Parking problems at Flying J

[TonyDi]

A problem that occurs too often is that the RV side fills up and when you get there the only place to park is on the truck side. It's not uncommon to see the reverse.
This past summer I stopped overnight at the I-80 Truck in Walcott Iowa ( the worlds largest truck stop) and the truck side was completely filled. If they need to use an RV site I don't have an objection.
It was a pretty cool truck stop.

[PJStough]

Originally Posted by Drifter

Ben. The pictures are after he moved them in.

"I knocked on the door but no answer. So I took some pictures just case they cause damage to our newly painted trailer."

So he had the slide out farther, but pulled it in some before you knocked on his door?

[clyon51]

Well, when I hit a Loves, P/FJ, T/A or whatever for an overnight stay, I will put the slides out up to but not over the yellow lines. This is my space as designated by the lines. I certainly don’t push it as an overnight stay is what it is and full slide out is not necessary in any stretch. Of course a problem with this is there is not much margin for error for those coming in next to you. I will say we have never parked in the RV area as we are 60’ long. We also only hit Travel Centers with 200+ ‘truck’ parking spots as to not take a spot where a trucker needs. The photos seems to me they were pushing it a bit.

[moisheh]

A Toy Hauler 5th wheel hit my mirror a few years ago at a J. I try t o park against a curb with the slides out over the curb only. As a part time long haul driver we do not appreciate RV'rs taking up spaces on the truck side. As RV'rs we are not earning a living with our vehicles. We are not subject to Hours of Service regs. If a trucker pulls in to park and RV's have taken spaces what is he supposed to do? Often he is almost out of hours. If he tries to get to another trucks stop he could be stopped by a patrol and end up with a citation! If he has an accident while out of hours the ambulance chasers will drag him over the coals and he could end up in jail! Not good. There are some mom and pop truck stops that have lots of empty spaces. Most Pilots and J's fill up every night.

[OldBeaver]

And if I am driving my motorhome and cannot go any further because my eyes are beat to hell and I cannot see anything?
Many times the reason my eyes are toast is because of truckers and their headlights from hell.
I try to sleep anywhere but a truck stop, but sometimes it is that or I will probably kill myself or someone else.

...but I am new to this and most of these stops were due to not making the planned distance.
Last trip I figured out that Google maps is horrible device to use to determine at what time you will arrive at a destination.
It simply uses the speed limit of the roads on your planned route.
My old gps was much better and adjusted it based on the speed I was driving, so it was very accurate.
My last trip I decided to add 20% to whatever Google said. That worked much better. I actually made it to the rv park for the night (as planned).

[clyon51]

Originally Posted by moisheh

A Toy Hauler 5th wheel hit my mirror a few years ago at a J. I try t o park against a curb with the slides out over the curb only. As a part time long haul driver we do not appreciate RV'rs taking up spaces on the truck side. As RV'rs we are not earning a living with our vehicles. We are not subject to Hours of Service regs. If a trucker pulls in to park and RV's have taken spaces what is he supposed to do? Often he is almost out of hours. If he tries to get to another trucks stop he could be stopped by a patrol and end up with a citation! If he has an accident while out of hours the ambulance chasers will drag him over the coals and he could end up in jail! Not good. There are some mom and pop truck stops that have lots of empty spaces. Most Pilots and J's fill up every night.

I really can’t agree more. However, we are P/FJ members and as anyone should have noticed, there is no national chain ‘Truck Stops’ any longer. They are all called ‘Travel Centers’. Which of course means they are not exclusively for commercial trucks. Yes some have RV parking areas, but they are not useable for a 65’ rig.

All that said, we do our best to avoid using a spot that a trucker could use. We will use a rest area before a ‘truck stop’, but that potentially takes a spot away from a trucker too, right? I wish I could always make a decision that wouldn’t unconvinced a trucker, but I’ll never really know. As far as on the road, I do my very best not to delay them in any way.

[ArmandV]

Suppose there's no designated RV overnight parking spots at a Flying J?

I ran into this situation last year in Missouri. I found an open spot in the so-called truck area (it was on the end). I pulled in. The only reason I didn't stay was the excessive noise from the trucks and their generators.

So I left and stayed at a rest area a few miles away. Thankfully, that was much quieter and I got a good night's sleep.

[V3600]

As long as truckers don't mind passing each other on hills and holding up traffic then I don't mind parking in the trucker's area when needed for a break. But then I'm delivering a motorhome, have a CDL, and am also subject to HOS so I guess I'm no different than them.

[dons2346]

When parking at a truck stop for the night, you get what you pay for

[clyon51]

Originally Posted by dons2346

When parking at a truck stop for the night, you get what you pay for

Hahaha..... you are right. However after sleeping on top of a running diesel for 35 years, it rocks me right to sleep!

[Gorlininc]

I park In Front of Flying J between long hauls. Most people are very kind and considerate. I wouldn’t let one idiot change my life.

[Superslif]

At the FJ nearest us, the bob-tails have taken to overnight parking in the RV slots up front as well as car spots over by the restaurant side. I can (sorta) understand them not wanting to take up a full length site where the truckers park on the diesel side, but it's frustrating to not have a place for us to park now.

Same here:

Attention Fellow RVer: If your going to park your rig in one of the 3-4 "RV spots" Please don't take up two whole spots and open up all your slides. Especially in a busy station.

[JMonroe]

Those parking spaces, RV or truck, are made available for customers of Pilot/Flying J. While I can't remember the last time we spent the night in a truck stop, I'm thinking the $2500 we spent on fuel over the three months of our big out west trip would have given us as much right to spend a night in the "truck" side as anyone.

That said, we don't like to, for various reasons, just one being respect for the hard working truckers.

[Mhcorrigan]

The last thing I would do while parking there would be to open slides. I have never spent the night in a truck stop nor do I park at WalMart. If you can afford a big RV, you can pay to spend the night in s campground.