Bug-out-bag When Stranded in Your Car

Learn How to Build Your Bug-Out-Bag

You never know when you might get stranded in your car. I remember one time I was coming home from visiting a friend. The drive was about 5 hours long. The timing belt in my car gave out and the engine stopped dead in it’s tracks. Luckily I was at an off ramp and was able to walk to the nearby gas station to get water and make the phone call I needed to make to get a tow truck to come pick me up.

A Bug-Out-Bag is different from your roadside kit. Your roadside kit should have jumper cables, cautions signs, emergency flares, a tire repair kit and anything else you think you might need in a roadside emergency. Your bug-out-bag is there to help keep you alive or at least comfortable.

There are times when you are stranded in your car, you may be in real danger. If the weather is either really hot in the summer or really cold in the winter, you could be in real trouble. That is when your bug-out-bag truly comes in handy. If it hot, you will have several bottles of water. You might have a radio to listen to. You even have an emergency kit to take care of any wounds you may have inflicted upon yourself. If it is winter time and your heater is not working because the engine does not run, then you will have several ways to make a campfire. You will also have a Mylar blanket that is really good at keeping you warm.

The bug-out-bag could be as simple as having a little bit of extra food and water in it so you can have something to eat while you are waiting for someone to come pick you up, or for the tow truck to take the car where it needs to go. I might find myself using the pocket knife to whittle something out of a nearby branch to keep myself occupied. I like to keep a deck of cards in my bag for that same reason. It is good to keep your mind off what is going on around you.

So You see… Having a Bug-out-bag in your car at all times is a good strategy for those times when your car might not be performing up to par. Take the time to put one together, even if it is minimal, just enough to keep you safe.