So I parked at the far quiet end of the truckstop.....

Hey, better be careful with that. The soda cops will get ya'. Only allowed 16ozs. Oh, I think that's only in NY (so far).

 

I might have made that mistake when i was otr as well. There is an influx of new drivers in this industry. Myself incl. The driver might not know, and if he has a decent attitude about learning he wouldnt mind a knock on the door. Me? If you knocked on my door and asked me I would most definitely move. There are new drivers who dont give a hoot and then there are new drivers who are generational and would love to learn the courtesys of the road. But you never know what kind of driver this is till you ask. I never knew about this particular courtesy until now. Im familiar with other courtesys.

 

I'm going to do a video submission of the most unusual "Please move" request I've ever gotten. I don't have words for it, so I'll draw a picture and put it on my youtube. Http://www.youtube.com/drsmaggs I'll do it in a little while

 

You just reminded me of something I saw the other day walking my dog, this guy backs up to the curb and rips his brand new splashguards off. I didn't say anything, it's only too obvious and he'll surely see it in the morning when he starts his pretrip. The next morning when walking the dog again (this guy was parked next to me) I see the spot is empty and the 2 mudflaps are still sitting there perfectly propped up on the curb lol. I picked them up and cut the top inch and a half off and kept them as spares now.

Speaking of rude idlers parking next to us, I've had to become one of those guys because I need to run the high idle regen once a day (or try to) and preferable when the engine is nice and hot. Usually I try to do it some time during the 14 hour shift out and away from anyone else. But there are those days I come rolling into a truckstop hot and shutting down for the night will need to run that regen, so sorry but my previous anxiety about being rude and neglecting to do it daily, caused the DPF to clog up and a brand new one had to be installed last April 2012. It only takes 20 minutes or so, suck it up buttercup lol

 

Usually when I had to do a parked regen, I'd usually be leaving at about 5am and would pull forward about 10 feet to get away from others. That is if there wasn't a spot all by its lonesome where I could do it...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfLwnOh8SHQ&list=UUgfLPwmWGBGELfpsx91_GLA&index=1&feature=plcp

 

Cool video!

 

I think the op was just having a bad day and missing his mommy. I'm not trying to be a prick here, but come on the guy says he has been driving for 27 years, and he is calling a guy a toad for parking next to him in a truck stop. I would guy a guy ignorant for thinking he could park in a truck stop and not have someone park next to him, and not be idling, a lot of the old timers have just been in the habit of never shutting there truck off for so long that they are never gona change, 50 degrees for a guy from florida would permit the use of a heater.

I always try to be as courteous as possible in and out of the truck, but the fact is when you are on the road everybody is on different schedules going different places having different problems. I've only been trucking for seven years, and I realize everybody is different, but when I'm parked at a truck stop idling trucks, and running reefers is a every day part of life, and I don't even notice them.

My advice would be if a idleing truck keeps you a wake at night, look for a different profession.

 

Does an APU allow you to use the A/C or heat without the truck being on? Or does the truck always have to be on to use the A/C and heat?

 

APU will run all that stuff.