Please be considerate!

I have addressed this in a few other threads.
I DO PARK IN FIELDS!!!!

I park in the desert with NOTHING around for (literally) 50 miles. Then without fail at 2:00 A.M. a reefer pulls up 5 feet from me. WHY? Its been discussed many times on this forum and the best answer I can come up with is its a pack mentality. Maybe you guys from the east coast dont realize you can park ANYWHERE out here. So you think its some sort of truck parking area.

Funny story/rant - About 5 years ago I parked on 62 between Desert Center and Vidal Junction. I purposely parked 8 feet from the fog line and about 8 feet from untouched desert ( for those who havent learned the hard lesson, you NEVER drive on sand that has never been driven on). I was woken up at about 3:00 in the morning by a reverse beeper coming on, then going off, on, off, again and again. I looked out, there was a Werner truck to my right stuck to the fuel tanks in the sand. I never said a word to the guy, just got out and wet a tire, smiled at him, got in my truck and worked some magic in my loose leaf. He wouldnt give up (obviously not from the desert) by the time I left he was well on his way to having that thing buried to the door handles.

 

Shoot, my company, if you turn that reefer off while under a temp controlled load then the satellite will start blowing up and eventually your phone. I try to make an effort to park away from others, but if the truckstop is packed, Im parking anywhere I can. Im sorry, but those idling trucks is a lot worse than my reefer on continuous. What I dont get is the other night I parked where I usually do on hometime, an empty lot just up the road from a tiny truckstop that welcomes trucks to park there. There where two trucks parked on opposite sides, but otherwise deserted. I parked halfway between the two, giving the equivalent of 8 or 10 truck spaces on either side since Im under a load that has the reefer on continous. The lot was silent except for my reefer and APU, but I still made an effort to give JB Hunt and the log truck some peace. Yet 10 minutes after I shut down, a Conway truck pulls in and parks RIGHT next to me. Theres a whole freaking lot, and he smooshes up next to me and my reefer. Im still failing to understand why he didnt go park next to the van. JB wasnt evenidling, and I later realized the log truck was an empty daycab (theres pretty much no lighting out there).

 

I always park at the farthest corner away from the truck stop so I'm not disturbing anyone, and also get extra exercise on the bathroom trips. The Boise Stage Stop T/S has a ton of parking and is never full. But last night for some reason a prime driver decided to park right next to me out in the south 40, about 5 acres away from the truck stop, running on continuous. I woke up to him pouring a gallon jug of pee out the window, splashing urine and dirt onto my fairings.

There's got to be some suitable acronyms for PRIME to describe this behavior.

 

As a reefer driver I always had courteous in mind but it doesn't always work that way. Reefer drivers are usually the last ones to hit a truck stop and parking is slim to none. I even raised my temp 10 degrees sometimes on frozen loads just so the reefer wouldn't come on as much. There is only so much one can do. It goes the other way too. I can't count the times I've parked in a remote area only to have some numbnut park right beside me like he is parking in the remote area too. They will line up like chickens.

Between reefers, APU's, Idling with a broke spitter, Elvis using his jakes down to first gear and Slick honking at that crack head lot lizard, truck stops are not the quietest place for the light sleepers. Light sleepers should run reefer themselves. Then you will be so tired it doesn't matter. I always slept with the TV on. Once you get use to that it drowns out surrounding noises.

There is no special rule one has to park in a truck stop. But build it and they will come!

 

I think the rigmaster apus are 10 times worse then the reefers.everyone hears those things no matter where you park.Being that I have my truck off when Im parked 80% of the time I too have issues with those that have loud trucks.and for the drivers who think that asking drivers to be a little more considerate is a problem you should be the ones selling vacuum cleaners.when did we become like the majority of people in this society,its all about me and if you dont like it,to bad.its never to late to become a united brotherhood,who respect eachother in this profession.no respect within,no respect anywhere.

 

Respect is taught when you are young. That all started disappearing around May 4, 1997.
You can't teach old dawgs new tricks. It starts with the parents.

 

There's a very good way to deal with that. Get his truck no. and call 417.866.0001.

 

I'm sorry but that would've ripped that prime driver out of his truck and made him lick the dirt and urine off my fairings if i were you. It's one thing if you dump your piss bottle out back by my trailer and it splashes on my trailer but not my truck...DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH A MAN BUT DO NO #### WITH HIS HOOD!!!

 

LOL...This is so funny, yet so sad. Grown adults whining like little kids in school. Let alone about something so petty. Freight at a slow point, unemployment up, poverty on the rise, elementary schools getting shot up...ect. Yet, some drivers complain about something like the noise from a reefer. As an adult, I personaly look past and ignore the little petty things that dont stop the world. If I dont like it, I go elsewhere. But, then again, Im smart enough not to EVER park at a Petro, Flyin J, Loves, TA, or Peelot. I just go where others think they are better than that to park there (or use some other excuse not to park there). Like drivers used to do, Adjust...Adapt...DEAL. The world is a great big place and u r not the only one in it. Life goes on. Grow up. Be safe out there drivers.

 

True about the background noise. I run an air purifier in the sleeper now and it really does help when the truck stop is noisy. That's funny about slick honking at the lizards. I had one next to me in the Albuquerque J a month ago and he told the lizard on the radio that he'd signal her when she got close. apparently that signal was blowing his horn over and over.