Water in a Winter Car Kit?

In the winter car kit post, I mentioned a bottle of water being included in the kit. Now, I can already hear some of you saying, "You must not live where where it gets cold and stays cold. That would be a bottle of ice where I live."

First of all, let me say... Thank You for Sharing. :-) Actually, I live in the Dallas/Forth Worth, Texas area and, while it does get cold here (last night it was 22 degrees (F) at our house), it doesn't have the deep, extended cold that some places up north get. And for which I say, Thank You Very Much!

For climates like ours, the chances of the water bottle freezing and splitting are pretty slim. Last year, I had a bottle of water in the winter kit all winter long and never had it freeze, not even a crystal. My car sits in a carport and not in an enclosed garage, so this is not to be glossed over. True, the water bottle was in the passenger compartment and not in the trunk, so it got heated every day when I drove. It might surprise you how much warmer the passenger compartment of your car can be compared to the trunk. (Most cars have some insulation for the car interior... we tend to complain if the inside of a car bleeds heat or cold too fast.) Anyway, you may find that your water bottle never freezes if you treat it right. (And I am NOT talking about putting a bit of "additive" in it as antifreeze.)

Brrrrrrrr.....

On the other hand, I have lived where it often got down to 0 degrees (F)... or close to it, at night. Yep, it was one of those places where the parking garages had plug-ins. (For those of you who live in the sunny south, a plug-in is an electrical outlet at the head of the parking space where you plug in your electric oil heater. You do this so that your engine oil stays fluid enough to easily re-coat the engine when you start up again. There are two basic varieties. One is the dipstick replacement with a heating element on the end. Then there is the more effective, but more expensive, oilpan replacement which has the heating element built into the floor of the pan. And now you have another reason you are glad you live in the sunny South.)

Yes, a bottle of water left in your car overnight in that kind of climate, especially if parked in the driveway, would probably freeze.

So what should you do?

Why don't you tell me? Those of you who live in colder climes and have a winter car kit, what do you put in it? Do you toss a bottle of water in your coat pocket so you have it should you need it when you are out? Or maybe you have problems remembering to do that (which is why we have a bottle stored in our cars)? Or do you just figure that you won't need water so you don't even bother?

And next time, we'll discuss that Winter Kit for the Car like I promised last time.