What are your rally car essentials?

A copilot you can get along well with.

oh...and of course, bring a towel!

... and a raincoat; because, you know, convertible

I overpacked a tool bag with essentials for the Rocky Mtn Breakdown, but I had to take a daily driver vs. something hooptie-ish so I didn't really plan on taking that much initially.  Aside from shallow and deep-well sockets, a few extensions (including a torque stick for the wheels), ratchet handles, Milwaukee ugga-duggas and power ratchet, assorted other favorite tools, tire pressure gauge, gloves, and zip ties.  Lots of zip ties. I need to add some sort of tire inflator.

Usually for the Food & Beverage Department, it's caffeinated drinks, Smartwater (although I'm still no smarter--refund, please?), and a few assorted snacks low in carbs since I don't want to fall asleep at the wheel.  Given the number of road trips we're taking this year, and my better half needing to take a few health-related items, we're looking into a portable 12V refrigerator chest to avoid dealing with ice. (It's an actual refrigerator, not one of those coolers with limited cooling capacity.)  For the drinks, I'll buy them in Ohio so I don't have to worry about returnable bottles bouncing around the car.

Tactical gear isn't much. Sunglasses, Radenso DS1, two phones (one of which lives in the console to feed Android Auto to the head unit), Beano, spare USB charging cords, a 120 volt inverter (to charge camera and ugga-dugga batteries if needed), and if I remember to pack the right batteries this time, the DSLR for better pics. I also carry a Surface Go and a WiFi hotspot (given my line of work, sometimes I need to handle remote emergencies).  I get all the free paper maps I want from AAA, so I'm well stocked there. For the rally, a Stupid Car Tray for the passenger seat really helped.  (I rally solo, for now.)

In essence, not much different from any other road trip, beyond carrying extra tools.

Well crap, I don't think this escort is going to be big enough!

I have to fly out of Buffalo Sunday night for a 3 day work trip, so I need to bring those necessities too!

Lmfao this is actually a great list, and I'd thought of a few of these things.  I hadn't thought of the jack stand and a better jack.  I think I need to start a rally tote!

I almost bought a cheap CB radio but saw no real use for it. I've had no need to contact anyone else in the rally, outside of meeting up with them at the checkpoints, although it might be fun if traveling in a group. There was a recommended phone app for CB-like conversation but I can't be fumbling with a phone while driving. For emergencies, there's as good a chance we'd be within CB range of a fellow rally participant as we'd be in range of a cell tower.

I also considered a metric tool kit from Horrible Freight (don't need SAE), but I already own the tools and it only takes me about ten minutes to transfer what I need to the tool bag.  I bought a rugged Carhartt tool bag recently that has a solid, molded rubber bottom.

I realized I should be bringing the socket for the axle nuts, and a 1/2" breaker bar...

We never really heard anything on ours at Texas 2019. If you stick to a pack it may be useful, But most of the installs are maybe 2 mile range or less.

For at least 4 rallies we used an app called Roadstr that had a group messaging feature, though you had to check it to see if anyone had posted a new message.  That, along with everything else I was doing in terms of Navigation, got to be cumbersome. It went completely Tits-up during Retreat From Moscow and I don't think we use it anymore.  I think Jeff mentioned another app for RMB, though I haven't looked into it yet.  Mostly I was just using Facebook and Instagram.

As far as CB's go, I had one in the car for both last year's RBR and RFM.  We didn't use it on RBR at all (because nobody responded when we attempted to use it the first time, so we figured it wasn't transmitting and abandoned it), and on RFM I only used it on Thursday evening to chat with the Bavarians and Mooseknuckle when I was running behind them to get to the day's finish.  Other than that, it just sat there and I needed the 12v socket to keep my phone charged (and the 12v splitter I bought didn't work).  I'll be bringing it again, since they are fun to use, but I don't know how much I'll actually be using it.  If you want a radio with some distance, you actually want a shortwave or a ham radio, and not only do some of them require a license to use, but nobody's running them in the rallies.\

As much as I like to run with other participants, I like to get early starts every day (which is a good idea if you're solo, so you keep as much of the pack behind you as possible in case something bad happens).  So I'll chat with you if we're running together between two check points, but I don't hold it against anybody if we don't stay together.  We'll see each other again eventually.

No need to leave early, unless your'e driving something slow, or something that is likely to break. Which means, if you're doing it right, you need to leave real early!

I typically left the motels at 10am on RT-66! Because I'm a sleepy boy.

I'll see your Deep Purple and raise you one "Child in Time", the song of choice when you're Phiip Seymour Hoffman and you're chasing tornadoes.  Also, Grandma Utz chips and Guers Tea.

I'd make Jeff a playlist that includes as much Polka music as possible.