If you’re like me, you probably have a first aid kit in the car that looks like it’s from WWII or an ‘emergency’ kit that has crumbling flares, and semi-identifiable objects that are ’supposed’ to be useful in a breakdown. Personally, in my 40+ years on this planet, I have never ONCE used any of these items as they were intended. The first aid kit went to Scouts to demonstrate how to turn your tent-mate into a mummy (and supposedly earn your first-aid badge) and the other unknown ’save-me’ stuff sits in the bottom of the little container in the back of the car, never to be used.

I did come across an item that I actually used to get me out of a predicament recently though.

Cruising the Costco Aisles

Last summer I was roaming Costco, goggling at all the neat stuff I wanted but didn’t need, when I came across a little item that has really come across for me. It was a portable power supply. It was a small plastic box with a handle that weighs about 15 lbs. It has jumper cables, regular 110v plugins, and also 12v DC plugins. It has lights, blinkers and an air compressor built in as well. All these wonderful gadgets in about the space of a cubic foot or less. An American (though made in China) equivalent to the trusted Swiss Army knife, but for the car.

I originally bought the little Ronco-wannabe because I go camping, and in the Midwest that usually means hot-and-humid, smother-at-night campouts. With this little puppy and a small 12v fan (the one that plugs into the cigarette lighter port in the car that you used to see in all those ’70s trucker movies) I figured my life would be a lot easier in the great outdoors.

Too true. My little savior-in-a-box runs lights, fans, radios, and any small assortment of devices for hours on end, and it’s re-chargeable from your car’s cigarette port too. My campouts have never been quite the same.

The recent event that really made me appreciate this little car necessity was a flat tire. I had gone to lunch, and as I was getting out of the truck, noticed a loud hissing  noise. Since I’ve seen nary a rattler in downtown, I looked around only to find it was my front left tire oozing out it’s little airy life in the parking lot. Sticking out of the tire was a bolt about the size of a 5 iron golf club.

Gee, swell.

Time For Lunch

Figuring it wasn’t going to get any flatter, I went in and had a nice lunch while I thought about what to do. Fix the tire? It’s just snowed, the ground is slushy, and to be perfectly honest, in the 5 years I’d had the truck, I had yet to figure out where the spare and tools were. I knew I had some, as I’d seen them on the list when I first bought the vehicle. I just didn’t have an opportunity or need to go investigating.

After a nice meal, I walked back outside, pulled out my little Cubic Wonder and hooked it up to the tire. 10 minutes later, the tire was more-or-less filled with air, (the little wonder pumped air IN faster than the hole let air OUT, ergo, some stayed.) and I drove the car to a local gas station I saw across the street.

Another 35-40 minutes talking to the nice station owner, and I was back on the road. Tire patched, but switched for the spare, since I was told it might not work with such a big @#$@ hole in it. And I even got a very nice little lesson from the owner on how to change my tire. He wasn’t even condescending about it. Nice guy.

Anyway, If you do have the nigh-on useless first aid kit or the little fix-everything tool box in your car, I’d highly suggest wandering around Costco or your local equivalent, and see if they have a little Cubic Wonder to add to your car tools. By far this little beautie has saved me more time than all the others put together.