Everyone -- sorry again for the long message. I usually run on at the keystrokes...

ironraven --

I didn't know that KI tabs have to be taken days before the problem. It says to me that I should leave them in my cabinet at home. It's still tough to know I'm in the wind pattern for DC though.

I'm certain that I don't know enough first aid to know when/how to use QuickClot, so its probably better if I skip it for now. I'll look at Bleed-X, but I suspect it will be the same conclusion. What is the "shrimp stuff"?

I'll probably keep the Splenda -- being able to pull a couple of packets out for someone's coffee when they forget it seems to make a good justification for having the rest of the stuff. 8-) "See honey, if I have your sweetener when you needed it, then the JetBoil stove and $1600 desalinator will be just as useful..."

I have two emergency ponchos and a pair of work gloves in the pack.

Meline --

I took a look at nols.edu-- that may be way beyond my interest anytime soon. Although it would be fun to tell people, "yup, going to go mountaineering in Patagonia." I will check out local clubs though. I've only been camping once in my life, when I was in Cub Scouts for a year and my brother and I went to a three day Jamboree. I'm betting that wasn't exactly the same thing. But I don't want my sons to grow up the same way I did. It would be nice to see them build their own fire and know they can.

Arney --

The Calvert Cliffs NPP is south-east of me in Calvert County, about 37 miles. (Thank you Google Earth.) And further away north of us is TMI near Harrisburg. I think there's another NPP in southern Virginia too. But the wind patterns from those plants don't go our way. If the rumors about a reactor under the Pentagon are true, that's another story.

I'm a computer systems and network manager by career and I receive sentinel-type alerts from critical infrastructure machinery on an alpha pager. (A Motorola Talkabout two-way through SkyTel.) I'd love to have the messages route to my cell phone so I can stop carrying the pager, but it has the advantage of being two independent ways to reach me in an emergency, which happens often enough. It occurs to me that there is a parallel between the constant what-if planning I do for my networks and the what-if planning we do for these BOBs...

The Streamlight headlight takes three AAAs. I haven't really thought about extra batteries for it. More lithiums...

Teacher --

Adding the sanitary napkin. Apart from other possible uses I guess you never know when someone's time-of-the-month will coincide with disaster. Would probably make good tinder for the fire. 8-)

Asthma is scary scary stuff when you see your son struggling for breath.

Regarding rain/cold jackets -- I guess I'm taking as a baseline that the people in the car will be dressed appropriately, plus we'll stay with the car if that question comes up. I am beginning to wonder whether it would make sense to carry a change of clothes - more often than an emergency I might need to swap a coffee-covered shirt or a ripped pair of pants. It seems easy to give into mission creep -- what is this kit designed for?

I could fill another forum with all the stuff I keep at home for stay-in-place evac.

NightHiker --

I read one forum posting where the suggestion was made to write the kit date on a piece of tape and stick it to the bag, then check the contents and maintain them on a regular basis. Seems like good advice.

Good to hear about the CRKT knives. They seem pretty good to me, but I still second-guess myself regularly.

I'm keeping the batteries as long as they are lithium and don't get zapped by the cold. The HDS light takes one and the Inova takes two, so this gives me two complete replacements. (I've been collecting LED flashlights and I also have a Surefire L1 and L6, so lots of 123A-needing devices...)

UTAluminus --

The two CRKT knives I'm using have the AutoLAWKS feature, and I'm glad of it. I cut myself once (not badly) on a folding boy scout knife I had once, and remain leery ever since. Thanks for the confirmation.

KenK --

I'm pretty much assuming we'll have the car available to us. This lets me scatter some of the supplies to other pockets in the car. But the backpack I'm using for my kit is big enough that if I had to collect everything together and leave the car, I could. If we go camping I plan to repack a subset of everything anyway, then put it back afterwards.

Good advice about the tub -- checking into it. Should make it easier to move the contents around too. I'll pass on the snake-bite kit too,

dchinell --

Interesting way to group the stuff. Like a Chinese menu, pick at least one from each category. I'm resisting putting a sleeping bag in the back though. At this rate there won't be any room back there to carry everyday stuff.

(I just remembered I keep a blanket back there already. So I'm already following your advice...)

Regarding fixed blades -- is it expected that you can really split wood for fires with these blades? It seems like that would be crazy, no matter how good they are. And what are you supposed to use as a hammer?

I don't know how to properly sharpen a knife, but a small knife sharpener might be something to add to the kit.

The MSR pot seems like a good pot. And I looked at various Trangia reviews... but I'm still leaning towards a JetBoil with the larger pot. More money but it seems more reliable and less hassle when you need it. Something like a JetBoil might be useful for real camping too. (With all this kit, I could throw in a tent, a few sleeping bags, some clothes and a toothbrush and be ready to go!) Anyone with JetBoil experience who can tell me what its like to use one?

xbanker --

It seems like we should add an "Entertainment" category to dchinell's list. I think they're too young at this point to know what to do with a pack of playing cards. I'll keep my eyes open for more ideas.

There's a five-dice game called "Cosmic Wimpout" that my wife and I play. It packs into a small tube and doesn't require paper or pen. It's really fun and easy to play -- that's a starting point. The five-year-old will probably be the tougher one to manage. What did the Kim's do with their four-year-old for a week and a half?

beadles --

That picture is awesome. Did all that stuff stay on at highway speeds? I'm leaning towards a Thule Rapid Crossroad rack and 696 Xpedition basket, so we'd have something similar, although I don't know what kind of floor the Thule basket has.

Adding locking cables to the list...

Wildman --

Thank you for the advice. It was a long time ago, but I used to be certified by the government to run a radiological shelter (took a class through my ham radio club) and was totally into the civil defense thing as a hobby. I was in the CIvil Air Patrol as a teenager too. I think I might have read those books then -- thanks for reminding me. I'm digging them back out. You'd think I'd remember some of that training and experience, but it's been 25 years...

-Gary