RVing

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Venus Pax
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Re: RVing

#16

Post by Venus Pax »

The Annoyed Man wrote:Our trailer is pretty small - a 19’ Jayco Hummingbird - and the longest trip I’ve taken with it is to California and back, in which we lived 90% of the time in that trailer for 2.5 weeks. (A couple of times, we spent the night in a hotel when the trailer’s bed proved just too crippling.) Anywho, I bought a Glock 26 and a pump action shotgun. Granted, we didn’t have any children along, but security was still a concern. California excepted, I just carried the G26 on body, either concealed in an OWB holster, or in a fanny pack. MY fanny pack more or less shouts “GUN” to anyone paying attention. I don’t care. Anywhere except California, it was legal. In CA, I complied with their fascist laws with both firearms. I kept the shotgun cased in the back of my SUV while traveling, and stored in a closet in the trailer - loaded at all times when we were in camp, except when in CA, when it was stored unloaded in the trailer. When not being carried, I kept the pistol locked in its case, unloaded, ammo stored separately in compliance with CA law. We never camped anywhere that wasn’t either a KOA or a Good Sams campground, and security was never an issue, and I never met anyone at any of those campgrounds whom I would have considered to be a security threat.
We also have a Jayco; ours is a Jay Flight.
"If a man breaks in your house, he ain't there for iced tea." Mom & Dad.

The NRA & TSRA are a bargain; they're much cheaper than the cold, dead hands experience.
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The Annoyed Man
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Re: RVing

#17

Post by The Annoyed Man »

Venus Pax wrote:
The Annoyed Man wrote:Our trailer is pretty small - a 19’ Jayco Hummingbird - and the longest trip I’ve taken with it is to California and back, in which we lived 90% of the time in that trailer for 2.5 weeks. (A couple of times, we spent the night in a hotel when the trailer’s bed proved just too crippling.) Anywho, I bought a Glock 26 and a pump action shotgun. Granted, we didn’t have any children along, but security was still a concern. California excepted, I just carried the G26 on body, either concealed in an OWB holster, or in a fanny pack. MY fanny pack more or less shouts “GUN” to anyone paying attention. I don’t care. Anywhere except California, it was legal. In CA, I complied with their fascist laws with both firearms. I kept the shotgun cased in the back of my SUV while traveling, and stored in a closet in the trailer - loaded at all times when we were in camp, except when in CA, when it was stored unloaded in the trailer. When not being carried, I kept the pistol locked in its case, unloaded, ammo stored separately in compliance with CA law. We never camped anywhere that wasn’t either a KOA or a Good Sams campground, and security was never an issue, and I never met anyone at any of those campgrounds whom I would have considered to be a security threat.
We also have a Jayco; ours is a Jay Flight.
Then you feel my pain! :lol:

I forgot to mention that my wife brought along her G43 too, so we managed 2 pistols, not 1. I brought along a lockable Pelican case that easily accommodated both pistols with room to spare. My wife carried her G43 in her purse the whole time, except for when in CA.....then it got locked up with mine.

We always breath a huge sigh of release as soon as we pass back into Arizona on the way home. We pull over at the first opportunity - a rest area just inside the AZ state line on I-40 - and unbox and holster the guns while breathing the sweet air of freedom again.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"

#TINVOWOOT
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johncanfield
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Re: RVing

#18

Post by johncanfield »

Since we've been carrying for about seven years, we don't take the 40 foot motorhome in gun unfriendly states. We've put 120k miles on the coach in 13 years. We have had the coach on Kirkland AFB visiting a Major (now LTC) friend and we separated the guns from their magazines and placed them in opposite ends of the coach as advised.

Lots of campgrounds routinely state in the paperwork "no guns allowed" but we ignore that.
LC9s, M&P 22, 9c, Sig P238-P239-P226-P365XL, 1911 clone

chasfm11
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Re: RVing

#19

Post by chasfm11 »

Venus Pax wrote:
chasfm11 wrote:
2. I am concerned about confrontations with bad people. There are many stories about problems especially in State Parks. I do on-body carry all of the time. That includes rest stops and especially fuel stops. We use diesel and end up at truck stops because we cannot get into most regular gas stations because we are too long towing the car (nearly 60 feet). We've had a couple of what I felt were near misses. I've found that it can be pretty uncomfortable driving the RV for 500 miles a day with a holster so I use a fanny pack. It is a model that doesn't scream "gun" and it takes just a couple of seconds to strap on when I step outside the RV. When I'm driving, it is beside the driver's seat where only I can get to it. I carry a travel credit card in it so even my granddaughter probably doesn't recognize that it has a pistol in it, too. I wear it over my belt buckle and practice drawing from it when I do my normal holster practice. It also has a spare mag.

