10 Tips to Stay Safe While Living in a Van

Man, I want to just reinforce that any one of these tips can just save your life or save the life of one of your friends Or it's just really worth it to consider these Hi everyone, welcome back to my next video. Well, we're gonna continue talking about safety So I hope you watch this and tell your friends to watch these. I really think they're important and I hope they help you Okay, so today I want to give you 10 tips to staying safe Almost all of them are just really practical simple tips You may have heard about before but man I want to just reinforce that any one of these tips can just Save your life or save the life of one of your friends or it's just really worth it to consider these Some of the most effective tips are the most difficult and and I know a lot of you will just not be able to do But I hope you will at least consider. Okay tip number one is to get a dog All the reading I did all the research I did Every criminal that was interviewed or sought out said if you asked what would keep you from attacking a person? No, or why would you reject a person and almost always they said if they had a dog Predators want surprise. They don't want any risk And so a dog if you can you can find a way that you add a dog your life You are just going to be so much safer that notches your level of safety way up number two and Again, this is going to be difficult for a lot of you. I take a self-defense course now There are a lot of women's self-defense courses that are oriented towards women and particularly sexual assault but they are so Valuable to you. I hope you will at least think about taking a self-defense course But I'm not just talking to the women out there. I'm talking to the men You know, I grew up on and I think I got in actually one fight in in junior high school I don't think I got into any fight in high school. You watch all the movies and they're fighting all the time That wasn't my experience But I you know It was always it seemed like it was always a risk that I could get the fight go to school didn't fight but I never actually did so, you know, most of us men have no real experience unless you've been in the service or you have Martial arts training or something. Most of us have no idea how to fight or how to defend ourselves Now the problem with us nomads is you know, we're I look around and I don't see a self-defense course around me Where am I going to go? well, I may have to you may have to save some money so you can take the course and Go into a town and maybe maybe rent a motel and be there for the course I Really am strongly encouraging you to do whatever it takes to take a self-defense course more than anything else It will give you self-confidence and what have we been talking about so far? We're talking about a criminal is looking for an easy target So number two is take a self-defense course, and I know how hard it's going to be but It's just so important. You will be so much safer. You will feel Safer. So number three is also somewhat difficult and that's traveling a group. I mean, there's just safety in numbers I don't have to probably explain that to you or prove that to you If you're out here with one or two or three other friends, you're going to be safer than if you are out here alone It's just that simple and I'm aware of all the problems with that, you know I'm an introvert and I don't want to travel with friends. Although I'm camping with a bunch of friends a lot of the times I'm not But if you can and this is gonna be a difficult one But if you can you will be much safer if you will travel with a group everyone. This is future Bob I'm editing this video and it occurred to me that I left out something very important when you camp with other people Having a way to communicate with them is very very important Say something happens in the middle of night and it scares you or you got someone at your door And you want to be able to communicate with them without having to go outside So a walkie-talkie just a cheap kids walkie-talkie. This is a great example This is $22 on Amazon Fantastic reviews and it works really well. I have friends that use these they when they caravan together They use them to talk to each other. Maybe you don't have cell service Maybe this is the only way you can talk to each other having a cheap set of walkie-talkies can be a big big thing I'll leave a link down in the description Bob there's somebody outside your rig. I'll be right there. I got a run folks. Talk to you later Okay tip number four basic common-sense thing. You're gonna all think well, that's just so obvious Bob Don't want valuable If you have something that's worth money worth stealing Don't have it out now if we carry that to its pretty logical conclusion, we would also say Avoid a really new expensive looking rig And I know a lot of you want to get newer rigs can afford it and want to get them but again, you know, it's just the intuition of The bad guy of the predator of the criminal says here's money He has got a hundred and fifty thousand dollar rig I bet there's something in there worth stealing You know, I'm not telling you what to do I'm telling you this is something to consider all of these things are things that I hope you'll consider and Maybe they'll make your life safer and maybe they won't maybe having an older even a five-year-old rig You'll break down the middle of nowhere and that will lead you to an unsafe situation at any rate You know don't leave things out that look valuable That attract attention to you make you an attractive Target the whole point here is to be a hard target one that the bad guy looks at you and says That's not worth it Even if you are going to get the newest best where you can which does make sense and I do promote that that's a very Good idea. Don't keep it clean You know if it kind of looks old if it gets if it gets a dent in it wave the dent in it Are you are you trying to impress people with the wonderful things you have well, maybe that's not a good idea Because