Unwelcome intruders in the night

[fitzjohnfan]

Never in an RV park, and never to me as an adult. Once in the 1970s in a shopping center parking lot, an inebriated person climbed up the stairs into our 1957 Fitzjohn. To the uninitiated, our Fitzjohn could look like a 4104 (greyhound bus). He started up the stairs (the door was open) mumbling something about which way this bus was going, our min-pin growled, and bit him on the finger, and he stumbled back out.

[kendall69]

Happened to while I was camping in the middle of nowhere. [Mod Edit] Problem solved

[CharleyL]

When I close this Rig up no one gets in.

[krivanj]

I never had this happen but once in our sailboat in the Bahamas at anchor in a crowded Green Turtle anchorage, we heard an outboard coming closer and closer (at 3 AM). An inflatable dinghy bounced very hard off the bow, we heard "oh s__t, that's not it", and away they went.

[a7az]

Parked in Little Haiti in Miami with my wife in a RV conversion stealth white cargo van in 2017. Woke up to seven armed minority males slamming on the walls probably thinking we were running surveillance. We must have parked in front of their stash house. Quietly went to the front seat naked, turned the van on, threw it in drive, didn't take the foil off the windows, just floored it. Used a one inch gap at the top to see the road. Didn't turn headlights on as I sped off. They ran to their parked car to give chase. Couldn't outrun them because they were driving more recklessly than me trying to catch up. After a tense standoff near a main road they backed down when they saw I wasn't a cop. We didn't have enough presence of mind to call the police at that point, and we never did. We would have probably been killed if anything went down slightly differently.

Avoid downtown Miami and don't boondock in gang territory. Miami was also the only visit I've ever had my credit cards hit for fraudulent charges in the coming weeks.

[Krbjmpr]

Campground in Sanger, Tx, in process transitioning into a KOA...


Saturday or Sunday night, dusk, I was sitting outside, 2 girls walked up.


They were polite, and I asked "what can I do for you?" as I expected
them to be needing a jack, jump cables, whatever.


"We are selling magazines and candy" said the first, I am Julie, Second
one said "And I am Candi". "If you don't give us money then we will
say you touched us and tried to force us inside."


I replied, "I have cameras recording all audio and video, I will see you
in Juvie before the moon rises." They ran off when I picked up the phone.


True to my word, Denton County picked them up and transported to
Juvenile Detention until their parents got back from gambling in OK. Next day, deputy came around for DVD of video, told me they had over a grand
between them and to see if I could figure out whom the young birches had fleeced.I did, 7 others, money was returned but still had several pissed off wives.


Parents / teens gone during next day, motor home gone day later.




And *THAT* is why I have my unit, like others, wired for AV recording. It has also saved my butt when being pulled over my unscrupulous troopers, proved guilt in several accidents not involving me, supported claims as evidence in 2 other accidents, and caught hundreds if not thousands of gigs of footage of night time activities of both the old and drunk, and young and amorous.



Even caught an illegal tank dump "Cousin Eddie Style" in a store parking lot in West Texas. Naturally I was blamed initially since I am parked in adjacent lot, with toad, a wife and 2 kids. I was able to exonerate myself with the footage.

[MingusPirate]

Around midnight in N Charleston, SC a loud banging on my TT door and screaming demands to open the door. [Mod Edit] With flashlight I discovered a uniformed police officer standing sideways about 15' from the window [Mod Edit]
I asked what he wanted and he said he was looking for a sex offender that was in my space. Since I was a contractor and living there for over 8 months I was skeptical. I told him it wasn't me. He said he knew because he checked my plates. So I said why the h... did he wake me. He laughed and walked away. Two takeaways: Always have it chambered. Beware your local police force may be armed and dangerous.

[garywilson]

I'm thinking that if I had an issue with folks knocking on my door in the early hours (before 10 AM), I put me a fake doorbell by the door so I wouldn't be bothered.

[Babylon5]

What the heck is that?

Originally Posted by CharleyL

When I close this Rig up no one gets in.

[ByeTheWay]

Never had this happen while boondocking or in a rv park.

[Loren B.]

Originally Posted by CharleyL

When I close this Rig up no one gets in.

Originally Posted by Babylon5

What the heck is that?

I rode ashore in one of those back in the '70s. I remember that we called it an "Amtrak" (no relation to the train). It's a tracked, amphibious personnel carrier, probably an LVT-4 or LVT-5. The time I rode in one was during an amphibious landing exercise on the east coast.

The LVT (Landing Vehicle - Tracked) is carried to the shores of the objective in an LSD (Landing Ship - Dock) or similar vessel. Marines are loaded into the interior of the LVT and when the front doors on the LSD are opened the LVT is driven into the ocean out of the ship. It immediately sinks and water pours in through the cracks, but it bobs back up to the surface. It rides very low in the water, with perhaps just a foot or two of freeboard. When it gets traction at the beach it can drive inland some distance before opening the front ramp and disgorging the Marines.

Like other aspects of my military training it was a fun ride, but I'm glad I never had to do it for real.

[Chris T]

I have had it happen once where someone approached us at night in a turck stop parking lot asking for money.

I have had several people approach our coach when parked in public lots, see our security system and then turn and walk away.

I do sleep well at night since installing this security system. The bonus is when I am tired I can let them share the driving duties.

Chris T

Security System Provided by GSD Inc.

[lewisedge]

Originally Posted by Mukiwa

Hello fellow RVers. I wanted to share a couple of experiences we've recently had where we had people coming up to our RV in the early hours of the morning.

First instance, camping in a nice RV park on the Texas gulf in January, my wife and I woke up to someone banging on the RV door at 3am. Thinking it might be an emergency I asked out the window what the problem was and a female asked loudly if she could borrow an iPhone charger. Appeared to be under the influence. Anyhow, I sent her on her way, without the Apple juicer.

Then this morning at 5am at an RV park on north Florida, I had a guy try to open the door of the RV, banging really loudly, and shouting 'Let me in!'. I saw him through the window and he appeared to be very drunk, slurring and swaying. I shouted out the window that I would call the cops and he staggered off into the night. We are armed so I wasn't particularly concerned about him actually getting in the RV, but still a jolt to the system so early in the morning!

Anyone else experience this kind of thing? Is it common? Is it time to put an extra deadbolt on the RV door?

Interesting that you've had such a campground experience. My wife and I have camped all over the continental USA and western Canada and have never had anybody bang on our door at night. We once had an elderly woman try to open the locked door of our motorhome while we were shopping at a Wal-Mart in Scranton, PA, but she could not open it and wandered away, never appearing to be a threat to us.


We did have a shrieking, sot-drunk woman bang on the door of our cruise ship cabin at about 2:00 am. I doused her with the contents of our ice bucket before the ship's security personnel escorted her to the right deck for her cabin.

[RamblingRV]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

I'm so glad I'm not that paranoid! If so, I'd just stay home in my bunker. That's no way to live.

Once you’ve been burgled, robbed, and mugged, you may change your mind. Several in my family have experienced at least one (each) of these things. I’ve been mugged, 30 years ago, near LAX. Now my [Mod Edit] is like my Amex card...don’t leave home without it. I don’t care so much about the money or possessions they may take, but I do care about my life, my wife, my daughter and grandkids. You do you, but IMHO, your way is no way to live.