Outskirts Overland Podcast

Protecting What Matters: Travel Security Without Compromise

• Charlie Racinowski

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Charlie shares his comprehensive approach to family safety and security while traveling and overlanding with children, emphasizing vigilant supervision and proactive education.

• Kids should always remain physically attached to an adult in public spaces
• Dark window tint provides affordable security by concealing children
• Campgrounds often present greater safety concerns than remote backcountry locations
• Demystify dangerous tools through supervised instruction rather than making them forbidden
• Position yourself closest to the door in hotel rooms with children furthest from entry points
• Always share your location with someone back home when overlanding
• Use satellite communicators, motion-activated lights, and trail cameras for enhanced security
• Teach children proper food storage and trash management to prevent wildlife encounters
• Invest in proper first aid training and equipment before purchasing overlanding gear
• Maintain clear communication about safety expectations without creating unnecessary fear

Get outside, have fun, but most importantly—be safe and protect what matters most.


Speaker 1:

Thank you for watching. Hey guys, this is Charlie, and welcome to Outskirts Overland. So I had a turning this tech thing on has been great for me. So I got a message yesterday from Aaron in Dallas, texas, and he said I would like to hear you talk about safety and security when traveling, with traveling slash overlanding with your kids and your family. Well, while that's an extremely broad topic, I think I got a few things to cover here that people may or may not think about. So first I'm going to touch on safety when traveling, just in general. Like safety, so one thing that I'm very, very aware of, and some of you guys have messaged me even just after my EDC talking or like I'm kind of catching your methodology, like your vibe, right.

Speaker 1:

So when I'm traveling with my family, I never let my kids one, my kids never go anywhere unless attached to an adult, like physically attached. Even my oldest she wants to be, you know, independent, but I mean, let's be real here, there's bad people out there. So, like I've seen tons of you know tons of stuff, okay, and I want to make sure my kids are safe from. Not only you know tons of stuff, okay, and I want to make sure my kids are safe from not only you know the potentially the worst, just any negative experience, so they're always attached to an adult. That means I may have three kids in a bathroom stall with me. I always have my kids attached, as much as they hate it. Nobody goes in the gas station to go to the bathroom by themselves, period. If it's my daughters, they go in the freaking men's bathroom with me. It just isn't worth what could be okay. And a lot of times, knowing that I pay attention to places with family bathrooms, like Pilots have family bathrooms, loves have family bathrooms, walmarts have family bathrooms, loves have family bathrooms, walmart's have family bathrooms, so that way, coles has family bathrooms. And these are all things you could research, like you could be, you could be proactive and be ahead. And the reason I touch on the bathroom is just because, naturally, you're in a store, it's easy to have your kids on you, but they go into the bathroom.

Speaker 1:

It seems to be somewhat of a polarizing topic when it comes to family and kids. I do not let my kids go. You know, even when I have a female with me, they are literally attached, not ever losing eyesight, because the people that do bad things are getting smarter, okay. So I just wanted to touch on that safety. Secondly, as far as safety and travel goes, all of the windows on all of my vehicles are very, very dark. You can't tell my kids are in my car with me Ever. Like, seriously, I tend to think and I've talked about window tint before it's such cheap security just from even being a target. Okay, cheap security just from even being, just from even being a target, okay, like nobody assumes somebody with a really dark tent has it to mask their children, to mask their passengers. I do so. That's something to think about too. You know, like making, like just thinking. Just again, this preparedness mindset that I have that I talked about yesterday. I that a lot of you guys were like really, really into wanting to know more about what I think about that stuff. So I have tinted windows. Um, all my kids know how to use the door locks. The windows to all my vehicles are locked, so I don't have a kid accidentally putting a window down and somebody reaching in the car. Uh, you know I'm talking car and travel, but those are, those are safe travel procedures that I would recommend to anyone. When it comes to safe knowing where my kids are. My daughter has an iPad. I have it tracked on my phone. You know, just don't let your kids out of your eyesight.

Speaker 1:

Now I do think now I'm going to go to overlanding camping. There's two thoughts here. Like, when you're going with your kids and your family at a campground, it's actually, in my opinion, less safe than going out into, you know, into the back country alone and unsupported. Because most of the time when you're at a campground, you do find and I'm not trying to what's the word? Profile anybody, but you do find people that will make you, you know, kind of question their integrity, I would say, and not due to just not how do they look, just how they kind of move around, kind of what, like their situation at the campground. You know, like there's a difference between a nomad and a person. That's like it's just different. Okay, guys, I hope you're catching my drift.

