Quick n Easy truck stop backing question

The reason why trailers have become longer and longer of the years is because of driver pay increases. Say you pull a 40 foot trailer, but now you get $0.10 more per mile. Boom you find yourself pulling 48 foot trailers next month and earning slightly less per volume than you were before but you don't even notice, your boss is the actual one who got the raise.

Then 2 decades go by and you get another $0.10 raise per mile and boom next month you're pulling 53 foot trailers.

One more decade goes by and now you get a $0.10 raise and boom next election cycle Congress OK's 80,000 new weight limit for the trailers from the old 73,280 weigh limit.

Fast forward to today, drivers want a raise and trucking stakeholders want to put 57-60 foot trailers out and raise the limit to 97,000 pounds with an extra trailer axle.

Meanwhile this guy had a ton of room out front and still couldn't back in

 

A little education about 48' trailer. They came out after the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, was 82-83 before there were very many of them, befor that the big trailers were 45' by 96", catch was in most states you could only be 55' long, can you say short cab over. Truck stops weren't crowded and you could park in the front row at most TS's.

 

No. I used to go with my dad as a kid. The first time I drove, I sat in my dad's lap parking at the 76 in Buttonwillow, CA IN 1972. When I bought the truck in my avatar, I picked it up from my uncle, who reminiscenced about a trip he made with my dad to New Jersey, and they laid over at the new 76 in Paulsboro. Both are now TA, and I have parked in both, and the layout in neither of those is based on 55' long semis.

Last year I was at a brand new loves in Arkansas, and it was tight getting into the spots.

3 truckstops, 2 built in the early 70s or earlier, 1 built in 2015. The elders were easier to park than the new one.

 

When I ran team dedicated with Swift I frequently had to get a 30 minute break at the Wallingford rest area in Connecticut in the wee hours. This is southbound on I-91. At that time of night, with a "herringbone" parking layout, it wasn't uncommon to stop as soon as I got off the freeway, log to off duty on the Qualcomm "nanny", then spend the majority of my break trying to work my way the the rest area without hitting anything.

Getting out of the truck to actually use the rest room was a bonus. I'm SO happy FMCSA has mandated these rest breaks and are pushing us to use nanny logs. Every time I got underway from that "rest" break I always felt refreshed and ready to fight the morning rush through New York City to get to New Jersey (aka The Armpit of America).