We avoid Indian land and USACE campgrounds, though I'm fairly certain that the latter wouldn't be a problem as Old Gringo suggests. We've seen a few "no firearms allowed" signs but since we don't travel to States any more where my LTC isn't valid, I don't worry about those much either. The question about the RV being a house, especially in our motor home changes by State. Texas has exemptions, for example, for open alcohol containers in the house portion where other States do not spell that out. Again, we've never had a problem or known about a problem with that.

One of our dogs takes personal ownership of all the area surrounding our RV. I seriously doubt that someone could get close without her barking. They are inside the RV when we take side trips and I believe that they provide an additional deterrent, even though they weigh less than 20lbs each. Our barker sounds a lot meaner than she is.

I hope this information helps you.

Would you mind elaborating on this for me?

We have a few trips planned this summer, and part of one will be spent at a state park. I was under the impression that they were safer since the park rangers make frequent rounds, especially at night. Are other campers a problem, or would we need to look out for day-use people?

Also, on rest stops, what kinds of trouble have you encountered? The same with gas stations.

I've never considered native American lands. Are they unsafe or are they simply not gun-friendly?

I noticed you said your dog was a good deterrent. My dog died five years ago this month; he was a kind soul with an incredibly trashy mouth. (He was a miniature schnauzer that was convinced he was more of a pit bull or Rottweiler.) We have only one cat now; she isn't very intimidating.

I hope you don't mind my asking. We are new to this. I've been wanting a camper for YEARS. We've been saving and finally bought earlier this year. I've done a ton of reading but I've learned that, as with firearms, you can never really know enough.
We avoid Indian lands and USACE because of their "no gun" restrictions. Call me foolish but I don't want to chance a problem with either and it is possible by simply not going there. We can easily drive to Indian property with our towed car once we are parked somewhere else. What I'm talking about is camping on that kind of land where there is no separate place to put our guns. Winstar has a wonderful RV campground behind the casinos but all of that is Indian land. USACE controls some great campgrounds across the country but we don't camp there. The Vineyards Campground on Lake Grapevine is on Corps property.

Let me clarify about State Parks. I am concerned enough about them that I want to make sure that I can carry there. Some you cannot like Lake Whitney for example. That State Park is on Corps Land. We use other State parks a lot. My statement about them was in contrast with my first bullet point where I was saying that I'm NOT concerned about unoccupied breakins in campgrounds. When we are in a State Park, I'm carrying all the time. In Cedar Hill SP, there isn't even consistently good cell service in case of a problem. Some of those campsites are pretty well out of the normal flow of people.

In all of our travels, we've had a half a dozen incidents in gas stations. The two that worried me were from being parked in an RV lane and having a non-RV pull in next to us and start an "interview". In one case, there were two guys, one who tried to engage me in a conversation and the other who went around the back of our RV. Several times, I've had people in my face (violating normal respectful distance) before I could even get the vehicle door open. People who just hang around with no clear purpose raise my level of concern and the truck stops that we use seem to have quite a few of those. The same is true for some types of rest stops. The newer Texas ones are a big improvement. There are others, especially in some of the surrounding States were I'm on high alert the moment we are in the deceleration lane. Try watching some of the "Active Self-Protection" videos. John talks about transitional spaces. Rest stops and fuel stops fall into that category for me. I don't just stand there waiting for the fuel tank to fill (ours is 90 gallons). I''m scanning constantly.

Ours is an older RV (build in 1999). But it is nearly the size of a city bus and people without knowledge of such vehicles seem to think it indicates financial resources beyond what the reality is . One of the guys who tried to interview me started off talking about that inflated value expectation. You just know that things are not going to get good after that but with a diesel nozzle stuck in the side, driving away quickly isn't really an option. I picked that time to wash the windshield with a long handled squeegie that I carry. But I think those with bad intentions expect any RVer to be pre-occupied in places like rest stops and truck stops. Something could go down quickly and they would be gone. If you want a great live example, go to the Flying J on I-20, just West of where I-45 connects South of Dallas. Just park in front of the store in the evening and watch. We were in a rest stop in Mississippi by the river on I-20 that had extensive video surveillance and several uniformed officers. They don't do things like that without a reason.

In my first post, I said that we have been at this a long time. We enjoy it and will continue to RV. I'm not fearful, simply cautious.
Last edited by chasfm11 on Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Topic author
Venus Pax
Senior Member
Posts in topic: 7
Posts: 3147
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 5:27 pm
Location: SE Texas

Re: RVing

#20

Post by Venus Pax »

Chasfm11, thank you. That is very helpful.
"If a man breaks in your house, he ain't there for iced tea." Mom & Dad.

The NRA & TSRA are a bargain; they're much cheaper than the cold, dead hands experience.
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