Speaker 1:

Like, campgrounds can be dangerous just because they're a place where you're not going to get bothered by the police, to live for an extended period of time and they're not expensive as rent on a house, okay, like, and does that mean that those are bad people at all? No, it doesn't. But I have had experiences at campgrounds that lead me to believe they're less than trustworthy people. So same exact things apply at a campground. Like kids don't leave my sight. So that means that, like, if they're going to play, it's not like go ride your bike, like it just isn't. I'm with them and you know, because the cost of the complacency there is just too great and we just don't. It's not, it's not the 80s and 90s anymore. Like people aren't just inherently, you know, not everybody in the community as a whole is looking out to be a good, a good parent to your kid, be a good adult to your kid. So I. The same thing applies to campgrounds.

Speaker 1:

Now, when I'm out, overlanding my kids get a little bit longer, you know. Get a little bit more, get a little bit more space. But there is other extremely huge safety risks. You know knives, fires, animals, potentially obviously even with kids. I think my kids would argue that tick bites are a safety concern. T ticks are a safety concern. Mosquitoes, you know all those things that are a safety concern.

Speaker 1:

I think the best thing I do, I think the best thing that I do, and I don't do all the best things. I'm not like super dad, you know what I mean. Like, I'm not saying I got all the best ideas, but I might have a different thought process than some of you. I just teach them about stuff you know and I announce things. Some of you, I just teach them about stuff you know and I announce things. So, for instance, when I'm doing something with a chainsaw, I let them know, no matter what they're doing. Hey, I'm going to go cut wood with a chainsaw. If you need me, find a way to get my attention from far away. I do the same thing with the lawnmower at home. Like, find a way to grab my attention without coming close to me. You know, I announce that If I'm opening a knife, hey, take a step back. I'm opening a knife. When I open a box, when I do anything so batoning, wood axing, chopping and then I let them know. You know, hey, here's these tools, and I do this with all dangerous tools. So let that your mind go where it goes with that. If you ever want to know anything about it, let me know. If you ever want to know anything about it, let me know and I'll show you. So that's where I go with that. So let me know. I got it back now. So let me know and I'll show you.

Speaker 1:

I'll always take my kids and show them something you know I'm not going to be like this is I don't want to make it novel and potentially lead to them being curious outside of me. So anytime they're like I want to look at that. I'm like, okay, let's look at that. You know, I make it a positive. I make them. I make them think I'm excited about teaching them about it. I teach them about it. That's any dangerous thing? Okay, like. And then I try to let them, you know, learn it. Like when it comes to batoning wood, I won't let my kids hold the big batoning knife but I will help them beat it with the mallet. You know like to teach them about it. Like, here's how you beat that down with the backside. Here's how you put the knife in and beat it to baton.

Speaker 1:

I work them into learning these things at a slow rate, so that way that they're familiar with it and familiar with the dangers of it and they think I'm excited about teaching them how to use it correctly so that we don't have accidents. Same thing with fire, fire starters, lighters. They know it's hot, it'll hurt you. You know, I show them like, like, for instance, like I show them how fast stuff burns. You know, light a fire starter and hold it. Hey, this is hot, use the torch. Like this, I burn hair off my hand. See that That'll hurt. Like I show them these things so that they're aware of the dangers, and that's my safety approach when it comes to being in the back country with my kids. Like, hey, this could be dangerous, make sure you're paying attention, look for this, look for that, you know.

Speaker 1:

Now, when it comes to security, okay, guys, security, and I'll go back to and I talk safety, okay, safety, security. When I'm traveling and you said traveling overland, aaron. So I'm going to cover both. Like hotel room, I'm on the bed closest to the door. I'm very familiar with what floor I'm on, where the exits are, where the elevators are, what floor I'm on, where the exits are, where the elevators are, curtains are always closed, but kids are always distance further from the door than myself. Okay, that's an instance where I typically carry a pistol. The pistol is also closer to the door, not the kids. Same thing applies with that. Stay away from it.

