Words to live by, though.
Another point: pack a "go bag" in the back of the car. Food, water, space blankets, matches, signal mirror, first aid kit, maybe a tarp and some tinder (dryer lint works great). Then you can set up camp, light a fire, and keep warm while you're waiting to be rescued.
I am so glad they were found.
I'd suggest a two-way radio as well, either a CB radio or a ham radio. It's probably preferable to have both if you have the room, since CBs and (most) handheld ham radios generally use completely different frequencies that will carry in different ways and different directions. (You technically need a license for a ham radio, but in an emergency, the laws are clear: You can use any sort of transmitter available to you in a life or death situation, whether you'd be authorized to use it normally or not.)
I remember reading an article in Popular Science when I was a kid on how to use the materials in a car to survive. All I remember is the headliner and insulation from the roof and seat materials can make a makeshift coat, and the oil from the engine makes a great smoky fire to help rescuers find you.
When I was doing field work years ago, I always traveled with the kit you describe. In addition, I tossed a sleeping bag in the trunk, some canned food and a few cans of sterno. Luckily I never needed it.
I won't do the whole list, but my woman and/or children would always have sleeping bags and a supply of hand warmers to tear open and put inside the bag with them.
During winter I don't bother with blankets (except to put inside sleeping bags), it is toasty warmth, then water, food, light, etc.
That's certainly good advice for normal circumstances but conditions where they were are much more extreme and suited more to a winter expedition special forces unit or similar.
Orange paint. Preferably a spray can.
When I'm traveling in cold weather, I throw in my 15º down sleeping bag. You can last quite a while without food (as long as you have water), but you are in deep trouble if you have no way to keep warm.
I have heard campers say that large plastic trash bags are some of the most useful items you can carry, and they don't take much room. More prayers for the dad.
Great ideas.
Good advice.
Somewhere on this site (www.equipped.org) is some excellent survival advice.
Words of wisdom - maybe we should start a freeper survival thread - what to do and not to do in emergency situations.
The guy was surrounded by ten thousand square miles of tinder.
Pine trees ALWAYS have dead wood on the bottom. All he had to do was spend two hours or so digging a bare spot, siphon a bit of gas from the tank, and he coulda had a twenty foot bonfire going.