 Can RVers stay at truck stops? We wondered this, as backing into or pulling through a parking spot designed for a semi-truck can feel cramped. We need at least 5 feet on the passenger side of our fifth wheel in order to open our stairs to get inside the rig to sleep. We’ve managed to do that at rest areas, but maybe their spots are wider.  We tend to avoid staying at busy truck stops. We don’t mind the low-pitched bub-bub-bub of the diesel engines, because the noise tends to be constant. But we don’t want to take a spot away from a trucker who might need it. We have great respect for truck drivers and what they put up with to keep our supply chain operational. We’ve overnighted at a couple of spacious truck stops, however. At one, we were able to park next to a telephone pole that prevented a truck from getting too close to us — and gave us plenty of space to easily get into and out of our rig. A roomy dirt lot across the street from another truck stop let us spread out and not feel cramped.  In both of these instances, we kept our truck connected to our trailer and boondocked. We felt safe, slept peacefully, and experienced nothing out of the ordinary. We were able to fuel our truck, open our dining room slideout to get to our living room, eat a meal, relax in front of the TV, start the next day with hot coffee, and get on the road to our destination in a timely fashion. A New Overnight Truck Stop Option Wanting to cater to more RVers, Love’s started installing RV sites at its easily accessible truck stops in 2022. They include Wi-Fi, electric and water hookups, and access to a dump station. Today, Love’s has 61 RV stops across the country. All spots are bookable and payable from a mobile device or an on-site kiosk. We had heard these could be pretty costly, so we didn’t think we’d ever take advantage of this option. But finding ourselves in need of a convenient overnight stop with electricity to power our air conditioners in the humid South, we decided to give a Love’s RV Stop a try while passing through Alabama.  Many Love’s RV Stops are fenced off, located away from the trucker parking, and somewhat private. The one we tried out included eight RV sites near the auto/RV fuel pumps. Getting into the spots in a setup like this can be tricky if the gas station is busy. Thankfully, we were able to back into our site just fine. It wasn’t level, but it was concrete. We fished out one of the boards we carry in the back of our truck. Bob drove forward, and I placed the board into position behind the tires on the low side of the trailer. He backed the rig onto the board and pretty well evened it out side to side. Because this was an overnight stop, we didn’t want to disconnect the truck from the trailer, even though Tagalong was about 3 inches high in the front.  This being a designated camping spot, we felt freer to leave our dining room slideout open, which gave us living space to enjoy while we recuperated from our drive for the day. Overall Experience The building on the premises included restrooms, showers, a store, and a couple of restaurants, which made for quick and easy meals after a busy day of travel. We were able to grab coffee in the morning before hitting the road, preventing us from dirtying dishes and adding water to our gray tank. On our way to moochdock at the home of some friends, we wanted our tanks empty. The constant movement of vehicles and people in and out of this location felt a little sketchy for our first foray into Love’s RV Stops. We kept our door locked whether we were inside or outside of our trailer. It helped that we parked directly under a light. Despite these seeming drawbacks, the convenience of the stop made it worthwhile for the $38 we paid. En route to our destination the following day, we stopped at another Love’s for fuel. It had a nicer RV setup, protected by a wooden fence and separate from truck parking and fuel pumps — for an additional $10. We had considered staying at it the night before, but that would have meant driving another hour and a half or so. We were grateful to save that time.  We would definitely consider trying another Love’s RV Stop when we need a convenient overnight stay on a long drive. It does offer a lot of pluses.
