Firemen Ask for Solo RVer's Help

In a free seminar put on by the Quartzsite, Arizona fire department for RVers, an interesting--and somewhat 'stop and think about it'--topic was brought up. Almost every year, says the fire department representative, a body is found in the Quartzsite desert, usually of someone who wandered off, got disoriented, and never made it back to their rig. Since solo RVers have nobody "at home" to notice their absence, 'could we please make it easier on the fire department and medical services folks?'

The recommendation was that solo RVers put emergency contact information on their person and in their rigs? One possibility is the so-called "vial of life," something as simple as a jar inside your refrigerator with your personal information inside. At times government officials finally wind up going inside an apparently abandoned RV to try and get the bottom of a missing owner. Too often they're able to identify the owner from vehicle registration information, but just who to contact may not be clear. In one instance the police found a cell phone in an "abandoned" rig and kept it charged up and at the station until a concerned friend called find out why they hadn't heard from their loved one.

Sobering, yes. But loving kindness moves us to do what we can to avoid this problem.

Is it Safe Out There?

Many of those new to the RV lifestyle are concerned about safety. They read about crimes and wonder--how subject to the criminal element are folks in RVs? If you sit around the campfire, sooner or later there's some sort of RV "crime story" bound to come up--but if you push your source for specifics, it often seems things seem to get vague. Yes, we have heard of actual incidents where travelers have run into trouble--but in reality, it's a very RARE situation.

RVs are pretty hard to break into, compared to the common home. After all, in the dark of night, a big old house presents a lot of places to sneak in. Your little old RV is so small if somebody breaks a window, it's sure to wake you up. Burglars don't want to let you know they're coming.

Too, robberies most often involve planning: The neighborhood mini-mart. The bank. The liquor store. Somebody's home known to have valuables or lots of dough. By our transient nature, as RVers, we're a whole lot harder work into a well planned robbery effort. That, and for some reason, a prevailing view of RVers is that we all carry sawed off shotguns around, begging for chance to "make my day."

We'll leave the thought of toting a weapon up to you, but there are a few tips that can make your RV experience more secure. First, use common sense. Don't open your door to anyone (particularly at night) who you don't know. Don't park your rig in neighborhoods infested with "tagging" graffiti. Keep your doors locked. Leave the hitchhiker for somebody else to pick up. If you do stay overnight in a "rest area," use your own bathroom at night, rather than presenting yourself as an easy mark as you wander up to the public one.

We all have a "sixth sense" about danger. We've had experiences on the road where we just felt that, "Something isn't right here..." and we heeded it: We picked up and moved on. After years of roving about in our RV, we can honestly say that's only happened less than a handful to times, and we've never had any real trouble out there.