FYI Motorhome not allowed at a truck stop

[skychs]

July 1st, after fueling (TSD) and eating at the restaurant in the truck stop I was approached by two males who told me and I quote “if you don’t have a DOT number on your vehicle you can not park here”.

This occurred at a TSD approved TA truck stop in Laurel Montana. I was in a 2015 Newmar Ventana LE motorhome.

Are motorhomes (RV’s) not allowed anymore?

 

[Neal]

I've never heard that so I'll be following this discussion. You weren't in a reserved spot by any chance where you? I did that once and got the knock on the door, there was no parking anywhere else.

 

[redbaron]

you where victim of a trucker with an attitude. Best to just leave in that situation. Never happened to me, but have heard of it happening to others.

Every trucker I have met has been kind and conversational.

 

[Neal]

Every trucker I have met has been kind and conversational.

Ditto - I've been amazed how friendly they've been with me in their lanes at the truck stop. They admire RV's which is amazing, from the little experience I've had talking with them.

 

[skychs]

I've never heard that so I'll be following this discussion. You weren't in a reserved spot by any chance where you? I did that once and got the knock on the door, there was no parking anywhere else.

I was not in a reserved spot. The parking area was wide open. It was around 1pm in the afternoon. I was waiting to check in at a local RV park.

 

[Neal]

In my short 4 years I've never had a confrontation. Let's hope yours is the only one we ever hear about again. Sorry you had to be treated that way. Bummer! I wonder if that does happen again if someone inside the facility should be informed??

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Were the two guys truckers? The OTR folks get a little protective of their parking spaces once-in-a-while.

My guess is they weren’t employees of the truck stop. I would pick up the phone and call that T/A. Ask for the store manager and ask whether motorhomes are no longer welcome to park there. Explain what happened to you. My guess is that the answer will be that motorhomes are always welcome.

We do try to avoid parking in truck stalls whenever possible as they are a limited resource for truckers. Unlike motorhome drivers, they MUST take mandated rest breaks after so many hours on the road and if they can’t find a place to park their rig, it becomes a problem. We have never experienced a problem with short stays at truck stops.

You probably just hit a sensitive spot with a couple of truckers.

TJ

 

[skychs]

It’s hard to say who they were. They did not identify themselves. There was another RV beside me who had to leave. Again, the place was wide open with more empty spaces than full.

Maybe I should let TSD know about it as well?

 

[Neal]

It’s hard to say who they were. They did not identify themselves. There was another RV beside me who had to leave. Again, the place was wide open with more empty spaces than full.

Maybe I should let TSD know about it as well?

About 3 times I've been approached for money, typically at gas stations not truck stops. This situation could be along the same lines, rather than asking for money they are harassing/bullying customers. Take a picture with your camera, if safe, and I'd report them. This is a good lesson we can all learn from. Thanks for sharing.

 

[AbdRahim]

I try to park somewhere other than in the truck parking spaces - eitherRV/bus spot or “illegal” spot. They do have to stop by law, so they need their spots. Of course lately, I have run into little cars and bobtail in the RV spots. Sometimes it is a battle for spaces.

 

[Buly]

It makes me mad when I see a car or a pick up truck parked on a 70’ long truck space, while the car parking spots are empty.
As I said before, some are just born idiots.

 

[skychs]

I reported the event to TSD Logistics. It was one of their designated fuel stops. If I hear anything from them I will let you know. In the future I will be more inquisitive as to who was requesting us to leave. With the Hydraulic lift on the back of the couch I’m easily 39-40’ in length so I typically have to use a truck lane. Hopefully it was a isolated event. Thanks for all the responses.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Wow - sorry to hear this happened to you. We always try to avoid the busy areas to leave room for the commercial truck drivers. But due to our overall length we won’t fit just anywhere along the edge, I have tried and now just take a real spot (we routinely hang over the length of the semi parking spots at some rest areas).

We routinely do the same thing you just mentioned; stop for fuel, park in a spot away from most trucks, walk the dogs in some grass and finally go inside the store to get carry out food to eat in the coach.

Last fuel stop the only parking spots available were “reserved” spots, but there were dozens open, so I just hoped it would not be a problem since I was only there for 30 min. Luckily we didn’t have an issue.

Now I know, if I receive a similar command to leave, I will be prepared to ask who they are and verify they are authorized to make the request. I don’t want to make waves with truckers, but I need space to be safe too.

 

[MapNerd]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. Never had this happen to me. Crazy that some people can be such jerks. If it happens again, I would do as @TJ&LadyDi said. Call for verification.

 

[FL-JOE]

I'm guessing they were just a couple truckers, and maybe not OTR but maybe local-yokals or local yard monkeys for some close by terminal. Whoever they were you can bet they did not represent that TA station.

This has never happened to us. Now that we are back in a fiver we generally try to plan a fuel stop around our lunch break and will use a back-in space where we fuel. If the truck stop is crazy busy then we go on down the road, but if there are a lot of spots available then I never hesitate to occupy one.