A couple of days ago I posted in the dailies that my recent trip was the worst ever. Someone, I believe it was Queen, replied with something like "really, do tell". Well here is the story. I was going to post this as the "Thieving Thursdailies" but felt that it was too long for the dailies.
About two weeks ago we headed to San Antonio for DS's graduation from Basic Training. Just getting prepared to go was a chore. I had to prepare and finish a speech for a class that I was taking. Since It couldn't be posted until the 21st I had to take the entire project along with me. I won't go into all the details, but anything that could go wrong with shooting the video did. I also had to change oil in the vehicle and did that the night before we were to leave. The oil pan plug flange broke meaning it wouldn't seal up and the oil fill cap broke and wouldn't come out. Fortunately the Auto parts store had both items. I decided to not even try to get the oil fill cap out and simply filled it back up thru the filter housing which is on the top of the engine. Very convenient. With all that and everything else that was going wrong I would have cancelled the trip except for the fact that DS and I have a really good relationship and he would have been devastated if I would not have went along.
We drove straight thru to Waco to DW's relatives then went to San Antonio the next morning. It was great seeing the Kiddo again and seeing the change in him. Everything was, yes sir and yes ma'am. Very polite. Just imagine 645, mostly teenagers, all behaving that way. He had three days of town leave and the first two were wonderful although I think San Antonio kind of sucks. On the last day, Sunday, he had to be back on base by 1800. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner in the middle of a shopping center. To make a long story short, when we came out our passenger side window was smashed in and about 5 bags had been taken. We had checked out of the motel so we had everything with us. They got about 2500-3000 dollars of stuff. This includes the bags, clothing, computers, web cam, flash drives, external hard drives and about four textbooks. It's amazing how fast the cost added up. There was glass throughout the vehicle. The police didn't even want to come out and just took a report over the phone. We found out that this area is constantly getting hit. We got him back to base in time to replace the stuff that he needed and then had to say goodbye.
I taped the broken window and drove back to DW's relatives. The people at Freddy's Glass in Waco, were wonderful with quick service and I got the window replaced Monday afternoon. The biggest problem was losing the computers with all our school stuff on them. Monday and Tuesday were spent with DW's relatives but most of the time was spent changing passwords and checking on accounts in case anything was on the computers that the thieves could retrieve. The instructor for my class is not very approachable but when I told her what happened she allowed me to submit the project as soon as we got home which was several days after the due date. Then while we were there my Dad called and said that my Aunt had died. My Cousin needed me to be a pallbearer so they were going to wait until both I and my older brother got home to have the funeral. On top of all that the camera that I had used to shoot the video for my class was borrowed and had been returned, so I had to try to get that back or buy a camera and reshoot the project.
After Texas we had plans to stop in Branson Mo. on the way home for several days. Since most of the stuff was reserved and paid for we decided to continue with this. We had several pretty decent days there and I even got in a few miles of nice trail running, but I did slightly tweak my bad ankle on the last day. Then I started having problems making contact with the guy I had borrowed the camera from so that increased my stress level quite a bit. When we finally got home I was able to get the camera and the video I needed was still on it, however, my desktop was not really configured to download the video and then upload it. I fought with this for most of the night and then got a few hours of sleep before waking up to drive to Delaware for the funeral.
Overall getting robbed was bad enough, but the worst thing was having all of our school project stuff stolen, especially with my teacher not being a very approachable person and the web site that I have to use for the class doesn't work right most of the time. This issue caused me most of the stress. If I would have failed or had to drop the class that would have been an additional $800.00.
We have traveled quite a bit over the years, Driving from Florida to Prudhoe Bay Alaska, Maine to Arizona and the Pacific Northwest. This was our first trip where we had major problems so I guess we are fortunate, but it did make for a stressful and not very fun trip.
So what are your stories of travels gone bad? Have you ever been robbed, either at home or while traveling?
Sue
Hey Daydreamer that all sucks. I hope you feel better getting it out. I've been lucky and can't top your story.
05/13/23 Traverse City Trail Festival 25K
08/19/23 Marquette 50 dns 🙄
running under the BigSky
Thieves suck- no argument here. The worse part is probably someone saw them smash the window, but wouldn't lift a finger to call the police-maybe I'm wrong on that part and if I am, I'm glad
do you have home owners insurance? usually they cover stolen personal property-doesn't right the wrong, but might take a little sting out
I am sorry to hear your story
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
Le professeur de trail
You would think in a parking lot of a restaurant that your car is safe. Sorry for all your stress. Count you blessings and move on. Congrats on your son's graduation though. What are his plans?
