No 2 a.m. parking at truckstops?

I'm on elogs.
I sleep a minimum of 8.
It's generally 11 to 12 hrs before I pull out.
I don't just hope in the bunk when I stop. I usually unwind for an hour or two. Then when I get up I'm having a coffee before I head in for a shower.

 

The weird thing is, I see more open spots at the truck stop since the elog era began.....what I see more of is careless parking anywhere at the truck stop

 

Not all of us have a job that makes us feel like we have to stop for exactly 10 hrs and no more. I generally run about 4am to 4pm.

 

Welcome to the real world of lazy,ELD driving industry of the new millenium.

 

How so?
If a driver stops at 1600 and they don't for whatever reason need to pull out till late morning or afternoon how is that lazy.

 

Most drivers stop by 1600 then break out the video games for 6 hours then go to sleep. Along about 0400 AM their alarm goes off and time to pee in a bottle then back to bed for a couple more hours til the sun starts coming up. Then time to go and sit on the toilet and play some more video games on their smartphone for an hour. Then waddle back to the truck with their 2 slices of Flying suckhole pizza for breakfast. Half hour pretrip from the front seat as they play video games during the time. Then roll out of their parking spot around 0930 dumping their pee bottle on the ground as they head out.

 

I haven’t had to much of a hassle finding spots where I run which is mostly the midwest and I run out to the northwest a few times a month. I like to drive from 9-7:30 and i use the last 1/2 hour as a grace period with these stupid eld laws now. I find the larger lots are more open than the small ones. If you look there’s a spot. I’ve only had to park on an onramp twice in my 15 years of trucking.

 

I get to a truck stop and get a good parking spot by 1600 for the same reason I like to go to a lunch sandwich shop at 11:45 instead of 12:30. To beat the crowds.

 

I suppose when you only drive 400 or 500 miles a day it's no problem to park at 4 pm.

I run reefer so my schedule isn't conducive to regularity. I run 700 to 800 miles a day except loading and unloading days. So it's fun sometimes trying to find parking

I do notice most of the trucks parked right up front are the mega carriers.

 

When I ran flatbeds I always seemed to find myself running earlier and earlier starts because I would run my 11 so fast and move as soon as I could. That was fine for me to roll at 2 3 4 am and get it done. But what would happen eventually is you would be 20 minutes from a drop and the place doesn't open till 7 or 8.

Why start the clock?