GeoCaching

July 7, 2011 By thesurvivalmama Leave a Comment

The Ultimate Treasure Hunt

I’ve never geochached, but it’s been on my list of things to do, and since we love to go on random drive-abouts in the evenings, this would add a sense of adventure to the trip.

GeoCaching is basically a treasure hunt, but now that smartphones are equipped with GPS, it’s taken “X marks the spot” to a whole new level.

I downloaded c:geo to my droid for free and it links to the official geocaching.com website. Stay tuned for our first geocaching adventure.

What about you? Have you ever geocached?

Jen

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: Navigation Tagged With: driving, jen greyson

Hey! You can’t go that way!

February 21, 2011 By thesurvivalmama 27 Comments

When The Best Evacuation Route Is A Detour

I attended a debrief for all the CERT Area Leaders last week, and the Chief of Police talked about evacuation routes and how sometimes the City Leaders will make changes to traffic patterns to aid in their process to get people to safety. Those decisions may hamper your original evacuation route to get out of the danger zone.

Do you have an evacuation route planned?

Do you have an alternate route?

Do you have an alternate to your alternate?

How much gas will it take to get to your bug-out location?

Does your car ALWAYS have that much gas in the tank?

Now, for the Tuesday Train!!

I’m co-hosting the Tuesday Train @ My Mad Mind, so today the train is departing from a different depot! Be sure to follow My Mad Mind, Me and the other co-hosts: The House on the Corner, and With “Faith, Family, and Friends!”

While you’re at it, be sure to swing over and see Boobies and the Follow Me Back Tuesday hop.

Filed Under: CERT, Communication, Emergency Prep, Navigation Tagged With: driving

A Good Weatherman is Only Right 50% of The Time

February 15, 2011 By thesurvivalmama 6 Comments

Weathermen Only Have to Be 50% Right

Photo: Tom Skilling

It seems like a great job: Sometime, over the next day, it’s going to snow.

I realize guessing when Mother Nature is going to blow her top is a tricky business, but geez I could use a tighter window.

During our last blizzard, I thought I had plenty of time to get where I needed to go. One quick errand, and then home. (As usual) I’d been pushing my limits with the gas tank, thinking I’d stop and get gas on the way home.

The storm hit early, and I was caught during rush hour, in 8 inches of snow, trying to navigate through snowy streets and scared drivers. What should have taken 10 minutes turned into a 2 hour project. My gas gauge continued to dip, and I barely made it to the gas station.

Major lesson for me.

I lucked out, and stayed on the roads, even though I was traveling at under 2 miles an hour. If I would have slid off the road and needed to keep the car running to stay warm until help arrived, I’d have been in an escalated situation.

Since blizzards tend to strike before they’re scheduled… plan ahead… way ahead.