Speaker 1:

Education, knowledge, understanding. Okay, I make sure my kids don't open doors. If somebody knocks on the door, they get an adult. They don't answer the door, they don't go to the door, they don't talk near the door, because anybody that's looking to harm a child can identify that a child's in there just by sound. Your kids can make it very obvious. Your kids can make it obvious they're in there, right Like. Try and keep your kids paying attention to adult first, adult first, adult first. And it's not because you want to be a controlling person, it's for safety. So also explaining to them. You know kids these days are taught, you know adults are good. You know inherently. Well, that's not the truth. So I make sure that my kids are aware that there are good guys but there also are bad guys, and what we gotta be, what we gotta be skeptical of, is the bad guys. So not everyone. We almost assume everyone is a bad guy until they're a good guy. We don't assume they're a good guy and then find out they're a bad guy.

Speaker 1:

Um, in my house so that's that's very like they don't answer doors at the house. Um, like, ever, period, never. I also, even to another level, like my kids, have a place. They stand when the door gets knocked on. That's less advantageous for gunfire if somebody was to just knock on the door and then start blasting through the door.

Speaker 1:

Now I have a little bit different life experience than some of you so that might be a little far or outside your comfort zone or even your knowledge or ability. Okay, that's what it is. But my kids, I take it very seriously. They know I take it seriously. I don't get angry about it but it's very serious. So that's how I handle traveling hotels Always, again, kid attached, kid attached.

Speaker 1:

My kids go to the bathroom, bathroom's usually closest to the door in a hotel. I kind of go over there with them. You know, like hotels are public so they're more prone to you know you can take a flipper, guys and I'm not going to, I just don't want to get too tactical with you guys but like, a flipper is a device that you know a hotel is going to have key cards across the whole place. Everybody knows that. You know that. I know that everybody knows that a flipper when you do your key card, somebody in a room over on the same network can scan that card and now they can gain access to your room with with a simple, like a hacker, with a very simple device can do that Like, can do that. Like I said before, they can do it with your car keys, they can do it with your garage door openers. So stuff like that is just.

Speaker 1:

You know, pay attention, I don't have anything in my house that's worth it to me, so I don't care. Take my car whatever, do what you do. I got insurance my kids. I don't have insurance on. I can't just get another, you know, kid. So I handle that differently and I also don't want to be in a situation where I'm trying to defend myself and eliminate a threat that has my kid. You know, that's a little bit. I'm a little more attached to that than you know. Another scenario that than you know. Another scenario, unfortunately. Other scenarios where you know there's some acceptable amount of collateral damage to eliminate something, to diffuse a situation on myself and someone else. Potentially that's not an option with my kids and also I don't want them to be so scared that they don't want to go out into the world. So I just try to stay positive and stay educating them on those things.

Speaker 1:

Now, security when I'm overlanding Okay, so my kids know there's. So my kids don't ever get out of the tent by themselves. And there's like so we have like language you know like. So I know that they need me, that they want me. My kid's tent is closest to my ladder on my rooftop tent, and I usually don't have all the kids in a tent. I usually have a split. In the best case scenario there's an adult with each tent. Again, adults go a long way and so there's an adult with my kids. Sometimes they're all up in the rooftop tent with me and then again I let them know hey, here's this, here's that.

Speaker 1:

If you have a dog, a dog is a very, very good warning, early warning sign. A well-trained dog and your dog can help a lot. Actually, a dog is a great use tool for security. Also and I have friends that do this and it works great If you have any rack or anything like that, you can put a solar powered trail cam anywhere, like you can put that on, like wrap it on any different places of your vehicle, suction, cup it on whatever you want to try and make it inconspicuous. But those will also track like what's going on through your camp at night. I have had friends that have had people walk through their camps and different things. I have friends that used to hammock camp that no longer do due to trail camps, picking up people going through their tent and they're like, yeah, I'm just asking to be stabbed in this sleep burrito. So they now sleep in a rooftop tent, or you know stuff like that.

Speaker 1:

My rooftop tent isn't soft, it's aluminum, like that. You can't. Just I'm going to know you're coming, you know what I mean. Um, and I am always aware of that. So you could also do I've, I've brought it up before. Motion like, just like your garage, you know you can do motion detected lights in places. So when people walk by, lights go on. Typically if something's lit or made aware that they're there, it's a little more deterring. So that's how I handle security.

