Having met Dave and Phil a few years ago, they are very intelligent men... Interesting thread. Regarding the comment on parking at the homesite. I've seen their rig on the road, it's not a glorified U-Haul... it's a full blown RIG! As in comparable in size to a private bus.
There are pro's and con's to having a rig like theirs' ina drive way.
#1 of course is complaints from neighbors and the community as a whole.
#2 is space... it better be a biiiig driveway with plenty of space on either side. Many communities have trees or utility fixtures of some kind near a driveway, lamp posts, overhead wiring, telephone poles, drainage ditches, underground utility boxes, gas line access panals, all kinds of stuff.
#3 would be landscaping... and risking it's condition no matter how good of a driver you are, over time, landscaping may suffer to some degree- from either the rig or your walking patterns around the rig.
They're in a gated community, so neighbors are obviously somewhat conscious of their surroundings. Having a secure fenced in compound to park would make a difference to people as opposed to having a roaring 40 or 45 foot rectangle wiggle thru the streets at who knows what hour... Phil, I know the feeling. I've taken many 45 foot coaches to friends and families houses... mainly cause I could and they offered free food and/or free laundry... but I've gotten many questions and been told to move many times as well.
The downside of this is... if you go in for some rest and then want to work on the truck, you gotta leave home.
I'm lucky to have the land where I'm at to be able to park a rig, due to being in the country... don't have neighbors to worry about. 5 acres is more than enough buffer zone.
However, even if I did not have 5 acres in the country, an alternative would be a large lot with a building that's got a 12 to 14 foot tall door. Put some landscaping around it to help it blend in some and all is forgiven... until you roll in at 11pm on a school nite.
Having a place like what they have works for them, though I'd be tempted to rent it out when not there to help it pay for itself. On the flip side of the coin, they have an open driveway, and are probably close to the stores and shopping areas. They may even have a beach or lake close by. I have a pond I can use that is stocked about 1/4 miles walk from the house. I do not have a grocery store less than 15 minutes driving with green lites and no traffic. I have no train horns to hear, but I got an insect lovers dream come true if u leave an outside lite on during a warm evening.
Interesting, if i was Full Time OTR with no small kids and/or wife @ home, I'd want a little patch of grass to call my own somewhere at some point.
I got it, but I also got 2 kids; and a wife that wants the grass to stay short too.
BBB
