Security while Boondocking

[MsNomer]

I will not boondocking alone without decent cell signal.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by MsNomer

I will not boondocking alone without decent cell signal.

Mind sharing your cell provider and any boost technology you employ? Even with Verizon (but no booster) we went overnight with zero reception many nights out West. And this was in parks with campsites, not remote BLM land. Our phone is pretty old though.
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[GallenH]

Difficult question on carriers. If you go into the White Mountains in western AZ you're best off with Verizon. Even in the town of Alpine the residents feel that they have to use it to get a signal. Some posters advocate having several cell phones each with different carriers. I've also heard that all carriers must communicate 911 calls regardless. That won't help in areas with zero reception, though. And remote areas often have zero. I have a Garmin that connects to satellite. It works in all the no service areas that I've been in. But it's text only. I can't imagine trying to fumble with typing out text in the dark with an intruder at the door. There is a SOS button on it. But they're going to text you and ask you what the specific problem is. The only way I can think of is satellite phone.........and that is expensive. But they're used by rescue in all parts of the world. I'll be interested to see how others respond.

[gregmchugh]

We carry Verizon and AT&T which seems to get coverage everywhere there is coverage to be gotten. We carry a Garmin Inreach and an ACR PLB also for text communication when there is no cell coverage and to have two methods of sending an SOS for a real emergency.

I am not sure that any of these are going to provide much help if you are confronted by someone who is going to try to kill or maim you though. A 911 cell call won’t get a quick response out in the boondocks and unless you have already been injured the two SOS devices won’t prevent it but will bring medical help as quick as possible out in the wild. The Garmin Inreach will allow you to text someone who can call in a 911 call for you.

I suppose a satellite phone is a possible solution but i saw a Denali Park Ranger try to make a satellite phone call in the park with no success when we were broken down on the side of the road in the park.

My assessment is that dangerous encounters with humans are rare enough to not worry about it except to being careful about where you go and where you camp. Serious injuries out in the wild are a more likely risk so we are prepared to get help no matter where we are for that. We saw 3 vehicle accidents on our trip to Alaska last year with two having serious injuries. Luckily both of these were within 10 miles of a town but we were many places where we were much further from any place with medical help available. The only way to get help for a life threatening injury in those places would be with an SOS from the Inreach or the PLB.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by GallenH

I have a Garmin that connects to satellite. It works in all the no service areas that I've been in.

Same experience we had. Navigation worked everywhere. I did not think of using the Garmin for two-way communication. Ours is an older model so I'll have to check it has a text feature. Thanks.
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[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Same experience we had. Navigation worked everywhere. I did not think of using the Garmin for two-way communication. Ours is an older model so I'll have to check it has a text feature. Thanks.
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It has to be an InReach to do texting via Satellite, originally a DeLorme product and now Garmin after they acquired DeLorme. An older Garmin is probably just a GPS with no two way satellite communication capability.

[Glamper]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Good choice. No one uncomfortable around guns should carry one. Different for everyone and no one says you have to.

But having a plan to protect yourself, like maintaining situational awareness and considering the possibility a threat could (no necessarily will) happen, should be part of your planning.

I like this analogy. No one thinks their house is likely to catch on fire, but yet we carry home insurance and make an evacuation plan to protect our families just in case.
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Yeah, but if my house goes on fire I call the Fire Department, I don't have a hook & Ladder in my back yard, or a hookup to the hydrant....and if a bad guy breaks in will call PD. That's why I pay taxes. I don't need, or want, a gun.

[GeorgeRa]

I am proud to say that I am smart, in fact very smart, while working on solar panels I was smart enough to allow enough room for the future installation of the machine gun turret, this installation is on my to do list, unfortunately it is in last position. I am leaning towards AK47 but didn’t decided yet.

I am kind of stuck on getting approval from my wife, her choice is a cheap WWII Russian tank converted to our new B-Class RV, in fact it could be easier to add a bed or hot water instead adding a turret, but gas mileage would be terrible.

These decisions are difficult, easy way out would be stay in state or national parks or hope.

Cheers to all.

[ponti33602]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

It has to be an InReach to do texting via Satellite, originally a DeLorme product and now Garmin after they acquired DeLorme. An older Garmin is probably just a GPS with no two way satellite communication capability.

Yes, we got an InReach Mini as our hikes left us without a signal and we both have aging parents. It is nice to have if you are frequently out of service territory but it is really designed if you are injured or trapped/stranded with little hope to make it back without assistance. Any signal for help would involve a triage to the closest res-ponder which typically could/would take a few hours.

