Finding Large Fueling Centers Ahead of Time

My usual resource is my eyes. Cities don't work, country stations are better.

Next Exit book has an app, IExit which in my opinion is much easier to use as long as you have phone service. Open the app, it finds you on the interstate and you can see the upcoming exits and the things at each exit. No more paging through a book trying to find out where you are at. However, both Next Exit and IExit are for interstate travel only. Have not found an equivalent for secondary roads. Pilot and TA/Petro both have apps for finding their truck stops and Gas Buddy is also very helpful. We have an after market replacement tank so we rarely have to stop for fuel on a travel day.

RoyB wrote:
We use GOOGLE MAPS for alot of this.. I look up where I think I will start needing fuel and check all of the fuel stops in that area before time.

With GOOGLE maps you can use Earth view and zoom down to see the layout of most of the fuel stations... Very useful for us to not pull into a place and not have a good exit plan... You can also use the STREET VIEW and walk around most fuel station to get a first hand look at them...

Roy Ken

+1 on this!!!!!

I have learned not to sweat it as much anymore. We all fear the gas station when we start out, but we pull into tight campgrounds. Then we back our rigs into spots with trees, benches and other rigs around. I just have become confident in my skills and plan ahead. Oh ya and have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love our phone/tablet apps and I tend to be a bit of a planner before we hit the road. I pretty much map out before we take off the rest stops and our gas stops.

I use Gas Buddy all the time, it pretty much tells me where I am going to fill up when I am not towing the 5w.

When we are towing we use AllStays all the time then Google Maps and a bunch of truck stop apps.

We're dragging a 40' trailer and a 20' pickup. So getting in and out of a place takes precedence over price. We usually find driving through a truck stop is much better than trying to thread ourselves through a regular gas station. I'll pay the few bucks extra per tank for the convenience.

Over 150,000 miles, all of the states, most of the provinces, 100s of fuel stations & doubt if there have been ten times when there has been any sort of problem finding diesel or not being able to get our 55' long selves into a station.

I find this very handy: http://www.findfuelstops.com/

I use the CoPilot app on my iphone for RV's. It lists the truck stops. When planning a trip, I figure when the tank will be about 1/2 full and look for Flying J, Pilot or Loves in that order. We prefer Flying J because they have RV lanes and we use the RV Plus card which gives us 7 cents off the cash price. We also use Pilot but we have to go inside to pay at the truck lanes. I prefer to plan our fuel stops.

Nope. Never have and we have traveled from coast to coast and up into Canada. It was not all interstate roads either. I have never run low or run out either. I just watch for the road signs or pull into a station in a town on the state roads as I need fuel.

We use the Allstays app on our iPhones/iPad. We favor Flying J's or Pilots, using the truck lanes for diesel. Works for us.

Don't want to tote a book around, and wish Next Exit would improve their app. The reviews on it are pretty bad. Don't want to waste $0.99 on it. :)