Posted on 02/09/2022 5:40:11 PM PST by nickcarraway
A faint winter sun slides toward the frozen scrub as Stephen Graves guides his tractor-trailer across the cracked pavement of a truck stop parking lot in southern Oklahoma. Exhausted from another 400 miles behind the wheel, he needs the restroom. But mostly he needs an answer to the same question that dogs him nearly every day as darkness falls: Where can he park his rig for the night?
Graves is nearing the 11-hour limit on driving before he is legally required to rest for 10 hours. He could push on for another hour, creep closer to the Texas border and shorten the distance to his drop-off the next morning — a warehouse alongside the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
The calculus is tricky. The next truck stop down the interstate is notoriously short on parking. He might get there and have to settle for the shoulder of a highway on-ramp. This stop outside the minuscule town of Springer is unappealing — its bathrooms rank and its dining options minimal. But it has parking in abundance. So he pulls in for the night and climbs into the bunk at the back of his cab for a few hours of fitful sleep.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
YUP
My son would call that a space based “curtesy ray”, ZAP, no more idiot or idiot vehicle.
Loves BBQ in SoCal? Everything was good, loved their beans. Wife and I had our first coffee date at a Loves. We had the frank and beans feast. 1973.
Nope, that’s limited too. I think the truck is limited to 16 hours.
I remember being in college and getting absolutely fleeced by the bookstores. They'd charge me $300 for a book, buy it back for $40, then resell it for $250. Bezos changed that dynamic.
Amazon Prime has changed my life for the better. Bezos is a total nerd who now dates pretty women and takes testosterone and hangs out on yachts. I'd probably do some of the same things if money was no object.
Seriously. I drive 45 miles to work every morning, leaving the house at 5:00am. I always respect the truckers on the highways, but I shake my head at the idiot commuters who tailgate 18-wheelers.
It’s not only parking, restaurants, and bathrooms. It is also personal safety.
Government
“It’s not only parking, restaurants, and bathrooms. It is also personal safety.”
Yep, as big as they are, there is nothing around them to actually protect them in an accident. They are all fiberglass and plastic to reduce weight. Been in the heavy haul wrecker business all my life and I have picked up countless wrecks where nothing was left but the truck frame/drive train, a steering wheel sticking up, and a seat with a mangled driver still belted in. Nothing else, the rest is gone.
You Guys,,,?
Ha!
.
“Loves” is also a Major
Chain of Truck Stops.
Nice ones too.
Thanks for Playing.
Ouch FRiend!
Seen a few fender benders
in my move to AZ last Year.
Starting to unwind.
Yep, they might as well be riding an 80,000 lb motorcycle. They are carnage machines in an accident. Chances of survival are very slim compared to a car.
Good to hear you are getting along over here! About to go into our desert spring, hope you get time to get outdoors and enjoy some of our diverse local country!
I love It!
Jerome is 30 minutes away,Prescott 15.
Prescott Valley is very
Modern and I can be on an old Gold mine trail in no time at all!
This Winter has allowed me to recuperate after my
Move that really taxed me
Physically.
I’m Ready for Spring!!
You are in a very nice area there. I know you are going to have a blast! That is what I like about Az. You can live very rural yet have everything you would ever need or want within half an hour. :)
So sad to read.
Actually, I hadn’t occurred to me that the structure of the truck cabs was unsafe. I was thinking about crime.
In California... good luck finding a freeway rest stop that is open. They’ve been closed for years on the routes I travel.
Thank you for making aware of this safety problem.
Then, in front of us, a semi started wobbling, and it eventually fell on it's side and sparks were flying off of it. I to looked like a toy going over. It was scary, and we were wide awake after that. Never forgot it.
I apologize for misunderstanding your direction with “Safety”. Yes, there are also the criminal risks of hijacking, and having to hang out in what are normally real bad parts of town because that is where most the warehouse deliveries seem to be.
Yeah, it is kind of weird too. I have seen a lot of accidents and it is almost like time slows down as you watch it happen.
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