Reserved parking strikes again

Receipt for the flowers or it didn't happen. j/k lol

 

Ta is a no go for me, Ill pick a rest area. Ta in Slidell Louisiana has 150 spots, 100 are reserved.

 

Depends on the area of the country. Some rest areas are so tight I couldn't get my truck in there with a shoe horn. The older ta and Petros are the only chains locations I can rely on for parking. At a love's or pilot the far corner spots are the only places I can safely park my rig.

 

Likely that is b/c the steering wheel holders don't know how to back up their trucks into anything tighter than an airport runway... I prefer the out-of-the-way spaces, less chance of someone wanting to park near me.

 

It's because the parking lanes aren't deep enough. When there is a parking row across from me I cant get out if trucks are parked beside me. Thats the downside of a long wheel base tractor and spread axle trailer.

 

Respect to Deadwood for actual journalism. Sorry kid, you'll never work for the mainstream media with that kind of gumption.

Onto the original post!

My company "prefers" I use TAPetro because of some discount. So I have a bonus card and play the points game.

Personally, I don't have a problem with Pilot, they're like the McDonald's (fast food) of truck stops. Not the best, but I know what I'm getting. And frankly many of them are in better condition than the average TA

FlyingJ's are consistently good near me, almost always a Denny's open 24 hours.

Petro, a mixed bag nation wide. They all look like they were redone in the 80's and haven't been updated since. Some have really nice restaurants, some are absolute crap.

T/A, really bad in general. Most seem like they were bought out independent stops, had some corporate badging tacked on and then forgotten about. There are a few that have leased out their restaurants to chains. (IHOP & Bob Evans at 2 of them.) and that's actually an improvement.

Then you have the big boys of TA/Petro, White's on 81, Kenly on 95, Iowa 80. They're TA in name only. They do their own thing. And I like it. Whites not only has free parking, but they're expanding! And offer free shuttles to the big house! Compare that to Breezewood, that won't even honor T/A points on a scale ticket.

Paid parking:

No, don't do it, don't encourage them, paying to park will only make them willing to increase revenue.

Close to the house vs back row:

I'm not parking close for the food, I'm parking to stay close to the bathroom. I hate waking up in the middle of the night, putting on a full winter parka, and hiking a quarter mile in a foot of snow. If I can't get close to the big house, I'll park near the shop (if they have a 24 hour bathroom) if that doesn't work I'll park near the treeline, when all else fail? Yeah I'll do the unmentionable, but only #1, I'm only human. Truck stops could make their lots a LOT cleaner by strategically placing porta johns around the lot. Guaranteed. But will they? Ha!

I run a lot of the NE. There are 6 PFJ/TAP east of the Hudson. (EDIT, plus one Pilot east of Albany NY) So when I run from PA to Boston, 6+ hours each way? I can't legally get "home". So I have to improvise places to take a 10. There are a few. If I'm in a small town and there's a big box shopping center with a service drive that DOESN'T face a residential neighborhood and maybe a chain restaurant in walking distance? Then who needs a truck stop? Sometimes I'd park on loading docks of businesses that went under (Circut City, Toys R Us, etc.) if you keep quiet, you might not get noticed.

Honestly, some company does need to come along and shake up the truckstop model. PFJ is tilting away from the trucker and focusing on the tourist, and TAP playing follow the leader while raping us on markups. Is Loves really that much better? I dunno, but I haven't been disappointed when I stop at one, but they leave a little to be desired in the lounge department. Unfortunately Rutters is getting into micro casinos and already that's not looking good. I stopped in for coffee at one on 83 and saw some really shady locals strung out over the slots at 3am.

Sheetz has dipped a toe in truckstops but doesn't seem to be interested in doing more. And Wawa generally is only good for a 30, (if you can get in at all.)

 

That's something good to be aware of - In the next few months, I'm likely to be attempting a move using a 40' RV pulling a 20' bumper pull cargo box. The last thing I need to do is get stuck somewhere that I can't get out of, the turning radius on that coach is already nearly as large as a full tractor/van combo.

 

Town Pump likely won't expand outside of Montana, but if they did, they'd be a good candidate. I really like TP's layout and general schematics (read: 1$ laundry and actual truckers' lounges). I know Kwik Trip most likely won't expand outside of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin (unless they decide to stick a few in the Dakotas), but if they did they'd most likely beat out everyone else (if they were able to make the parking big enough).

 

Nothing personal, but try to avoid truckstops with that thing. We get kicked out of entire towns because "image" and we're slaves to our logbook clock. At least you can pull up to a hotel, Walmart, camp ground, etc. (and as a last resort, truck stops.) try to plan all of your route in advance.

I parked the company truck for a week, rented an RV and took the family across country. What I didn't expect was it was difficult to locate a rental RV with diesel, and my fuel consumption was off the charts. Not only that we had to call the bank before every fuel stop to let them know, "yes, it's us. YES, we are buying $200 of gas 800 miles from home." A few times the pump would shut off before we filled the tank.

 

And the gas station tried to tell you it's your card and not their pump.