I feel your pain. 40 miles across Houston......OUCH. I bet the entire city is still under construction too! Poor guy. My advice to you is keep the F150! I just got and 04' and I love it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Seriously though... back on-topic... I communte from near SE Fort Worth to the NW end of Dallas daily which is a little over 25 miles in similarly insane traffic and with similar weather conditions (minus the 99% humidity in houston which I do not miss at all). Here's what I carry in my truck under the back seat. In a day pack sized back pack I have the following items. I grabbed an old list that I had and then quickly (about to leave for lunch) tried to update it off the top of my head, so I probably left stuff out and mentioned stuff more than once. Sorry. Forgive my sloppiness please.

Jansport BackPack
Instant Pocket Ttent
Lighter, Matches, Sparklite, Magnesium Starter
1 Liter Platapus - empty
2 1 liter bottles of water
3 days/3600cal supply of mainstay food rations (i love these things)
Mylar Bivy Sack
2 Mylar Space Blankets
Instant Pocket Tube Tent
Windproof/Waterproof Matches w/ Striker
Doans Magnesium Starter w/ Ferrocium Rod
Mini Bic Red w/ Ziptie
Complete SparkLite Kit
Leatherman Juice
Fixed Blade Buck Knife
Reynolds Large Oven Bag
2 Gerber 12oz Zipper Bags
20 Katadyn Micropur MP1 Water Purification Tabs
Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil 1' x 6'
100' Fireline 100# Test Line Waxxed Green
6' Stainless Steel Braided Wire
10' Thick Black Steel Wire
10' Very Thick Fence Wire
50' 7 Strand Paracord Black
2 Flat Roll Consumer Grade Duct Tape 2" width
1 Flat Roll Electrical Tape 1.5" Width
50' 4mm Emergency Climbing Rope w/ Climbing 'Biner
MiniMag AA FlashLite w/ extra batteries and bulb
Glow Stick
GPS with Extra Batteries
Mini Titanium Caribiner
5 Bait-Style Fish Hooks
Suunto Compass
Fresnel Magnifying Lense Cut Down to Credit Card Size
24 Baby Wipes
12 Diapers
Baby Bink/Pacifier
Baby Sippy Cup
UDigIt Shovel
Biodegradable camp soap
Rescue Flash? 2" x 3" Signal Mirror w/
Fox40 Mini Modified Whistle
Citranella Candle
2 Noseeum Head Nets
2 Long Burning Emergency Candles
10# Fishing #69 Black Fishing Thread
SAK Hiker
Mil Spec Fishing Trap (if it wont fit then it goes in large kit)
6' Stainless Steel .020' Utility Wire
#22 Drop Point Scalpel Blade
2 Rain Ponchos

*** Also have a fully stocked FAK inside the backpack***

Also in the Truck but not in the back pack I have the following:

Rain Coat
Heavy Down Coat (Winter Only)
Several Rachet Straps
200' Cheap Plastic Rope
100" higher quality 7mm (roughly) 350# braided rope.
ABC Fire Extinguisher
Pretty thorough set of tools
About 12 Cliff Bars
2 Texas State Maps
4 D-Cell MagLite