"Professional drivers", running those northerly latitudes should know better, even if it is just a milk run. I have to admit that I don't have sympathy for the complainers in this article. They're making the rest of them look bad.

In an interesting personal twist, my car broken down yesterday. (It was just a strut mount, which is now repaired.) My daughter and I made it home safe and sound, but the combination of that experience and this news story, made me double check all the emergency supplies in my purse/GHB and car. I topped up all the fluids too. My snow tires went on a few weeks ago. Winter has started and it's starting to get cold. We haven't had much snow yet but the wind is brutal.

We were only going to the opposite side of the city yesterday, so no need to prepare for a 24 hour ordeal. I made sure to throw our snow suits in the car before we left anyway - just in case of a breakdown. We might have to wait for help. Even if it's only an hour or two on the side of the road, it could get cold in the car while we wait. Even colder if we decided to walk home. Would we have died? Not likely. We were in the heart of the city. It's happened to me before, though, and I don't want to that cold again, especially when I'm out with my kids.

blankets are cheap. water is cheap. Little chemical heat packs are cheap. make a basic kit. stay warm and bored.

Good one! Belongs on a T-shirt.

Below is an article about "Commutageddon" -- January 28, 2011 -- a day that shall live in infamy among DC-area drivers. The day a no-big-deal snow -- a few inches -- became a nightmare and thousands of commuters who normally get home in an hour took 9-14 hours to get home. Hundreds of cars were abandoned on highways. People ran out of gas and got very, very cold sitting in their cars. The George Washington Parkway was particularly awful as it goes for several miles with no exits and just the Potomac River below a cliff on one side and forest on the other.

It's a cautionary tale and one which inspires me, especially during winter, to have the car equipped so I can comfortably camp out in it, any time and anywhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012707435.html

For D.C. area commuters stuck in snow, 'it just felt hopeless'

Friday, January 28, 2011

On the day after what officials called the Washington region's worst traffic fiasco since Sept. 11, 2001...

...commuters by the hundreds ran out of gas or just walked away from their cars, making it even more difficult for plows and tow trucks to get to major arteries such as the Beltway, Interstate 66 and the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

..."It just felt hopeless," said Shaun Gholston, 33, who said it took him 11 hours and 19 minutes to drive from Rockville to his Capitol Hill home, a commute that typically takes 55 minutes. "Like I was never going to get home."


.

I remember that one too, Dagny. That would have been pretty awful to be stuck in, especially if you were unprepared.

I was once stuck on the highway for several hours due to a traffic accident in the summer. It was hot and humid, but I had lots of water, so I was just bored. I'm not nearly as relaxed about it when I think of the same situation happening in the winter, especially if my kids were with me.

My thinking is that I have space in my car to keep some supplies to make a break-down/road closure more comfortable & more survivable, so why wouldn't I?

I honestly have to say that when i have to take a company fleet car, I really don't have much with me. Bringing extensive surival kits with me, eacht time i get in to car gets old really quicky. I don't drive to work, so moving it from on trunk to the other doesnt work for me. And I got plenty of other things to carry and think of...

+1. That's the quote of the week. Great on a t-shirt or bumper sticker. Better still, as a suitable punishment for misdemeanors -- stand in the median of a busy street for a week, wearing a sandwich board emblazoned with that message.

Sometimes when you are stuck in the snow, some good old fashioned horsepower is really needed.

https://i.imgur.com/2SX0Fat.gifv

I have to agree. I worked my way through university as a car jockey, and moving stuff from one vehicle to another was a PITA. I carried a small backpack with some very basic necessities it. I was young and carefree back then. Pretty sure I'd go with a pack again now, but it would be much bigger.

Flash forward 25 years.... it's only the middle of December and I'm already tired of bringing just in case snow suits from the house to the car and back every time we go somewhere. Yesterday I dug out a bunch of old stuff, made sure it fits with room to grow for the kids. There is now an extra set of insulated outerwear for everyone permanently in the car.

Exactly why I packed that winter kit for my truck with extra "just-in-case" gear for road-trips. It goes in the truck and stays in the truck. Normally I'd be wearing clothing suitable for the ambient conditions so the gear in that duffel bag are extra, but with it temperature extremes are doable.

There's an REI Elements parka I bought years ago that is simply too warm for SOCAL. Coldest day here I wear a fleece jacket over a fleece hoodie and call it good. So the parka ended up in my truck's winter kit, along with an axe, stove, gloves, merino wool u/w, sweater, gloves, hat, socks, gloves ... et al. Extras and stuff I have no use for in SOCAL.