Work-to-home bug out, not a drill but not a danger

I got into my car after work and made a discovery- the driver's side door won't latch. Grumble, stupid thing is frozen. Bang on it, and give it a shot of warm Wd-40 and work it a bit. Then I realize that I'm throwing the latch with the lock locked and neither of the handles pulled. Dang thing has failed in the open and won't close for you no matter what you do position. Great.

Call the garage- they have someone there, yeah!! They think they can at least look at it tommorrow. Great guys, Williston Wheels, and they are as hard core on customer service as I am.

So... Pull some of the hook up wire out of my bag of tricks. Wire the door shut and slide in from the other side. CAREFULLY drive it the two miles there. Put every thing I don't want sitting around in the back pack I keep in the care for such occasions. OK, six miles to go. Haven't done that in a while.... Stopped for fried chicken at the half way mark (see, not an emergency for anyone else). Took two hours to do the six miles, but I wasn't pushing and it's got a lot of up and down.

Observations
-Empty backpack in car is good.
-Headlamps are the bomb.
-Keep a road map for your town in the car or EDC, it will show you short cuts.
-Boots that are a little slippy are a pain in the butt and will be replaced soon.
-Layers. I was wearing a sweater and light jacket, with the sleeves of the sweater rolled up and gloves to keep my hands warm.
-Listen to your little voice. I almost didn't wear sweats and wool socks under my utilities this morning, but the little voice told me to. I listen to the voices, they keep me warm.
-Mini-climates are an amazing thing. Get west of the airport, heading towards the lake, and the temp goes up 3-5 degrees and the wind nearly stops after a mile.
-Keep your ears open. Had a dog try to rush me, heard it at about 35 feet and it stopped when I turned and wuffed at it. Ear buds would have let me find out if it was playing a game.
-Beards are manly for a reason- we can wear less to stay warm.

Nice shake down of my EDC for the reason why I carry that gear.

And now I'm getting up early and taking the bus.... Ugh. Ear buds then. At least I'm going tobe able to grab a new bus schedule.

Obviously you are lucky enough to live close to work. Before my own business, my last office was 47 miles away.

Oh yeah, no mass transit to this area.

It is great to have everything you need. If nothing else, it saves time and aggravation. It is also nice to find out what doesn't work in a non-emergency too.

Regarding the bus, I am kind of uncomfortable wearing ear buds (mp3 player/radio I assume) on public transportation or in public in general. I find that they hinder my situational awareness.

Then again, I am just an old fuddy dud...

"I am kind of uncomfortable wearing ear buds (mp3 player/radio I assume) on public transportation or in public in general. I find that they hinder my situational awareness."

That was my first thought, also. It's not the inner voices that tend to use knives.

Sue

Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in WIND,SAND AND STARS about his first mail flight. His pilot mentor didn't discuss grand things on the chart, but the unseen little stream on one 'landing strip' that could flip a Breguet and three trees on another.
Walkers know things drivers do not; dangerous dogs,one parallel road with a subtle, but exausting grade and gravel sidewalks, where the public bathrooms are.

It is this type of emergency, rather than TEOTWAWKI that we are likely to encounter - and our kit helps us do it well.

And if you haven't practiced a bug out recently - well, maybe you should.

On earbuds...I usually only use one earbud these days (to keep an ear out for the kids), but it keeps me from being totally cut off from what's going on around me. Remember to take turns with which ear's wearing the earbud.

Dave

He doesn't have to worry too much about SA on this particular "mass transit" system. It really only serves the Burlington area and frankly the bus is never so full you can't get a seat in the back and keep an eye on everybody. I live in the same town and took the city bus to high school, (19 years ago)

Yup to both Bigreddog and Chris.

My comment:
Wire is wonderful stuff and a piece of string is amazing.

Hmmm...why not drive the whole 6 miles very carefully home, then back to the garage the next day and walk to work, after car is repaired, walk over and pick it up?

