You and I Are Too Old To Be Caught Unprepared: A Lesson in Readiness Delivered by Mother Nature Herself

You're Too Old to Spend the Rest of Your Life on the Couch: Let's Adventure!

Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

Most of us are woefully unprepared for what’s coming. I was; what about you?

Last night at about 6 pm I dragged myself up the steep hill to my house. I’d just spent four hours for a trip that normally takes two, at best. The length was determined by road blockage on the main two-lane artery between the Coastal town of Florence, OR and my home town of Eugene.

I’d gassed up, had plenty of coats and warm stuff and had re-juiced all my battery-operated socks and gloves just in case. I had food, water, supplies and plenty of goods, also just in case.

I had to head well south to the town of Reedsport to pick up the scenic Umpqua River highway. Not a tough choice, thanks, but with damned few gas stations as I wound my way to I-5 for the last few slushy miles back to Eugene.

If this is the year of the Water Dragon, and it is, we sure got our Dragon’s worth of water. Most of it dangerous, nasty coatings of ice and then snow which blasted in and did plenty of damage.

I’d been holed up - on working vacay, mind you- in a condo on the coast.

My house is undergoing a lot of work. I chose a week to leave town, leave the work crews to it and get plenty of work done in a cozy condo, while watching the icy waves crash onto the shore.

Make plans. Nature says WATCH THIS, PUNY HUMAN.

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We lost power and I spent the next two-and-a-half days under blankets, charging my phone in the car, and amusing myself during the daylight hours seeing if I could measure how far out my breath blew inside the condo.

For those of you who missed this part of the story, I took out everything in the fridge and put it on the counter to cool down, if not freeze.

Was I prepared? Are YOU prepared?

My hell-bent-for-leather drive from Boiler Bay south to my condo wasn’t interrupted by a downed tree. Still, I barely made it back in time as the power went out. I was able to organize candles, blankets, flashlights, matches and move all the potential obstacles out of the way as the last of the light faded into the swells offshore.

The silly hubris that I carried out to the Coast on the 10th was that I was fully prepared.

HELL NO I wasn’t.

The roads, too. And lots of trees ready to land on our punkin’ heads.

Maybe better than most.

I’ve spent twelve years doing adventure travel. Great. Good. So how on earth did I get out to the Coast sans med kit, sans car emergency gear, sans extra power system, all of which, dummy me, are sitting in my basement?

My point exactly.

This article addresses a few things that I learned, and how I am getting ready for a next time. For wherever you live, climate is coming for you. Whether it’s extreme heat or extreme cold, like our Canuk friends up north are sharing with folks in the upper Midwest, to those of us in the Pacific Northwest who are watching our precious trees either fall from ice or burn from fire.

It’s coming for all of us. Not being doomsday. Just practical. Those moments when we are at risk, the ones we didn’t willingly sign up for, those are the ones I’m addressing.

I’ve got a few suggestions, inspired by a recent trip to Arizona.

I was at an outfitter’s conference in Phoenix this past December. As soon as I got there I hit the booths.

First, there was free food on the conference floor.

NEVER pass up free food; I’m an advocate of Jack Reacher’s belief that you cop calories when you can. You may not get another meal for a while and the bad guys are everywhere.

At least in the movies they are.

Thus armed with food-not-good-for-me, I found the booth for Near Zero.

Second: any time I find a company selling ultralight gear, I check them out. I am always interested in lightening my load.

I do gear reviews, and if I love something (or need to warn you off something) you will hear about it on this side of my Too Old newsletter. This is one of those.

For my very first trip up Kilimanjaro, I spent the equivalent of the cost of a small car on a sub-zero sleeping bag. It was so small, when it arrived I honestly thought it was a joke. It wasn’t. It worked.

That tiny package, barely the size of two fists, held a sleeping bag warm enough even for me at 18,000 feet in the Himalayas.

That’s fine, but here’s the problem: Cost. This kind of gear is brutally expensive.