Speaker 1:

I definitely have all those things Hopefully never need to use them but a couple, a pack of two or three solar-powered trail cams in exchange for your safety. You know matters. Again, as far as safety is concerned, obviously Zoleo is a piece of safety equipment. I always tell someone back home send them my location, I'm here, I'm safe, this is where I'll be all night. I'll let you know when I get up in the morning. Every single solitary day night, somebody knows where I stopped. Always, I always, always, always, always. Somebody knows where I stopped. That's just the way it is. That's. I think that's freaking necessary. Okay, I share my location with people too. If they have iPhones, like, so they can see where I'm, even, like they can kind of track me to know if I'm not headed any longer, headed where I was headed. So all things excuse me, all things that matter.

Speaker 1:

Teach your kids to yell if they need help, you know, not just be quiet. Teach them to scream. That's not ideal in, you know, walmart when they want a toy, but it's ideal in safety and security scenarios, you know, just. But again, a dog, trail cams, motion lights, those are all going to help with the security of your camp, for sure. I also don't camp a lot of times with other people, so that means if I'm hearing something, it's somebody that maybe shouldn't be there. But again, so there's some big animals out there, so they're going to sound different too.

Speaker 1:

And you got to make sure you're taking into account safety and security from the wildlife. So that leads me to bear spray guns, air horns, education, you know, like for kids, I think probably the biggest thing for safety from wildlife you got to be concerned about is teaching them how to handle if they approach a snake, if they approach you know wildlife, and is teaching them how to handle if they approach a snake. If they approach you know wildlife, and then teaching them to make sure they actually clean up their trash. Cleaning up your trash is huge, like, so, like if they're in the tent, like I don't let them be eaten in there, like because that they could leave crumbs outside next thing. You know they got coyotes, squirrels, raccoons, anything and that could scare them. You know, like you don't, you just don't want to create a bad experience.

Speaker 1:

So, making sure that, like this is where we eat, this isn't, you know, this is how we clean it up, this is where it goes. Here's why we do that. Um, you know, and I let them take part in that. Like I bring I think I've mentioned it to you guys before but I bring peppermint like essential oil spray and if I have any like so my kids don't always eat all their food, I think that's everybody's kids Like, so they have leftovers but you want to throw those in the trash. Can I always take the flap of, like my trasharoo and spray it with peppermint and that kind of masks the scent that's pretty well known in the back country, um, from raccoons and squirrels and different things, that kind of masks it and they don't like that scent. So it usually kind of assures them a little bit and my kids, like, really like to do that, like, oh, I want to spray the stuff you know, like, okay, cool, like, cool. Here's why you do that, you know, because this, this can happen, and then maybe even show them a video of, like you know a bear tearing up somebody's.

Speaker 1:

You know car, because they want the. You know car because they want the. You know peanut butter pretzels on the inside, like they really want it. They're hungry, they don't, they don't have the access to stuff like we do. Um, so just paying, just all of those things, their safety and security measures that I take. I couldn't even, probably off the top of my head, cover them all immediately, but that pretty well sums up what I can think of off the top of my head. Aaron, hopefully that covers some of your thoughts, but just again, I'll say it, in anybody, that is a. Anyways, you'll know if you know, complacency kills.

Speaker 1:

Don't just assume you're safe, don't just assume everything's all right. Typically you're traveling to new places and exploring, which means you don't know about it, which means you should be skeptical and just you know you want to have a good time, you want to relax, but also kind of have the thought process of I don't know this place, you know it's not your home, it's not your neighbors, it's not so you don't know. That's another reason why I say safety and security on X off road. It shows you where and I'm not trying to plug on X, I don't do anything with them but it just shows you public and private land big piece of safety. Don't be on somebody's private land because then you're in a real conundrum. Okay, because they have the right to do this and you just don't want to get hurt Paying attention to where you're at and who owns it, kind of thing. That is huge. You do not want to roll up on some old farmer's private land and just the whole. I didn't know, like they don't know you either. They don't know if you're telling the truth or lying, like that's not a good scenario to be in. So also, make sure you're on legal public trails. If you're on anything private, you're allowed to just like hunting. Don't be out there and you're not supposed to. It's a huge piece of safety and security for everybody involved.

