What's in YOUR car?

[Deborah Cunefare]

It's a fun game - a peek into other people's lives, a gathering of ideas about being prepared away from home, a bit of laughter at our quirks and habits.

To play, list the current contents of your vehicle. It's more fun if you actually go and take notes, but nobody will really know if you just write from memory. :) Try to be as complete as possible, and include the stuff that doesn't actually belong in there.

[Deborah Cunefare]

Glove Compartment - owners manual, insurance card, registration, tire and battery warranties, mini maglite, tire pressure gauge, extra fuses, green marker (?), mini notebook

Drawer under passenger seat - a bunch of empty Altoids tins (good for containing finds on outings), several empty film canisters, several film canisters full of change, one headlamp, single use packets of antibiotic gel, a stack of fast food napkins, mini screwdriver set

Center console - more change, 2 small shells, lip balm, pen, plastic grocery bag stash (for trash bags)

In two plastic drawers stacked between the front seats - Birds of Illinois book, Chicago Birds book, Tree Finder leaf identification book, five giant dice, large toothed comb, Altoids, small elastic cords, road maps (Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, West Virginia), Chicago map, Chicago downtown guidemap, Lake County Forest Preserves fishing guide, train schedule for local line, notepads, ridiculous number of pens, Altoids tin filled with yet more change, 3 Koosh balls, giant jar of rubber bands, packing tape, wide masking tape, industrial strength velcro package, first aid kit, portable cd player (velcroed to the top of the drawers), cd to cassette cables

beside the drawers - 7 county map book(Chicago vicinity), Illinois gazateer map book, print outs of directions to several friends' houses

Under seats - umbrella, deodorizer, tool bag, large box of kleenex, 2 neck pillows, ice scraper/brush, 2 pairs binoculars, jumper cables, cd caddy, half tube of Ritz crackers, tub of markers

Behind seats - king size comforter (for sitting on outdoors in summer, emergency warmth in winter)

If I hadn't JUST cleaned it out today it would also have - an empty 2 liter soda bottle, one small soda bottle, one fancy aluminum energy drink bottle, bloody kleenex from a recent head wound, gas receipts, Petroglyph Park pass I finally removed from the dash, and the stubs from 3 paychecks belonging to both kids.

I've had this van for 11 years now, and my youngest kids are almost 17. I no longer carry extra clothes for little kids or the ball to throw around at rest stops, but I think I should put the MadLibs books back in. :)

[Paige]

I'm not sure about all the things...and I'm not willing to look, lol, I'd feel compelled to clean it.

We do, however, have a HUGE American flag...I guess it's about 15 by 10 feet. (We rescued it from a dumpster, so now it's laying in the back of the van....not the *best* way to treat a flag, but better than a dumpster.)

I also keep baby wipes and a change of clothes for my baby...who is almost 12 now. lol I have gum and snacks, three blankets, a cape in case of cold or it can double as a skirt if someone gets wet, travel games, water bottle pouches to attach water bottles to belts, letterboxing notebooks and stamps and stamp pads, small things to trade in geocaches, a pack of forks, knives and spoons, a pocketknife, pencils and sharpeners, our monthly budget, road maps, address labels, several boxes of DH's tools, his metal detector, two or three empty boxes for stashing "finds", a tote box and screen for screening dirt for artifacts, digging tools, a broken umbrella, a can of fix-a-flat, band-aids, various interesting rocks and sticks, business cards.

THAT's just what I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's lots more strange things. ; )

[Jennifer Turner]

I drive a VW kombi camper so we drive a home away from home.
This is what stays in the van, other stuff gets added if we go away.
2 pipe cleaner and pompom, spiders on the dash 1 purple 1 blue. Ash tray in dash full of loose change.
Maps,rego papers, blue pen, spanner and screwdrivers, sun glasses, Paw paw cream, spare points and fuses, 1 cd cover (cd is stuck in player so It's Jack Johnson or the radio) in the glove box.

All kitchen items you could ever need.( An egg whisk, which should be in our kitchen because my partner is always asking for it.)
Sink and Gas stove.( fridge is out of order)
Food-Tin of baked beans,Macadamia nuts, rice biscuits,corn thins,water,sugar and tea bags.
Toys/kids stuff- bug catcher, magnifying glass, small magnadoodle, binoculars, frisbee, ball, goggles & snorkle, doll, colouring book,paper and pencils, card game and a few soft toys
Books- 5 Story, 3 native plant ID,1 birds of Australia ID,1 shells ID, 1 Insect ID, 1 wildlife of SE Queensland ID, 1 Wildlife of Morten Bay ID books.
4 green shopping bags.
First Aid kit, umbrella and two folding chairs under folding seat/bed.
Towels, spare clothes, rain coats, TOGS (swimmers)
2 pillows 1 sleeping bag.
Dust pan and broom, torch.
Box of Tissues.
Rocks and shells and always lots and lots of sand.
We broke down the other week and had to spend a few hours on the side of the road, until my partner could get to us.
We were under a big fig tree in the shade... perfect, we set up the table inside the van had lunch and played card games until he arrived.
The best car to be in if you ever break down, I joked to friends that it was just like camping, except not on the best site.

[Jessica]

lots and lots of crumbs!

[Bonnie]

Hmm, mine isn't very deliberately planned, it's just full of stuff that hasn't made its way back into the house (or trash can) yet :p

On the dash: Parking passes from various events downtown. For perspective I have not been to an event downtown in nearly a year.

Center console: A nifty change dispenser that came with the car, which has nothing in it but a few quarters; a hair barrette that my hair hasn't been long enough for since 2007; and a mostly-empty bottle of Orange Crush.

Glove compartment: Standard car documents. I also found a melted granola bar in there (still in the wrapper, thankfully).

Front floorboard: Enough gas receipts to wallpaper a small studio apartment with, and an iPod-to-radio connector that I no longer use because I got a better one. (The better one, btw, is one of those cheap "hook a CD player to the cassette deck" deals. The worse one is a fancy gadget that converts the iPod into a radio signal, but when I drive through the city and a lot of stations start coming in, they interfere with it.)

Back seat: A jacket no one wears because it's wool (we live in Florida) and has gigantic shoulderpads, and about 15 community college textbooks that I'm planning to sell when it gets to textbook-buying season again. My clarinet was also back there, but I brought it inside now.

Trunk: Hula hoop, bathrobe (?), bags of old clothes waiting to be donated, Play-Doh (??), jumper cables, twin-sized sheets that I refuse to part with, even though no one in our house has a twin bed anymore, because they are covered in neon cats.

I'm glad this post is here, because now I'm thinking of what things I can put in the car to make life more convenient, especially since I have friends who occasionally kidnap me for overnight stays without warning.

[Bonnie]

"I drive a VW kombi camper"

Yay, my dream car! I'm glad to know what they're actually called now. I always just called them hippie vans.