I woke up and got to my morning things. Fluffing up the bed, dressing, teeth and hair etc., and when I came out to the kitchen to start coffee, I saw two police cars in my back driveway facing the barn. Coffee forgotten, out I went to see what the heck was going on. The police cars were running but there was no one around, so went into the barn, and there was a very large, white GMC - SUV standing will all the doors wide open. Still no police, or anyone else for that matter.
I went out to the camper where my son was staying. Theresa answered the door and she didn't know anything ... said a guy stuck his head in the camper door and said he was going to do some wiring and left. She woke my son up, who, in his sleep, only heard something about wiring. So now the three of us are out back and another police car drove in.
Seems as though the first two police cars were off chasing the two car thieves who put the SUV in my barn. Probably to strip. The police had spotted them early enough to catch at least one of the guys. By now, there were a couple more officers and cars who divided the three of us up so we "couldn't collaborate our stories." Before all was said and done, there were easily 10 police cars in my yard and driveway.
Since they caught the thieves, they called the owners of the stolen vehicle and they came to inspect their car and drive it home. They were more than a little upset that someone would walk into their garage and just drive their car away. About three hours later we were down to just one policeman and car who was wrapping things up.
Just this last week I noticed that the exit port on my camper was open. Actually it looked like the wind had blown it open and broke the hinge edge. I didn't take a serious look right away, but when I did, I discovered that it had been torn open by what had to be one of the thieves looking for a place to hide. He didn't actually get into the camper, but the damage was done. Pictures below show his huge sneaker prints in the dust on the hood of my little Toyota so he could reach up and tear the hatch off.
This is the hatch torn off of its hinges.
This is a CSI thing. That sneaker was slightly over 12" long from toe to heel!
More hands and feet all over my little Toyota Truck. The camper is in my barn which has a dirt floor. With the horses, and me, in and out, dust is always kicked up. Glad it was there for a change or might not have proven that one of the thieves did the damage to the hatch!
One of the police cars. The one behind it is the second large GMC SUV that the owner of the stolen one came to claim. His and Hers SUV's. While they were scared; after all they were at home and had kids in the house when the SUV was stolen, they were lucky to get their vehicle back as quickly as they did, and with no real damages. It certainly makes you wonder what will happen next. Thieves are getting so bold. My son had seen the one thief once, and that was all it took for the guy to know about my barn and think he could help himself to my property for his own purposes. The following week, my neighbor across the intersection had a pickup full of guys walk into her barn moving things around and haltering the horses and opening stalls. My grandson had just gone there to care for his horses and caught them. Luckily they ran to the pick up and took off. (They were his horses.)
At first I considered a security camera system, but that is a little more expensive than I can handle right now, so am going to look into a buzzer that will sound in the house when ever a car drives in or out. There was a time I would have never believed these measures would ever be necessary.
