CityWoman said:
No, of course they wouldn't! That's why I didn't ask, "what do you do with your safe?" or "where do you keep your cash?" I just want ideas. I did come across a website for a company that makes vehicle and motorcycle safes, but I thought I would ask for opinions here. I'm really surprised about the responses thus far - it seems no one bothers.
Thirty years ago when travelling across the country I would divide the cash in to several smaller packages and distribute them amongst my belongings. Toes of rain boots, the bottom of the stack of t-shirts, etc, all made good places to put a couple of hundred dollars. The trick was remembering where all the money was secreted...
At one point I owned a Class A RV that came equipped with a small safe. I thought it was great until I found out that every other vehicle of the same designation had the same safe in the same spot. Anyone familiar with the mfr would know where to find it. I was working in a largely cash business so I set up envelopes with a thousand dollars each in them. labelled them A, B, C etc. and hid them in various places. My best friend knew that if anything ever happened to me and she found an envelope with an E on it, to look for the rest of the alphabet that preceded it...
Today, living full-time on the road and with full access to credit cards, debit cards and cash back options at most stores, I carry less than $200 in cash and use cards for the rest. Carrying large sums of cash is no longer a necessity. I have a small, quiet, unassuming looking tote that I store my important documents in, like my passport. It's simply tucked away in amongst my other possessions in one of the closets. All the rest is on me, in my purse, when I'm away from my vehicle doing such things as shopping.
BTW, the 'wild' animals that are the most cause for concern out here are mice, squirrels and raccoons. All the other wild animals are usually only viewed from the posterior as they run away from humans. Except of course for when we deliberately go to a wildlife refuge to look at them.
I don't presume that any of us with real life experience in living full-time on the road are going to be able to convince you that safes and high tech security systems are not really necessary for either personal safety or property security. All I can say is that after 40 years of travelling all over the continent and over 15 years of living full-time on the road, I'm safer here than I would ever be in a conventional housing situation in any larger urban area. I have to qualify that to 'large urban area' because my last place of residence was town of 1,000 where most of us never locked our doors and keys could be left in the vehicle. Kids in that town still were allowed to stay out until the street lights came on, just like when I was a kid. I feel just as safe on the road as I did in that small town.
As a single female travelling alone, my security measures include not going in to an area that would more than likely be a high crime area. I do not go exploring downtown large city areas since those are of extremely little interest to me. I'm more interested in what nature has to offer than any city. Small towns are much more interesting and extremely safe to wander about in.
I do simple things when parking for the night in truck stops/WalMarts, etc. - I park facing outwards so that I don't have to back up to get out of a parking spot. I don't pile stuff on the drivers' seat and I park close to the shopping if I need to go in to a store and then move to the outer 'overnight' area of the parking lot. I then just move from the drivers' seat to the living area without having to exit the vehicle at all. I deliberately choose parking areas that are NOT in major urban areas. For the most part I can find free campsites through freecampsites.net anyways and don't have to use parking lots. It's not anything that I wouldn't recommend for any person, male or female to do on the road.
Out here on BLM land, there is no worry at all.
For vehicle security when I leave my van someplace - no valuables are visible from the windows - laptop is put away as is the camera (or it's with me most likely). I have curtains on all my rear windows so they're closed and I lock the doors. I worry more about someone banging their car door in to my paint job than a break-in. I've only had one van ever broken in to and that was when it was parked at my mothers' apartment building in her city overnight NOT when I was travelling. Three other cars were also broken in to that night. They didn't find the most valuable stuff and cleaning up the broken glass took a lot of effort...
The few times I've needed auto repairs on the road, I was always allowed to stay with my vehicle - it is, after all, my home. If the job can not be completed in one day then I arrange for the shop to move my van out of the shop at the end of the day and stay in it overnight in their parking lot. Once I spent 5 days in a repair shop lot while some major engine work was done on the Cl;ass A. They ran an extension cord out for me so I had power, filled my water tanks with a hose and bought me beer and pizza for my birthday.
In an extreme situation, I would be prepared to rent a motel room but it would have to be extreme cause I want to sleep in MY own bed at night...that's why I have a home on wheels.
It may seem like it would be an extremely scary place out here in the big wide world but it's really not. It's a life of great sunsets, wonderful scenery, new friends from all over the continent, fresh air and easy stress free living.
