Coffee Can Survival Kit

I flew last week. Only half way across the country. Big deal. Oh, only if that were the case.  Have you flown recently?  If so you’re in the throng that’s hanging onto your decorum and sense of civility by the skin of your teeth.  You say things like “please hog tie me and beat me with a big stick” under your breath.  Or when a guy that’s yammered on and on in the waiting area for hours states “I don’t normally talk this  much I’m just punchy”, you whisper loudly, “doubtful.”

You think of things to say in your blog like “the airlines are making their last kicks at the wasp nest.” Which now I don’t know what that means…

I cringe at how poorly I handled the news that I could have driven the distance in the same amount of time.

Flying has degenerated into something brutally equivalent to crossing the Great Plains in a Conestoga wagon.  I can actually list advantages to the wagon ride, and can’t think of a single one to place in the airplane column. And please, do not let me hear you say it’s “quicker.”  If you live close I’ll have to drop over and hog tie you.

Maybe I’m asking too much for the “getting there” part to be a somewhat enjoyable component of the overall trip.  It’s not a secret that I love to road trip. We usually fly to West Virginia for Christmas. It’s quicker. I can say that only because that’s the lie my husband and I kept telling ourselves.  Then we drove last year (and went on to D.C. and North Carolina’s Outer Banks just because we could).  It was positively memorable, relaxed, fun even and the element of freedom and spontaneity was ever-present.  Other family members flew.  They arrived sometime during the 3rd day after our arrival.  Lies are such thieves.

So if you’ve not opened your pocketbook yet and said to an airline “please take all  my money and while you’re at it give me a good, hard kick in the ribs”, then I have a suggestion – DRIVE.

If you actually take my advice, have your vehicle serviced for the winter driving season, and throw together this diminutive survival kit. Also see this post: Road Trip Safety. 

• A 3 pound metal coffee can. You’ll be storing the other items inside the can. You don’t need a lid because the top is covered with a warm, fuzzy stocking cap!  And yes, coffee cans are a thing of the past.  Anything will work. This one was provided by my husband’s favorite diner.

• 12 feet of nylon cord

• Candles or a can of sterno (for melting snow).  I must caution against handling open fire in enclosed spaces. So take care with this.

• Knife

• Surveyors tape bright orange (tie to antenna or door handle).

• Packets of dry soup, hot chocolate, tea, bouillon cubes, etc. (mixed into melted snow)

• Camping spoon & small metal cup

• Peanuts/energy bar/jerky

• Gloves. These would be for back-up or doubling up.

• Camping matches in waterproof holder & a fire-starter or two

Firestarters. Look Ma!  No diesel/gasoline/kerosene required!

• Flashlight.  Since the cold is hard on batteries, carry extras.

• Hand and foot warmer packets.  A must.

• Whistle

Better than a flashlight. But I carry both.

American Express has nothing on these. I never leave home without them. 

Place stocking cap over it all and keep in front of the vehicle in case you go into a ditch and can’t get to or open the trunk.

It’s good to have options. I keep a lanyard with chapstick and a whistle attached. And the Buck knife? Well it just looks cool. You never know when you’ll run across a mountain lion.

This is not a Frisbee.

It is however an expanding dog bowl. Fits as a lid on the can.

A few things I throw in for a winter trip that won’t fit in the can:

• Small first aid kit, a mylar blanket, a heavy quilt, and bottled water.

**  Where to Buy:  www.campmor.com

Join the Road Trip Revolution at the Solo Road Trip Facebook Fan Page, here.

Telling my editor the chicken tortilla soup recipe I’d acquired from one of my favorite chefs in Oklahoma City was “a huge coup” and should be included as a side bar to the article I’d submitted wasn’t a lie until I added that it was the best chicken tortilla soup I’d ever had AND I’d had it all over the world.  All over the world?  Is chicken tortilla soup something you can get outside the lower sash of America’s skirt?

So I lied to my editor to trump something up.  Sometimes I don’t wash fruit before I eat it. Often don’t eat enough of the rainbow of foods unless you count salsa on chips that have a melted three-cheese blend oozing atop. Talk with my mouth open occasionally when I’m eating. Drink more than the doctor recommended two cocktails a week.

And believe men in their 50s/60s driving fast black low-slung cars with foreign names are not going through a mid life crisis.  They’ve wanted a car like that since they exited the womb and can finally afford it for the first time in their risqué-starved hard working lives.  The fact their seat mate may be a 23 year old platinum blonde with sparkly skin is beside the point. SHE’S attracted to the fast black car.  The old guy behind the wheel knows that, but doesn’t care.  I hardly believe he can be condemned for his predicament.  Give the guy a break.  Besides he needs someone with bouncy bones to help him out of the car. It’s too low to exit gracefully at his age.

When the menopause hits, I will take whatever drugs I can get my hands on.  Shorten my life?  From what? The normal age of 101 that the women in my family call it quits to say, oh maybe 90? I’ll take it.  I drive too fast and wear a seatbelt under protest, seething at the law that fines me under the guise of telling me it’s for my own protection. I’d wear it even without the law. It’s the law forcing it upon me by telling me what’s best for me that I can’t abide…  If they’d pull their heads out long enough to look around, they’d realize making cell phone use illegal while driving would save OTHER people’s lives, and would leave those of us age 18 and above to decide what’s best for our own skin.

I eat too much chocolate, cheese and red meat. I’m at my ideal weight but take a BP pill everyday. Something about genetics.  Can cuss like a sailor with “ass” being a favorite and most creatively enunciated word in my vocabulary. I’ll contemplate a face lift when needed and will pursue it if I can afford to. I figure I’ve used cheap ass soap and water all my life, so compared to the hoards of women falling for the promises from the $175 department store creams, I’ll be financially  ahead in the end. And look a hell of a lot better than they do when my scars heal. Furthermore I’ll be proud of the results and will not make the embarrassing mistake of saying I went to some spa in Arizona for a week of pure relaxation or something equally ass weak as that.

It won’t negate all these admittances or the future infractions I’m sure to commit. But here’s Oklahoma City’s Cheever’s Cafe Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe. It really is the best I’ve had. No lie.

Cheever’s Café Chicken Tortilla Soup from Head Chef Ryan Lawson

1. ½ of a yellow onion
2. Olive oil
3. 2 ½ cans (16 oz) diced tomatoes
4. 4 oz can green chiles
5. ¾ lb of cream cheese
6. 1 TBL Chili powder
7. Salt
8. 1 TBL Cumin
9. 1 tsp Cayenne
10. 1 tsp Minced garlic
11. 1 bay leaf
12. Diced cooked chicken 1 lb +
13. 1 ½ qts of chicken stock

Sauté the onions in the olive oil.  Note: Saute = throw the heat to the onions.  Brown bits of goodness is what we’re looking for.

Add tomatoes, green chiles and spices to taste. Simmer for 20 minutes.  I prefer less acidity so only use 2 cans (or less) of the tomatoes.  And I use the 1-4 oz can of chiles and add another can of whole chiles.

Add cream cheese and slowly bring to a boil.

Mash the mixture to fully incorporate everything.

Add the chicken. You could roast your own, but why would you do that? Buy a plain rotisserie chicken,  pull from the bone, tear into pieces, and call it done.

Then add the chicken stock and bring to boil. Simmer for 20 more minutes.

Decorate, I mean garnish. And enjoy.

This joins other food blog articles posted in Wanderfood Wednesdays on Wanderlust and Lipstick. Check them out!

Join the Road Trip Revolution at the Solo Road Trip Facebook Fan Page, here.