We purchased ours for the reverse.....let the parents reach us via text if some emergency happens while we are away so we can determine how we might get back to them over a few days.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Good choice. No one uncomfortable around guns should carry one. Different for everyone and no one says you have to.

But having a plan to protect yourself, like maintaining situational awareness and considering the possibility a threat could (no necessarily will) happen, should be part of your planning.

I like this analogy. No one thinks their house is likely to catch on fire, but yet we carry home insurance and make an evacuation plan to protect our families just in case.
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Originally Posted by Glamper

Yeah, but if my house goes on fire I call the Fire Department, I don't have a hook & Ladder in my back yard, or a hookup to the hydrant....and if a bad guy breaks in will call PD. That's why I pay taxes. I don't need, or want, a gun.

Could you not see in my original quote my agreement with you, then my attempt to get back on topic about having a plan and away from gun discussion before it took over this thread? My comment about a fire was an example of why we plan for unlikely, but potentially dangerous events (like the OP's situation) It had nothing to do with guns. I hope this clarifies it for you.

Anyone who wants to continue a discussion about guns, I suggest you start a new thread. See how long that lasts before Mods shut it down.
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[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Glamper

...any recreational activity that requires me to carry firearms for protection, not for me.

We could all just decline to boondock and instead stay home to avoid the risk and the need to reckon with our own preconceptions about self-defense.

OH BUT WAIT - my former Houston home was invaded and destroyed by organized crime while I was 20 miles away at my job. They battered down my solid mahogany front door, went round and opened the garage from the inside, drove a truck in there, shut the garage door to conceal themselves, spent the day gutting the house of every valuable, and maliciously destroying whatever they couldn't sell. The police said it was the worst case they'd ever seen - the severity of destruction suggested a gang initiation rite had been part of their purpose. It was not a simple burglary.

My busted-down south-facing front door allowed a steady subtropical breeze of heat and moisture to enter my house unimpeded. The air conditioner went wild trying to keep up with the demand. It burned up its own motor, but not before the condenser pan overflowed water in the attic, saturating the ceiling which then collapsed onto the living room floor.

I spent my third trimester of pregnancy engaged in the following activities:

(1) Remediating credit card fraud and identity theft,
(2) Contracting for structural repairs to the house,
(3) Dealing with reams of insurance paperwork,
(4) Scrubbing law enforcement's fingerprint-dusting carbon off every conceivable interior surface of a 2,700 square foot house, and
(5) Repurchasing enough new household goods to make normal life possible again.

But yeah, let's avoid the need for self-defense by not boondocking in areas where crime might manifest.

Which is pretty much everywhere. Any other belief is illusory.

Self-defense is our personal responsibility. How each of us accomplishes that is an individual decision - but my advice is that you be ready to respond to criminal parasites when they call your number. You may find that your chosen methods "evolve" once you get a taste of what it's like to be targeted for exploitation by ruthless criminals.

[DUTCH in Atlanta]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Self-defense is our personal responsibility. How each of us accomplishes that is an individual decision - but my advice is that you be ready to respond to criminal parasites when they call your number. You may find that your chosen methods "evolve" once you get a taste of what it's like to be targeted for exploitation by ruthless criminals.

+110% Agree!!

[rowiebowie]

Ouch! Now I know why you advocate layers of security. My home front door cannot be kicked in due to over-the-top hardening I've done since my retirement. Our front screens are not the typical fiberglass screens, but instead are made of woven hurricane resistant stainless steel.

Still, if someone is determined to get in (as your group was) there's no way to keep then out. But you can perhaps make it so hard they will give up and go elsewhere when they can't gain quick access.

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[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Ouch! Now I know why you advocate layers of security. ....

IMO, it's very important that people understand the nature of criminal targeting (boondocking and everywhere else). I can't emphasize that enough. How people choose to defend themselves is totally their own business. But don't make your choices in ignorance, as I did back then. Understand what factors go into a criminal's surveillance and decision to target a specific individual / scenario.

I was, at the time of my targeting:

(1) Visibly young and naive

(2) A physically small women to start with

(3) Visibly pregnant - if I had arrived home from work early and intercepted the gang members, there's no way I could have mustered any kind of escape or defense. I was transforming into a small but slow and lumbering pregnant whale. I couldn't even run at that point.

(4) I had a computer geek husband who worked long hours, was never home in the early evenings, and who (IMO) represented the living polar opposite of a protective male stereotype (a factor which figured prominently in our subsequent divorce). Even if he had been present during the invasion, he would have offered no significant resistance.

