Back on August 10, 2005 you wrote: "Being out in the middle of nowhere, we could not help but be a little paranoid about our safety. A big expensive truck on the side of the road and no one around for miles."
Since that time you have left your truck alone in remote areas many time as you have canoed down rivers or gone hiking. In all of the time since, I can't recall that you have ever express any concerns like that again. I am curious if that was due to the area or just due to you being so new to fulltiming. I know that you still carry many things in your truck and it wouldn’t take much to get under the bed cover if someone wanted to.I believe that RV Parks are the safest places in the world but, part of the allure of fulltiming is using the parks, trails and streams when they are empty which almost guarantees that your big expensive truck will be on the side of the road with no one around for miles.”As we are preparing to start our fulltime life on the road (only 14 days to go) I am realizing how much expensive stuff there actual is in the truck and the truck bed and am concerned that it will be unattended in remote locations. Anyone else out there have similar feelings when starting out?
-- Edited by Grant at 08:46, 2007-12-12
blijil said
08:09 AM Dec 12, 2007
Not fulltiming yet but we have been Rving extensively in the last 4 years including, Mexico Sea of Cortez, Arizona, New Mexico Mountains and Lakes, Southern Colorado, and the Texas Hill Country. We like to dry camp so we are more often isolated than not. We keep our bicycles and a step stool in the pickup when we RV. We have yet to find anyone who has lost anything to thieves although we have read a few accounts on the forums. The only thing we lost was the stool out of the truck at the dealer when getting an oil change. Go figure. We would avoid a "dangerous looking" situation where suspicous characters were observed lurking but only a couple of those have surfaced at a rest stop and a very remote NM state park. It is nice to have another camper in the area just to have another set of eyes around but we haven't worried about it.
Good camping, Larry and Jacki
Howard said
08:46 AM Dec 12, 2007
Grant,
We are still a little paranoid about leaving our vehicles when we are canoeing, hiking, etc. We haven't had any problems, but when we return to the vehicles, I'm always relieved to see that no windows have been broken and our truck cover is still in place.
You just never know when just the wrong person will come upon a lone parked vehicle at the wrong time. And I'm sure having a "foreign" state license place doesn't help. But a little paranoia is not the same as a lot of worry.
We know the risks and we know they are relatively small. Plus, if anything happens it wouldn't be devastating. Stuff can be replaced and most of it is insured. And what would have been a major inconvenience in our prior lives is a minor inconvenience now.
So the bottom line is we are less paranoid than when we started because we have had more experience with nothing happening. But something could happen at anytime. We prepare ourselves for the possibility, but we don't let it keep us from doing what we enjoy.
Jim01 said
05:03 PM Dec 12, 2007
Great answer, Howard. I think we all feel a little like that when leaving our vehicles in a strange place.
Never stopped us from doing what we want though.
Judy the Other said
07:05 PM Dec 12, 2007
Counterpoint:
I've had neighbors (stixnbrix) whose vehicles have been stolen from their driveways. And not in "those" neighborhoods.
Judy
-- Edited by Judy the Other at 19:06, 2007-12-12
RVDude said
10:29 AM Dec 13, 2007
Certainly we all have had such "concerns." However, these same concerns are equally valid anywhere (and everywhere) we are - in the comfort of our "perceived safe" stick-n-bricks castles to the comfort of our "perceived safe" middle of nowhere RVs.
Bottom line is two-fold. 1) Once you start RVing, you change what comfort "tolerance" (a.k.a paradigm) you have acquired over the decades of another life and will need to develop a new "tolerance" and understanding. Hence, the initial "paranoia." 2) Wherever you are, simply be and always be smart about it. You wouldn't leave a $20 bill on the table in a police station anymore than you would on a picnic table in the boonies. (well come to think of it, I just might on the picnic table) So, protect yourself with sense and sensibility everywhere you are but don't cower because your venue has changed. Judy's counterpoint is spot on, in that it is our perception of "safe" in our long standing previous homes.
It's all good! As with any change, there are new things to learn and it takes time to build up a knowledge (and the resulting tolerance) of how to "deal" with that change.
Luvglass said
10:51 AM Dec 13, 2007
Right on RVDude.
I think 99% of the time our fear and paranoia is in our head and not warranted by our situation. It's all in how YOU look at it.
I think my truck is safer in the middle of nowhere, -- because there's no one around to do any damage.
It's a great life if you let yourself go with it.
