Stopping Overnight

I'm a truck driver and an RVer so I've seen both sides of the discussion. Truck Stops use to be that, truck stops. TA was Truck Stops of America, not Travel Centers of America. Other "truck stops" followed suit to try and grab part of a new market. Gone was the independent restaurant replaced with the McDonald's, Burger King and Denny's replaced the Flying J restaurant which use to have a nice buffet. Why, because the truck market is trapped by the size of their trucks to the "truck stop" while the general public knew a McDonald's was a McDonald's the world around and they could draw the general public to them.

The other day I pulled into a TA for the lunch buffet and could not find "RV parking" since it was full of expediter's. I understand they were trying to keep clear of the semi's but they squeezed the RV's from the RV parking area.

The new HOS with a 14 hour max day, 11 hours driving and a 30 min mandatory break before driving past 8 hours makes parking a pain in the rear. As for parking on a ramp it's around a $500 ticket in Indiana. With electronic logs it's even harder to find legal parking and make a living. I went local to avoid all the parking issues.

Play nice, have a great day and be safe out there.

Here are a couple more thoughts just for fun:

1) The OP joined just to tell us RV folks to bug off. No other posts or responses. Get my panties in a bunch? Nope, not me

2) The OP didn't seem to consider that fatigue was the biggest concern of the RV driver who's parked in the truck stop. Better that he/she is a minor annoyance in that location than being a serious danger to himself/herself and others (including the OP) out on the highway.

I stay in rest areas and truck stops all the time. I am as entitled to stay there as much as the truck. I would think they would want a truck stop more then a rest area though. Why is simple, I will pull in about 9 am and will pull out at 4 am. I have a resonator and my DP is a bit louder then most as a result. It is not super load but if you were in a tent it is louder then the dodge pickup. THen there is the issue that campgrounds are not always open especially in the north during the winter and some close in Oct and I go year round. There is no other option then. Finally, I started out on a trip on the saturday of memorial day weekend. Do you think there is a campground avail. NOT. Same thing this weekend. I doubt if you were traveling cross country you could find a place on the 4th of July weekend.

We just became full-timers last week. We 'boondocked' for the first time on Saturday night at a Love's gas station. We asked if we were allowed to park there overnight first and were told that "yes, you can, just park in a truck spot". And we actually liked to sleep to the hum of all the trucks. Our 5th wheel is 41' and we have an extended bed dually truck....we're just about the same length as a truck. Whether it's a truck driver or RV driver, a sleepy driver needs to get off the road. Thankfully, Love's believes the same thing. We may be full-timers, but my husband still works full-time so we are on a time restraint while traveling as well.

Right on! Jakdad...... I think you nailed it.

Sea Dog wrote:
When I get to the point that I cannot afford the thirty or so bucks to
spend the night in a campground,
I will stay home.!

I hope you do too.

At (for round numbers for easy math) 60 miles / hour, at 8.5 mpg, with gas at $3.75 / gallon and after 12'ish hours of driving, a person in a motorhome would have covered some 720 miles at a cost (for just gas) of about $317.65.

If you REALLY think it's about the $30, I seriously hope a bunch of them decide to mend their ways and pull into the site next to you around midnight, and pull out at 6am the next morning for while till you stop and think about it for a while.

Maybe them you will realize there's more opinions than just yours, and just MAYBE, a few of them have merit.

I personally would never dream of being that jerk rolling in just after everyone's got to sleep, and then waking everyone up early when they're on vacation or otherwise.

Sea Dog wrote:
When I get to the point that I cannot afford the thirty or so bucks to spend the night in a campground, I will stay home.

We rarely spend more than 8 hours at a Wal-Mart. Normally we are pulling in around midnight and leaving before 8 am. I can't see paying $30+ to park for 8 hours. We aren't cooking, watching movies, getting a shower, etc. We are just getting some sleep before getting to our destination.

I see all types of RVs, but yes it is mostly Motorhomes since they are self contained.

-Michael

When I get to the point that I cannot afford the thirty or so bucks to
spend the night in a campground,
I will stay home.

I think, in almost one hundred and fifty thousand miles
we have stayed on Walmart parking lots two or three times.

I notice it is almost always the big class As
and top of the line fivers overnighting at Walmart
I guess with those payments,
every little bit helps!

spoon059 wrote:
Wow... not the responses I was expecting for the most part. When people ask about using the highway weigh stations, people are pro truck. When it comes to taking up a stop meant for a trucker to park and take a break there is no love?

Truckers drive for a living. This is how they feed themselves and provide for their families. I would never want to do anything to intentionally upset that balance.

Truck stops are for truckers. Rv parks are for Rvers. Truckers can't very well pull into the nearest Rv park and crash for the night. The stops are specifically for them. Unless its an emergency, I would never stay more than an hour or 2 at a truck stop. By emergency I mean that I am too sick to drive and need a safe place to pull over, or for some reason so exhausted I absolutely have to stop and sleep for a couple of hours. I would never make it a plan to stop at a truck stop.

We have so many other options available to us as Rvers... Walmart's, Cracker Barrels, Rv parks, etc. Please be considerate to the men and women trying to do their jobs and keep our country ticking.

You make me laugh. My money spends as god as a truckers in a truck stop. First come first served. Flying J even encourages RV's to utilize facilities. Trucks also have other areas to park including Walmarts, Lowes etc. When I am tired I stop wherever legal.

The trucks are parked on the ramps because truckers have experience and a communication system and they know the rest area is full. 90% of the trucks you see,even if over the road haulers are traveling a route that they do once or twice a week.
Back in the day I would pick up roll aluminum in northern NY and deliver to Ga. where I would load granite curbstone back to NY. Twice a week,sometimes three if I could make the hours work.
I had a personal relationship with every expansion joint in the road, I knew where and when to park to avoid DOT,crowded rest areas and the heaviest traffic volume.
I don't park the tt on ramps,#1 because it is illegal,while a trucker probably will get away with it,because DOT understand HOS requirements, a tourist is not under any such restriction.
#2 although few,more than one trucker out there is a real antisocial psycho and takes it extremely personally when an RV is taking up the last spot in the rest area. Talk to any professional driver and he will scare the pants of you with the number of people driving truck that shouldn't even be walking around free,let alone mixing with polite society.
Whether you know it or not,we are the most universally hated vehicles on the interstate. Most truck drivers have at least a bit of skill in maneuvering a large vehicle while rv travelers run the gamut of absolutely 0 experience to capable drivers,and therefore we are a wild card in most drivers eyes.
I always see advice to just do what the truckers do, my advice is just the opposite,stay the heck as far away from them as you can!