Campground Theft: Is it Getting Worse?
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This week on the RV Podcast:
- Campground theft: How to Protect Your Gear while camping
- Somebody is trying to keep folks out of an Oregon national forest by burying planks booby-trapped with nails on forest roads.
- How RVers can get a nice break on diesel prices.
- All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode #521 of the RV Podcast
You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below.
If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays.
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RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK – Campground Theft
Recently on our Facebook group, MaryJean posted a picture of a campfire at night and wrote:
“Beautiful campfire but without our chairs that someone stole from our campsite today.”
MaryJean was staying at the Turkey Run State Park Campground in Indiana. She and her husband left their site for a few hours, came back and their chairs were gone. They looked around at the sites, didn’t see them.
They asked their neighbors, no one saw anything. They asked the campground staff, nothing. So they filled out a theft report. ….. And spent the night gathered around their campfire with no chairs, and a real sense of violation.
MaryJean’s post triggered nearly 600 comments. Most expressed shock and sympathy, but what struck us was how many others had similar stories, many saying it seemed to them thefts were on the rise.
Here are a few samples:
Joe: We were camping in Arizona recently, went out for the day, came back and someone had stolen my wife's bathing suit that she had hanging on a drying rack!
Lori: “Someone stole our portable trash can. Left the trash that was inside on the ground. We were at Colorado River RV Campground in Texas.”
Beth: At a state park in Ohio, things were disappearing from campsites during the summer months a couple years ago. Turns out it was indigent people living in the surrounding forest and coming at night to steal food, and other items to sell.
Gail: We’ve had several items stolen over the years. Lots of firewood, lighter fluid, the regulator for our Weber grill, fire ring, grill grate, our leveling bricks, picnic table. Heck, at our seasonal site, they even stole the gravel! Nothing is safe anymore.
Cheri: “Someone recently stole a 5 gallon can of gas out of our truck.”
James: First night of camping at a Montana campground in Flathead Lake, we had all our coolers with our week’s worth of food stolen. Someone snuck and stole all the coolers, the food, the drinks…. I have never been the same since. I lock and cable everything. I hate it.
Robert: “We stay at a high-end Camping Resort. The people are great. The problem is it's so large that the bad guys sneak over or under the fencing and steal stuff. They even try to break into cars if left unlocked. Haven't heard about them getting caught, either. Sad, but times are changing so be cautious. They also love Yeti coolers. They know what they're looking for.”
Kathleen: “This is so out of hand! We had all our towing equipment stolen…braking system everything this past summer at Butternut Grove in New York. We now put EVERYTHING away each night and we installed a Reolink security camera on the rig…..There are bad people everywhere…..So sorry this happened to you.”
The final indignity came from Susan, who wrote: “ I even had my cardboard “occupied” sign stolen.”
So, are thefts on campgrounds on the rise?
Unfortunately, we know of no single source that keeps records like this. But there sure were a lot of stories in that Facebook post. (We only shared SOME of them). What surprised us was the variety of items taken.
Of course some folks said they have never had anything stolen.
Kathleen: Never in the 40+ years have we had anything stolen. We have gone camping in everything from a tent up to our present 5th Wheel. …..We have never even encountered anyone but the nicest, most trustworthy people everywhere we have gone. Camp peeps are like family.
Linda: We leave everything, and no one has ever touched a thing except one kind neighbor who retrieved our blown-away chairs.
Some on our Facebook community say things have changed in society, and that is reflected at the campground.
Rob: Camping is not what it used to be. People are so about themselves that they steal and walk through your site; even one time, we had a guy literally drive a golf cart between our friend's camper and us after it rained, leaving a muddy mess.
Brenda: “Camping & RVing was the one place where you always felt safe. People were honest, and you could leave things outside, and nothing would get stolen, but things have changed for the worse.”
So what is the solution?
- Installing a Ring or Reo security camera on the motor home. This will notify you if anyone is close to the rig, you can see what is happening and a recording is made.
- Put a sticker in a very visible place saying your rig can campsite is monitored by video surveillance
- Put an apple air tag on one or two of your nicer chairs. You might need to hide it somehow so the thief doesn’t see it but it would be a way to track it.
- Hide a trail cam around your campsite
- Write your name in really large letters and permanent ink on your chairs
- Lock everything with a long cable lock to keep things secure.
- Buy motion sensor lighting that shines on anything valuable like bikes locked up.
Suggestions from our story here:
- Lock your door
- Secure your gadgets
- Chain your bikes
- Put coolers out of sight
- Install motion detection lights
- Get a dog
- Get a security system
- Lock your generator
Like at home, don’t leave things out and unsecured when you are not around.
SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ – Wendy Bowyer
Wendy Bowyer reports on the hot issues most talked about this past week on social media and our RV Lifestyle Community group.
