Terry and I both want to thank all of you who posted comments on the blog, e-mailed, or called us after reading about our encounter with an armed burglar in our RV. Your concern and support are very much appreciated.

We are okay, but both of us feel totally wiped out, I think myself more than Miss Terry. I have always been able to function during a crisis or emergency situation, but like this time, a day or so later it all hits me at once, leaving me feeling shaky, wrung out, and feeling like I am teetering on a ledge.

I only slept an hour or so Friday night, and ever since the incident, I have been going over it in my head, second guessing myself, and wondering what I could have/should have done differently. Looking back, I keep thinking that the second I realized that we had been victimized, we should have backed off and avoided the potential confrontation that followed. And I keep thinking what could have happened to Terry if he had shot me and she was left alone with him. I am mentally kicking myself over and over again for putting her into that situation. That is the worst part, the what ifs.

Rationally, I know it all happened too fast for me to have had time to think it all through and consider my options, and that I reacted the way my instincts and training told me to do. And it worked out; nobody got hurt (except maybe the intruder’s arm), and we are here to tell the story. But again, there is that nagging “what if.”

Somebody wrote to say that this could have been avoided if we had been in a campground, instead of dry camping in a parking lot. But there are no campgrounds open where we are this time of year. And while we have dry camped in everything from truck stops to rest areas, to the open desert with no problems, this was an RV repair facility’s RV parking area with hookups. The only other time we had a crime issue was in our first month on the road, when somebody tried to steal our pickup truck while were in a Coast to Coast campground in California. So much for the argument of campgrounds over other locations to spend the night.

I also had several people tell me that they would have shot the burglar and worried about whatever happened later. With all due respect, that sounds a lot better in talk than in real life. Once you pull that trigger, you can’t take that bullet back. The legal and civil ramifications that will follow will cost you much more than whatever they may have stolen, not to mention the psychological aftermath.

Taking another person’s life is about the worst experience one can ever have, no matter what the circumstances. You will relive it for the rest of your life, trust me on this one. I’ve been there and still wake up too many nights in a cold sweat.  Would I have shot the guy if he continued to be a threat to our lives? In a nanosecond. Would I regret it forever after? Yes, I would. I’m just very grateful it didn’t come to that.

On another note, our faithful old MCI bus conversion is on its way to California with its new owner, Rich Perry. Rich and his friend  Bill flew in Friday, spent most of yesterday going over the bus from stem to stern, and left about 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

Here is a picture of myself and Rich shaking hands on the deal, while Bill and Miss Terry stand beside us.

Bill has an MCI 7 of his own, and has converted several buses for friends, so I feel confident that he’ll help Rich get our beloved bus to its new home. It was really sad to see her driving away for the last time, but as the old verse says, “to everything, there is a season…”

Before all of this started with the burglary, we had planned to leave Elkhart as soon as the bus sale was wrapped up. Now I’m not sure what will happen. I have an appointment at the VA hospital in Lexington, Kentucky on Wednesday morning, and trying to cancel and reschedule it would be a real hassle. But we may have no other choice. We obviously need to spend some more time inside a repair shop before we can go anywhere. 

Thought For The Day – It is not what you are called, but what you answer to that matters.

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We were talking to a couple who are considering extended RV travel, and one of their concerns was safety. They have heard urban legends about RVers being attacked while they spend the night at places like Wal-Mart, small town parks, and rest areas.

We assured them that those kind of things almost never happen and not to spend a lot of time worrying about them. As I told them, they are in more danger from a traffic accident then they ever will be from a criminal, as long as they use common sense, keep their doors locked, and don’t spend any nights parked in an inner city ghetto. We have spent many, many nights dry camping in every corner of this country, in truck stops, highway rest areas, commercial parking lots, even in wide pullouts on back roads miles from nowhere. We have never felt threatened.

However, that does not mean that any of us are ever completely safe. You never know what that idiot coming down the road at you, riding a ton of steel might do, You can be as vigilant as is humanly possible and still become a victim in an instant, as these pictures show.

One of our subscribers sent me the photo on the left the other day. She was driving down a city street when a car driven by a seventeen year old girl who was text messaging somebody on her cell phone crossed the center line and hit her head on. Fortunately her airbag deployed and she was not injured.

Of the four girls in the other car, the front seat passenger had some cuts and bruises, but that was all, fortunately. Our friend said what really ticked her off was that the girl driving the other car never apologized, and never showed any concern for her own passenger. She was too busy being freaked out because her cell phone got broken in the accident! And there are airheads like that driving on every street and highway in America!

I took the photo to the right after a near miss I was involved in a few years ago in Tucson. I was driving down the street when the light gray car in the foreground roared passed me, driving halfway on the sidewalk. Two blocks down the street he ran a red light and slammed into the white car, which burst into flames. Fortunately, the older couple in the white car escaped uninjured. As the story turned out, the driver of the gray car had stolen it and was making his getaway. He jumped out and fled the scene on foot.  

No, I sleep just fine at night, wherever we are parked. It’s driving down the highway that sometimes scares the hell out of me!

Thought For The Day – You’re getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.

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That’s not a typo in the headline, folks. A common concern for new RVers is how they can handle life together in a cramped RV. Being together can be wonderful, but how much is too much?

I cover this in depth in my The Reluctant RVer seminar. It is a real issue for some couples, and not a problem at all for others. A lot depends on how your relationship is going in. If you can’t get along together in a 2,000 square foot house, you’ll hate it in a 300 square foot RV. There is no shop in the garage or sewing room to escape to.

It’s one thing to love each other, but if you plan to live together long term in an RV, you really have to like each other as well. You have to learn to rely on each other, because there are times when one or the other of you has to be the strong one and carry the load for both of you.

You must each have your own space. Maybe that is when one goes into the bedroom to watch TV alone or read a book. Maybe one goes for an occasional walk alone. In our case, I hate shopping, and Terry enjoys taking her time at the grocery store looking for bargains. So she usually goes alone, and I have the bus to myself for a while.

It is also important to be able to communicate and to compromise. If the husband enjoys baseball and wants to go to every baseball stadium in America to see a major league game, that is fine. But what if the wife wants to visit museums or Presidential homes? Is there time for her interests too? There must be if you will have a successful RVing experience.

Another thing us guys are guilty of, all too often, is wanting to cover too many miles, never stopping to smell the roses along the way. We talked to one couple that had been on the road for a year, and had never spent two nights in the same place, nor had they ever spent a night in an RV park. It was all Wal-Mart parking lots, truck stops, and rest areas. The wife was absolutely miserable, but the husband was proud of how much they had “seen” in their travels. 

Many times little things can be a problem in the close confines of an RV. If one party wants to sleep in, and the other one is an early bird, a loud TV or radio can become a major point of contention. This is where headphones come in handy, as well as basic courtesy.

Terry and I are best friends and very comfortable together. We may go two or three hours without speaking a word. I’ll be busy writing and she’ll be doing bookwork or something else, and we don’t feel the need to say much. But, by the same token, one or the other will be passing by and just lay a gentle hand on the other’s shoulder, or say “I love you” as we go by. Of course, there are times we’ll lay in bed in the morning and talk for an hour or two before we get up to face the day. It’s our time to be together.

Thought For The Day – Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it!

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