Our biggest nightmare just happened

[grubworm]

With all due respect, that ain't happening. I'm not gonna "pay" him to rob me.

S.O.B. is gonna "earn" my money. He'd better have more than a knife, and be ready and willing to use it or the crows will be eating his brains.

Barfights were a pastime, wasn't THAT long ago...

yep, totally agree with your sentiment...

however, incarceration is HUGE in the united states. i'm pretty sure the US leads the world in citizens locked up and here in good ole louisiana, its the state with the highest incarceration rate per capita in the US. all that said because passing laws and then fining/locking people up who breaks the law is big business. prisons are becoming more privatized and run by corporations because thats where the money is now since the US quit producing actual goods. just look around...most billboards are lawyers and they wouldnt be spending all that money advertising if they werent making a killing suing everyone

louisiana has a law that a person CANNOT protect their own property. they call that 'taking the law into your own hands' and its a big deal down here. if a person comes up to my house and starts busting my windows and i point a gun at him and tell him to stop, i will go to jail for assault. i've been in jail down here for "assault" and although i did eventually get out of it, it did cost me a lot of money and a lot of time chasing endless court hearings.

so yes, i agree with protecting my life and the life of folk around me, BUT protecting my property is not worth the hassle. if that incident happened here and i got up and confronted the guy and the guy got violent with me, i would be considered in the wrong for confronting him and if we did fight, i would certainly have charges on me and i will be spending WAY more money than what a cooler of food cost.

i'm no where near as worried about what a person could do to me as i am what the "justice system" will do to me if they can find i broke one of their laws and now i'm in their 'system'...

my last experience was in louisiana with felony charges and it cost me $30,000 and a year back and forth in court until the judge finally dropped the case and said it was BS. nice...charges were dropped that never should have been, but it still cost a lot of money and a lot of my time. and while in jail, i had a hood rat try to punk me and i almost ended up with more assault charges...so once you are in the 'system', chances are things will get even worse.

so, if and when i ever hand my wallet over to someone, im really not so much giving them my money as i am paying to not get involved with the court system because THAT is where the real problems and the real expenses start...

 

[Anak]

yep, totally agree with your sentiment...

however, incarceration is HUGE in the united states. i'm pretty sure the US leads the world in citizens locked up and here in good ole louisiana, its the state with the highest incarceration rate per capita in the US. all that said because passing laws and then fining/locking people up who breaks the law is big business. prisons are becoming more privatized and run by corporations because thats where the money is now since the US quit producing actual goods. just look around...most billboards are lawyers and they wouldnt be spending all that money advertising if they werent making a killing suing everyone

louisiana has a law that a person CANNOT protect their own property. they call that 'taking the law into your own hands' and its a big deal down here. if a person comes up to my house and starts busting my windows and i point a gun at him and tell him to stop, i will go to jail for assault. i've been in jail down here for "assault" and although i did eventually get out of it, it did cost me a lot of money and a lot of time chasing endless court hearings.

so yes, i agree with protecting my life and the life of folk around me, BUT protecting my property is not worth the hassle. if that incident happened here and i got up and confronted the guy and the guy got violent with me, i would be considered in the wrong for confronting him and if we did fight, i would certainly have charges on me and i will be spending WAY more money than what a cooler of food cost.

i'm no where near as worried about what a person could do to me as i am what the "justice system" will do to me if they can find i broke one of their laws and now i'm in their 'system'...

my last experience was in louisiana with felony charges and it cost me $30,000 and a year back and forth in court until the judge finally dropped the case and said it was BS. nice...charges were dropped that never should have been, but it still cost a lot of money and a lot of my time. and while in jail, i had a hood rat try to punk me and i almost ended up with more assault charges...so once you are in the 'system', chances are things will get even worse.

so, if and when i ever hand my wallet over to someone, im really not so much giving them my money as i am paying to not get involved with the court system because THAT is where the real problems and the real expenses start...

Yep!

I have seen the same world in Kali.

It is a misnomer to refer to it as a "justice" system. It is a profit system for a range of bottom feeders who we are supposed to respect.

Sometimes it is best to swallow your pride and figure out how to most easily walk away with the fewest consequences.

I will also say that prevention is far better than needing a cure. Put me in the camp that likes dogs. Especially dogs that will make someone stop and think about their own risk. For myself, that means German Shepherds. As dumb as some folks are, they all seem to recognize GSDs as a threat.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I really hate dealing with dead bodies at 3AM, it's dark and difficult to dig a nice hole.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

yep, totally agree with your sentiment...

however, incarceration is HUGE in the united states. i'm pretty sure the US leads the world in citizens locked up and here in good ole louisiana, its the state with the highest incarceration rate per capita in the US. all that said because passing laws and then fining/locking people up who breaks the law is big business. prisons are becoming more privatized and run by corporations because thats where the money is now since the US quit producing actual goods. just look around...most billboards are lawyers and they wouldnt be spending all that money advertising if they werent making a killing suing everyone

louisiana has a law that a person CANNOT protect their own property. they call that 'taking the law into your own hands' and its a big deal down here. if a person comes up to my house and starts busting my windows and i point a gun at him and tell him to stop, i will go to jail for assault. i've been in jail down here for "assault" and although i did eventually get out of it, it did cost me a lot of money and a lot of time chasing endless court hearings.

