Just after 5 AM, my daughter came into my room asking what to do about her medicine that needed to be kept cold, but not too cold, over the next few days of her road trip. She was set to leave with her fiancé for a four-day trip up the coast to visit Hearst Castle and some wineries before his six-month military deployment.
My first thought was, “why did you wait until 5AM” to ask that question? But then I thought twice about saying anything since she was just diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and this new injectable medicine is temperature sensitive. She knew that she couldn’t store it on ice (too cold), and she worried about it banging around in an ice chest; syringes are pretty delicate after all. Now was not the time for Dad to spout off about her bad timing awakening me at such an unruly hour. It was a time for action and problem solving!
Bilt-Tuff to the rescue. One of the things I like so much about the Bilt-Tuff 12v chest refrigerator is that you can also run it off regular house-hold A/C power. My 45 Liter unit has a built-in power adapter and all you need is the cord that comes with it to run as your spare fridge in the garage (or wherever).
ME: “Honey, relax, problem solved”
DAUGHTER: “But Dad, we need to go now to beat traffic.”
ME: “Take the Bilt-Tuff, It’s already cold in the garage”
DAUGHTER: “Oh yeah”
Somehow this turned into my problem, but I smiled and gave her a confident look.
While she fussed around gathering up her last-minute belongings, I put the Bilt-Tuff in the back of her SUV that conveniently comes with a “cigarette lighter” style 12v plug. Perfect. The Bilt-Tuff was now running off the SUV’s battery. I grabbed a small plastic water bottle and fashioned it into a secure, safe “syringe carrier”, then tucked it into the upper shelf, nice and secure. Knowing that they had a four-hour drive, I left some sodas and snacks in the lower compartment should they stop along the coast for a break.
While she tossed her things into the SUV, I showed her how easy it was to adjust the temperature to 40 degrees and told her not to worry about it when it was parked in the hot sun all day as she visited the Castle. I let her know the fridge will shut down if there’s a risk of killing the battery, but the fridge is so energy-efficient, a dead battery was unlikely even without this safety feature and off they went.
Four days later they returned as “happy campers”. “How’d it work out for you?” I asked. She said it was perfect and that she didn’t even think about it during their tour. Later, after using up her medicine, they visited some wineries and deli shops along the way. They just popped open the fridge and used it the whole trip. At two of the motels they stayed at, they just transferred the Bilt-Tuff into the room and ran it off the motel’s power, which sure made it convenient.
I have a strong feeling that they’ll be borrowing my Bilt-Tuff again for their next road trip, because once you use it, you fall in love with the convenience of portable refrigeration.
HAPPY TRAILS!
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