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 Narrow roads do not make for good parking situations with a fifth-wheel RV. They greatly limit our ability to maneuver the truck as needed on the far side of the road to get the trailer into position. When the space we’re trying to back into includes a ditch on either side, flanked by a tree, parking can be much more difficult. After multiple attempts to back from a narrow road into the driveway of our friends Jim and Jenny in Virginia, we decided to take a different tactic: driving front-first into the driveway and onto the yard to back into place from there. Finding a Way In It seemed like a good plan. Having just arrived from Georgia, we were unaware recent rain had softened the lawn. It didn’t help that the front yard sloped down, away from the driveway. Once on the lawn, we had to back the truck up an incline to push our 18,000-pound trailer into place, not an easy feat. Our truck is not equipped with four-wheel drive. Nor does it have Positraction (as mentioned in the movie “My Cousin Vinny”), which would allow us to engage both sets of dual tires at the same time. In essence, we were using only one side of the dually to push the heavy trailer up a grassy hill.  Bob attempted to back up the incline, but Gulliver’s tires only spun out. After getting our truck and RV stuck one other time in our five seasons on the road, we purchased heavy-duty tire traction boards (paid link*), like the ones you see hanging off the backs and sides of Jeeps. Feeling prepared for this type of situation, we fetched the tracks from the trailer’s basement and placed them behind the rear truck tires. Bob once again tried to back up the incline. The tires continued spinning out on the traction boards. We never anticipated that would happen. It seemed we were truly stuck.  Finding a Way Out We pay an annual fee to Coach-Net for RV roadside assistance. Not seeing an easy way out of our predicament (we couldn’t go forward due to trees), we consulted Coach-Net. The dispatcher put us in touch with a tow company. Although we felt out of place for about an hour, not wanting to go inside our home in its inclined state, we took solace in the fact that we had our friends’ home to wait in. A tow truck arrived from Mathews Towing and Recovery. After assessing the scene, the driver, Cody, determined the best way to correct the situation was to winch us out. He wrapped a winch cable around Tagalong’s rear bumper and gave Bob instructions to keep Gulliver’s transmission in neutral and to steer.  Cody added tension to the cable and started the winch procedure. The trailer moved slowly but consistently up the incline toward the driveway. Once Cody thought the RV was close enough, he had Bob put the truck in park, disconnected the cable from the trailer, and moved the tow truck to provide room for Tagalong on the driveway.  Mission Accomplished At this point, Cody gave Bob specific instructions on how to back the trailer the rest of the way out of the grass: slowly and steadily with even pressure on the gas pedal. And it worked! Bob was able to get Tagalong onto the driveway without hitting the garage. As I watched the tail of the trailer to make sure it cleared any obstacles, I managed to get a taste of what sinking sand must be like. My foot landed on what appeared to be hard ground, only to sink almost to the top of my shoe in Virginia mud. I’d have to deal with that later.  Cody stuck around as Bob moved the truck and trailer forward and back to ensure we got parked where we wanted, helping with guidance all the way. Cody even stayed around after, sharing valuable tips and tricks to help us avoid a situation like this in the future. His biggest piece of advice: Get tire chains. “They’re not just for snow,” he said. You might also like How a Flat Tire Helped Us Work Together. * As Amazon associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.   A tornado watch went into effect in Georgia where we were staying. A few hours later, the tornado watch had been downgraded to a severe thunderstorm warning, with 70 mph wind gusts and pingpong-ball-size hail predicted to hit our area in 15 to 30 minutes. Bob rushed around to close all four trailer slideouts while I stayed in communication from Las Vegas, where I had been sent on a business trip. With the slides closed, Bob moved inside the home of our hosts, Greg and Sharon, thankful he didn’t have to stay in the trailer for the onslaught. As Bob and I texted, lightning literally hit the property with a loud BOOM! at just past 11 p.m. Peering out the windows to see if anything had caught fire, Bob didn’t notice any brightness in the dark sky, other than more lightning. Lights Out The sonic boom from the thunder clap had caused Gulliver’s alarm to sound, waking Greg and Sharon. Bob didn’t hear it in the basement, and by the time he ascended the stairs, the alarm had grown silent. Instead, the three heard squealing. Further investigation led them to Greg’s uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which protects his TV. It must have taken a surge. Greg reset his UPS and was pleased to discover his TV hadn’t been harmed. The darkness of the night and the nastiness of the weather prevented the threesome from going outside to check on any damage around the house. They did, however, notice that the internet was out. A look at the house circuit panel revealed four or five of the breakers had been tripped. Greg flipped them back on, restoring power. The outlet powering our trailer had been protected from a ground fault interrupt (GFI) by another outlet in the garage. But the GFI outlet had been fried, leaving Tagalong dark and without our normal Starlink satellite internet. Our fallback cellular internet that runs off our batteries still worked. Bob and Greg replaced the faulty GFI outlet with an extra one Greg had on hand. That fix gave Tagalong shore power and satellite internet again. We both breathed a sigh of relief that the trailer shore power didn’t sustain damage. With another storm forecast to hit the area at 6 a.m., Bob decided to grab his pillow from the trailer and sleep in Greg and Sharon’s basement that night. Morning Dawns The light of day revealed why the thunder had sounded so loud. Lightning had struck two trees about 30 feet from the house. Upon closer assessment, Bob, Greg, and Sharon realized the lightning bolt had run down the outside of both trees.  It must have followed the tree roots underground and boiled some water too, because they found a crack on a deck post and a buckled slat on the deck floor. A potted fern had been sitting on a ceramic plate atop the affected post. The plate had shattered, the pot lay on the ground, and the plant rested outside the pot. In addition to all that, a drain pipe had split and blown apart.  The threesome surmised the lightning traveled from the corner of the house up through the electrical ground wire into the circuit breaker box, causing the electrical problems.
