TA Petro parking out of control

I’ve been saying it for YEARS now that particular Petro(plus a few others) have basically been “double dipping”. Parking is only free for a couple of hours and then it charges unless you buy a certain amount. That’s why I only stop there for Blue Beacon trailer washouts and fuel if necessary and park elsewhere if possible for free(along the turnpike or somewhere else in NJ,PA or DE).[/QUOTE]

 

I think it was the CEO for chipotle The fast food, chain Was recorded a couple of weeks ago, saying, “ I plan to keep raising prices because the idiots will keep paying more and more” same concept really. I only pay for parking about five maybe six times a year when there’s no other option. All it takes is a little time and a little little savvy effort to find somewhere free to park in almost every place you go. My company pays me back if I pay for parking, but I still avoid it like the plaque when I can.
And reserve, paid parking is even more ridiculous. Most of these places don’t even enforce it so if you show up your spots gone anyhow and they just say sorry. Some places will still kick drivers out of the reserved spots if they haven’t paid but very few of them as they’ve had too many confrontations. And they don’t want Sally out there at two in the morning on a golf cart trying to kick a driver out just too risky.

 

I thought Chipotle said they were going to follow Disney's model and try to weed out some the bad costumers by raising prices. Slobs that trash the bathrooms and the inside.

 

Well, you know how the Internet is. That’s what I read that he got caught saying regardless their food is absolute garbage. Fake processed wannabe Mexican food. Mexican food is one of the easiest foods to cook from scratch and they still managed to turn it into some processed garbage

 

I thought they were pretty good...

 

Well, I was a chef before I got into trucking among a few other things and I have a culinary and food background and I just appreciate authentic food. I mean for a walk in place I guess it’s not bad just not my cuppa tea. I’ll tell you it’s better than Taco Bell lol

 

I'm sure this will make me sound old as the hills, but back in the late 80's, you could park on the side of the PA Turnpike in places, like the old turnoff for the Ray's Hill tunnel that was bypassed when they made the cut through the mountain. Some nights, maybe a dozen trucks would park there....

 

You can still park in spots along the Turnpike...as long as you can find/memorize where the pull-offs are, because those pull-offs won't exactly advertise themselves.

(Side note: I got some of the quietest, most peaceful nights of sleep in my OTR career while parked in some of those pull-offs. Wouldn't seem to make logical sense, but I sho' slept good over there...)

 

I remember using those pull outs when I first went OTR in 1970. They were a true blessing and like you said, very quiet and no one bothered you except maybe an occasional trooper checking on your well being.

 

I never even got checked on by a trooper while parked in any of those...I guess they weren't too concerned about me, haha.

In other Turnpike parking news, the Oklahoma Turnpike is actually moving along nicely in upgrading the eastern end of the Turner (that's the section of I-44 between Tulsa and Oklahoma City). The westbound service plaza near Stroud (almost halfway between the two) has been rebuilt and opened since about the beginning of January and it looks like they expanded the truck parking—which is nice, because that service plaza (and the one going eastbound) is all you get along the Turner as far as rest areas go.

All of which leads me to this: the Turner has been widened to three lanes each way and upped to 80mph from just outside the west edge of Tulsa and extending for about 30 or so miles west. Along with that, each direction also has about a 30-foot-wide gravel shoulder beyond the 15-ish-foot tarmac shoulder...they don't back up to trees, but they are there, and trucks (really anybody) are free to park off the Turnpike on those gravel shoulders without issue now.

Just a note for anyone traveling thru central/northeast Oklahoma...