I can't top that story Craig but I have a memorable mugging story from when I was young. I was on a trip with my french class my freshman or sophomore year of high school. We travelled to Quebec and stayed right in the heart of the Old Quebec City. Very cool place. Old buildings, wall around this part of teh city, some of teh streets were cobble stone. It was my birthday and I was wearing my birthday present - a red Chicago Bulls Starter jacket (very popular in the early 90's). Three friends and I were walking the streets in what seemed like a very nice town - shops and old buildings mostly. We turned a corner and ran into what I assumed was a gang. They all had on red including many with similar style jackets. The one guy started taking off my jacket speaking french way too fast for me to understand. I was young and nieve and had no clue what was going on. He took the jacket and the group of them (outnumbered us 2-1 and much bigger than us) ran. It happened so fast, I really was in shock. Long story short, I was mugged by a gang in Old Quebec City on my b-day. Weird, weird, weird!
But that's my only thievery story.
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Warden - Your probably right that someone saw something, however a lot of these guys are pros and are very fast and efficient. We do have insurance so that does ease the sting somewhat, but it's a lot of paperwork involved.
Jame - He's now up at Wichita Falls Tx, at Sheppard AFB for his Individual Training which is working on ground support equipment for the C-130. He will come home just in time for Christmas. He's with the Air Guard so he'll go back to college and hope he doesn't get deployed for the first year until college is finished. I'm not sure about your story not topping mine. We may have lost more things but at least we didn't have face to face contact with the bastards. Being mugged would definently be memorable and I'm kind of thankful that we didn't actually see them. With my attitude things may have gotten ugly.
Sorry to hear about your stuff being stolen. That sucks. Bastards!!!
Glad to hear that your son is doing well.
2/17/24 - Forgotten Florida 100 Mile, Christmas, FL
Bummer ...
I have had stuff stolen in Nice, France and NYC. In New York, the main thing they stole was a set of German books that would have been almost prohibitive for me to replace. I found them for resale within the hour at St. Mark's place and demanded them back. I let them keep my dirty clothes and underwear.
BTW, really funny riff on Cracker (Barrel). You might need a laugh ...
http://teamcoco.com/deoncolesblackbox/video/dcbb-highlight-n-word-special
Faster Than Your Couch!
That sucks, sorry to hear the story.
Congrats on your son's graduation, this is great!
When I was in Austria about 10 years ago, on a business trip, I had my brand-new laptop ($4,700 then) with me. On the last day of the trip, I had a meeting with high-level Austrian government officials and business executives in a very upscale, expensive golf resort. So I expected the parking lot to be somewhat safe, especially as it was in the gated area of the resort.
Usually, I take my laptop and briefcase with me everywhere, but just on that day, I left it in the car.When I came back, the back side window was smashed, and the laptop and briefcase, with my passport and some classified and confidential business papers in it, were gone. I was so angry, I let out a war cry, then called the police (who would not do much, just take the report).
I got home after 2 a.m. in the morning, and my plane was to leave at 10 a.m. that day. Without a passport, of course I could not travel, so I had to go get a replacement passport first, get the car repaired, and settle the matter with the business papers. That took a few days, then I could travel back. I was worried about the papers for a long time, but nothing happened. Probably they just got thrown out somewhere.
The laptop was replaced by our business insurance, and as it had been brand-new, there had not been a lot of files and important data on it, and I had it backed up before the fateful dinner on my company's remote server. The damage to the car was covered by my car insurance.
So all in all, the damage was limited, but it definitely was stressful and gave me a hard time!
On another occasion, many years ago, I got mugged on an overnight train, in the bunk. They stole all my money, but fortunately not my passport.
Run for fun.
FTYC - That would be a major pain to lose a passport at a time like that. I told my wife that it could have been a lot worse and it won't change my behavior a whole lot. A few things that I will do is park closer to the buildings. I tend to park away cause I hate fighting for a closer space. I'm also going to look for a heavy cargo net to throw over the luggage. At least that way they have to work harder for what they get.
Sorry about your trip gone bad! For as many eloquent words as we have available to us in the English language, the best one to sum up that kind of experience is Sucky. Shitty works, too.
I was on a family vacation once and had a nice 35 mm camera with me since I was mid way through a B&W photography class in College. I was falling behind in the class and had just shot several rolls of what I thought were pretty awesome photos. My Dad had rented a jeep and we drove out to a swimming hole on a remote side of the island we were vacationing on.
My family was NOT wealthy and would save up all year for a vacation and every dollar was planned for. With no top we couldn't really lock the Jeep, so we went over to the swimming hole anyway. The first thing I noticed was that there was a local man sitting on a rock ledge which, instead of facing the ocean, faced the parking area. The swim hole was surrounded by high rock walls, but this guy could see everything going on.
He was definitely watching the parking lot and keeping an eye on things - but I didn't really put it together until we got back to the Jeep and found my camera and our spending cash for the day was gone. The local law could not have cared less.
I was able to borrow a camera to get through the course, but by then I was so far behind that I ended up with a C for the class