Things we've done with a D-unit:
1. Park at a commuter train station and take the train into Manhattan for a Saturday exploring the sights.
2. Drive into Everglades national park, park in the RV lot, take boat tour.
3. Park on street a few blocks away from Space Needle in Seattle. Walk to that park. Enjoy fine dining atop the tower.
4. Spend night parked in RV spot in New Mexico state park overlooking Rio Grande River.
5. Spend night miles deep in a national forest in Oregon.
6. Park near warehouses in New Orleans, just a couple blocks from tourist attractions. Spend day exploring French Quarter.
7. Park on street or in lots near museums and art galleries that we've toured.
8. Park in hotel lot in Las Vegas. Walk two blocks to casinos that are connected by train.
9. Park in truck parking area at Mall of America in Bloomington, MN (nation's largest shopping mall).
10. Park in lot (paid for four parking spaces) at Santa Monica, CA. Spent day on Santa Monica Pier and adjacent attractions.
11. Parked where SUV's pulling boat trailers park in Tampa, FL. Spend day on beach.
12. Parked in lot at Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY and toured the museum.
13. Spent night parked at marina in Connecticut, 50 yards from shore, 20 yards from marina showers that we were given permission to use.
14. Parked in shopping center malls for shopping and movies.
15. Parked in RV parking area in Flagstaff, AZ. Spent day touring the local shops there (VERY COOL Town!).
16. Parked in public library parking lots while spending the day inside the library reading the periodicals, doing industry research, reading up on that town's local history, or just using the library's tables or study booths to do our business paperwork.
17. Parked in lot at our home church while under load. Had picked up load day before near home. Had time to stay a bit before cross-country drive to the delivery. Walked out of church and rolled on the load immediately thereafter.
18. Spent nights in Wal-Mart or 24-hour grocery store parking lots (with management permission).
19. Spend nights parked at shipper or consignee locations.
20. Enjoyed numerous scenic drives in conjunction with freight runs, seeing things like Utah salt flats, both oceans, interesting caves into which we drove the truck to deliver, mountian views, New England autumn drives, east and west coast ocean sunrises and sunsets, etc.
21. Spent many nights at truck stops waiting for loads.
22. Pass time in truck reading, writing, surfing the web.
23. Pass time around the truck doing minor maintenance, keeping it clean, keeping our freight handling equipment organized and in good repair.
24. At truck stops, strike up conversations with other expediters either over coffee, over a meal, or around their trucks to give/receive truck tours (for new ideas) and talk shop.
25. Spend countless hours in stop-and-go rush-hour traffic jams. While one of us drives and listens to satellite radio, other reads, sleeps, surfs web, etc.
Note that while we've had a lot of fun in the D-units we've driven (truck owned by fleet owners), we've never once gone out of service or turned down a load to take in a tourist attraction. That stuff can be worked in between loads.
At this moment, we're parked at a Love's truck stop in Kentucky waiting for a load. Have been here since about 10:00 AM. Spent the day sleeping after the overnight run that got us here. Also tended to the truck and spent an hour or so on phone chatting with friends.
