Planning on Parking ?
One of the biggest challenges for new drivers is Trip Planning.
Setting your self up for success can be overwhelming at first, but once you learn how to effectively manage your clocks (Hours of Service), things will start to fall into place.
We will dive into your clocks and Tine Management in another post, but I just want to talk about parking for a minute.
Driving is the easy part, it’s everything else that trips people up, and managing your time is a key factor on how successful you will be.
Begin with the end in mind. Every day you should start planning where to park each night. And depending on what part of they country you will be in plays a part in your plan.
Obviously truck stops and rest areas are a great way to start, but geology, things can change quickly. The big trucks stops each have their own challenges.
Paid Parking vs free Parking.
Why pay for parking is you can park for free? Well, there are just not enough parking spots for the amount of trucks on the road. Have you ever noticed trucks parked at on ramps/.off ramps to a highway? Or have you ever wondered why Rest Areas always have a bunch of trucks parked? That’s free parking! And free parking spots at trucks stops also start to fill up in the early afternoon. If you have a later load or unload, and can’t park until later in the evening, you will have a hard time dinging a space to park. That’s where Reserved parking falls into place.
TA/Petro typically have larger lots, service shops and offer Reserved and Free Parking. Reserved spots can range $15-$22 per night depending on location.
Flying J/ Pilot have more locations, offer free and reserved spots. Typically the lots are smaller, and many don’t have service bays. Again, reserved spots range $15-$22 per night.
Loves seems to have more locations, and are aggressively opening many more locations. They also tend to have smaller lots, and they do not offer reserved spots. For the most part they have service bays.
We will talk more about planning, and amenities in another post, but for now, I’m off to bed in a reserved spot tonight.
