DAH!

[Kusanagi]

Dahhhhhhhh.


Last night I made a mistake - I parked in a dark area with a fleet of delivery vehicles in the back of an alley - my intention was to take off the next morning before anyone got in.

Someone tried to break into my van last night while I was sleeping in it.

I keep the thing completely locked up and all the windows covered when I bed down for the night. The back two windows I leave open from the bottom a crack for ventilation.

I heard a scratching/squealing noise last night that woke me up. Instead of shouting "Who's there?" I practically shit myself - this had never happened before.

I peek out the back safari window and see someone with a cordless drill trying to drill out the lock cylinder on the back door of the van.

I reached over, grabbed my pepper spray from my pantry, stuck the nozzle out the window, and yelled "HEY!"

He looked up and I nailed him full on in the eyes with the spray from about 2 feet away.

He screamed, dropped the drill, I got out of bed, went to the front of the van, cranked it, and got the hell out of there.

So now I guess I'm only going to park where it's fully lit, like in Wal Mart and supermarket parking lots...

The local dodge dealership says they can order me a new lock cylinder and key it to my existing key. I start a new job tommorrow so we'll see how quick I can get it fixed...

[SorryIsGoodEnough]

That's so scary! I'm glad you're okay and only the would-be thief got hurt.

That would scare the jeebus out of me. *shudder*

[Amina516]

Sorry to hear that. Hope the lock doesnt set you back too much.

BTW..the van pics were awesome. Nicely done.

[SG15Z]

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. That's not a fun way to wake up at night.

Good luck on the new job!

[wagegoth]

You got a new job?! Woo hoo!

[Der Cute]

Good job busting him Kus! Super Kus to the Rescue lol

I wonder if he was dumb enough to go to the cops "Hey guys I was sprayed by pepper spray. I was breaking into a van and...OOMPH! Get offa Me! Don't tackle me!" lol

And good to hear about job.

Cutenoob

[tropicsgoddess]

Holy hell that would scare the living hell out of me! Glad you nabbed that bastard trying to break in your van. I'm happy you got the job, Kus.

[Ree]

What are the odds?

It could only happen to you.

If it wasn't for bad luck...

Out of an entire fleet of delivery vehicles, you have the extremely bad luck of them picking your van to break into.

[Aethian]

Congrats on the new job!

[persephone]

Out of an entire fleet of delivery vehicles, you have the extremely bad luck of them picking your van to break into.

How much do you want to bet it wasn't the first van back there he'd broken into -- just the one he got caught on?

[Ree]

How much do you want to bet it wasn't the first van back there he'd broken into -- just the one he got caught on?

Who knows? I would think if he had tried other vans, though, the sound of the drill would have woken Kusanagi up before they got to his.

[Jester]

Some suggestions from my days on the road:

1. Keep something for self-defense with you. Obviously you have your pepper spray, which is good. Personally, I recommend getting a Mag-Lite, 3 or 4 D size. Not only are these handy to have if you need light, but they also make great weapons, which is why cops use them.

2. As you now know, parking in dark places may hide your van, but it also hides criminals and their criminal activity. Brightly lit places are better, especially since it looks like with your van, not much light is going to get in. Also, if light IS getting in through the windshield, you can always put up one of those sun visors. It's just going to look like the van is parked with that thing up for the morning. Since you live in the Sun Belt, the visor should create absolutely no suspicion at all, even once winter comes around.

3. If you go on the road, do NOT park in rest stops to sleep. A vehicle in a rest stop overnight with a sun visor up tells everyone "someone is sleeping here." Park in hotel parking lots. Out of state plates on a vehicle in a hotel parking lot raises no eyebrows, unless the hotel in question has strict security. (In my time on the road, I only got tossed from ONE hotel parking lot.) Also, hotels don't usually check to see if you are a guest if, in the morning, you wander into their lobby and use their bathroom. Or for that matter, pool. I found out while traveling that if you LOOK like you belong some place, people won't challenge you there. Meaning both that it pays to not look like a bum AND that it's good to walk into a place with the basic attitude that you belong there and/or that you own the place. It is that attitude, by the way, that enabled me to get served alcohol when I was underage, even though I have always looked younger than I am.