I had the pleasure of getting in the middle lane of a rush hour freeway and getting stuck in the middle for an hour while creeping along. I only had to go 2 miles! The car overheated, the air stopped blowing cold and it was 110F outside. I usually take a bottle of water with me, but left in haste and forgot it. I think I lost 10 lbs!! The only item I had that could have saved me had I heat exhasted was the cell phone! Lesson, take water on the most routine of trips, it is hell getting off the freeway sometimes when there is an accident ahead!! Still have cramps in my legs after drinking a gallon of H2O. Something to think about...

I have made it a personal rule to always carry my cell phone, that it is always on except when I'm sleeping, and it always gets charged at night.

Great for keeping in touch with family and for letting people know you're running late.

I also try my darnedest to take a bottle of water with me, but I admit I sometimes forget.

Welllllllll....if the traffic jam is bad enough, you could dig a solar still with the lid from your Altoids tin PSK on the side of the road, stretch some of the plastic from your garbage bag shelter over the hole and then enjoy the results with your Teflon sipping tube.
But come to think of it, if the traffic jam is THAT bad, perhaps you'd better just end it all with your single-edged razor blade ... just kidding ... sort of ...

You know its a bad jam when people are standing on the pavement and a poker game breaks out on a nearby car hood. This happened to my friend on the West Side Highway in NYC a few years ago. I don't think he's driven to the city since.

Chris

Don't forget, the car radiator contains water that can be used in an emergency

living in areas (NH, USA) where temps spend months below freezing and days above 100 deg F, I would be in real trouble many times a year if my radiater contained drinkable water.

Antifreeze will kill you quickly even tho it doesn't really taste that unpleasant!

NO! NO! NO!
In the US, almost if not all radiators have antifreeze mixed in, very toxic. Pete

I got about 9 of those together with 2 full MREs in my car under the rear seat:




Link to the item:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductD...gory_rn=4500523

I had a battle between my wants and my logic regarding pre - packaged water. £2 for 500ml of water seemed to much for my when I could just get it out of a tap. I just carry lots of water in used drinks bottles when I travel in the car now. If I had more money, I'd buy some.

OOOOOhhhhh, sorry. Thanks for that valuble piece of knowledge. I don't own a car so, I don't know. I should have checked up before I posted. <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />