A bone to pick w/ Bobtails

I only drop my trailer to secure my parking spot before going into a repair bay. Other than that... why not? Some Flying Js and Petros, you can't park in the car area. They even take a dim view if the expedited vans do that. Sometimes I'll park in those little corners that are painted with the striped lines if I can fit. A lot of truck stops just don't have dedicated bobtail areas.

 

I'm a driver whether I have a trailer with me or not.
If I need a place to park for the night I will park where I can.

And if I am BT, I will always try to find a BT space before parking in a long one.

 

Where do you want them to go when there's no BT parking? Some lots have a corner or two you can hide in and some don't. That truck is parking there that night whether they have a trailer or not so I don't really see what the difference is. If he had an empty trailer would you feel better about it?

Once a month usually I have to do a reset while bobtail. If I find another bobtail and the guy is awake I'll see if he's fine with either parking behind or in front of him depending on who's leaving first. Saves a space that way. It doesn't really matter much as that T/S very rarely fills up.

 

As mentioned in another post , just because you are bobtailing doesn't make you any less of a driver and some fuel stops don't have anyplace other than the big lots for you to park in . If possible when bobtailing I'll try to find a drive through space so another bobtail or straight truck can park behind me .

 

Come on guys, you know he's talking about pulling in a truck top and having 15 bobtails all taking a single space.

 

You can always park at a rest area,scale house if they allow it or a walmart parking lot if it bothers u that much


See, my damie, Pootie Tang don't wa-da-tah to the shama cow... 'cause thats a cama cama leepa-chaiii, dig?

 

Still doesn't really matter. They're drivers too. If they had a trailer, they'd still be in that spot. No reason to get amped over it.

As for dropping a trailer in a spot and parking in another? I do that if I'm swapping with a driver who hasn't made it yet and will need a spot to take his break web he gets there and it's looking like the TS will be full by the time he arrives. Don't like it? Tough. I'm looking out for other drivers I work with.

 

Truckstop is for trucks, regardless of whether or not you have a trailer. A bobtail has just as much right to be there as something with a trailer.

With that being said, as drivers we all know just how tough it can be to find a spot in some truckstops. Bobtails should show some courtesy to other drivers and take those smaller spots that a trailer won't fit into and save the big spots for a trailer, if at all possible.

I park bobtail quite a bit and I always look for those little spots, but I will take up a full size spot if there is nothing else available. Corners and those spots next to the lights often work very well.

I was down at the TA in Roanoke last week and really couldn't believe just how inconsiderate some of these bobtails were. This place is notoriously full at early hours and it gets very tough to find a spot here, but the poor design of the lots does end up creating a lot of those little spots that a bobtail fits in perfect. I was bobtail parked in a little half sized spot, and that is the only way I will even consider staying there. There were no less than 8 bobtails taking up full size spots when I was there, yet there were more than enough little spaces scattered around that they could have fit into, all while trucks with trailers kept circling the parking lot hoping to find a place to park. I have to imagine that a little consideration for other drivers would have been greatly appreciated by some of these drivers.

 

There are always dips out there who will parknext to a trailer and those who save a space for the swap. Used to be they had areas with concrete pads to drop a trailer so it wouldnt fall thru the asphalt. I don't care what others do, I will always be clean, pick up my trash and courteous and my truck will be washed and waxed. I am a professional and will try to wear clean clothes, bathe my body and dress in a professional manner, meaning no shorts even if Buster Brown wears them, and no T shirts or no sleeve shirts with my fat gut hanging out. It has gotteen me respect and a lot of good loads because at Watkins Shepard I have heard the shippers say, "Don't send a dirty truck, we wont load it." If I were bobtailing I'd park in an RV space.