JohnE

You beat me to it, I was thinking the same thing. Or even catch a ride from a co-worker back to the shop. Unless of course it was one of those "what the heck, let's go for it" decisions to test yourself. Either way, a decent way to check your planned route home. I have a lot more gear in my car than I could probably carry, and would have to choose what was applicable for the given scenario.

I used to have this happen to me with my last car. I got very proficient at using a 2ft length of paracord to tie the door shut from the inside! I'd wrap it around the B post and go through my open window at the top of the door. By the time I drove 10 minutes it would thaw out enough that the door would close.

Bingo- the head phones are so you don't have to listen jailbait talking trash at eachother. *shudders* I weep for the next generation.

Yeah, I'm ruling out it being the door frozen. If it was, (a) the lock pin would probably go up and down as the electric switch worked the mechanism, and (b) I wouldn't be able to flip the catch into the closed position with a pen, and with the door handles closed, be able to flick it open.

That, and the fact that it has been doing really stupid stuff like stalling as soon as it is put into gear when it has been idling means it was time for a trip to the doctor.

As for why I walked- I wasn't thinking clearly. I was annoyed, and feeling stubborn after putting up with really stupid people all day.

Sometimes a good walk helps one to think clearly.

Maybe I`m missing something... but if the door is securely closed be it not a latch but why do you have to "drive so slow" as you did? It makes no sense to me? I`ve driven 2+hrs with my jeep door wired shut, and also stuck in the shut position (different times obviously).

I don't really see how this is a bug-out at all?

Sorry but it sounds like you were unprepared to properly secure your vehicle door ????

what's scary driving home... and is reason to go slow and be super cautious? Missing brakes on one SIDE of your front end... talk about pulling. Rest of brakes work 100% probably 125% their normally stopping power... but it pulls so you have to gradually slow down and stay back so you don't have to use brakes hard, and also know to correct a bit... Also scary driving home is with a bent pitman arm and you can only turn 3/4 steering wheel turn to one side.... no u-turns, no sharp maneuvers but you can change lanes and such. These seem to be possible reasons to bug-out yours.... I think you are over exaggerating.

eek that sounded harsh i apologize man didnt mean it to come across like that.

Meh, you had a pleasant 2 hour walk and you stopped for lunch on the way.
It likely did you a lot of good.
How many blocks is six miles in your city anyhow?
If it happens again grab a stick and see if that dog knows how to play fetch.

I grew up in a small town with a kid who's car could only turn left. If we left town for a movie we had to take my car. For graduation his parents gave him the parts to fix it.

NASCAR?

NASCAR driver?

Eh, you spoke your mind.

As for the why I had to drive carefully, I've been propping my elbow on the window since I started driving. Add to it that while it is a good size car, I'm also a good size guy. Ending up in on comming traffic, out of your vehicle, NOT a good thing. *laughs* It was close enough to keep the buzzer from sounding constantly, but that was it, if I'd had a brain fart and leaned against it it probably would have opened.

I wouldn't call what I was doing slower than average, just a lot more aware of what my elbow was doing.

As to why I'd call it a bug out, if I had to get home without the vehicle but I could still use my main route, other than the stop for chicken this is exactly what I would do. So the plan was tested under semi-live conditions (no hazmat, I can walk past the airport without going through a crash scene, and it wasn't super cold) at a time not of my choosing. It if had been of my choosing, it would have been a drill. This wasn't, but it was a low risk execution.

We don't really have "blocks" in this "city".

I'm sure Matt would agree- Smallville, Superman's hometown, is about the same size as Burlington, Vermont's answer to the "big city". *laughs*

Can't argue with small. We are the largest city in the state only 35,000 full timers and about 10,000 students during the school year. Three colleges ya see. My inlaws live downtown on the main route home from the bars to the dorms. It took them a year to get used to the 2am bar crawl traffic.

If any one has google earth, look up Burlington VT. You will get a perfect Idea of my home town.