Please give advice for the RV community

Park anywhere you want on the car side of the truck stop. Few truck drivers even see the car side out front except when we drive past it to the truck entrance. What most of us are worried about is losing the few precious truck parking spaces at truck stops to "Becky & Jeff wanting to hang out in a truck stop just to see what it's like". Our vehicles can't physically get into most of the nation's parking spots. Truck traffic has exploded over the last 3 decades. RVs often have many more parking options, including parking across several car parking spots at rest areas, and most rest areas are never crowded at night on the car side. The truck parking spaces at rest areas are always filled up at night by trucks. Many of them are not designed for the size of trucks these days. They also haven't increased number of parking spaces at many rest areas, so you see trucks making creative parking spaces along the on and off-ramps near reast arears.

IMO, RVers are generally very conscientious. They seem more likely to park in a truck parking space at a rest area because they are afraid they might get a ticket parking across 3 car parking spaces. The truth is the cops seldom patrol rest areas and MOST cars leave the highway at night. The car side will be emptier at night than the day time. Parking an RV across car spots will work except in areas like the northeast USA, where everybody is looking for some place to park. Parking a Minnie-Winnie in a spot made for a truck means the 70-foot combination truck has to find a spot among the sides of roads or worse.

 

Most RVs I see are doing a good job. They drive about 60, which isn't too slow and gives trucks, almost all of which have speed governors, a speed advantage when we need to pass. The big thing I see in some RVs, and some trucks, is a determination to stay in the middle of 3 lanes NO.MATTER. WHAT. !!! Stay right as much as possible. Merging traffic, in the age of "smartphones", pays no attention and enters the highway regardless of traffic and their own speed. We all have to deal with that. But if you are slower than the prevailing traffic flow, you need to be in the right lane as much as possible. Change lanes when necessary, but don't forget to return to the right lane. Like I said, many trucks are also doing the wrong thing by staying in the middle lane.

Our trucks are going to lose speed going up hill and gain speed going down. It's generally bad form, if your vehicle is slower than mine on level ground, to pass me going uphill and get back in front of me 3 feet before the top of the hill when my 80,000 lbs truck will start gaining speed like a freight train. I, and other experienced truck drivers, routinely don't pass when we see we will only be overtaken again 2 seconds after passing that temporarily slow vehicle. If you can pass and not be re-passed by the vehicle you just passed, go for it. I usually just slow down for 20 seconds so the generally faster vehicle I can pass right now will soon be pulling away from me. If a truck is taking "40 miles" to pass you, or me, tap your brakes and make the pass happen quicker. The pro shouldn't be out their JUST BARELY PASSING, but nobody benefits from having two large vehicles side by side for miles and miles. Better to slow for a couple of seconds than get in an accident when something unexpected happens.

The majority of truck drivers on the road are very inexperienced. In the last 2 decades even as average age of truck driver reaches mid-50s the average experience in trucks is falling to a couple of years. There are a lot of very young rookies, driving like bad car drivers, and grey beards with less than a year experience. Consequently more trucks are being as badly as the vast majority of car/SUV drivers. It's frightening to many of us old-timers.

 

Many people nervous when passing or being passed by a truck seem to stare at the truck's front tire. By staring at that tire or the front corner of the bumper they will actually steer toward the thing they want to avoid. Every day, many times per day, a grandpa or grandma type car will almost steer into me as they pass me or I pass them. Keep your eyes forward, stay centered in your lane, I usually stay toward the safe side of the lane as I pass to maximize the distance between the 2 vehicles. If you want to make things easier, just let off the gas a tiny bit to speed up the pass. There is no need to hit your brakes. The people behind don't know if you are making a panic stop or not. I will sometimes decrease my cruise-control 2 mph for 5-10 seconds. That's more than enough.

 

Evening dinner time and later is peak time. At most places I can shower every day at the truck stop from about sunrise to lunchtime or a little later. That's when I see lazy truck drivers parking at fuel pumps for 45-60 minutes instead of the 10-60 empty parking spaces that would require them walk <gasp> 30 feet. Heck, that could double their cardio exercise for the entire day.

 

My order of preference
1 customer property
2 truck stops
3 rest areas

 

Have been watching and reading this. I think there is more to this than just parking.

If you really want to help the RV crowd and Truckers get along on the road, let’s look at some other items.

