Not enough room

[d1h]

When traveling is there any way to know ahead of time if a gas station off an exit has enough space to maneuver a travel trailer into in order to get gas? Been in some there is barely enough room without taking out pumps, canopies. other cars, etc. Even in truck stop gas stations.

[Grit_dog]

Mayor30 wrote:
You can't use the diesel pumps unless you have an auxilary tank. The high speed nozzles are bigger than the filler on your truck. I have a 40 gallon aux tank in the bed so I can use them.

What kind of truck doo yoo have?

[Michelle_S]

I've had a Diesel since 2005 and have yet to find a nozzle that wouldn't fit.
Now if you have a Diesel Passenger Car, that's a different story.

[ford_truck_guy]

Mayor30 wrote:

Lantley wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
Like many already stated, when I am traveling into area's I am not familiar with I use Google Maps ahead of time to check things out... I usually have an idea of how far I will go and how far I can go before needing to fuel

Looks like you have a diesel tow vvehicle. Finding places to fit is much less of an issue because you can use truck stops a diesel islands at convenience stores.
Finding places to refill with gasoline is a much bigger issue vs. diesel

You can't use the diesel pumps unless you have an auxilary tank. The high speed nozzles are bigger than the filler on your truck. I have a 40 gallon aux tank in the bed so I can use them.

I’ve had diesel tow vehicles since 2004, and I have not yet met a fuel nozzle that did not fit into my tank

[rk911]

Pure Gas.

[Mayor30]

Lantley wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
Like many already stated, when I am traveling into area's I am not familiar with I use Google Maps ahead of time to check things out... I usually have an idea of how far I will go and how far I can go before needing to fuel

Looks like you have a diesel tow vvehicle. Finding places to fit is much less of an issue because you can use truck stops a diesel islands at convenience stores.
Finding places to refill with gasoline is a much bigger issue vs. diesel

You can't use the diesel pumps unless you have an auxilary tank. The high speed nozzles are bigger than the filler on your truck. I have a 40 gallon aux tank in the bed so I can use them.

[Grit_dog]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Grit dog wrote:


You apparently have it bad there in PA. Hard to find LP and diesel?
How hard is it to get non ethanol, av gas and race gas?

I do live in a very rural area, closest small city is 25 minute drive one way, larger metro area is 1 hr drive one way.

Non Ethanol gas?

Nope, even though "Gas buddy" says I can, in reality the gas stations that is local to me that Gas buddy says sells it, doesn't so don't depend on Gas buddy as it is wrong.

Can't buy Non Ethanol gas in bulk, if I wanted to pay $20 for a single pint bottle for lawn mowers, sure but I am not paying $80 per month in fuel just to trim my yard.

AV gas?

Nope, not available to the general public, ALL small airports near me that have AV gas have it LOCKED behind fences so you must contact the airport manager to get access and unless you have a valid "tail number" the airport managers will not sell it to you.

Race gas?

Nope, not available to general public, the stations which are close to a popular dirt track (which is one of the World of Outlaws circuit) that have it will only sell race fuel to you IF you have a valid entry pass for that day of the race.

Reason why I know these things is I asked local fuel vendors back in 2011

Wow, that's horrible...

[ford_truck_guy]

Grit dog wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

Lantley wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
Like many already stated, when I am traveling into area's I am not familiar with I use Google Maps ahead of time to check things out... I usually have an idea of how far I will go and how far I can go before needing to fuel

Looks like you have a diesel tow vvehicle. Finding places to fit is much less of an issue because you can use truck stops a diesel islands at convenience stores.
Finding places to refill with gasoline is a much bigger issue vs. diesel

Actually it can be a draw either way.

I have noticed there are far fewer fuel stations that have gas AND Diesel and the ones that do have both typically have far fewer pumps for Diesel.

I know myself with having a Diesel tractor how painful it can be getting Diesel at times.. I am sort of lucky to have a small Mom and Pop gas station 2 miles away that serves up Diesel on two of their 6 pumps and "off road" Diesel (no road taxes) on one pump. But in my nearest city, most stations have zero Diesel pumps and the couple stations that do have it, have one pump in a small crammed tight spot which would be not easy to fit a RV into.

Basically if you have a Diesel rig, you typically have fewer choices on where to fill up. Big truckstop places like FlyingJs are not everywhere.

You apparently have it bad there in PA. Hard to find LP and diesel?
How hard is it to get non ethanol, av gas and race gas?

LP is easily found, but most of those are in Industrial Parks and have commercial hours like 8-3… Or the localm U-haul and their yahoo’s

Race gas ??? Not to be found that I have seen except closer to the Allentown area where Nazareth Raceway used to be, or further west in PA closer to the drag strips and dirt tracks…

We here in the shadows of megatropolis, outside the Sanctuary city of Philadelphia do not have a lot of choices for those items…. Now Opioids, crack cocaine, fentanyl, we got that and then some !

[Gdetrailer]

Grit dog wrote:


You apparently have it bad there in PA. Hard to find LP and diesel?
How hard is it to get non ethanol, av gas and race gas?

I do live in a very rural area, closest small city is 25 minute drive one way, larger metro area is 1 hr drive one way.

Non Ethanol gas?

Nope, even though "Gas buddy" says I can, in reality the gas stations that is local to me that Gas buddy says sells it, doesn't so don't depend on Gas buddy as it is wrong.

Can't buy Non Ethanol gas in bulk, if I wanted to pay $20 for a single pint bottle for lawn mowers, sure but I am not paying $80 per month in fuel just to trim my yard.