Fred
lwfox002 said
11:59 AM Dec 13, 2007
We do not fulltime but stay weekends and vacations. We do think about problems but have found that other RV owners are trustworthy and also look out for others out there. A very good family to be part of.
Also, to worry about trouble with vandalism would ruin the trip so we tend to put that aside and enjoy the scenery and quiet.
ahoweth said
07:51 AM Dec 20, 2007
First of all let me say that I feel a little paranoia in this matter is a good thing. Great concern and worry is not. Having been fulltiming just a little longer than Howard and Linda, but camping for more than 30 years, we have yet to have anything stolen or broken into when we were camping. We had a trailer broken into when it was sitting next to our house. The moral to this is that I feel safer when camping than when we had stix-n-brix. A little paranoia keeps you on your toes and thinking so that you don't put yourself into a bad situation and keeps you from making yourself an easy mark. Most bad things happen when you put yourself in a bad situation. A little paranoia can really help prevent that.
In short we just haven't found theft or vandalism to be a problem worth much worry.
Back on August 10, 2005 you wrote:
"Being out in the middle of nowhere, we could not help but be a little paranoid about our safety. A big expensive truck on the side of the road and no one around for miles."
Since that time you have left your truck alone in remote areas many time as you have canoed down rivers or gone hiking. In all of the time since, I can't recall that you have ever express any concerns like that again. I am curious if that was due to the area or just due to you being so new to fulltiming. I know that you still carry many things in your truck and it wouldn’t take much to get under the bed cover if someone wanted to.I believe that RV Parks are the safest places in the world but, part of the allure of fulltiming is using the parks, trails and streams when they are empty which almost guarantees that your big expensive truck will be on the side of the road with no one around for miles.” As we are preparing to start our fulltime life on the road (only 14 days to go) I am realizing how much expensive stuff there actual is in the truck and the truck bed and am concerned that it will be unattended in remote locations. Anyone else out there have similar feelings when starting out?
-- Edited by Grant at 08:46, 2007-12-12
Good camping,
Larry and Jacki
We are still a little paranoid about leaving our vehicles when we are canoeing, hiking, etc. We haven't had any problems, but when we return to the vehicles, I'm always relieved to see that no windows have been broken and our truck cover is still in place.
You just never know when just the wrong person will come upon a lone parked vehicle at the wrong time. And I'm sure having a "foreign" state license place doesn't help. But a little paranoia is not the same as a lot of worry.
We know the risks and we know they are relatively small. Plus, if anything happens it wouldn't be devastating. Stuff can be replaced and most of it is insured. And what would have been a major inconvenience in our prior lives is a minor inconvenience now.
So the bottom line is we are less paranoid than when we started because we have had more experience with nothing happening. But something could happen at anytime. We prepare ourselves for the possibility, but we don't let it keep us from doing what we enjoy.
Never stopped us from doing what we want though.
I've had neighbors (stixnbrix) whose vehicles have been stolen from their driveways. And not in "those" neighborhoods.
Judy
-- Edited by Judy the Other at 19:06, 2007-12-12
Bottom line is two-fold. 1) Once you start RVing, you change what comfort "tolerance" (a.k.a paradigm) you have acquired over the decades of another life and will need to develop a new "tolerance" and understanding. Hence, the initial "paranoia." 2) Wherever you are, simply be and always be smart about it. You wouldn't leave a $20 bill on the table in a police station anymore than you would on a picnic table in the boonies. (well come to think of it, I just might on the picnic table) So, protect yourself with sense and sensibility everywhere you are but don't cower because your venue has changed. Judy's counterpoint is spot on, in that it is our perception of "safe" in our long standing previous homes.
It's all good! As with any change, there are new things to learn and it takes time to build up a knowledge (and the resulting tolerance) of how to "deal" with that change.
I think 99% of the time our fear and paranoia is in our head and not warranted by our situation. It's all in how YOU look at it.
I think my truck is safer in the middle of nowhere, -- because there's no one around to do any damage.
It's a great life if you let yourself go with it.
Fred
We do not fulltime but stay weekends and vacations. We do think about problems but have found that other RV owners are trustworthy and also look out for others out there. A very good family to be part of.
Also, to worry about trouble with vandalism would ruin the trip so we tend to put that aside and enjoy the scenery and quiet.
In short we just haven't found theft or vandalism to be a problem worth much worry.
-- Edited by ahoweth at 07:53, 2007-12-20