If you do this for a living, and you write gear reviews, and you really have to have the very best, have at it. Or you can buy your (clunky, heavy, often cheap) stuff at Walmart or Target, and watch with envy as others whisk by you with super-light gear that seemingly floats on their backs.

No more. The best news for people looking for a mid-range option which doesn’t cost your child’s education is that there are well-made options which not only don’t break your back, they don’t break the bank.

Give me gear, make me happy

I’m an unabashed gear pig. I have also spent WAY too much money on WAY too much trendy stupid gear that I never used, simply because I believed the marketing.

Scott Jensen, who created the Near Zero brand, has put together super lightweight gear that’s easier on the wallet without sacrificing quality. That works very well for a lot of people I write for, especially folks who don’t want to sign up for too much weight on an aging back.

He’s also working on rental options so that you can try gear out before you make the commitment.

If it sounds like I’m a fan, I am. I appreciate outdoor manufacturers who are looking to find ways to get more folks outside and with their families with top-quality gear without the top-end prices.

Photo by Bambi Corro on Unsplash

What I like best are Near Zero’s bundles. For anyone who has ever hoisted an overloaded backpack and shrieked with horror, these might be perfect for you.

The first backpack I ever loaded up from back in 1984, was easily 84 pounds. These bundles give you most if not all of what you need, barring your own personal clothing and food, at a fraction of that.

Of course if you’re as dumb as I was and decided to cram an additional 35 lbs of “I might use this someday” in there, you might defeat the purpose. These bundles, however, have pretty much all you will need to get started.

A pre-packed bundle would have saved me endless hours of poring over ridiculously unnecessary offerings that I bought and lugged around for for years. And never used.

They also have kid-sized versions, which is why Near Zero is developing a partnership with Boy Scouts of America.

What I like is that I can put one in my car, and with the exception of auto-specific emergency supplies, food and water, be ready for whatever Mama Nature hands me.

Unless of course the ground swallows me, for which, unfortunately, even Jack Reacher isn’t prepared.

But if you have a kit like this in the car (and for each family member, as needed), if a fire screams through at speed, you can speed out ahead of it and not be caught with nothing at all. Maui was an object lesson in just that last summer.

You can find food on Near Zero’s site, but if you have specific needs, as I do, please make sure you auto stash has supplies of what you need. Never ever leave without adequate medical supplies for the time you plan to be gone and then some, just in case.

I’ll be testing out Near Zero’s gear this year, and will provide further feedback. However, from what I have seen, I’m sold enough to trust my travel to this year for most of this summer’s adventures.

Finally, what else do you need? It depends on your area. This New York Times article provides solid advice for what you can do if you’re stranded in winter, and what additional supplies you’ll want in your car.

But wait, there’s more.

Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash

One more thing, which many of us aren’t exactly thinking about right now: our heating world.

Come summer, you’ll need a few different supplies and emergency instructions.

Too many foolish people died last year in 100+ heat when they failed to take the outdoors seriously. Let’s be fair; the un-housed are terribly vulnerable to all extremes, but I am addressing those of us who have the choice to be prepared.

One story was about a man my age (in his 70s) in Death Valley.

Can we please recognize that this isn’t selfie weather? What good is your selfie if your living self isn’t around to do the bragging?

Now, while it’s entirely true if not quite possible that the errant tsunami might come your way, and it might be a great idea to have a full-sized inflatable raft in your car, most of us will be fine if we take basic thoughtful precautions.

After that ice storm hit, I was far too aware of how vulnerable I was. I won’t make that mistake again. On the road this year in America’s Southwest, I will be even more careful.

Know your area. Check road information. Make sure you’re ready.

I’m gearing up for both the cold and the heat. I hope you do, too.

Let’s play, but let’s play safely. Please.

Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

Thank you for hanging out with me today. I hope you got some good tips and will consider taking your road safety seriously. Our world has already changed and we need to change with it. Please take care of yourself out there. If this was valuable to you, please consider:

If you know of someone who plans some road trips, kindly consider