picking gas stations

Generally Pilot, Flying J, TA or Love's, with Sam's/Walmart/Murphy USA all possible. Love Gas Buddy! When we have a choice, we drive nearest the building and then turn into the pump island heading out...we seem to be able to avoid most of the auto traffic that way and always try for an outside island. Agree that starting your search for a station at about the 1/2 tank point is good advice.

When we were towing our 35' long and about 12' high TT, we would start looking for a gas station when the truck computer said 100 miles due to empty. If there was a truck stop with a big area for gassers, we would use it. Some Flying J's have RV pumps and offer both gas and diesel. They are off to the side of the regular pumps. But we found that we had to pick where we could go that we could get into and not cause any traffic problems. It's a task.

I deal with it as I go. Being used to driving large rigs is helpful. I have pulled into gas stations in downtown Tampa with 64' rig, 27' foot of that being the truck(you can image my 40 acre turning radius). It isn't easy, but its doable. You just learn the rig and you know what you can and can't do. I use commercial pumps when I can, or the RV pumps, even if I am not towing. I have noticed though that Pilot has switched to all B20, front and back, so I guess I am not going there anymore. As far as gas pumps, just line up and wait. But what ever you do, don't ever block the diesel pump if there are other gas pumps open.

I use the "Gas Buddy" app on my phone. Many of the stations have had pictures uploaded so you can kinda see what it looks like. The added benefit is you will know the prices before hand and if they actually have diesel.

I use my Garmin GPS data base, looking ahead for fuel stations, and call ahead and ask if they do indeed have diesel, and have room to pull a 40' fifthwheel through their station. Only once has one of them told me it wouldn't be a problem, and got there finding it to be a postage stamp and impossible to get in and out of without backing back out onto the highway. Several have turned me away saying they were either packed full, or too small, and lots have said, we don't have diesel. I have wanted to get "The Next Exit" to help with selection, but noticed it doesn't state much about getting in and out of places.

Thanks everyone. I drive a gas TV so not looking for truck stops. I know most stations along freeways are easier and I thought of bringing a 5gal can. I was hoping there was a book that lists of RV/trailer friendly gas stations. And maybe there is, I'll check that book suggestion from Amazon.

Sam's Club is a good bet most of the time, price and room.

daveyboy12 wrote:

2oldman wrote:
oh.. that's a quote.. :)

Its not always that easy, I pulled into a Love's truck stop in Kentucky (or Tennessee) and intended to use the diesel pump in the main filling area,, that was too busy so I pulled around back to the big rig lanes,, and pulled in. They had the credit card reader machines, but I could not get it to work. I assume they wanted me to come in first, but I walked towards the door and it was a zoo inside with truckers and such. I tried it once more, but the pumps were electronically locked, maybe they don't want the non big rigs over there?
Regardless, it is a bit of a hassle filling up when you have a 32 foot trailer,, but you can always seem to find something.

Remember the tourist part mentioned above. Walk inside go to the fuel desk and tell them what you want. Yes there maybe other truckers at the desk. The desk is a busy place for truckers, but they will still sell you diesel. The key is to act like you know what you are doing. Don't wander around like you are lost.

Having clear access to the pump is worth any of the other issues that you may find at a truck stop. Personally I use truckstops all the time and have never had any issues.
I do understand the OP asked about gasoline, one of the seldom mentioned differences of diesels is they do not have to deal with gas station access issues. Truckstops are built for large rigs like RV's.

Learning to navigate the fuel desk/island of a truck stop is simple. Navigating to a gas pump with 4 wheeler's scrambling all around a 55' towable RV can be nerve racking

You should be able to just look at what you're driving into to make that determination. About the ONLY type of service station that causes me any grief is where the pumps are at 90 degrees to the building and even THEN if you use the outside pumps they're not difficult either. Don't know how large your trailer is but with my 56 foot rig finding easy gas stations has never been an issue (nor was it an issue with my previous truck which made the length 58 feet)
Good luck / Skip

What's kind of crazy about this whole issue of gas stations accommodating larger rigs is that we have found many resort-type locations to NOT offer fuel stops for RVs. One of them is McCall, Idaho which has been a favorite location of ours for many years. It has many campgrounds, a wonderful lake and a total resort-like feel, but to this day I would literally need to unhitch the TT to fit into any of its gas stations. Frankly, the issue of easy access for fueling is ONE of the things that keeps me close to the freeway...even though I enjoy driving on state and county highways.