Date:         Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:00:27 -0230
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: What's that? - a single woman's view on camping and safety
              (you asked...)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Yes, a woman got killed in a rest stop while camping in her vanagon, a bunch
of years back.  One example doesn't mean it's unsafe.

I've camped in all kinds of places - campgrounds, driveways, by the side of
the road, on city streets, etc.  I have a preference for not paying for
campgrounds, as I'm not independently wealthy.  I've never felt unsafe.
FWIW I also can't imagine feeling unsafe alone in my house, which is a good
thing since I've lived alone most of my adult life.  How absurd would that
be, not to feel safe in one's own house?

I have only been hassled once while camping in my van.  It was in a school
parking lot in a small town on Prince Edward Island.  A bunch of kids
thumped on the side of my van in the middle of the night, when I was
asleep.  I screamed, they fled.  The same thing happened to Phil Z when we
were camping in a parking lot in Quebec once.  (I don't think he screamed,
though.)  I think drunk Canadian kids are the thing that most alarms me,
actually - here in St. John's, with the van parked on the street outside my
house, too.  Canadian kids seem to drink way to much and get destructive.
Maybe US kids too, but I haven't seen it there.

I would be wary in isolated remote places in the country.  I feel totally
safe on city streets in decent neighborhoods. especially commercial streets
in residential neighborhoods with pedestrians and shop lights.  I feel safe
in highway rest stops and truck stops.  I feel safe in downtown areas.
Traffic is your friend, as far as safety is concerned.  Sometimes I feel
safe in Walmarts, not always - depends on the neighborhood.  I would never
carry a weapon.

I would never go off to a remote spot in the forest to camp.  I have camped
in parking lots by lighthouses, which probably isn't a great idea as they
attract teenagers with six packs, at least in Canada.  But they are really
pretty places if there aren't any drunk kids around!

How's that for the single woman's take on camping and safety?



Joy



On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 10:43 AM, Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@yahoo.com>wrote:

> " Recently it was a toilet plunger. I am amazed that she still finds
> having me around reassuring even after witnessing that clownery."
>
> An intruder who spots that and becomes helpless with laughter is helpless
> nonetheless.
>
> Stephen
>
> --- On Fri, 9/25/09, Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: What's that?
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Friday, September 25, 2009, 8:44 PM
>
> On 9/25/2009 4:50 PM Dave Mcneely wrote:
>
> > I have a sister who is majorly into RVing, as in traveling for weeks
> > and weeks in her (barely) portable (big) house.  She's never been to an
> > actual campground, needless to mention a primitive spot.  She takes her
> > little dog, and cooks pot roast, and watches TV...
>
> A-yup. I've a sister-in-law who does the same. She ties up her Class C in
> mobile home parks and Kampgrounds where there are many upper middle-class
> RVs, well-tended grass, a laundry room, a small store, a gatekeeper, etc.
>
> I think that women alone feel safer in places where a man might find
> confining (I'm Gaussian curving here). It's taken me a long time to tune
> into how insecure -- and certainly not without reason* -- the
> unaccompanied woman feels. Mrs Squirrel feels unsafe sleeping alone in the
> house at night.
>
> Just because I will pick up whatever instrument of destruction is close to
> hand** and wander downstairs to find out what "that noise" was doesn't
> mean she's any safer. Her faith in me as her big, strong protector is, I
> assure you, entirely misplaced.
>
> BUT BACK TO VANAGON CONTENT. Wait -- there isn't any.
>
> How about hearing from some women (Joy?) who travel alone? How spooky is
> that for you?
>
> ===========
> * Didn't a young woman traveling alone in a Vanagon run into something
> horrible at a rest stop just a few years ago?
>
> ** Recently it was a toilet plunger. I am amazed that she still finds
> having me around reassuring even after witnessing that clownery. Like,
> what was I going to do? Smother an intruder? Women. Go figure.
>
> N.B. I am striving for gerry.vanagon.com's "David Foster Wallace memorial
> footnotes derby" award for 2009. Won't someone please nominate me?
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
>
>