Truck stops

[2oldman]

I chatted with a couple truck drivers in a Freightliner service lounge yesterday. I asked if they got upset when RVs are parked in their overnight spots.

They both said no, as long as you're a larger rig - like a big trailer/5er. What they don't like is the little guys - perhaps truck campers - or sleeping in a car.

They also said to pull in head first to keep away from overnight idling engine noise, or noise from refer units.

[cross21114]

Many states are closing rest areas due to budget constraints, making the problem even more severe for trucks.

[Irover]

Using smaller campers I leave the Truck Stops for the big rigs!! Just common courtesy! Unless they have an area for only RVS!

[gmctoyman]

One comment about pulling forward in rest area parking spots, esp if between 2 53' semis. If a trucker comes along and tries to pull in behind you...you haven't made any friends. If a motorhome pulling a car comes along and tries to pull in behind you...you've made an enemy. The truck CAN back out, the MH can't, and with his towbar in a bind he'll have a hell of a time getting disconnected.

[reluyog]

2Oldman, it's really not that bad. I can drop the second trailer pretty quick.

[Edd505]

2oldman wrote:

Edd505 wrote:
Here is a small test, think one one thing you have that has not been on a truck multi times. I can name on Baby's.

My Rv? 🙂 Nowadays it's container ships.

I'll bet the components for that RV have been on a truck and the container is set on the dock to be loaded on a ??? Truck! :S

[2oldman]

reluyog wrote:
I prefer more wide open spaces, that's for sure!

Dang...must be a bear finding a spot in an RV park for that!!

[reluyog]

We use truck stops as the last option, although the last few times we used a Walmart lot there were so many trucks it might as well been a truck stop. Usually if we overnight at a truck stop, we've purchased a couple of hundred gallons of fuel and that's fair enough for me. Last casino we had a fast talking bull **** panhandler, last Walmart we had a vagrant panhandler, last rest area we had a person sleeping in their car real close to us because they felt safer that way for some reason. I prefer more wide open spaces, that's for sure!

[narcodog]

I use both truck stops and rest areas often. Saying that I am very cognizant of the big rigs requirement to both the need to stop and size. I always look for a spot that a big rig won't fit one just needs to look. When using rest stops I never use the truck parking area. My short bed fits in any parking spot and that is what I use, usually at the end of the line or the furthest from the rest rooms. I have never been asked to move from either parking area. At times I could reach out the window and touch the big rig next to me, which I marvel at the expertise these drivers have.
As far as noise it's not the big rigs Cummins but the refer that is bothersome. You get what you pay for.
I'll tell you a little story I was over nighting in a restaurant in NY State which is shared by both R/V's and big rigs. I pulled in and got and spoke with a driver parked there. We were getting along just fine. I asked him when he was pulling out and he said about 0400. I said to him just do it quietly so not to wake me. That guy got in his rig and moved it forward so not to wake me. What a guy. Upstate New Yorkers are very nice folks..

[DryCreek]

Well, for those that think the sound of an idling diesel is an annoyance, I cannot agree - at all.

I grew up in a trucker family (two of my brothers are still OTR drivers, one is O/O Schneider). The constant "purring" of an idling Cat or Cummins is like a lullaby to me. Now, one of those snarling Detroit two strokes? Not so much....

[Walaby]

pnichols wrote:
So, to filter the point further - in those rare states where it is legal to overnight in one of their highway rest stops - and where their rest stops have those long angular parking lanes painted on the asphalt clearly meant for "long vehicles" - I guess some of you are maintaining the position that RVs that don't need all of that long length shouldn't overnight in those long parking spots just in case a big rig that really needs most of that length should want it sometime during the night instead? Hmmm. ....

Pretty much yeah... If you can fit in a 'regular' sized spot, you should take a 'regular' sized spot, even if there are over sized spots available. If you need the over sized spot, then use it.

If people, overall, were a tad more considerate of their fellow human beings, the world would be a better place.

Mike

[Edd505]

2oldman wrote:

pnichols wrote:
..where their rest stops have those long angular parking lanes painted on the asphalt clearly meant for "long vehicles" - I guess some of you are maintaining the position that RVs that don't need all of that long length shouldn't overnight in those long parking spots just in case a big rig that really needs most of that length should want it sometime during the night instead? Hmmm.

Well, yeah..I would suggest pulling forward to allow another short object to share the space. That would be considerate.

The operative word here is rest area not [COLOR=]Truck Stop The RV'er has far more spaces to park than the trucker. Want him in the KOA? Then the KOA would be a truck stop not an RV park. If your in an RV find an alternative parking and leave truck stops for commercial trucks that need the spaces. That truck could have a family also.

[2oldman]

pnichols wrote:
..where their rest stops have those long angular parking lanes painted on the asphalt clearly meant for "long vehicles" - I guess some of you are maintaining the position that RVs that don't need all of that long length shouldn't overnight in those long parking spots just in case a big rig that really needs most of that length should want it sometime during the night instead? Hmmm.

Well, yeah..I would suggest pulling forward to allow another short object to share the space. That would be considerate.

[pnichols]

So, to filter the point further - in those rare states where it is legal to overnight in one of their highway rest stops - and where their rest stops have those long angular parking lanes painted on the asphalt clearly meant for "long vehicles" - I guess some of you are maintaining the position that RVs that don't need all of that long length shouldn't overnight in those long parking spots just in case a big rig that really needs most of that length should want it sometime during the night instead? Hmmm. ....

P.S. I for one think the Nation uses long haul big rig trucking way too much anyway. Railroad transportaion should be revisited and used much more ... and even expanded by reopening long abandoned routes or - here's a new concept - laying new track routes if needed to eliminate as much long haul big rig trucking as possible. Take a look at the cost per pound to haul freight via railroad car and then compare it to the costs of using other ways of transporting freight. I believe that carrying freight over the oceans in big ships is the only way to beat railroad car costs for transporting freight. (I could be wrong, though.)

[ctilsie242]

I see both sides of this. Truckers need to have their 75+ feet of space to legally park and rest. Other people need to rest.

I stay out of that debate. Occasionally, I have "rented" a former co-worker's class "B" for long trips ("rented", as I did some minor repairs, chassis maintenance, even replaced some appliances for permission to use it.) I am single, and still deciding between a class "B", or a truck/TC combo. Because I like travelling small, I will pass truck stops by, leaving them to the people who need long parking places. Same with the Cracker Barrel RV parking. If I can find a 20-24 foot spot somewhere quiet that I can back the rig into, I'm golden.