Shorty's BOB and the new Ride

So this summer Shorty's old car was giving up the ghost with too many miles and starting to show signs of age and wear, rusting through in spots and some transmission trouble. Rather than fixing her old car we bought a used little "mid-life crisis" car—a Mazda Miata. Now this is a fun car. Practical, perhaps not, but it does get 30+ miles to the gallon when she is driving it and we’ve taken it as far as Atlanta, Georgia with little discomfort in a single trip. We couldn’t pack much stuff, but I like to try and pack light anyway. The size of the car has led to some difficulties in the BOB department.

Currently her BOB is hanging from the ceiling in the basement. Her former BOB was a large one in size, more for convenience sake than because of the junk, and it would just not fit in the trunk of her new car and still be room for extras that she might need to place there. So what I’ve been doing is trying to decide just how far down to par her BOB. I’ve about gotten it down to some basics that I think will work. Let me start off by saying that our BOB’s are not the “I’m going to live comfortably and be able to stay out for weeks”. Our BOB’s are Get Home Bags. They are designed to keep us going so that we can hoof it home as long as we are within 100 or so miles of the Coppound. To that end, the food might be a little skinny for some, the amenities might be light on comfort, but we can survive, which is what they are designed for. Shorty’s is even different from that in that hers is set up so that she can hunker down for an extended period, which would not require as many calories. She’s not a big walker/hiker and to that end, her GHB/BOB reflects this.

First Aid—Shorty’s aid kit is in a box. I got a clear plastic box rather than a soft bi-fold because since it will ride most of the time in the trunk of the car, space at that time was not an issue. It also made it easier to find something when needed and we’ve used her kit several times for minor dings while out and about. Now with the smaller car, I’ll have to dig up something to put the aid-supplies in that will not take up as much space. As an aside, our first aid kits will control bleeding to an extent in case of a GSW.

Clothing—we’ve always gone light on this. Spare socks, a fleece shirt, and a couple of other light items are all I put in the BOB. Frankly, I’ve camped for extended weeks on about this much in various places on Earth and found that clean clothing while nice, isn’t really necessary when roughing it—dry clothing on the other hand is, so everything is in heavy freezer bags. We have a vacuum sealer, but once the stuff is out of the bag, it’s big again, so we just pack it as is.

Fire kit—a couple years ago, Shorty, PJ and I took a “survival class”. We got to start fires using various alternative methods and since that time, we’ve kept up the skill. Our kits are small and use the bare minimum of devices. Thankfully the ground is littered with things that will burn, and even in rain or snow, if you go enough layers down, you should be able to find tinder.

Shelter—I’m one of those people who don’t think that you need to have a lot with you in this department. We live in Ohio. You can’t really go to far without running into some kind of structure, be it an old barn, shed or even abandoned building. If need be, we can camp out in one of these until morning. If not, we have emergency tube-tents. We’ve used them and my biggest complaint is that they collect the moisture easily because they are basically plastic tubes. I have however had the same problem in my several hundred dollar Walrus tent and my North Face, so it’s not an issue unless you are waiting out a three day storm. A traditional tent vents easier, but a tube will get you through the night. In addition to the tube, we have over-sized trash bags, and worse comes to worse you can sit inside the trash bag to trap body heat.

Sleeping covers—I say cover, because while I have small 50 degree bags we also have the traditional space blanket and each of us has a fleece or woolen blanket in our vehicle. Layering these will get us through the night. Our last camp out I used my 50 degree bag to good effect rather than tote my larger and bulkier North Face. Again, layering is important and as long as you have dry clothing, and keep the layers you can make it through the night. With the space blanket as a wind break, the other two will suffice. Honestly, I’ve slept outside in my 20 degree bag and woken with layers of snow on top of me.

Food—we’ve been packing MREs because of the easy preparation. With a MRE heater you can have the food warming while you attend to other things. I think now that I will mix the food preps up some with dried/dehydrated and keep an MRE or two as well. Hot foods are important not only to the peace of mind but to the body and warmth as well. I’ve been playing with dried soup mixes and instant rice for filler. These one servings will go into the BOBs. The main problem is a container to boil the water. It adds bulk and I’m still procrastinating on getting the Nalgene cup so we can have the pot and bottle together. The biggest problem is having the calories to keep going, but as I said, it only has to be for a short period of time, and as we have seen on Survivorman, you can keep going for a week on much less. In addition to the food already mentioned we have various power bars and Cliff Shots for quick energy.

Water—in my truck I have a case of water almost all the time. In her car, a bottle or two is it. I’m not really big on storing water, after all, it is Ohio and we have numerous places to get water. The biggest problem is cleaning it enough to drink. Here again is where the pot and Nalgene bottle comes in. Nalgene is wonderful because you can put hot stuff in it and cold stuff. Boiling enough water to keep a body going is the problem. I have hand pumps for camping, a Sweet Water and MSR, but in our BOB’s not so much. The cost of a small pump is not in the budget at the moment and other than purifying tablets, we’re stuck with boiling. Finding one small enough for Shorty’s kit, well, we’re researching still.

There’s other miscellaneous items like the Big Ass Knife, hygiene kit, spare flashlight and a couple of batteries (not a gross like some people I could name, PJ) and such, but the main problem is going to be par all of it down into a Miata-sized pack. So If there are suggestions for this, let me know. I’m studying the situation and hopefully we’ll find an answer that will keep us prepared and still have room for the groceries or luggage on weekend jaunts.