>In the rural parts of the South, people would never think of taking anything that doesn't belong to them. <
I'm 30 minutes outside of Austin, and I do all of the things you have listed and more, never a problem. I've actually gone to sleep while my truck was in the driveway, keys in the ignition, windows down and and found it untouched in the morning. I love it here, stars at night, the only sounds after the sun goes down are trains and the occasional siren.
My neighbor's house got burglarized while he was in Florida for a month.