I appreciate the sentiments, but I better back up a moment before too many jump to a few conclusions that I didn't intend. When I mentioned "It's a little different than only that typical "violated" feeling we experienced with a house break in many years ago", the break in actually happened quite a few years ago.
For some reason, not sure if it's the highway or what, but that location did experience it's share of things during the years I grew up there, starting in the 60's when someone used the toilet while my parents were in the fields - probably just someone who was driving by and needed to use it, so nothing with criminal intent that we're aware of, but we learned to lock the house doors from then on. Not many years later after we built a machine shed and stored the car in it as a garage (ironically a former police car), my father went to get it ready one morning because we made monthly visits to visit my grandfather in Winona, and when he opened the door, there was a man standing there looking at him! Turned out it was a transient who slept in the car backseat because the grass was wet under our apple trees. While that was another incident without really a criminal intent, it does shake a person up and tend to change a person's precautionary locking habits.
Years later my mother made a bad mistake of leaving the keys in my car after moving it for what was supposed to be only a few moments while we were moving a few items...hours later it was stolen from that same driveway. There were later reports of a young boy walking that stretch of highway around the same time. I was lucky and got the car back after someone in Eau Claire complained about the car parked in front of their house for so long. Whoever it was apparently only needed temporary transportation and even left my window open a crack so that it didn't get overheated I guess. But I will say after what I've experienced in that location, it baffles me to this day when I see people leave their cars open, sometimes with keys in, and even with them running sometimes, while they go into someplace like Walmart! And then I see in our police reports people reporting items stolen out of their unlocked cars!!
Anyway, we lived through other things through the years, including a couple one night having an argument (shouting match) at the end of our driveway, as well as a spontaneous attempted party by our trees one night (another attempt in front of the silos one night after my parents had moved to town and simply came out to check the place). The break in actually happened while we were in the barn - turned out to be three escapees who kicked in the door - apparently traveling fast and light on foot because the only things we found missing from that was my dad's winter coat, a pitcher of milk, and one package from a previously unopened box of graham crackers...but that was the one that gave the "violated" feeling - something the officers had warned us about, and after they left, boy where they right! It really screws with your psyche!
So the reason I mention all that is to give a little background that we have become accustomed to taking precautions - although seems there's always more that could be added. Unfortunately as the years progressed, that "criminal intent" has changed for the worst too as the crime rates have risen. This latest truck theft from us seems to have been more planned than just a crime of opportunity. It's hard to have much trust any longer - even our next door neighbor found someone in their garage scoping things out not long ago. The reported increasing drug use isn't helping the situation. I believe in multiple sensor and security lights for any place we've been in, along with video surveillance and some other traps...especially out at the location the truck was stolen from with it's checkered history. And of course the video monitoring showed us how often people would come in and walk around like it was an open store. So many years ago already we asked the sheriffs department to keep an eye out on their patrols - ironically right after I asked that, we took a trip with my parents to visit my sister and on the way home late at night we drove in just to check and they stopped us before we got out of the driveway! LOL
So for quite a few years we've asked surrounding neighbors to keep an eye out also. They've been great at letting me know of things and more than once they've even stopped people they noticed in the driveway to ask what they were doing there! So we feel very lucky to have such great neighbors. Unfortunately, nobody from that group happened to see anything during this truck incident. I think everybody felt bad and I suspect maybe watching even closer now. I'm adding a few additional deterrents too, but I do know that neighborhood watches do work amazingly well!
So thanks again and sorry for the long post, but thought I'd better explain that the break-in I mentioned wasn't a recent thing. That was a great idea about the neighbors, and I'm happy to report it's been pretty successful for us all things considered - but no system is perfect. We feel lucky we continue to have so many people who watch out for us and I'd recommend the neighborhood watch system for everyone if they are lucky enough!