FlyingJ,no parking asked to leave.

The J in Phoenix at 0100 this morning had not less than 20 trucks parked in the main entrance, and the main travel drive with an opening large enough for one truck in/out at a time lol.

It is unnecessary because there are truck stops that will hold 70 or so trucks each, on each of the next two exits.

When it's WTF crowded like that.
Why even go in?

I've slept in some really weird places. Once in front of a hotel on the feeder road of the 680 in the bay area lol ( Oakland ).

It's an art.

I will say if you're a pretty good backer upper, you can usually get a spot at a big petro. Petro's are also much more understanding on overflow stacking.

 

What pisses me off is the guys who sidle up along [red fire] curbs at 15:00 or otherwise when the lot is wide open ... just out of sheer laziness because they want to be 100 feet closer to the entrance before and after their break.

I can understand if you're pulling doubles, maybe but that's where my understanding ends when the lot has plenty of valid parking.

And what makes it all more problematic is those who come in late will not wake up to move their truck out of the way after sunrise [when parking has opened up], to finish their break. They don't seem to mind looking like a jerk at 09:00 for the rest of the trucking community to observe and have to maneuver around.

I'll sometimes lay down on my air horn when I'm passing next to these morons and have to carefully maneuver around them while trying to exit, at a time there is plenty of parking available

 

We've all seen some serious damage done to trucks that were illegally parked. Mirrors knocked off, fenders ripped off, etc. I saw a cabover that had been refurbished and looked beautiful. It was parked in the fire lane at the end of the fuel pumps. Some driver had fueled and had to do a u-turn to get back to the highway and ripped the front off that cabover and kept going. No one seemed to have seen anything.

 

Here's an idea.

Early in the drive shift, figure out where you are going to shut down.

Then, fire up the interwebs machine and reserve a parking spot.

Problem solved (at least at Pilot-Flying J).

 

People like you are why i don't carry a shotgun anymore. Also, those people who take their 30 parking next to two trucks with their curtains drawn and blasting music or some other nonsensical loud noises when there are 100 empty spots in the lot.

I don't care about looking like an #######, i just care about getting my sleep. Rather look like an ####### than be an ####### who blows his god #### airhorn next to me while I'm trying to sleep.

 

I've seen countless drivers come into a packed full lot, with 10 paid spots open, and stilll park stupid where they shouldn't. I understand some will not get reimbursed for parking and refuse to pay it and itemize it at tax time. Some drivers are honestly working for peanuts and can't justify $12-15 today [even if they will be reimbursed next payday]

 

Like blowflies to a fresh pile of ####, it gets ridiculous sometimes.

I have a little black book of secret parking spots in metro areas where parking is known to be tight. But I usually try to stop an hour or two away from my pick-up or delivery where parking is easier.

I always have a plan a, b, c and even d. Flying J's in busy metro areas would probably be plan z.

 

It's the same thing at a lot of rest areas. Drivers will park along the curb in the approach lane, making it impossible for one to later have room to pull into a spot that may have opened up ... and effectively keep those spaces unavailable for others until they wake their sorry butts up and move.

They are tight and cramped and made for older, shorter rigs as it is. Then they come along and make those blind side turns in the dark very difficult if not impossible. And don't get me started on those who can't or won't reasonably park centered and parallel in the allotted space.

 

Trucker path is worth gold. I used it everyday. It's especially helpfully because you can indicate the availability of parking with it as well. I start looking 3 -4 hours before my hours are up and I usually end up stopping early. I try to never park in a major city.
In Texas, I've had to use paid parking several times in the last few months and it does take off a load of stress to know that I will have a spot at 10 pm in Houston.
I haul hazmat tankers and there are alot of spots that I can't park, that alot of others can get away with.

 

The monitors are hard at work today