So apparently sometime on Monday night, the Jeep was broken into... We discovered this when we went out to go to dinner, and upon getting into the Jeep, I noticed the bag with our 2 pillows was sitting on the drivers seat, and neither of us remembered putting it there, but we had fished around in the back for some stuff the day before, so maybe we put it there and just didn't remember, no big deal. Then I noticed my straw hat was sitting outside on the hood of the Jeep, and that definitely hadn't been there before, but maybe it fell out when we were pulling other stuff out, and someone had been nice enough to set it there so it wouldn't get run over in the parking lot, again, no big deal. But I had a sinking feeling in my gut, so I asked Heather to check the glove box, where we kept the GPS. It was unlocked, and the GPS was still in there, great! But I still had a bad feeling, so I looked in the back, and instantly realized that my large duffel bag (with allllll my clothes, shoes, and other necessities) was missing- HUGE deal! Seconds later, I see that there is a gap where the zip-up window would normally be attached to the Jeep, so I push on the window and the whole thing falls open! So clearly, someone had unzipped the window, reached in, and grabbed my duffel bag!
So I go inside and speak with the girl at the desk, who assures me that there are cameras on the parking lot, and that her manager will come in to review the tapes tomorrow. She also gives me the phone number for the local police so I can call in and file a report. We then left for dinner, and on further inspection, discovered that not only did they take my huge duffel bag with all my clothes, shoes, & hair dryer, but they also grabbed my smaller duffel bag (that I got when I reached varsity level on my cheerleading squad in highschool and had my name stitched onto it!), which had another jacket, a few hats (one was obtained on my vacation in Costa Rica!), and some other miscellaneous items, including my very expensive and high quality Biolage shampoo & conditioner. They also took another smaller bag with more of my clothes in it, and my cd case with all of my favorite cd's and dvd's in it! The most expensive thing they grabbed, however, was Heather's case with all of her hairdressing equipment in it, valued at well over $500!! Fortunately for Heather, that's all they took of hers... Unfortunately for me, I now only have what was packed in my overnight bag in the hotel room...
I guess, on the bright side, we had both of our laptops and all of our most important personal items with us in the hotel room, but that doesn't even begin to soothe the feelings of violation and loss that we are now experiencing...
Today, during the day, we looked around the nearby area, in hopes that the perpetrators may have looked through our things and discarded anything that didn't have immediate street value (like my clothes!), and in this search, I discovered the campsites of vagrants/transients on the side of the highway behind the hotel parking lot. Thinking I had stumbled upon a lead, I called the local police again, and notified them of this 'squatter' situation, and asked if they could send someone (armed) over to help us investigate the area further... To my dismay, the lady on the other end of the phone informed me that they are "well aware that there are people living back there, but just because I filed a report doesn't mean there is anything they can do to help me get my things back." SO WHAT IS THE POINT OF FILING A POLICE REPORT IF THEY AREN'T GOING TO DO JACK SH*T TO HELP?!?!?!?!?!?!? Please excuse my language, but I find this completely useless and frustrating!!
So this evening, the hotel manager came in to review the video tapes, and he informed me that they do, in fact, show the perpetrators breaking into the Jeep, and also trying to get into other vehicles, and finally making off with our belongings as well as some tools they snagged out of the back of a work truck. They were driving a beat up old car, so it seems as though the local transients are off the hook, but I was more disappointed to find out that one of the two criminals was female, so she must be enjoying her brand new wardrobe of all my favorite clothes right about now... I hope she has an allergic reaction to the laundry detergent I used and DIES!!! Yes, I am THAT angry!!
The police came by to pick up the tape of the incident, but I have absolutely no hope or faith that they will even try to do anything with it at all... So now I have approximately 4 changes of clothes and a few other miscellaneous items to get me from here to Colorado by the 26th of October, when my parents can ship me the winter clothes that I packed away. Although, I may have to wait a while before they arrive, depending on how quickly the USPS works.
All in all, I guess it could have been worse, and the fact that we are both safe and healthy counts for a lot right now... And I am sticking by my resolution that there is nothing we could have done to prevent this from happening. Yes, I know traveling with a soft-top Jeep is not the most secure mode of transportation, but this parking lot is well-lit, fenced in on all sides, with plenty of video cameras in plain sight! We parked in much sketchier areas (like downtown New Orleans on a dark side street in front of a hostel where it's obvious everyone there is traveling), and haven't had any problems until now. And yes, I know we could have brought everything we owned into the hotel with us, but we were smart enough to bring the most important/valuable items, and to the best of our knowledge, none of our personal information is out there to put us at risk for identity theft. So like I said, it could have been much worse, and all I can do now is move forward with a lesson learned.
PS- this lesson STINKS!
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