so yes, i agree with protecting my life and the life of folk around me, BUT protecting my property is not worth the hassle. if that incident happened here and i got up and confronted the guy and the guy got violent with me, i would be considered in the wrong for confronting him and if we did fight, i would certainly have charges on me and i will be spending WAY more money than what a cooler of food cost.

i'm no where near as worried about what a person could do to me as i am what the "justice system" will do to me if they can find i broke one of their laws and now i'm in their 'system'...

my last experience was in louisiana with felony charges and it cost me $30,000 and a year back and forth in court until the judge finally dropped the case and said it was BS. nice...charges were dropped that never should have been, but it still cost a lot of money and a lot of my time. and while in jail, i had a hood rat try to punk me and i almost ended up with more assault charges...so once you are in the 'system', chances are things will get even worse.

so, if and when i ever hand my wallet over to someone, im really not so much giving them my money as i am paying to not get involved with the court system because THAT is where the real problems and the real expenses start...

Correct. Taking my food out of a cooler I left outside - fault on me. Someone needs some $ quick and leaves me alone after I give them a 10-spot, ok. Sucks, but ok.

We have the same law here in Massachusetts. LTC used to be issued for "Protection of Life and Property" until some dentist shot some guy for screwing with his car. Then he went to jail and it became "For All Lawful Purposes", one of which was NOT The protection of property.

Now, protection of PEOPLE IN that property, that's OK. You still get arrested and processed - usually. Even if they think you were in the right. But you can win that one.

Where I'm from, Alec Baldwin would be arrested long ago and be working to prove his case by now

 

[pcstockton]

YUP..... but try to tell that to the internet tough guys above who claim they will shoot and possibly kill someone over money or food.

 

[4x4tripping]

 We are in the middle of a two-week road trip, and we pulled over on a empty area off of the 101 in Oregon miles from town not a soul in sight, we packed up all of our stuff inside the cab of the truck to get a couple hours of sleep in the bed of our truck. But our ice chest doesn’t fit inside the truck so it had to go outside of the truck. I wedged it between the truck and the guard rail. This is the last ditch effort to get a couple hours of sleep. We have tried every campground around with no luck. And there were no for service roads to be found. So we just decided to pull over and try to get a couple hours of sleep before continuing down the coast. So we Passed out around 1130 just to wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning with somebody peering into the side of the camper shell at me! I jumped up and asked what the hell are you doing and the guy’s response was getting something to eat. He had rated our ice chest and ran off with a bunch of our food. The situation could’ve been so much worse but waking up to having someone staring down at you. Is it pretty terrifying situation.

Luckily nothing more happens!

Also after 74k miles (120`000km) of international overlanding at the last 12 years I can just note - that something bad can happens near anywhere.

This year we had our worst wildcamping night: In the wrong place at the wrong time - pure adrenaline

So lucky to survive that! Lucky that we are still able to enjoy overlanding, that is nothing you can be shure in front.

This let me guess that someting like that, can happen during a livetime. That it did happen ins europe, not in mali, congo, nigeria, peru or bolivia - is hard to accept.

For international overlanding the are just rare cases well known, guess it is still more likely to win the lottery -- than to run in serous problems - if we are aware. And try to stay safe!

Out of civilisation you are mostly a lot safer. If you stay «out of sight» with your camp even more.

If you cant leave the populated are, stay with others can help. At the roadside is unsave, very unsafe. Better stay at a gas station in comparison.

trippin

 

[PNW EXPLR]

...Look at it this way, you just helped feed someone...

Preface- I frequent Seattle and Portland areas for work and the city I live in is slowly becoming just the same,so my following word are not meant to offend, but to educate.

Unfortunately, what has actually happened in numerous places around the US, especially Portland, Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles, is that due to the laws no longer holding people accountable for their poor decisions, drug use, and non violent crime NON punishable, street people are now free to rob you, sell your stuff, buy drugs, get high, then steal your food cause they don't have any money, and get away with it. People are actually donating propane tanks to these camps where the occupants have been found cooking drugs, with the donated propane, in the process, burning down neighboring structures (homes, businesses).
So, when you say "helped", yes they helped a criminal feed himself by unknowingly making themselves a target. But, by saying "helped", you are implying that the criminal needed help.
This criminal did not need help! Because he takes and does as he pleases, not caring that he may be placing other in a bad spot. What if he decided to "need" the vehicle, or the company of the other occupant.....Would this still be deemed "helping"?

I don't mean to come off wrong, and I by no means, mean any offense, but for so many of us that live in or near these "refuge" cities, we are tired of the criminals being labeled "those poor, innocent people" while they steal anything that Isn't welded down! This is not what they are!

 

[OTH Overland]

Preface- I frequent Seattle and Portland areas for work and the city I live in is slowly becoming just the same,so my following word are not meant to offend, but to educate.

