Carl Henning

Part 2 of hardware we carry. You probably don’t need any of these, but on a long trip we use some of these.

Emergency kit. Contents in next post.

First Aid Kit. This contains items assembled by retired-nurse-in-residence and is quite comprehensive. Of course, commercial kits are available but they’re much smaller than ours.

Sleeping bags x2: Since we often don’t reserve a hotel until noon on the day we need it, these are the emergency backup. Fortunately, never needed them for that… although occasionally used by grandkids in crowded hotel room.

Bad weather items: tire chains and snow scraper

Baseball watching necessities: stadium seats, camp chairs, seat cushions (sold for wheelchair comfort), sun umbrellas (these attach to camp chairs), battery-powered fans (it gets hot in Texas), wool blankets and electric blanket (powered by phone backup battery – it gets cold in Texas).

Honey Bucket (and kitchen bags for liner and toilet paper). This is a 5-gallon bucket with a toilet seat top. Luckily, never needed.

Flat goods. beach towels, small tarp, large tarp, pillow.

Miscellaneous: bungees, nylon rope, paper towels, trek poles, monopod, tripod, pipe (3/4 X 24 ) for extra leverage of lug wrench. Sure we have AAA to change a tire (to overcome the highly torqued lug nuts), but since we travel to places well off the beaten path, this is the backup.

Ice chest. We use 2 ice chests: a large one in the trunk and a smaller one we can reach from the front seat. Yeti is the premier brand, but I opted for the more affordable Lifetime brand (available at Walmart). Depending on the length of the trip we use either a 55 quart or 28 quart for the trunk. I freeze half-gallon milk jugs and water bottles. Five half gallon jugs plus a dozen frozen water bottles keep the contents of the 55-quart chest cold for 4-5 days or more. After that, I have to buy ice unless we’re staying somewhere where I can refreeze the jugs. The small cooler by the front seat holds 8 bottles. It goes into the hotel room with us and is refreshed from the big cooler before we leave in the morning. And there is a towel by the trunk cooler to wipe off the bottles and cans as they’re removed from the cooler.

We each have a 30-ounce cup that we fill with ice and whatever water fits. The ice lasts all day so we can just add water when needed.

If you don’t travel much, you just need a first aid kit from this list.