Trailering

Gdetrailer wrote:
Skip stations that have islands arraigned so traffic heads toward the station..

The illustration below should be helpful..



Often that results in extremely tight turns to get around the islands without hitting the station store.. Not to mention there is often a lot of vehicles parked in front of the busier stations and high amount of traffic to dodge.

Something else to consider, you have to be aware of the steepness of the stations entrance and exits, longer trailers will bottom out much easier than short trailers.. So you need to watch for stations that have a gradual entrance and exit pitch.

I have run into a few that hit the tongue jack AND the rear drag bars, scrapping both times.. Don't want to high center the trailer and be stuck half in traffic..

Interesting, almost all of the stations I look for are like your X diagram, but I look for ones with sufficient room to make it easy, Pilots, Flying J, Sheetz, Racetrack, etc where there is 3-4 car widths between the overhang and the back of the cars at the convenience store. I pre-select my stops at ~170 mile intervals and have a backup to each one in case I can't get to my primary for some reason.

My biggest tip is use Google maps in terrain mode and street view mode to look at the stations ahead of time.

I try to avoid gas in the city and watch for truck stops out on the highway. Otherwise I just wait my turn at the most accessible slot. If I unhitch for the night I make sure to be topped off for leaving.

I look for Shell stations. They usually have higher prices and are not crowded because of that.

Skip stations that have islands arraigned so traffic heads toward the station..

The illustration below should be helpful..



Often that results in extremely tight turns to get around the islands without hitting the station store.. Not to mention there is often a lot of vehicles parked in front of the busier stations and high amount of traffic to dodge.

Something else to consider, you have to be aware of the steepness of the stations entrance and exits, longer trailers will bottom out much easier than short trailers.. So you need to watch for stations that have a gradual entrance and exit pitch.

I have run into a few that hit the tongue jack AND the rear drag bars, scrapping both times.. Don't want to high center the trailer and be stuck half in traffic..