Don't understand packed major truck stops

Waiting till the end of your 11/14 to find a spot at the nearest Loves is good trip planning?

 

Funny you should say that, I figured I'll probably stock the shelves at HEB after I retire from driving.

 

Depends on the route, company and area. A LOT of company drivers are scheduled almost down to the second. So they gotta run till the hours hit 0 or as close to as posible if they want to deliver on time. I know when i was at may thats how it was. I had maybe 30 mins built into the trip for delays if i was lucky a lot of times. More then a few that i was secheduled within 5 minutes.

Or customers would take up most of my 14 and yeet me out at less then 45 mins left. And if they have designated fuel stops besides that doesnt help. Learned really fast with my time at may it was usually better to just use makespot parking then try to argue. Usually by the time i convinced my dispatch to let me skip the overpacked fuel stop and go elsewhere so i didnt get written up, it took longer then just fueling would have.

So while a ma and pa was usually better parking wise, that doesnt help if i dont have hours. As an owner op i have a lot more freedom and a lot of my later jobs before i got my own rig did too. But a couple of my first jobs.....not so much. Hell even taking a leak would be enough to make me late a lot of times thats how tightly they were scheduled. Also a LOT of ma and pas are even nastier then your average mega. It can be pretty bad.

As an afterthought no im not defending make a spot parking. Its dangerious and stupid. Just offering a posible explination from my own time working for a mega. And no i dont ever "make a spot" or park on a ramp either lol.

 

I own my own truck and go home everyday and I still drive at night. Most of the stupid operate during the day and I can’t deal with them. My meds only help so much LOL.

Always drove at night OTR as well for the same reasons. Plus I was doing a lot of FedEx….no choice there.

 

And lets be honest and state facts. It’s your imported driver's that do most of the asinine parking. I frequent a few local truckstops nightly as I don’t wanna use the porta johns on the frac sites. Same offenders every time. If I were to take pictures I would need more phone storage.

 

You misunderstood me. I did my trip planning every night for the next day after I parked.
100% never parked on an off ramp or on the road.
99% knew exactly where I was going to park and knew what it looked like.

 

Yep, the wings ( all 12 ) were incredible, So much better than the nasty ones at Pilot/FJ.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

Ha!

Never say never. The wise trucker makes note of certain truckstops that rarely fill up. They are out there, on certain routes.

As to the OPs post the reason is that many drivers have shower credits from the major chains and desire to end their day at a place they can get a free shower.

 

Don’t pass sheetz boneless buffalo ranch chicken bites. They’re good. Get extra ranch they usually go heavy on buffalo sauce. And they’re cheese sticks are good.

 

Loves at Blytheville AR on a Saturday. 4 rows of trucks parked in the middle of the parking lot. 2 middle rows will need to wake everyone around them to get out. I have a healthy habit of ripping seals off the doors of idiots with me syndrome. Especially the ones who take their sweet time at the fuel islands.