February 15th, 2021, I woke up at 5:30AM to Val asking, “did you turn off the ceiling fan?” The bedroom one we keep on all nights of the year? Nope. Not me. 

UH OH

We both bolted upright. “The power is out!”

That’s right…in the first 24 hours of the brutal snowstorm that crippled Texas, we were without heat, lights, or hot water. Although “rolling blackouts” were “scheduled”, Val and I both doubted the state’s ability to execute their own plan. 

We each got into motion. Val secured a hotel room that would take our dogs and checked on her mom. I grabbed the Go-Bag and started to assemble the remaining checklist items. What’s a Go-Bag? Simply put, it’s a waterproof container ready for various emergencies. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of them; I hadn’t either until September 2019. At that time, I met Vicky Wessling, the first female forest fighter and later a volunteer with the American Red Cross. During the whitewater raft trip down the Grand Canyon, she convinced me in a few days time that a Go-Bag was essential to every household. 

What’s in a Go-Bag? In brief, it’s a waterproof bag with personal documents, a handful of medical items, some cash, and a few emergency staples. A complete list can be found here. Or, if you are short on time, you can buy pre-made bags with Judy or Preppi starting from $195. There are variations depending on the type and extent of emergency expected. The main thing is to have your bag and a checklist ready IN ADVANCE. 

Here’s how that played out for my family. Val did get us a place to stay. But on the third day, we came down from the 15th floor for our morning dog walk. There were several trash cans catching leaks throughout the hotel lobby. We learned that they lost a boiler and were about to shut the power off “for an hour” (it ended up being 12 hours). When we got back to the room, we grabbed the Go-Bag, and a few other things, to head home, where a few neighbors had let us know the power was restored. It would have normally sent me into a tailspin or panic to have had to evacuate twice. Just knowing that I had all of our important stuff in one place and a plan gave us great peace of mind. And made quick decisions possible.

My Go-Bag took me about 3-4 months of steady progress to compile. If you start now, you can be ready for deep winter in Texas. Or, get a pre-made kit if you prefer. But as Simon Huck (founder of Judy) told the New York Times, “The No. 1 thing you can do to save lives is make an emergency plan…more so than having a physical product.”