Add one vote for the dash cam.
Our dash cam was installed all of a grand 20 minutes as we left for our first long road trip. 7 blocks away from the house, on an early Sunday morning a guy driving an old chevy PU decided he needed to make a sharp left right in front of us - so he could make the driveway to the 24 hour drug store. He must have missed our front bumper by an inch. He took out a good sized boulder next to the driveway.
We slammed on the brakes. Everything went flying including the dogs. We pulled over and set our stuff back in place while we shook off the nerves.
Rest of the trip was well enjoyed once we got the trauma out of the way.