you might be impressing a bad guy. You might be a pressing a predator Next I'm going to suggest something that you may not have thought of before and that is to create Camouflage and well, how am I gonna do that Bob? You want me to put a net around my rig? I know I have some specific ideas and actually I got some of these Over the years from people's experiences and from books I've read So one of the things you can do really simply is if you're in a car van SUV something smaller is to get a tent and To have the tent you when you get to set up camp Set up the tent you spend your time in the car or the or the minivan or the van or SUV whatever And this is someone I know this actually happened to them some some bad guy came and While she was in her car Some guys walked over to her tent And we're examining it and of course all the red lights went off went flashing You know red alert, and she jumped in the front seat turned the key and drove away So so they're attracted the tent you know automatically think someone's in the tent. I think it was at dusk So it wasn't quite dark, but it was getting dark so these people thought they could approach You know if you set up a tent, and you're in the vehicle I think you're going to be a little bit safer another thing to consider for camouflage is two chairs if you're a Solo person you're alone you set out two chairs right away the bad guy who's scoping you out You know he's using his intuition is this person worth the effort Well first if you've done what I've said you're out in the middle of nowhere in a county that has two violent crimes a year There are no crimes at criminals out there, but just in case you're in the bad luck You're in the wrong place the wrong time. We're taking these actions on top of that so So the bad guy comes along and he sees your camp, and you've got two chairs out well You're not a single person anymore. There's two of you so does he want to come up on two people? Okay, here's some more camouflage. You can do you can you can take a dog bowl a Food bowl and a water bowl and you can set them out now You don't have a dog because maybe you're allergic to dogs. You don't like dogs. You don't have room for dog Whatever reason you've chosen not to have a dog well You have the appearance of having a dog you don't see the dog, but there's a dog bowl and again Criminals have developed their intuition and so in a snap just like that They're using their intuition saying easy target hard target He takes a look sees the dog bowls Sees the two chairs and says our target and moves on another way you can set up the camouflage and so you've got your chairs your dog bowls your tent and Get carry around if especially if you're a woman carry around a big set of men's boots Again, it's gonna take up a little room. You're gonna have to buy them used ones at from the thrift stores ideal They look real they are real and so and they're cheap and so get the biggest set of men's boots You can have and leave them by one of the chairs so not only is it likely that there are two of you because there's two chairs and He's the bad guy sees the woman That that appeals to him, but that extra chair and that extra set of big work boots that does not appeal to him There's a man wandering around here somewhere. I don't see him, but he's there I'm leaving this person alone. If you've seen my ambulance, you've seen the color That I I wrapped my ambulance. It was red nothing subtle about a red ambulance and I Wrapped it in what a lot of people lovingly call puke green But my goodness, you can't see it in the woods if that thing disappears. It doesn't disappear You can still see it Man if you've ever been a distance away and looked at a white van or a white RV from a distance on a hill or through the trees you can't hide anything white out in the desert So again, this is probably something that is out of your control But if you have any control choose a vehicle that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb One more camouflage look for a campsite that is off the road and can't be seen I mean if the bad guy drives by and doesn't know you're over there. You're safer, right? I mean it just makes sense, but there are some issues with that and we'll come back to those in the next Okay, so camouflage can really help you and keep you safe. The next tip is Have an escape route plan now that goes back to if you find a Campsite and there's only one way in and out of this campsite and the bad guy can park and see you and he can park And you can't get out then you've lost a lot of safety Because you can't get away. You're going your only way out is to On foot so look for a camp. And again, you can't a lot of times. You just cannot do this. This is impossible so try to find a campsite where It's a circle and you can either back out or drive out Bad guys aren't going to wander around the forest or the desert driving up and down every road They can't they're not going to do that. They're just they're just not going to do that And so the further you are back the safer you're going to be. However now you've created new risks Most of the time he can block your way out by parking there. So that's something to be very very aware of Second if it rains really hard You could be muddied in there and not coming out That's a very distinct possibility always when you drive in think about I'm going to camp back here think about we get the torrential rain Am I going to be able to get out? and then think about this and this has happened to me a number of times if there's just one narrow road and in your woods a Tree falls you're stuck there. You can't get out again So if all possible what you're always looking for is a way a second way out One more thing why forest fires have become an enormous issue When you go camp somewhere be aware of drive and a way to drive in and out if there's a forest These are all just things to be aware of don't don't let them rule your life I can't go camp there because there's only one way out but be aware of it Number seven is fortunately