How about we start with the travel trailer types. Chances are these are the people who don’t get out as much as the motor home people. They are a serious problem out on the roads. They pack the trailer, hook it and go. They may have had the tow vehicle checked out, but not the trailer. This can and does lead to roadside repairs, and usually in some of the worst locations. Please spend some time checking the trailer out. Tires and lights are the primary thing. Brake, turn signals and clearance lights. If your turn signal is out, we have no way to know what your doing. To us, you just jumped out in the lane. Tires and wheel bearings. Check the tires and spare, if they are old and dry rotted, replace them. Number one reason tires fail on the road is incorrect inflation. So you put air in at the house, then never checked again. Well that’s not good, they need to be checked several times. It leaked down for a reason. Rear view mirrors, gotta have them. For the most part, the stock mirrors are not going to work well. They should be out wide enough and large enough to see behind and into the lanes along side as well. Don’t know how many times I have seen near misses because of this. The tow vehicle and trailer should be level. If the trailer is on the hitch and the tongue points at the ground and the back of the vehicle squats, there is a problem. Is the back of the tow vehicle or the front of the trailer overloaded? Wrong hitch? Too heavy of trailer? Have seen this a lot. The problems here are multiple. First headlights point to the sky, so most compensate by turning on the high beams and driving lamps, this blinds on coming traffic. Please adjust you head lamps. When the combination is not level, one of the things that happens is trailer sway. Overloading the rear of the trailer can also cause this. Big thing here is speed, going to fast. Slow down please. Remember that a trailer is back there.

Maybe more later

 

My advice is this,,,,
If I owned a expensive RV the last place I would park would be in a truckstop/travel center or whatever you want to call them!
You will risk severe damage to your RV from some of these steering wheel holders pretending to back up, you risk tracking urine and other unmentionables into your RV and your wife and kids will get an eye full watching pot bellied men walking around in dirty shorts, wife beaters , flip flops on dirty feet or worse, black socks!!!
No, go find a nice state park.

 

What is worst than an rv parking at a truck stop??? A bobtail truck taking up a whole parking spot!!!$#$$@

seriously you can park that bobtail just about anywhere, why take up a whole spot?

 

Actually a lot of the no overnight bans apply to rv's to. Far as Walmart and over night parking bans. They don't want anyone overnight. Truck, RV, Car, Horse and buggy, etc. It's a ban on overnight parking not just trucks.

Visit any rv forum an you'll see them #####ing an moaning about the no overnight parking also. Walmart has always been rv friendly til the recent bans on overnight parking in various places. Hell my sandbar bans overnight parking also. Rvs, trucks or cars. Rv.net, Goodsam, Escapee's, etc all have forums an posts bemoaning the no overnight parking bans in various places.

Personally....most the rv'ers I know avoid truck stops. Noise. I believe they also cite safety. I dunno, never stayed in a truck stop in a rv, never intend to. I know how to stealth camp, plus find places away from truck stops and Walmarts. Nice thing about a rv one can do what they call "Boondocking" an not have to worry about such a fuss. It's not that hard and far easier than in a semi. Rv'ers who insist on truck stops an take truck spots are just lazy. My personal opinion.

I think you'll also find the ones who camp out in a truck spot in a truck stop are also the ones who pull out grills and go to Walmart as a campground, which it's not an never was.

To the OP....you could have gotten your info just by reading the forum or doing a search. Lol. Good job though stirring up the hornet's nest. Might as well have asked if you can do meth an drive a 18 wheeler while also asking how to pass the drug test. Same reaction.

Sirscrapntruckalot - They really aren't out to get you. Seriously.

 

Here's my opinion.

1. Stay to the right. (Unless you're actually passing another vehicle.)

2. Don't park in big truck parking. (You have other options we don't.)

3. Pull forward out of the fuel island after fueling.

4. After fueling don't spend 45 minutes in the store blocking other trucks in the fuel island. (We need to get our fuel and go. Time really is money in trucking.)

5. Please move to the right. (Not all trucks are governed to 65, and we need to run down a hill in order to get up the next at a decent speed.)

6. Match your travel trailer for the vehicle pulling it. (Unless you're pulling a pop up you need a full size truck. Not pull a 30' RV with a Honda, Ranger, Colorado, or other midsize trucks.)

7. Until you spend the money on trucking school, live, work, eat, and sleep out of a big truck. You are not a truck driver. You have no clue what troubles a driver faces on a daily basis. Not saying we a better than you. Just saying we need our space.