Speaker 1:

Again, when it comes to safety and security when wheeling, my kids are familiar with stuff, you know, like staying buckled up, don't unbuckle yourself, um, you know, keeping the windows up, stuff like that, knowing if I need them to exit, how they need to exit the vehicle. Having a first aid kit you know I've got a band-aids boo-boos first aid kit and I got an injury first aid kit. You know I've got a band-aid boo-boos first aid kit and I got an injury first aid kit. So essentially I have first aid and trauma uh ones like tylenol, advil, band-aids, neosporin, alcohol peroxide, whatever you know that you might need there. The other ones like somebody actually got hurt, um, you know and the ability to call for help, again, whether that's satellite on your phone, satellite system, something of that nature which are ways to handle situations with injuries and how to assess them, because you also like those security things. They don't know you're there, they're not watching for you to be there. So if you call for help, sos, whatever you've got to be able to keep somebody stabilized enough to give the professionals a chance to get there or to get this person to a professional, stabilization is huge.

Speaker 1:

You can do that as an individual. I think that's worth it. I think if you're buying a freaking rooftop tent and not first aid and recovery training, you're already behind the curve. Those are things you should be looking into and learning about first. You don't get a car. You don't go buy a brand new car then take it out and learn how to drive Okay, like you got to learn how to drive. There's a process you do that with. In most states. You get a permit. You got to drive with a parent. There's instruction Like now we're adults and we can go out in the back country with our kids and put them in what we don't even realize the dangerous situations, and we don't even have the training to keep it safe. Fish, you know. So make sure you're. Just just be smart, okay. If not, if these are things that you didn't know about, the next thing you need to be doing is looking at how to train your you and your kids to best you know, to best understand how to be safe, just like tread lightly.

Speaker 1:

Everybody says first aid, everybody says this, everybody says that, but saying it doesn't do you any good. You need to learn it, you need to know it, you need to understand it. You need to make sure that everybody's on the same page and for sure, within your family. That's implementable, I am positive of that, you know. And if you go with other people that aren't implementing it, make sure your kids know like not my monkey, not my surface, not my monkey not my circus, I say that all the time Like that's them, that's their kids. They do what they do. Okay, that's not what we do and that's not because we're better or worse or anything. That's just we're different. They have a different last name than us. We're obviously different, you know. Like, we're just different. Like we do this.

Speaker 1:

They can do whatever they want. It's not wrong for them to do whatever they're doing. It's just not what we do, you know, and that's how I explain things, um, and I make sure my kids are very aware Like I'm serious, like this isn't, like I'm serious, like this isn't I'm not joking, you're not in trouble, but like it is serious, it's important, this is important, like it matters, um, and I take that approach with anything that could hurt anybody. You know anything that could hurt you. Now, if it's whatever, whatever you know, throwing rocks in the water, I don't particularly want them to do, and throwing sticks in the river, but it's not like life or death. I just be doing throwing sticks in the river, but it's not like life or death. I just like, hey, don't do that, you know. Not like it's not like you're gonna get hurt or don't step that, you know, like mitigate. Hopefully you guys get it, your parents, I'm a parent, like again, I have different life experiences than some of you, but like you, still get it like you're adult. Be an adult when it's necessary.

Speaker 1:

But also making sure your kids understand like I'm serious, announcing I'm getting out a knife, I'm getting this, don't touch this. You know, if you want to do anything with this, I will teach you, I will show you. You know making it available to them, but not that it's so novel that they're going to want to go. Oh, I can't let dad know. I want to play with that. So I'm going to play with it behind his back or explore it behind his back. You know want to keep them up front. So hopefully that covers it, aaron.

Speaker 1:

That's, that's what comes to mind. That's what your topic brings to mind for me. Um, if I missed the mark on that, write me again. I will touch on it again Anytime somebody writes me a topic that they think is a good topic to talk about and I haven't already discussed it. I mean, it's usually coming hot down the pipe soon, so hopefully that catches you all. And uh, happy Tuesday. I don't know what national day it is. I totally spaced on that again. Sorry, guys, I will God I gotta be better about that. It's new. I will God I got to be better about that. It's new, I'll get it. I'll talk to you guys later. Get outside, have fun, be safe.