Unfortunately, what has actually happened in numerous places around the US, especially Portland, Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles, is that due to the laws no longer holding people accountable for their poor decisions, drug use, and non violent crime NON punishable, street people are now free to rob you, sell your stuff, buy drugs, get high, then steal your food cause they don't have any money, and get away with it. People are actually donating propane tanks to these camps where the occupants have been found cooking drugs, with the donated propane, in the process, burning down neighboring structures (homes, businesses).
So, when you say "helped", yes they helped a criminal feed himself by unknowingly making themselves a target. But, by saying "helped", you are implying that the criminal needed help.
This criminal did not need help! Because he takes and does as he pleases, not caring that he may be placing other in a bad spot. What if he decided to "need" the vehicle, or the company of the other occupant.....Would this still be deemed "helping"?

I don't mean to come off wrong, and I by no means, mean any offense, but for so many of us that live in or near these "refuge" cities, we are tired of the criminals being labeled "those poor, innocent people" while they steal anything that Isn't welded down! This is not what they are!

No offense taken, We live an hour North of Seattle and never go down there anymore unless we need to do business and the get out as soon as we can, The rest stop on I-5 near us has now been shut down to RV use as a shanty town was set up with broken down RVs in every spot, garbage piled up everywhere and even a couple of cars being dismantled. State Patrol was not allowed to chase them off so DOT closed the entire rest area for 3 months. People running out of Home Depot with arms full of tools and no one even cares, even if they have warrants and the police arrest them the Jails are turning them away.. Someone in the area was away and a guy parked an RV in his driveway, plugged in and made himself at home, Homeowner has to He has to go thru eviction process to get them removed since its a 'residence'. Have cameras and alarm on the house and everything is bolted down or put away when not being used. Was not that many years ago we could leave the doors open and run to the store...

 

[MidOH]

[Sets down a 35 pound BBQ'd "chicken" leg]

Well, Oregon.

Decisions have consequences. And the west coast states have made a ton of bad decisions in the last 20 years.

Hobo's eat from our cooler, we simply eat them. Modern problems, require modern solutions.

 

[Ursa Major]

The more you know! I've never been to the west coast, so that's something I deal with. Still a scary situation that I'm glad no one was harmed in.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Put me in the camp that likes dogs. Especially dogs that will make someone stop and think about their own risk.

Indeed.

A dog can't be "bluffed".

Most thieves are cowards, who are bluffing. That's why smacking them usually sends them running off.

And dogs hear better than I do, they can't be "snuck up" on either.

 

[bgenlvtex]

No offense taken, We live an hour North of Seattle and never go down there anymore unless we need to do business and the get out as soon as we can, The rest stop on I-5 near us has now been shut down to RV use as a shanty town was set up with broken down RVs in every spot, garbage piled up everywhere and even a couple of cars being dismantled. State Patrol was not allowed to chase them off so DOT closed the entire rest area for 3 months. People running out of Home Depot with arms full of tools and no one even cares, even if they have warrants and the police arrest them the Jails are turning them away.. Someone in the area was away and a guy parked an RV in his driveway, plugged in and made himself at home, Homeowner has to He has to go thru eviction process to get them removed since its a 'residence'. Have cameras and alarm on the house and everything is bolted down or put away when not being used. Was not that many years ago we could leave the doors open and run to the store...

I just returned from a left coast tour.
The overwhelming majority of people I met seemed completely oblivious to how and why their world has degraded into a b grade version of Thunder Dome, and are devoid of the ability to view it with even the slightest degree of critical objectivity.

 

[grubworm]

it is getting crazy and i just to want to go to my "safe space"...

 

[bgenlvtex]

it is getting crazy and i just to go to my "safe space"...

View attachment 242780

You're gonna get the monkey pox like that.

 

[grubworm]

damn...the only thing left for me to post is either very political or very nasty...

guess ill go mow the yard...

 

[shansonpac]

Very glad you are OK. That would have shaken me to my core also. Kudo's to you for not escalating or over-reacting coming from a sound sleep. That said, never sleep on the side of a Highway in plain sight of the roadway. There are too many crazies out there. I have camped in a sketchy spot before, and never again after attending a session on personal security at PNW Overland Expo.

 

[Uniquely Us Adventures]

 We are in the middle of a two-week road trip, and we pulled over on a empty area off of the 101 in Oregon miles from town not a soul in sight, we packed up all of our stuff inside the cab of the truck to get a couple hours of sleep in the bed of our truck. But our ice chest doesn’t fit inside the truck so it had to go outside of the truck. I wedged it between the truck and the guard rail. This is the last ditch effort to get a couple hours of sleep. We have tried every campground around with no luck. And there were no for service roads to be found. So we just decided to pull over and try to get a couple hours of sleep before continuing down the coast. So we Passed out around 1130 just to wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning with somebody peering into the side of the camper shell at me! I jumped up and asked what the hell are you doing and the guy’s response was getting something to eat. He had rated our ice chest and ran off with a bunch of our food. The situation could’ve been so much worse but waking up to having someone staring down at you. Is it pretty terrifying situation.

Dog + Glock solves this issue

Dog and a Sig for us lol but yes I agree. we had just lost out German Shepard a few weeks prior she would have never let some one near us with out alerting us..