Leave Enough Space - Rest Areas

I did too.....until they fired me a week before Christmas.

 

do a lot of drivers actually pay the expensive rates for the crap internet at the truck stops? I just use the hotspot on my phone everywhere I go unless I sleep overnight at one of the Targets I deliver to which gives free wifi.

 

$20 a month isn't that much, I pay $55 a month for a mifi device that doesn't like to work usually

I don't like to teather off of my phone, the phone gets really hot, secondly I have limited bandwith and I already use alot of it to begin with (iHeartRadio, maps, and i even like to use the built-in internet when i'm sittting idle)

I do use the truck stop internet for multiple reasons, youtube is the main reason,

Pilot/Flying J wifi is better in my opinion, TA/Petro is more boggy and I think it times out

 

I turn my phone into a wifi hotspot but I dont have the issues with heat and I am grandfathered into unlimited data.

 

it pisses me off when a bobtail takes a whole spot usually at a ts but if they are parked at a rest area, pull into the car side, dont think anyone is going to say anything, or better yet when a motorhome is pulling a car and their other car parks beside the motorhome taking up two spots, i have voiced my opinion to that in VA several times

 

I bet the Virginia State police would bug a bobtail doing that. I'm sure they miss waking up drivers and enforcing that old 2 hour parking limit.

 

Prefer rest areas to a TS for a few simple reason, that were highlighted above.
Have internet, food, water, wet wipes and bleach wipes in the truck at all times.

The only thing I needed was a toilet to leave some old business in, come the morning. And if that was an issue, double line a bucket with trash bags and throw the resulting mess at the truck next to mine as I drop the clutch in second with the engine doing 2,100 RPM and east bound and down blaring on the radio. LEAVING MY PARKING SPOT LIKE A REAL MAN!

Wet wipe down in the morning for a shower substitute, brew a cup of coffee in the truck and it was back to work I went.

Basically only spend the night in a TS during a 34 or when needing a shower, though I did spend my 30 min breaks grabbing one when the new HOS rules came into effect; found that worked out well.