Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s we were taught to be self sufficient more than most people now are

 I suppose it goes back to the pioneer spirit that my father and grandfather still had from their upbringings. My grandfather was born in the late 1870s and the rest of my grandparents likely were born in the 1880s. My Father's father passed away in 1970 and my mother's father passed away in 1960. So, my father's father was almost 100 years old likely in his 90s and still driving his panel truck between his home he shared with his wife my grandmother in Seattle and Idaho where he had a mining claim until the last week of his life when a wheel bearing froze in his panel Truck (Van) and he went off a cliff into a river there in Idaho near Elk City Idaho. I went to this place and visited his mining claim when I was 8 years old in 1956 with my father and mother and my 5 years older male cousin who has always been like a brother to me because we both mostly grew up in southern California whereas most of our family on my father's side was in Seattle Washington where I was born. My father was born in 1916 and lived to 1985. It was a big surprise (and not a good one) when we lost him at age 69 long before we expected to because he was such a health powerhouse. But, when you don't listen to doctors (especially if you are over 40 or 50) often you are dead soon as was the case with my father.

So, like my father before me I was taught how to build things like houses and I was taught how to fix cars and trucks (which saved me an incredible amount of money until I was in my 40s and my new wife wanted to buy service policies for every vehicle we bought as was her family tradition. 

So, until I was about 45 I did 90% of the maintenance on most vehicles I owned including changing spark plugs, adjusting valves on my VW bugs and Vans and I even changed the transaxle on my VW Westfalia camper Van we called FIG because this was on the license plate. I also changed brake pads on shoe brakes and brake pads on disc brakes when they came in and did all sorts of things including changing oil and oil pans and lubing the cars before they all had sealed lubrication like now to last 80,000 to 100,000 miles or more

So, in addition to learning to fix cars and change flat tires and how to jerry rig almost anything to get home in an emergency I learned to grow food and build homes and I also learned how to navigate anywhere without a GPS device (because they didn't exist when I grew up).

I, like my father and grandfather always had a really great sense of direction so I navigated by landmarks which is what people did before GPS a lot especially in the wilds. It's the main reason people didn't get lost and die when I grew up in the wilds much.

So, in every way I was taught to be self reliant and resourceful always which is a part of my father's family's tradition going back here in the U.S. to 1725 when the family first came over to the U.S. on a ship up the river to Philadelphia then in 1725.