Before You Hit the North Dakota Roads, Check Your Glove Box for These Items

Go ahead, open your glove box. What do you see?

If yours looks anything like mine, there's a pretty good chance it has very little to do with gloves.

Glove compartments, or glove boxes, were originally designed to hold driving gloves. These days, they're more likely to contain sunglasses, paperwork, old receipts, charging cords, and whatever else we decided needed a home while driving around.

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Mine has been known to hold CDs, can koozies, sunglasses, the Explorer's owner's manual, a tire gauge, and a flashlight. In other words, it's less of a glove box and more of a tiny junk drawer on wheels.

But there are some things you really should keep in there, especially driving around North Dakota.

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Glove Box

Glove Box

A Few Things Worth Keeping Handy

A mechanic friend of mine recently offered some suggestions for putting your glove box to better use.

Among the most useful items are:

A flashlight: You never know when you'll need a little extra light, especially if you're dealing with a problem after dark.

Your vehicle manual: It's easy to forget about until a warning light comes on and you suddenly need to know what it means.

Insurance and registration: Keeping these documents somewhere easy to find can save you some digging when you need them.

A tire pressure gauge: A simple tool that can come in handy when you're wondering whether that tire looks a little low.

A small first aid kit: A few basic supplies can be useful for minor scrapes and bumps.

Pen and paper: Yes, I know. How old-fashioned! But sometimes a piece of paper and a pen are still tough to beat.

A multi-tool: Something with pliers and screwdrivers can be surprisingly useful for small jobs.

Spare fuses: Having the correct replacements can save you a headache if a fuse happens to blow while you're on the road.

Your glove box doesn't need to become an emergency preparedness headquarters. But taking a few minutes to clean it out and add a handful of useful items could make life a little easier the next time you need something while you're away from home.

And if you find three-year-old fast-food coupons in there, you can probably toss them.