Love's Ripon, Ca. Towing Unattended Trucks

As a full time rver and retired OTR driver I have used reserved parking as a last resort being as most truckdrivers do not want to pay for parking anyway. I always try to plan for an rv park for my stops.
I never put my slides out unless I am at an rv park either and not a truck stop or rest area. But on the other hand when I was OTR in the truck I never parked in the designated rv parking spaces like at Flying J or rest areas.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to have a little bit of courtesy and common sense to do the right thing.

 

This is corruption at the highest level. Someone is going to get slapped or worse.

 

Tow the idiots off the fuel islands that think its ok to take a break on them.

 

Couple years ago the Loves in Valley NE put up signs that they were going to begin patrolling the lot every 12 hours and unattended trucks would be towed. Used to be you couldn’t buy a spot to park no matter the time of day, but once the signs went up the local guys magically found other places to park.

 

Demoralizing, yea but also part of it. The spots are for the trucks. If they have a trailer, ok great, but they don't NEED one. And no, bobtails cannot just "make a spot wherever."

I was parked out front at the Love's in Sulphur Springs. It was 11pm, I was not bothering a soul, all by myself, bobtail parked in one of those unpaid "Rv" spots marked on the blacktop. I was sound asleep. No other RV's around. No other cars around. 11pm I get a knock on my door, it's the manager telling me I need to move. There was no place to put my bobtail in the back other than one open truck spot. I told the manager that would piss someone off he said oh well, move or be towed. So I moved and I had not even closed my curtains when I had a guy come bang on my door asking me why I was parked there bobtail. I told him the whole story and said if you have any issues, talk to the Love's manager.

He left and never came back.

On the flip side, I was doing a 34 reset at a Loves south of Ft Worth. I can't remember the name but it's small, tight and always packed. I found a full truck spot but happened to be bobtail. I backed in, not all the way but quite a ways. About an hour or so later I see a bobtail riding around real slow. Obvious he was looking for a spot to park. I knew I wasn't going anywhere but I had to find my socks and shoes to get out of the truck and I wound up chasing him across the parking lot. I caught up with him and told him if he needed a spot he could back in front of my bobtail. He thanked me and said "I just need a shower." I said that's fine, take your time. He came back, thanked me again, and gave me a Love's gift card. He didn't have to do that, and I told him that. He replied "And you didn't have to chase me across the parking lot like you did, either."

My point is this. Just because you see someone parked bobtail in a spot doesn't mean they are trying to spite you. The parking isn't for the trailer, its for the truck. As signs say "no dropped trailers." But they don't say "no bobtails".

And to those people who say "I wish bobtails would double park in a spot" apparently think bobtails never sleep. I CAN'T go up and ask someone if I can park in front of them if their curtains are pulled, so I have to park next to them. I've let bobtails park in front of me, but BE CAREFUL DOING THIS. I've heard of the "caboose" driver getting stuck in the spot when the lead bobtail won't start in the morning.

All of the above is assuming that there are no bobtail only spots at a truck stop, or all those spots are full.

 

This.
Not all Loves or other truck stop brands have designated/dedicated parking for bobtails,either by design or because of local/municipal ordinances. So if you park bobtail in designated parking for trucks,like it or not the bobtailed is legally parked,not to be a jerk but because the driver didn’t have a choice,he may have been forced to move by either truck stop management and/or law enforcement. There are quite a few truck stops that enforce it, and they definitely don’t want bobtails to park in the RV parking spots either.

 

How would one determine an "unattended" truck? Driver on a 34 might go sit in the restaurant area all day or evening rather than sitting in the sleeper. Might be in taking a shower when the door knocker comes by.
Now, parking and leaving for a day or more would be considered unattended but what if the driver is in the sleeper for two or three days and never gets out?

 

The one time I’ve actually heard of it or seen it was at the Pilot in Colonial Heights,VA. Truck wasn’t legally parked, and the personnel had been knocking on the door with the truck for a couple hours. They contacted the company, and they tried to contact the driver. Turned out the driver had abandoned the truck there. There was some tense moments, however, because everybody thought that there was a strong possibility that the truck driver had died in the truck!