Have you noticed?

[ATeam]

We were at a Flying J for a few hours last night and saw a strange sight; about a third of the parking places were empty. I mentioned this to a flatbed driver I visited with this morning. He said he is noticing more open parking places at rest areas too.

Signs of the times?

 

[TeamCaffee]

Signs of the weekends is how we look at it. We are at the J south of Indy and Saturday night parking was easy to find, last night though it was full once again.

 

[moose]

Its an HOS things.
Doing the week end, in some parts of the Country ,
Solo drivers are being forced to take a day and a half off every week ,so they park the truck at the Co. terminal and take the week end off.
many carriers are hiring week end drivers now,to cover some loads.
and have lots of regional runs over the week end,

you will not be so lucky 2night.



Moose

 

[pelicn]

During the weekend the truck stops are usually less busy, unless you're in the northeast.

 

[x06col]

My line of figguring is.... If a fella had a weekend off in an area with the brickyard 400 and all kinds of other things going on.... Why? Would you spend it at a truckstop? No matter what you were driving.

 

[spudhead911]

We have noticed less trucks at the truck stops for the past few months also. And not just on weekends either. We have also noticed less truckers in the dinning rooms of all the truck stops. We have spoken with the wait staff at some of them, and they all have said that the dinning room business has been off quite a bit. I think with the price of fuel, a lot of drivers are making themselves a balonie samwich (spelling on purpose) in their trucks.

 

[arrbsthw]

Probably so, it costs us about $20.00 for breakfast including
the tip, supper is usually $25.00 or so.

 

[layoutshooter]

We too were at the J near Indy, had a nice time visiting with Team Caffey. The stops seem to have been a little less busy but not a lot. BrickYard 400? Racing? A big contributor to global warming. Why are they not racing hybrids? We need to get ALGORE on that right away. We parked at the J and went and visited with a old spy buddy on Sat then the Caffey's on Sun. Lots better to see friends than watch a semi-controlled traffic jam!!! LOL
Layoutshooter

 

[moose]

My line of figguring is.... If a fella had a weekend off in an area with the brickyard 400 and all kinds of other things going on.... Why? Would you spend it at a truckstop? No matter what you were driving.

Why ???
i tell you why.
it because the Brick yard suck !!!
it is the worst race truck , you cannot Enjoy the race , unless you have the racing-Electronics set up , unfortunately we have left them at home , not knowing that we will be at the race-day.
and we got a few of the bests seats in the house.
it was a big waist of time and money , and we left 100 laps to go.

Now Martinsville.... Wow , that's something



Moose.

 

[kangar0085]

We too were at the J near Indy, had a nice time visiting with Team Caffey. The stops seem to have been a little less busy but not a lot. BrickYard 400? Racing? A big contributor to global warming. Why are they not racing hybrids? We need to get ALGORE on that right away. We parked at the J and went and visited with a old spy buddy on Sat then the Caffey's on Sun. Lots better to see friends than watch a semi-controlled traffic jam!!! LOL
Layoutshooter

That's probably the only thing I agree with Al Gore on.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Same here would rather much spend our time catching up with friends then fighting the traffic to see the Brickyard. Talking with Layoutshooter and Jan taught us some new tricks on securing freight and that to us is a lot more valuable then watching a race.

We are also eating many more meals in the truck seems to be helping out bottom line and our behinds!

 

[ATeam]

We have noticed less trucks at the truck stops for the past few months also. And not just on weekends either. We have also noticed less truckers in the dinning rooms of all the truck stops.

Come to think of it, a number of truck stops have cut their full-service restaurant hours back. They are no longer open all night long, or have cut menu items way back during late-night hours. TA announced a while ago that they were cutting jobs because of reduced traffic.

We can see the difference at Petro at Bordentown, where we used to go anytime we were near (TA bought the Petro chain a while ago). That place is going downhill fast. We avoid that Petro now and go to RV parks instead if we are laid over for a weekend. It is a regretable loss.

 

[x06col]

Yes they are loosing their luster to folks after years of gouging I guess. And mediocre service, marginal tasting food, etc. Maybe the slowdown will convince the bean counters to amend their ways a bit.

I personnaly don't do the brickyard either (for reasons mentioned) and the fact that general admission is ninety bucks. But, many like that kind of thing. I really didn't mean that the race wuz THEE ting to do, just A ting to do, steada hanging on the tarmac at a truck stop. But, whatever trips YOUR trigger. Ya know!

 

[greg334]

Where have you been Phil? Oh yea, the RV park... smart move.

I have had better luck finding parking spots in places where there were none before.

The price of fuel and the need to compensate for the lower rates has been keeping more people either at home with the truck or driving as much as possible.

Some places where there was limited parking, I find spots. Some places where there was no night parking, I find spots. It is not a weekend thing.

As for the quality of truck stops - who cares, these are franchised truck stops who treat the truckers like crap anyways. More often than not they hire people at the lower end of the pay scale who have no incentive to work hard for their money. Both trucking and the supportive services has low expectations of both quality and customer service so I would not expect anything but poor service and style of customer care at any truck stop.. for that matter many still don't get the idea to be a little faster behind the counter so we can get back on the road.

I understood the point x06col was making, in a city like Indy, Chicago or for that matter anywhere but south east Michigan, there is a lot someone can do. If you come up here and like the action of a put crew, there is a lot of nice places you can park your truck and time the 'pit crew' to see how fast they can strip your truck. If they smell aluminum or copper, watch out.

 

[layoutshooter]

There is PLENTY to do in SE Michigan. There is some of the best walleye fishing in the world. Not to mention the small and large mouth bass, pike, muskie, perch, panfish and once in a while a nice steelhead. Good duck hunting in the late fall. Tigers baseball in Detroit and the Mud Hens just down the pike in Toledo. Casinos, Red Wings, Pistons, Lions. You just have to want to find it. Layoutshooter

 

[x06col]

You could also spook around a bit I guess. Lots to see there.

 

[layoutshooter]

I have not "Spooked" for more than 20 years, can't say I miss it either. Just remember, just because SE Michigan is stuck with a bad rep, a crummy governor and a sleezy mayor does not mean it is all bad. Lot's to do and lot's of good people. Same as every where else. If you need the name of a Lake Erie Charter captian, let me know. Perch should be hitting pretty good about now. Layoutshooter

 

[x06col]

I'll wait a while, only Walleye for me. Bet that fella knows their haunts also.

 

[layoutshooter]

Sure does, but they are down in US waters till Oct for the most part. Except for a little know bite on the new moon in August. In the channels around Celeron Island. The #1 size jacks, 13-18" move in and go on a feeding binge. Only for 2 days either side of the new moon. In Oct they walleye move in on the rocky shores and beaches late evening and early morning. Good shot at a big one then. Layoutshooter

 

[x06col]

Back in the day when I were there the mouth of the Ruskom wuz good.