The Tok Report – Car in Cold Weather

I’m playing around with Seesmic and seeing if my DSL connection will handle it. Here’s a little clip I just made about cold weather and vehicles. (I wish I could embed the video but WordPress.com doesn’t seem to allow it.)

Click for Video

What are YOUR cold weather vehicle stories?

The Fairbanks Package for Cars in the Alaska Cold

Image via Wikipedia

I was getting my brakes checked the other week at the Toyota dealer in Anchorage, and my husband suggested that I also get an engine block heater. It is pretty typical in Alaska to have an engine block heater (as it is in many cold-weather places). But as I spoke to the mechanic about the heater and told him we were moving to Tok, he offered an additional service.

“You may want to get our Fairbanks Package,” he suggested.

What is the Fairbanks package, you ask? Basically it is the engine block heater PLUS an oil pan heater PLUS a blanket wrapped around the battery. Because when you’re living in a place where 30, 40, 50, 60 and even 70 degrees Farenheit below zero isn’t unusual, you probably want a BLANKET around your engine.

I opted not to get the Fairbanks Package right now. The way I see it, I’m not going to be doing a lot of driving in the dead of winter when I first get to Tok. And I’m hoping my car will fit in our garage just in case. But getting the Fairbanks Package is not out of the question. We’ll see how my 4Runner fares.

Do you have the Fairbanks Package where you live?