Is It All About No Parking And Impossible Docking Situations?

Here's the secret for parking overnight: Avoid Love's, TA/Petro, and Flying J/Pilot. It seems people just go to the big boys, and ignore the local and regional truck stops.

One time I pulled into the Meridian MS TA, and it was nearly full. So I crossed over the freeway to a Shell that has truck parking. Still 10 empty spots! (In Meridian, my stop of choice is Queen City.)

It's true local truck stops can be almost nasty inside, but they can also rival Cracker Barrel for cleanliness and "amenities". There's another current thread for good truck stops. Use Trucker Path to find them.

I'm strongly considering a second career in trucking... if I get laid off as expected in January. I've been hungrily devouring every article, blog, and forum post on this site for the last week. It's all been awesome and eye opening. However, all this reading does bring up one nagging question: How much of the job has to do with not being able to find overnight parking and hard to impossible (backing up) docking situations?

I've read a number of posts where drivers say all the aggravation is worth it... "it" being the open road, the time alone, meeting new people, etc. But exactly how often do you deal with the inability to find a place to park for the night and rest, sites that won't let you in till a certain time, and the dreaded nigh impossible docking situation? Is it 1% of the time, 10% of the time or 90% of the time?

I'm genuinely interested in the career but I'd also like to have a rough idea of what to expect. I imagine I'm only hearing the horror stories followed by the reward, but I'd just like to make sure.

I very rarely encounter a situation where I have to park creatively, mostly because I avoid shutting down after dark in metro areas. I have had to street park five or six times, including in New York City at Western Beef, after my dispatcher said they would allow me to park onsite, and the night security there said I could park on site, but when I got there, day security said no parking on site. I had the same happen at Berks in Reading, PA.

I've had to park next to scales or in other 'creative' places inside truck stops a lot more frequently, normally when I'm arriving late at night. I don't consider those to be problems. Sometimes you have to park a bit outside the box, and most truck stops don't care, as long as you don't block the path of other trucks.

As you learn different cities, you will find alternate places to park. For example, Denver is bad inside the metro area, but there is a section of road next to the Denver Thermo-King, fairly close to the Sapp Brothers that you can overnight on, which usually has space. (Thermo-King uses it for parking, apparently unofficially, and it's not marked no parking. Just don't block a fire hydrant.)

As for docking, in my first couple months solo, I allowed another driver to park my truck once, when it was a very tight spot, and it was his truck I would have hit if I screwed up. Today, I would have no problem getting into that spot, I don't think.

I've also had two different occasions where I had to back the trailer in, disconnect, come back at a different angle to reconnect, and then finish docking maneuvers. In both places, even yard dogs were having to be slow and cautious with moving trailers, so I didn't feel bad about 'cheating.'

According to my records, I have completed 80 loads since I went solo in early March. Five street parks, and three problem docking maneuvers.

I drive for Stevens Transport. Exclusively reefer. Different companies and different freight types will change the numbers (see prior responses.)