is a cheap and easy one have outside lights And going along with that and this is something if you live in a house This is something you'll be told to take away everything really close to your house So that they can't the bad guy can't just sneak up in the bushes and no one can see him Well, that's kind of what you want to do. I'm here in kind of an open area it's open enough that Someone could still walk all the go all the way around and come up and come in They I can hear and see someone coming from either end of the road from a long ways away, and that's really good Okay tip number eight have a knife on your hip You know you're going camping now you Often you cannot do this When you're in town, so you're gonna have to get the habit if you carry a knife on your hip You're probably going to have to take it off when you're in town I just getting to have to take it off unless you know you're okay But when you're out camping we're in the National Forest here It's completely normal and expected to be out camping and have a knife on your hip But again the bad guy is looking for an easy target. No risk quick in and out no problem, he doesn't want to get caught he doesn't want to get hurt and Everybody with any common sense. Thanks to himself this person has a knife on their hip. I'm leaving them alone So I am NOT suggesting that you use this knife for self-defense, and you probably should not while you're boondocking always have a knife on your hip and and You're gonna be a little safer. I know that sounds silly, but I really believe it's true Number nine now. This is kind of an esoteric. It's not a very specific one Think like a criminal now. I know It's impossible to think like a criminal most of us have been raised to To be kind considerate giving people and so the idea of hurting someone is so foreign to me I could never even imagine The mindset that would let me think I'm going to hurt that person just for the fun of it I can't think that way you can't think that way And I also can't think of the mindset that says oh they have something I want I'm gonna go steal it from me, so you're not going to be able to think that way however I think you could make a game out of thinking How would a criminal? View me and my camp that's what you want to do, and you want to make it a game because obviously you're not gonna Do anything with it? It's just a game. It's a game that could save your life a book I highly recommend is called predator. I'll put a link down below and he he interviews He's a he's a longtime law enforcement It's hard to read because these guys are so sick But you will learn how he thinks so then you can start look at yourself and think when a when a predator looks at me does he see an easy target or a hard target and Then as part of the game Make yourself a hard target now one of the things every criminal is expecting is that their victim Will have what's called? normalcy bias We get so used to the world being the same every day day after day week after week month after month year after year Decade after decade that we think it will always be this way my nothing in my life will ever change Just be aware that you have the normalcy bias you have the expectation your life will always be the same there will never be anything different and If something different happens you will free your brain will scream this does not compute and so by thinking like the criminal and Knowing he's counting on that for you to freeze if You can then prepare to react instead of freezing and that should be part of your training and that's why it's so important that you go to Take a self-defense class. So we've covered a lot of ground. I talked a long time number ten Have tools for self-defense now I can't cover those because I've talked for a long time and they are very specific I have a lot of videos coming out some that have already come out on Tools for self-defense and I consider everything we've done up to now a groundwork so that you can overcome the the The normalcy bias that that deer in the headlights and you can have a tool with you It can be as simple as a whistle you can pull this whistle out you pull that you do that and now you Have got him thinking What's going on? No one's ever done that before So you've reacted you're not the victim and he sees you you're not a victim I'm not sure I'm gonna want anything to do with this guy I'm out of here if you'll do something as simple as that So we have I have a video coming out just on noisemakers because I think they're really really important I have videos coming out on that you can or have already come out By the time you've seen this they may have already come out on on bear spray and bear gel, which one's better though either of them work on I have videos coming out on Stun guns stun guns are a great thing pepper ball guns real gun All kinds of videos about tools That's why you're taking a self-defense class Hopefully you can expand that one self-defense class to different different tools that you can use For a cane there's actually no better tool than you can have I'm older It's completely if you saw me with a cane you wouldn't think a thing of it and yet a cane is Probably one of the very best self-defense tools you can ever own I mean, it's you get a good solid cane and it is a stout weapon So I've talked a lot I hope something here will help you any one of these will make you safer Some are easy. Some are very hard the more of them that you will use The better off you'll be Okay, let me know down in the comments below. What would any of these work for you? Let me know which one you think you can apply to your own life And how will you do it? And once you've done it come back and tell me you've done it and then tell the other members of the audience the other people who Are commenting how it's working for you. Does it make you feel better? Does it make you feel safer? So if you got anything out of this video like us on YouTube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button And we'll talk to you later. Bye now