Truck Stops, overnight allowed? Options

[Wink]

A good friend of my wife's has a boyfriend who is a long haul trucker and has told me that generally truckers don't really like RV's because they make them "back off" the gas many times. Many states have no trucks in the left lane of 3 lanes (each way) expressway, so the middle lane is their fast lane. RV'er sometimes go slower than the speed limit or their "governor" speed in the middle lane and they have to work their way around them to get back to their "governor" speed. They pay a lot of taxes and think they have more "rights" than us. If you listen to the CB, you can also hear complaining. I think many truckers are RV'ers or want to be RV'ers when they retire. We sometimes get in a conversation with a trucker in a truck stop dinner and they are generally nice. Different seeing a real person than an inanimate vehicle. We have had trucker come up to us in rest stops and talk RV stuff.

I for one try to stay out of there way.I have seen both sides.Trying to get some where at road speed and now RV`ing with no set time to get some where.I will pull 60 to 65 but I don`t expect the trucker that has to be 500 miles down the road to night to have to stay behind me.Plus every time a trucker has to slow down and get back to speed it cost him in fuel.I would hate to be out there now having to fill two hundred gallon tanks every day to make a living.Just cut the drivers some slake and get over.

[Parrothead Mike]

I respect the truckers. I should as my father, grandfather, nephew, 2 uncles, and a few friends have been truck drivers. Truck stops are for the truckers. It's their "world" and we're just visitors there. I usually have my CB on when taking long trips in the RV and listen to their advice regarding traffic issues on the highway. CB traffic isn't what it used to be, cell phones have reduced the chatter.

We've pulled in for fuel and an overnight at truck stops before. I prefer Flying J's, but other busy stops are ok too. One issue I haven't seen posted on this thread in regard to truck stops is the panhandlers that float through the parking areas. I'm not talking about the lot lizzards, but people that hit people up for money "for gas to get home" or "for gas to go see my mother who is in the hospital" in some distant location. These people don't make me feel very safe, but it's something I'm much more aware of now that it's happened to me twice.

Always keep your eyes open and stay safe.

[Galli]

I respect the truckers. I should as my father, grandfather, nephew, 2 uncles, and a few friends have been truck drivers. Truck stops are for the truckers. It's their "world" and we're just visitors there. I usually have my CB on when taking long trips in the RV and listen to their advice regarding traffic issues on the highway. CB traffic isn't what it used to be, cell phones have reduced the chatter.

We've pulled in for fuel and an overnight at truck stops before. I prefer Flying J's, but other busy stops are ok too. One issue I haven't seen posted on this thread in regard to truck stops is the panhandlers that float through the parking areas. I'm not talking about the lot lizzards, but people that hit people up for money "for gas to get home" or "for gas to go see my mother who is in the hospital" in some distant location. These people don't make me feel very safe, but it's something I'm much more aware of now that it's happened to me twice.

Always keep your eyes open and stay safe.

It never hapened to me, however, I will never give in to that requests

[Texasrvers]

Here is a little different (but related) spin to RVers taking up spaces at truck stops. We have just gotten back from a month long trip, and during that time we made many stops at roadside rest areas. I’m sure all of you are aware that most of these stops contain an area for cars and an area with much bigger spaces for trucks and RV’s. I cannot tell you how many times we saw cars parked in the longer truck/RV spaces when there was plenty of room in the car lot. I suppose this is not a big problem if the rest area is not crowded, but on two occasions we had to keep going because all the long parking spots were taken up. If they had been occupied by other large vehicles, we would not complain, but in both cases several of the spots had cars in them. IMHO I think cars should stay out of these spaces since (1) they are designated for larger vehicles, and (2) we don’t have the possibility of using one of the car spots. I know posting this won’t change anything, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[HappiestCamper]

Here is a little different (but related) spin to RVers taking up spaces at truck stops. We have just gotten back from a month long trip, and during that time we made many stops at roadside rest areas. I’m sure all of you are aware that most of these stops contain an area for cars and an area with much bigger spaces for trucks and RV’s. I cannot tell you how many times we saw cars parked in the longer truck/RV spaces when there was plenty of room in the car lot. I suppose this is not a big problem if the rest area is not crowded, but on two occasions we had to keep going because all the long parking spots were taken up. If they had been occupied by other large vehicles, we would not complain, but in both cases several of the spots had cars in them. IMHO I think cars should stay out of these spaces since (1) they are designated for larger vehicles, and (2) we don’t have the possibility of using one of the car spots. I know posting this won’t change anything, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

AMEN.

[John Blue]

You see this all the time. Can people read well or understand the signs? I guess we need to take up ten parking places in the car parking lot.