In the RV Community‘s General Discussion Space Mark asked, “How many folks have researched some of the “emergency” procedures before they need them?” Mark was talking about things like how to manually operate awnings, slides, levelers, do you have shutoffs for individual plumbing areas or fixtures, etc.
Michael's answer made me laugh – he said yes! I was a Boy Scout.
Randall said he is reading through the manuals and Mark added that he asked this question because once he was trying to pack up after an overnight stop and his hydraulic leveling would not retract. He had to figure out on the spot what was happening and it sounds like it wasn't the best experience.
And this led to a great conversation about the importance of studying your RV's manuals before you need them.
Also in the RV Community, John said he and his wife have definitely decided to purchase a class A, either a pre DEF diesel pusher or a 2011 to 2019 gas burner. Sounds like he found some he likes in each category and so he asked the community's thoughts on the pros and cons of each.
Suzanne, who has a diesel truck pulling a Fifth Wheel, said the nice thing about diesel is you can fill up in the truck lanes, so you don't have to worry about clearance, and it is easy in and easy out.
Then Mike and Mark recommended getting Open Roads, so you can get a nice discount on diesel.
And Dick and Jane said their recommendation depends on the length of the Class A. They suggest if the Class A is 30 feet and under, gas is fine. But if it is longer than that, they recommend diesel for the power and mpg.
Then over on our RVLifestyle Facebook Group, Greg shared a picture of this big wasp nest attached to a fan and wrote: “Found this in my furnace today! Started it up and it made a terrible racket. Thankfully it came off easily and didn’t damage the fan.”
Now this wasp nest covered I bet a third of the fan, it was huge! And the image triggered quite the conversation!
Turns out many others, including John and Lacey, had the same thing happen to them. (Turned on the furnace, it made a strange sound, turned it off and when they investigated wasps had snuck through a vent and built a huge nest in their fan.)
Shannon said she had a dead mouse get stuck in hers once.
The solution is to get a screen to put over your vents so the insects can not come in. Ron said it is a must and an easy DIY install.
Thanks, Greg, for sharing this and I hope the tip helps many others!
RV NEWS OF THE WEEK
If you like to boondock or just visit southwest Oregon's Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, be aware of spiked nail booby-traps! Someone is taking wood boards and putting nails on them, sometimes hiding the contraptions under leaves, prompting the U.S. Forest Service to issue a warning.
Sad news for all who loved a grizzly bear known as the Queen of Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. The 28-year-old bear was accidentally killed after being hit at night by the driver of a Subaru in Snake River Canyon, just south of Jackson, Wyoming.
Winnebago reported what some are describing as a deep fiscal fourth-quarter earnings miss triggering a stock value drop. The poor fourth-quarter news is being blamed on uncertain retail conditions, higher inventory carrying costs and slightly elevated inventories in the motor home segment. Winnebago’s rival Thor Industries, has also been struggling, though it’s hopeful things will turn around in 2025.
It's that time of the year: Rocky Mountain National Park closed Trail Ridge Road for the season. And at Yellowstone National Park, most roads and entrances will close to most vehicles Nov. 1. Yellowstone will open for winter travel Dec. 15.
RV QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK
QUESTION: I see a growing number of RVs advertised as four-season rigs. Does that mean I don't need to winterize it? Jerry
ANSWER: If you are going to store your RV over the winter or not use it for prolonged periods of time, you MUST winterize it if you don't want your plumbing to freeze up and break.
Four season means you can use the RV all year long, and the plumbing, but only IF the RV is heated. Four season means the plumbing is not on outside, exposed to the elements, and located inside the rig or an an area where the RV’s heating system keeps the pipes from freezing.
Often, it means the tanks have separate heaters as well, usually powered by electricity. In other words, IF the RV has the heat on and you have electrical power, you can use the RV all four seasons.
But unless you live in the RV fulltime and can make sure the propane is always on for the furnace, you’re going to have to winterize. Also, while rigs boasting that they are four season may also have extra insulation, please note that no RV is made for prolonged exposure to sub-zero temperature, as often happens for days on end in some of the far northern states.
QUESTION: When will you be announcing next year’s gatherings? We so want to attend one of your gatherings but never seem to get enough notice. Also, have you ever considered doing more of them? – Jody
ANSWER: We hear you, Jody. And we are getting very close to announcing our gathering schedule for 2025. Every gathering we have sells out in the first 24 hours. We always announce them first to those who are members of our RV Community, so make sure you have joined. The address is rvcommunity.com
But to accommodate more people and make our gatherings even better, I can say right now that in 2025, we will have three gatherings instead of two. Starting in 2025, we will have a spring, summer, and fall gathering, each in different spots of the country.
Further, in response to demand, we are making them longer. Five days and four nights, insead of four and three.
We will be making several special announcements to the members of the RV Community in about two weeks, including the dates for all the gatherings. We’ll then be accepting signups for the spring gathering.
Lots of news coming because we have some great plans for the community. Make sure you join at RVCommunity.com so you don't miss them.
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