[VAC] Re: Safe Camping and Feeling Safe

[Dan Weeks <theprofileco@xxxxxxx>]

Like most folks, I've always felt pretty safe camping. So I innocently
mentioned to my brother, an over the road trucker, my intention to sleep in
the back of my station wagon in highway rest areas on a recent 2,000 mile
round trip. WHAT ARE YOU, NUTS!? Was his reply. He quickly filled me in on
the dangers of doing that--criminal vagrants, hookers and pimps, bandits of
all kinds, etc. etc. There is a reason tractor trailers have no windows on
their sleepers, he said. He told stories of guys killed for the change from
their fuel bill, and said violent crime at truckstops and some rest areas is
more common than realized, unless you're a trucker. He avoids places with
bad reputations, and always locks his truck. My brother is no weinie--he's
six-four and wears size 14 boots and is strong as a bull from tarping loads
and changing tires, and would not be someone I'd want to be confronting with
a tire iron in his hand. I did sleep in the back of my station wagon on that
trip--in private campgrounds, where I felt perfectly safe, as always. I also
had my cell phone on and in reach at all times.

My theory of just-in-case protection: carry a loaded cell phone and know how
to use it. Worked for me when I happened to be entering my local bank as
three armed bandits left a couple months ago. They told me not to move at
gunpoint. I didn't. Until they left. Then I followed them in my car at such
a great distance I don't even think they knew I was there, and called 911.
Soon it started raining police cruisers, and the guys are now in jail. In
this admittedly peculiar case, the phone was much more valuable to me than a
gun--I had the entire county's law enforcement arsenal brought to bear on
the situation in two minutes with three keystrokes. For myself, I'd much
rather leave deadly force to the pros, but that's a personal decision. My
brother doesn't carry a gun, either, for the record. So far, his good
judgement has kept him safe. I'm not trying to start an arguement, or
prescribe what's best for everyone, or debate gun control here. I have my
opinions, and I deeply respect those of others who differ, for their own
well-considered reasons. We all take different paths to personal safety, and
that's as it should be. I'm just offering my perspective on traveling and
camping safely, and my brother's experience, to my fellow travelers for what
it's worth. 

Dan Weeks
'75 Argosy 26