In fact...

Why not bid out that story, same location even, to somebody more experienced: a good writer with a bit more know-how? I bet even in Brooklyn they could come in halfway under $11,000 with a more engaging tale. Even throw in the tornado, where you no doubt could have responded differently if prepared, and better taken up the challenge.

That's what people want to read as they grow further and further from self-sufficiency. Stories where they learn something in the adventure, where they walk away thinking if push came to shove, they could ... regress back to America's more Renaissance man days, before we all began to specialize and forget the basics, and got in this race collecting so many things.