By: Mike,
Upstate New York
I enjoy your site very much, but the first thing my company has asked me is if I knew where I could park for the time that I was home. Assuming I’d be home for a day and a half for that 34 hour reset, I’ve got to find somewhere to park the rig they’ll be issuing me within the next 2 months.
What’s worse is that I need to find parking places for 2 towns as I am transitioning from my hometown to my finances hometown.
So where do I park for a day and a half or up to 2 days?
Any ideas or advice from the experienced would be really helpful!
If it helps, I also have a car. Not sure if I’m going to sell it or not.
Email me at Mirthifulmike (@) gmail.com
No spam please
Thanks!
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Response from Vicki:
Hello, Mike,
Thank you for the compliment on our site. Although we don’t specialize in finding places for truckers to park, our angle on this would be free or very low cost truck parking and preventing both vandalism and cargo theft.
So here are some suggestions on how to find it (not actual places to park). We also ask other truckers in upstate New York to comment, too.
- Ask your trucking company where other drivers employed by them — and who live in the the specific areas — park their trucks.If your trucking company’s nearest terminal is close enough to be practical, consider parking your car there so that when you have time off you can park your truck there and drive home in your car. (Parking both your truck and your car at the terminal will require the help of a second person.)
- Ask your fiancée (who will be your home support team) for suggestions on where to park your truck. You can also ask her to come and pick you up from your trucking company’s terminal if you prefer not to park your own car there.
- Consult the most recent edition of The Trucker’s Friend (shown at right) for truck stops in your area.
- Ask shippers or receivers in your area if you can park in an out of the way place on their property. If you can get free truck parking that would be ideal.
- Ask on a trucking message board for good places to park a big truck in upstate New York.
- Be careful about asking for advice over the CB as you don’t know who is responding or what their “qualifications” are for making the recommendation.
- Investigate low cost paid truck parking, including the type we described on our parking wars page.
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We do caution you about parking in high crime areas and unsupervised lots where your truck and/or trailer can fall prey to thieves. Cargo theft is a problem.
You may be interested to know that the first time we were homeless, we parked our car at our company’s nearest terminal, which was about 2 hours’ drive from our home area. We didn’t get in but about once a month, so it wasn’t a hardship.
The second time we were homeless, it was harder to find parking for our car, not the truck. We ended up parking it at the home of friends, who lived on a tractor-accessible road. Before you go into a residential neighborhood with your tractor or tractor-trailer combination rig, be especially careful of low clearances, tight turns and truck prohibitions.
When you have found a solution to your need, would you please write back to let us know how you found it (not where, as we don’t want for you to advertise where your parked rig is)?
By the way, I separated your email address to prevent spam and ask our readers to please limit your contact with Mike only for the purposes of this topic.
Mike and I wish you safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.
Best regards,
Vicki Simons
