Truck stop parking?

RkF TAnd now Idle-Aire is taking up half the parking spaces and to make it even better Idle-Aire is now assigning smoking and non smoking spots. Moving on along to help the shortage TA and Petro are blocking off parking spaces for Reserved/VIP parking. You reserve them 24 hours in advance. I don't even want to know how much it costs to be a VIP with reserved parking. Love the ad - "truckers spoke and we listened".
Somehow I don't think they heard the truckers right. When we have gone through we just see the empty and wasted reserved parking spots.

 

Good lord man, that's straight up hobo action right there.

 

I did not read everyone posting here so forgive if I am repeating things.

Over the road trucking is not the 24 hour 7 day a week job that most newbies believe it is. You are forced to be at certain places at specific times. If you have 72 hours to be somewhere and it is only going to take you 23 hours of drive time, you do not have to drive it 11,11,1. You can mix the time up. 8,8,7 works. This gives you lots of options. But it takes planning. There are casinos everywhere now. Great places to park. Some even have shuttles that will come out to where the trucks park and will take you into the place. You do not have to gamble. Just tell them what you need. I have had a casino comp me a room so I could shower. No sweat for them. You should know where you plan on parking before you leave. It should be a part of your pre planning. All the pilots who drive know that before you take off you have all your stops planned plus an emergency landing spot. Planning gives you options.

 

As a suggestion, don't take someone else's word as a reason not to stop. Bordentown always gives me something to blog about. Ontario is bad, but you really have no choice. I would rather pay at the TA in Dallas than EVER mess with the J there. The places my hubby or I have been woke up by a lot lizard are Denmark TN, Oklahoma City and Haw River NC. The rest of the time you consider the area and you know what you are getting. I also would rather stay in El Paso than stop just outside of town and watch an illegal being stuffed in a dryer.

 

Some trucks stops fill up quite fast others not so much. I usually do not have a problem finding safe parking. You have truck stops, scales even the one's that are closed you can stop at if the gate is closed travel to the far end pull up and back in get as close to the edge as you can climb into your bunk and sleep tight. Rest areas, if you can find a wal mart along the way. Small town grain elevators, even some trucking companies do not mind if you park up in their trailer yards. I have even parked up in the parking lot of the local sheriffs office, just go in tell them you are tired and need a safe place to park and get some sleep. When I am in an area where there is a receiver I have made deliveries to I sometimes phone them and ask if it is ok if I park on their property for my 10.

 

Have you seen some of the truckers out there? At least my body doesnt smell like a teenagers gym shorts and socks.
I suppose brushing my teeth out of a water bottle while parked waiting to unload constitutes hobo action too?

You could always pay the $60 - $80 to get a room.
But then I shop as frugal as I can at Walmarts and Dollar Stores to stock up supplies to hold me over so I DONT have to shop at truck stops.

Hurst

 

I do the same thing. I have google maps with street view on my phone or I'll fire up my laptop and check out where I am going to park at before I get there. I dont want to waste time looking for a place to park when I'm half a sleep from driving all night or all day.

 

When I see a driver pee between his tires right at the fuel pumps,.. empty out pee bottles parked right next to me,.. yes, I think thats gross.

And sorry,.. but I dont lay in my bunk for 3 - 4+ days because I cant find a shower. Wet wipes and disinfectant towels only go so far. I clean up when and where ever I can. Its not my routine to use a pool. But it beats laying in body funk and smelling like,.. well,.. a trucker.

 

Had I known you guys would take issue with cleaning up in a pool I would have left that out. I honestly never thought twice about doing it. Its not like I do it regularly. I've done it maybe 2 times in the last yr or so. I felt funky,.. no truck stop or cheap shower close by. The pool looked like a good substitute.

I'll probably get flamed for this too,.. but since I'm on a roll,.. hell why not.

Antioch Cali. We have a shipper there. When we come in from the east. We usually empty out in Stockton or Modesto somewhere and then head up to Antioch to get hour 34 in. Well the closest truck stop is 25 mi away. I dont want to pay for a motel. I dont want to lay in my own body funk. So I bob tail it to the laundry mat to get some laundry done. Then I head back to the shippers yard where its fairly dark at night. They have a water hose and I have bathed myself there under the hose many times. If thats gross or disgusts you guys then I guess I am a disgusting person. But at least I am clean.

 

While I've never gone the hose-route myself, I know many who have, and I'm with you...beats the heck outta smelling like some organic farm material!