Hi Lee,

I also thought of one other thing on the way home from work this evening. I was thinking about advice from Cody Lundin where you should always include some cordage (550 parachute cord) in a survival kit because "its a drag to make."

Have you heard of Cody? He resides north of you outside of Prescott, AZ, I believe. I've really enjoyed his books where he takes an unconventional approach to survival and home preparedness. For your interests in kit building, I would recommend his book "98.6 degrees the art of keeping your ass alive" where he outlines the very basics of a survival kit weighing in at about 4 pounds total I think.

I haven't taken one of his courses yet but I'd like to one day soon. He offers everything from a home preparedness seminar to an aborigine style 9 day primitive skills survival course.

The usual caveat applies, I'm not affiliated with the guy...I just like his style.

Good luck with the building and training.

Cheers,
L