Emergency Car Kit

We were finally able to get in to the mountain property yesterday. We tried at the end of March and there was still too much snow to make it.Yesterday - no snow. The road's in pretty good shape for the amount of runoff it takes each spring and it looked like there had been a grader in there recently. When you're 7 1/2 miles off the highway, up a dirt road, at 4000 feet, and partly responsible for the upkeep of that road, you notice some things.

We ran into a gyppo logger about halfway in who said he'd been up last week, but it was snowing and the wind was blowing so hard, they only got about 2 hours of work in before they had to pack up and get out. I'm glad we stopped to talk to him because his story explained the four trees downed across the road further in.

So, yesterday we cut up the downed trees and left them on the side of the road because they're not ours. If the landowner doesn't pick them up by next fall, we will. Each would make decent firewood. Ouch! It hurts to leave good wood by the road!

After looking around the place to see what'd happened over the winter, we burned. We have some humongous slash piles from cutting firewood and clearing defensive space around our camping area. The only times it's really safe to burn is in early spring (as early as we can physically get there) and late fall. In those two seasons there's enough moisture to discourage wildfires. Even then we have to be hyper-vigilant! Of course, we burn 4 foot piles and make sure they're out-out by noon as the permit requires. After the piles were out, we did some repairs and loaded some firewood.

We probably have about 20 or so more piles worth. It's not gonna be a one-season thing.

This fire's out!

Several more burn days worth

What should've taken us half a day turned into a full - and exhausting! - day.

So, all of this brings me to what I REALLY wanted to talk about. The car kit. People carry all different types of emergency kits in their cars, preppers carry bug-out bags, soccer moms carry granola bars and juice packs, dog people carry leashes and dog treats and that towel to get the mud off Spot's feet. I got to thinking about all the things we routinely carry when we go up to the Spread.

Chainsaws (2),  chainsaw gas and oil
shovel
snow chains
tow chains
come-alongs
tie down straps
bungie cords
rope
assorted tools (screw drivers, wrenches, etc)
flashlights
binoculars
granola bars
water
dog treats
Chukit! and ball for the dog
the normal emergency kit (flares, first aid stuff)
two flat sheets (less bulky than blankets)

Everything from flashlights on down pretty much stays in the truck all the time. The stuff above flashlights we add when we go to the mountains. It's saved our behinds more than once! Do you carry a kit in your car? What would you call it? Emergency? Bug-out? __________?