Greg and Sharon didn’t have internet service for a few days. We were glad to be able to share our Starlink internet with them. They continued to find other electrical issues — multiple fried GFIs, Wi-Fi routers, Bose sound system, and the main cable feed from the street to the house — demonstrating how powerful a bolt of lightning can be. I thank God for keeping the three of them safe. You might also like Awakened by a Tornado Warning.  If you’ve ever wondered how full-time RVers stay healthy and fit while living on the road, this post is for you. Life on the road is not conducive to routine — at least not that we’ve found. Sure, we have routines to a certain extent. We follow checklists for packing the inside of the trailer for travel, connecting the truck to the trailer, and disconnecting the truck from the trailer. And I have a general work routine. What’s harder to set and stick with is a health and fitness routine. How Do RVers Exercise? Some RVers have a Planet Fitness Black Card, which gives them access to Planet Fitness gyms and showers across the country for about $25 a month. Many places we visit are not near a Planet Fitness, and we don’t want to plan our stops based on those locations. Other RVers carry exercise equipment, such as dumbbells and resistance bands, with them as part of their life on the road. Those who have toy haulers can even rely on an all-in-one gym because those rigs are designed to transport more weight than non-toy haulers. Jogging is another option, as is vigorous walking and/or hiking. We try to go for walks wherever we find ourselves. Some locations are more favorable for this than others. We’ve been in places near small, busy roads that limited how far we could venture. We’ve also been in places where we could walk as long as we wanted. We’ve had to be a little creative when it comes to exercise. When we’re stationary in the winter months, we can use the fitness center at the park we stay at for strength training. It gives us something to do together, and we can challenge each other. On the road, we have to make a point to exercise. For many months, I used a free phone app that ran through various exercise routines. I found it quite helpful, but after the end of each six-week or so routine, I had difficulty staying motivated to continue. After a bout of tendinitis, I got out of the habit of using the app. Virtual Reality When we owned sticks and bricks and were raising our kids, we had a Nintendo Wii for many years. We enjoyed how it encouraged us to be active while playing video games. I even used it for a regular fitness routine every morning and stayed in good shape. While visiting friends in Louisiana, we noticed a virtual reality headset sitting on a table and asked about it. Belinda let us try it out, and we were amazed at the immersive experience it provided, transporting us to a different world. Like the Wii, it involved being active to play many games.  A quick Google search unveiled that we could purchase a Meta Quest 2 for about $200. (Purchasing from that link will give you and us a credit.) I had expected it to cost much more. Convinced the unit would provide the avenue we wanted for staying healthy and fit — for a small footprint and without adding much weight to our rig — we invested in one for ourselves, along with a game called Beat Saber. Exercising now is fun. I get a good aerobic workout while slicing through boxes with a lightsaber according to direction arrows and the beat of music. It’s a challenge to hit all the boxes in Beat Saber, and it’s a great stress release after a hectic workday. As with anything, you get out of the experience what you put into it. I take my workouts seriously and am hooked. I guess we’ll be staying in better shape now. You might also like Is RV Life as Glamorous as It Looks?   Farms and crawfish ponds stretch for miles, cultivating a non-rushed pace of life. The appetizing smell of smoked meat wafts through the air. Cypress trees tower over homes and roads, providing a shady respite from intense sunshine and humidity. Birds whistle melodious songs. Turtles ditch the warmth of their log perches with a kerplunk into the water as footsteps near. These are some of the sights, sounds, and smells of the South we grew to appreciate and delight in after two weeks of immersion in Cajun country while visiting our friends Dwaine and Belinda in Ville Platte, Louisiana. Ville Platte is a unique place known as the “Smoked Meat Capital of the World.” It’s also famous for its swamp pop music and even features a museum dedicated to this rare genre, which combines country and western, rhythm and blues, and French Louisiana influences.  