Jumping out of chronological order a little bit to tell the story of our most recent misadventure! When we hit the road with everything we own in our camper and truck bed, we knew that there was a chance that theft could be a possibility.
Our truck was literally stacked with bins full of tools, our generator, our two bicycles, etc. The only thing that stood between our belongings and a thief was a spider net. Laughable really! But low and behold, we made it all the way to our winter destination without a single item getting stolen… so we let our guard down.
What Happened?
We had been happily settled in to our winter campground for about two weeks when we decided to take a trip out to San Diego to visit my brother who was in town for the weekend. Because we are stationary for the winter, we were able to unload the camper, toy hauler and everything out of the truck bed. Leaving just us and our truck to travel into San Diego!
I had to work a shift with Upaway app that morning, so without thinking of the possible repercussions, I packed up my backpack with my laptop, notebooks, planner, inverter, and hotspot to work on the road. We stopped at Walmart on the way to buy Kyle a pair of sandals and myself a new pillow.
When we arrived to San Diego, we parked in a nice, well-lit parking garage with attendants, nearby the convention center. The last thing I remember doing at the truck was tossing the pillow over my backpack in the backseat to “hide” it a bit.
Seven hours later, we arrived back to the truck, and hit the road back to our camper about three hours outside of the city. About half way home, it dawned on me that the pillow was on the other side of the backseat. Immediately I whipped around in a panic to find my backpack missing. We pulled over to check and see what else was missing and realized very quickly that they took my backpack, Kyle’s backpack, our camper keys, his new shoes and more random junk.
As much as it hurt to see all of our stuff missing, there was also now a good chance that we wouldn’t be able to get into our locked camper when we arrived back at 1am. So we mentally prepared ourselves for sleeping in the truck that night.
Now What?
We spent the rest of the ride home changing all our passwords and trying to hack into my laptop remotely to log it out of everything including Microsoft and Chrome. Knowing the thieves could have easy access to all our bank accounts with my saved passwords was unsettling.
The next thing we did was call the non-emergency line of the San Diego PD where they basically laughed in my face and told me to file a report online which I did the following day. The only luck that landed on our side was that our toy hauler door was not locked so we were able to get back inside.
We spent the next couple days scrambling to replace my laptop and hotspot so I could at least work and then decided to deal with insurance at a later date. Such a hassle.
How Can we Prevent this?
There was so much that we could have done to prevent this but the reality is that theft happens, ESPECIALLY in big cities like San Diego and San Francisco. We were so lucky that it wasn’t worse and that our truck wasn’t damaged in the process. But the scariest part was that we now had no way of locking our camper when we were away. We don’t have an extra set of keys for the camper and the camper is so old that they stopped making replacement parts for it.
I’ve seen many other RVers on Instagram upgrading their rigs to have digital locks and we knew that would be the best solution for us as well! We worked with a company called Latch.It to make sure the locks would fit and they shipped them out to us immediately!
We have two entry doors so we ordered two keyed alike keyless locks. The installation was SUPER easy and they fit right into the holes of the old locks. The quality is top notch as well, made out of solid metal! (And a special shoutout to their branding and marketing team! The packaging and extras that came in it were the best!)
What are the benefits of Digital Locks?
I’m glad you asked! There are so many benefits to these locks besides just being really cool and high-tech!
- Safety: The number one reason we upgraded to these is the safety aspect of it. The locks are made with 100% metal so they aren’t flimsy or easy to break into. The digital entry option also allows you to leave your keys safely in the camper when you leave for the day. You can’t have your keys stolen like we did if you don’t need to carry keys in the first place!
- Entry Options: Having the multiple entry options is a great way to protect yourself from ever having to break in to your own home. If you lose the keys, you can get in by punch code. If the batteries die in your key fob, you have a physical key available! If you have a misadventure like us or lose your keys, you can have them re-made and still be able to come and go as you please in the meantime.
- Convenience: The two locks we received are keyed alike but also came with key fobs that we could sync to both locks. So when we press the lock or unlock buttons, it does both at the same time! We keep one next to our bed so we don’t have to get out of bed to lock our doors anymore! Another great design feature to the locks is the backlit digital pad. No need to pull out a light to punch in your code at night!
Are you sold yet?
These locks by Latch.it are one of those things that I didn’t realize I needed but now can’t imagine life without them! We now have peace of mind to leave our camper locked up tight, and know that we won’t ever be stranded or locked out in an area with no cell service and no way to get in.
It’s a comfort that I would suggest for anyone who has an RV! If you are interested in purchasing a lock or two yourself, Latch.It was kind enough to give me a discount code to share with my friends and family! Use code INMOTION at checkout for 15% off your entire purchase!
Our theft misadventure was just another tough life lesson that we learned on this trip. If it hadn’t happened, we never would have upgraded our camper to give us the security and peace of mind that our new Latch.It locks do! We can now travel confidently in the new year knowing that we’ve done everything possible to protect ourselves and our belongings!
Do you have an RV? Have you made any upgrades to help with security while on the road? Leave your recommendations in the comments below! Interested in a planning a road trip of your own? Check out InMotion Adventures to see what I can do for you! Until next time…
Stay Wild and Adventure On!