(5) I clearly and visibly was not the kind of woman to own any kind of defensive weapons myself.

All of those ^^ things were immediately observable to anyone casing our neighborhood during their process of selecting *just the perfect victim* therein.

I've had people react with shock when I tell them that story - how could those people possibly target a pregnant woman like that?! It's unconscionable!

Duh - they are *PREDATORS*. These people are not human in the way that most of us understand humanity! They Have One Job - to propagate their gang banger culture. Nothing stands in the way of that objective.

Fortunately I did not cross paths with them - the police thought that they had departed the scene just moments before I arrived and naively walked back into my home (alone and defenseless).

Be smart, not stupid.

[MsNomer]

Rowiebowie, the key word was "alone." With MrNomer, we boondock without signal. At least, if we die, we go together.

We have ATT, Verizon, and a WeBoost which offers marginal enhancement. We also have InReach (thanks again, Ponti), which probably wouldn’t work from within the van. We acknowledge the risk, but try to keep it in perspective. We are also "vulnerable" on remote hikes.

My biggest concern is my winter solo trip south that includes Louisiana, which I will begin this weekend. Louisiana parks are suffering terribly from lack of funds, MrNomer's phone is the Verizon and my ATT signal is sparse or absent in large swaths. Add in the serious drug problem among very poor gun toters. I stay alert. If I had a gun, though, I’d probably shoot myself with it. (As a matter of fact, the only time I shot a gun, I did shoot myself with it, but that's another story. Big brothers may be more dangerous than druggies.)

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by MsNomer

Rowiebowie, the key word was "alone." With MrNomer, we boondock without signal. At least, if we die, we go together.

We have ATT, Verizon, and a WeBoost which offers marginal enhancement. We also have InReach (thanks again, Ponti), which probably wouldn’t work from within the van. We acknowledge the risk, but try to keep it in perspective. We are also "vulnerable" on remote hikes.

My biggest concern is my winter solo trip south that includes Louisiana, which I will begin this weekend. Louisiana parks are suffering terribly from lack of funds, MrNomer's phone is the Verizon and my ATT signal is sparse or absent in large swaths. Add in the serious drug problem among very poor gun toters. I stay alert. If I had a gun, though, I’d probably shoot myself with it. (As a matter of fact, the only time I shot a gun, I did shoot myself with it, but that's another story. Big brothers may be more dangerous than druggies.)

I found that the Inreach could communicate from inside our Roadtrek Sprinter van if placed next to a window. Our new truck is constructed from foam filled fibreglass faced panels and the Inreach works fine inside even if not near a window.

[Phoebe3]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

I am proud to say that I am smart, in fact very smart, while working on solar panels I was smart enough to allow enough room for the future installation of the machine gun turret, this installation is on my to do list, unfortunately it is in last position. I am leaning towards AK47 but didn’t decided yet.

I am kind of stuck on getting approval from my wife, her choice is a cheap WWII Russian tank converted to our new B-Class RV, in fact it could be easier to add a bed or hot water instead adding a turret, but gas mileage would be terrible.

These decisions are difficult, easy way out would be stay in state or national parks or hope.

Cheers to all.

We would prefer a high-powered laser - they're quieter and less likely to disturb the neighbors.

[Alec]

Bathrooms??? People who hold such opinions, or believe such nonsense, should definitely not have access to a gun. I only carry concealed when I leave my house; no accidents in the last twenty years.

[RossWilliams]

Originally Posted by DUTCH in Atlanta

I've carried concealed for over 40 years; and have not yet accidentally shot myself or anyone else in a public bathroom or anywhere else for that matter!

I haven't carried concealed weapon for almost 70 years and have never been in a situation where I needed one.

That would still have been the case if someone on a motorcycle scoped out my RV in the middle of the night. Scary? Yes. But its perfectly possible it was some kid goofing around with no idea the rig was there until it hit their headlights.

I think it is important to distinguish between feeling safe, which is still important, and being safe. I think the second is a lot easier to accomplish than the first given our exposure to dramatic violence.

[RossWilliams]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Both good advice. But on our last trip out West we rarely had cell signal where we camped. No cell booster on our van, but not sure it would have solved the problem everywhere.
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You are far more likely to need to call 911 for a variety of reasons than to defend yourself against thugs so a satellite phone would still be a better investment than a gun. On a list of risks, heart attack, disease or injury are a lot more serious than criminals of any kind.