Perhaps most noteworthy, though, is the town’s special holiday celebrated on the first Friday of October. The whole town shuts down to commemorate Squirrel Day and the start of hunting season. Most men head to the woods to spend the weekend hunting, leaving most of the women behind to enjoy shopping and girl time. Food Focus As indicated by the importance of Squirrel Day, food is a focal point in this region. It typically centers on rice and gravy, which isn’t as plain as it sounds. It involves hours of browning meat, scraping up the stuck-on bits, adding water to deglaze the pan, reducing, and then repeating the process over and over. Not only does it create a delicious gravy, but it also tenderizes any meat. The meat, often smoked, is usually tasso (smoked pork), sausage, shrimp, chicken, or steak — or a combination.  No Cajun dish is complete without seasoning, which varies per cook but always includes cayenne pepper. Belinda uses about 80% cayenne pepper along with garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and white pepper. The people in Louisiana love their red pepper. You’ll even find it on pickles. We grew a taste for its flavor and steady heat. We also sampled cracklins and literal pigtails, which were kind of like chicken wings. Another staple in Cajun cooking, besides gumbo, is boudin (pronounced boo-dan — but with a soft “n”). It looks a bit like sausage but is not sausage at all. Somewhat akin to pasties in the North, it typically comprises pork, rice, and seasonings in sausage casings. This steamed all-in-one meal is enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, supper, or a snack.  Crawfish Boil Crawfish boils, common in the region when the critters are in season, provide a great reason to get together. While the live creatures undergo a running water bath by hose, corn cobs and potatoes — and sometimes other vegetables and hot dogs — are thrown into the boiling pot as an appetizer. After the veggies are cooked and shared, crawfish are transitioned to the boiling pot, and seasoning — including the all-important cayenne pepper — is added. When the crustaceans are cooked, they’re moved to a large insulated cooler to keep them warm.  Eating the feast is an experience in itself. It involves gathering around a partitioned table with a big hole in the middle to provide easy access to a trash barrel for collecting discarded shells. A huge scoop holding about five pounds is used to transport crawfish from the cooler to one of the table partitions, and a messy adventure ensues. Some people wear gloves while breaking apart and eating crawfish, and for good reason. The spices and wetness from the boil can turn fingers orange while trying to get the tail meat out, and the sharp shells can cut into skin. We opted not to use gloves and dove right in, reveling in the deliciousness despite the mess and effects on our hands.  Southern Hospitality
The South has a wonderful reputation for its generous hospitality, which adds to the welcoming, laid-back atmosphere of the region. Unlike in the big city we spent 24 years in, the people in Central Louisiana don’t tend to be in a hurry. They take time to stop their grocery shopping and errand-running to catch up with a familiar — or not so familiar, in our case — face. People enjoy getting together, visiting, and celebrating life. Despite their funny talking (omitting “are,” as in, “You welcome,” for example), they’re authentic and openhearted. We were blessed to participate in three get-togethers while in town. Each gathering centered on a delicious meal and plentiful opportunities to hear from others, share about our experiences, and learn from one another. Although the people had just met us, they genuinely cared about us and welcomed us back with open arms the next time we happen to pass through. Our lives are richer for having spent two weeks in Cajun country. You might also like Farm Living in Michigan. |
AuthorThis is the travel blog of full-time RVers Bob and Lana Gates and our truck, Gulliver, and fifth wheel, Tagalong. Categories
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