AV gas?

Nope, not available to the general public, ALL small airports near me that have AV gas have it LOCKED behind fences so you must contact the airport manager to get access and unless you have a valid "tail number" the airport managers will not sell it to you.

Race gas?

Nope, not available to general public, the stations which are close to a popular dirt track (which is one of the World of Outlaws circuit) that have it will only sell race fuel to you IF you have a valid entry pass for that day of the race.

Reason why I know these things is I asked local fuel vendors back in 2011 when I was gifted a 100 plus yr old automobile at the time and I wasn't sure if the carb had a cork float (which is sealed using shellac and shellac is alcohol soluble). I started the car using Naptha which is also sold as Coleman fuel, paint thinner and for many yrs was the base of automobile gas. Eventually I got around to cracking open the carb and found I had a nice brass float.. No more messing around with finding Ethanol free gas.

If you wanted 100% true Ethanol free gas, you would have to own your own oil well and then you could pull the natural gas from the well head, compress it into liquid and walla, you now have Naptha, it is also known as "Casing head", "well gas", "white gas".. But, you CAN'T run that straight in your vehicles as it also have a very low Octane level of about 40.. Only works straight in low compression engines like Hit and Miss engines.

However, using that in your vehicle would also be considered untaxed motor fuel and that gets you on the wrong side of the law.. Oil producers that also produce excess well gas are supposed to add that back into the crude oil they pump out.

How do I know this?

I grew up working around oil wells in PA..

But in reality, Ethanol laced gas has been around since the 1930s or so, so much of the supposed harm to engines has been blown way out of proportion.

Even Henry Ford played with straight Ethanol as a motor fuel, was eventual dropped since producing Ethanol is much more labor intensive and far more expensive that refining crude to extract Naptha.. He figured since his auto was originally marketed to farmers they could make their own fuel using some of their crops.

[Retired_JSO]

pappy43756 wrote:
Google Earth

Overhead shot and street view are great.

[dedmiston]

You just do what you have to do. You can always get your nose in though. I've had my wife stand out in the street to stop traffic while I back out of the gas station when it's too tight.

It sounds crass, but sometimes you have to drive with the a calm and determined attitude until everyone realizes that nobody's getting in there until I get out. People don't usually pull into the gas station with their thinking caps on, but they get the hint when you sit there blocking everything with your raised eyebrow face like "well, are you going to back up or shall we sit here all day? I only have one way out of here though."

[Grit_dog]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Lantley wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
Like many already stated, when I am traveling into area's I am not familiar with I use Google Maps ahead of time to check things out... I usually have an idea of how far I will go and how far I can go before needing to fuel

Looks like you have a diesel tow vvehicle. Finding places to fit is much less of an issue because you can use truck stops a diesel islands at convenience stores.
Finding places to refill with gasoline is a much bigger issue vs. diesel

Actually it can be a draw either way.

I have noticed there are far fewer fuel stations that have gas AND Diesel and the ones that do have both typically have far fewer pumps for Diesel.

I know myself with having a Diesel tractor how painful it can be getting Diesel at times.. I am sort of lucky to have a small Mom and Pop gas station 2 miles away that serves up Diesel on two of their 6 pumps and "off road" Diesel (no road taxes) on one pump. But in my nearest city, most stations have zero Diesel pumps and the couple stations that do have it, have one pump in a small crammed tight spot which would be not easy to fit a RV into.

Basically if you have a Diesel rig, you typically have fewer choices on where to fill up. Big truckstop places like FlyingJs are not everywhere.

You apparently have it bad there in PA. Hard to find LP and diesel?
How hard is it to get non ethanol, av gas and race gas?

[way2roll]

HappyKayakers wrote:
The Next Exit. Book form or app. It will identify all RV friendly businesses at each interstate exit.

Yep. Tells you at every exit what's available and if it's RV friendly.

[Gdetrailer]

Lantley wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
Like many already stated, when I am traveling into area's I am not familiar with I use Google Maps ahead of time to check things out... I usually have an idea of how far I will go and how far I can go before needing to fuel

Looks like you have a diesel tow vvehicle. Finding places to fit is much less of an issue because you can use truck stops a diesel islands at convenience stores.
Finding places to refill with gasoline is a much bigger issue vs. diesel

Actually it can be a draw either way.

I have noticed there are far fewer fuel stations that have gas AND Diesel and the ones that do have both typically have far fewer pumps for Diesel.

I know myself with having a Diesel tractor how painful it can be getting Diesel at times.. I am sort of lucky to have a small Mom and Pop gas station 2 miles away that serves up Diesel on two of their 6 pumps and "off road" Diesel (no road taxes) on one pump. But in my nearest city, most stations have zero Diesel pumps and the couple stations that do have it, have one pump in a small crammed tight spot which would be not easy to fit a RV into.

Basically if you have a Diesel rig, you typically have fewer choices on where to fill up. Big truckstop places like FlyingJs are not everywhere.

[Lwiddis]

I agree...Google Earth.

[Lantley]

ford truck guy wrote:
Like many already stated, when I am traveling into area's I am not familiar with I use Google Maps ahead of time to check things out... I usually have an idea of how far I will go and how far I can go before needing to fuel

Looks like you have a diesel tow vvehicle. Finding places to fit is much less of an issue because you can use truck stops a diesel islands at convenience stores.
Finding places to refill with gasoline is a much bigger issue vs. diesel