Despite my efforts to pick out the toughest looking rental Jeep from a pack of 8 vehicles to take up into the mountains surrounding Red River, New Mexico, our group of 5 barely made it back down the mountain.  Most folks would rather take a Jeep tour, complete with a guide.   Not me.  You know why?   Because why do I need a guide being a survivalist?  Famous last words…

Red River Jeep Survival

The Jeep I did pick sounded good and had thick off-road tires, but I would soon discover that it was a bit underpowered to get a group of 5 passengers up steep inclines, even with two of them being children.  We followed another tour up the mountain with no major trouble.  The problems began when we started down the mountain.  The “tour” ahead of us was really just another family who didn’t know their way down.  They wanted to take an unknown route down the mountain.  I decided, thinking of my wife and kids, that a better approach would be to go back down the way we came up.  If only I could remember how we came up!!

We decided to follow a group of ATVs down the mountain.  Mid-trail they decided to stop as we proceeded on the trail.  We came to a rather significant hill going down but decided to press on since after all, it was nothing the Jeep couldn’t handle.   Soon, the trail disappeared on the edge of a cliff, so we turned the jeep around and headed back up to choose a different route.  Halfway up the hill, the Jeep basically ran out of muscle.  After doing a bit of maneuvering, it became clear that the Jeep was also lacking in breaking power.  We nearly got stuck in a large rut trying to turn around.  For safety, I had everyone get out of the Jeep except for me.

It took me three tries to finally get the vehicle to climb the hill.  Part of the problem was due to not being able to get enough speed up before hitting the incline.  The other problem was due to the trail…one side was nothing but deep ruts and the other side was a mess of loose sand.  The imposing cliff this trail was on just added to everyone’s tensions.  Luckily, everyone stayed calm until we could resolve the situation.

The funny thing is how my wife laughed at me for putting the 72 hour emergency supply kit into the back of the Jeep.  She’s not laughing now…and she even keeps an emergency backpack in her car!

If I took anything away from the Fox News story this evening, it was the idea that “it’s not if something will happen, but when”. Many people, not just the minority extremists, are realizing that they need to keep basic necessities on hand at a moment’s notice. I don’t know that I would go so far as to have dual citizenship on a foreign island, but it certainly cannot hurt. The best way to prepare yourself is to gather things you or your family would need in an emergency situation for a minimum of 3 days (72 hours). A survival kit would definitely include food, water, a flashlight, an emergency radio, basic hygiene supplies, medicine, clothing, and even emergency shelter. Our emergency essentials kit provides these basic necessities and allows some additional room for you to pack some of your personal items. These kits are great since they can save you time in gathering all these items.  Check it out…

My wife and our two children, ages 6 and 8, set out to test our survival skills this Memorial Day weekend by hiking into the primitive camping area of Dinosaur State Park in Glen Rose, Texas.  This park is famous for the preserved dinosaur footprints in the river bed.  Actually, this trip was the first time anyone in our family has camped in an area that did not have the luxury of vehicular access.  We considered it a challenge and decided that we would all have a good attitude and have fun regardless of the weather or other obstacles that we would inevitably face on the trip.

Dinosaur Valley Hike

One of the biggest challenges is determining what to pack, for each person, in order for our family to be completely self-sufficient for 24 hours in the wilderness.  Most of the available backpack space quickly becomes occupied with sleeping bags, clothing, food and water.  We had picked up a new 8-person tent which was too big to fit in the backpack so I carried it by letting the straps from the carry bag hang from my shoulder.   One item which was not essential proved to be the most rewarding…a queen sized inflatable mattress.  Since we couldn’t carry fold-up chairs, the mattress gave us a place to lay down and be comfortable as a family after a long hike.

Dinner consisted of Spaghettios cooked in the can on a small propane burner.  We lit a small ground fire in order to roast the marshmallows for S’mores.  We had brought 4 whole corn husks but nobody was willing to wait for them to cook on an open fire.  Mostly, everyone was thirsty which by this time had made me acutely aware that we did not pack enough water.  We rationed what we had and ended up with plenty, but it is wise to not underestimate the amount of fluids a family of four will consume on a mile hike uphill in 85 degree heat and high relative humidity.

The event would not have been complete without a thunderstorm looming only a mile or two from our camping spot.   We took a short stroll before dark and were forced to head back to camp as the lighting seemed to get closer to our position.  I turned on the NOAA emergency weather alert radio station to find out that a severe thunderstorm was only five miles from our position with small hail, heavy rain and damaging winds.  Luckily, the storm passed just to the southwest of us.  The rest of the night proved to be very pleasant.  Aside from my son’s random nose bleed and my daughter stumbling through the tent for “itch cream”, we all slept very soundly.

After consuming some chocolate cake doughnuts (a traditional breakfast treat while camping in our family), my kids and I spent the next hour simply exploring the surrounding wildlife.  I pointed out the small ferns, lichens, ant-lion holes and the occasional mushroom.  We packed up our belongings and headed back down the trail to the car.  The trek down seemed much shorter than the treck up.  We finished off our weekend by taking a dip in the Brazos river.  Despite the amount of work involved, we all had fun and learned a few things on our outing.

With all the economic chaos going on around us, I felt that being prepared in case of an emergency was perhaps one of the best things I could do for my family.  It seems that it wouldn’t take much (i.e. another terrorist attack on US soil, a breakdown of critical infrastructure, or further eroding of the economic crisis) to push society over the edge into civil unrest.  I ask myself what would happen if our family were to not have the benefit of electricity for a three months.  Would the grocery stores be empty?  Would you be able to purchase gasoline?  I have purchased 2-person disaster emergency kits for my family members along with a large supply of freeze dried food and bottled water to deal with just such an emergency.  Preparing on such a scale for a family of four cannot be done overnight, but with time and planning, the proper store of food, water, and other survival items can be built up. 

2-Person Deluxe Survival Kit

I keep one of the backpacks in my car at all times, just in case I were to become stranded while at work.  Being prepared gives you a sense of security, even in the face of uncertainty.