderful stuff and a piece of string is amazing.

Hmmm...why not drive the whole 6 miles very carefully home, then back to the garage the next day and walk to work, after car is repaired, walk over and pick it up?

JohnE