tips on travelling alone with three small children

[trophyhusband]

this summer i will be taking my three kids, dog, and cat from florida to my in-law's house in new york for six weeks. unfortunately my wife will only be able to fly up and spend two weeks in the middle of that with us.

here's my delema. at most truck stops i have to make two trips inside the store when i fuel up, one to leave a card, and the other to pick it up. my children are 2, 4, and 6. leaving them unattended in the truck is not an option in most places and pulling them out and herding them into the store twice is also very undesirable. my range is barely more than 200 miles so i will be re-fueling often.

any tips here? is there a list of big-rig friendly gas stations where i can pay at the pump?

[bncinwv]

Most of the truck stops that I have been at have diesel pumps on the auto side as well. The diesel pumps are usually on the outer most island and are usually fairly easy to access even with a rig. They almost always have card readers on them. Just a thought.
Bingo

[steves]

Most of the Flying "J" truck Stops have card swipes at the RV pumps which offer both diesel and gas. Just follow the signs to RV pumps.

See the following for locations
http://www.flyingj.com/flyingjPortal...ortal_page_98:

[Art-n-Marge]

You don't list your rig combination but a pricey option if your rig afford the extra weight is that you can add an auxiliary fuel tank, with a transfer pump to increase your range. While you might still have to stop every 200 miles to walk around and get your land legs and peel the children off the seats, you might not have to refuel as often. But with increased range you won't have to stop at Truck Stops, per se. Make sure your GVWR and RAWR can take the weight of the tank, its hardware and the additional fuel.

Like Bingo mentions, an auto-style diesel pump provides a credit/debit card machine at or near the pumps 99.9% of the time. (I wouldn't stop at a pump that doesn't have it only because this means the service station is old and NOT up to par for the modern traveler. This happened only once to me in the past several years. We kindly bought a couple of water bottles and left quickly). Truck stops, in my experience, not so much. They either WANT you to come inside, "to sign in person" as I was told by one attendant, or you need to use THEIR special card which I will never have.

I hope there are more truck stops that become public friendly at their big rig pumps, but with only a 200 mile range and until then, I think you'll need to stick to Name Brand Fuel stations that offer diesel or look for the automotive diesel pump at truck stops which offer card access at the pump.

Your adventure will definitely be a memorable one. You alone, without Mom along and 3 kids.... wow, we wish you the best in experiences, weather and fun! But isn't this the expectation of a "trophy husband"?

[bob n pam]

Love's truck stops almost always have the diesel pumps on the outside and are accessible with a rig in tow. You can swipe your credit card at the pump. We carry print outs of the Flying J, Love's, and Pilot locations with us.

You can also extend your range by carrying two or three 5 gal. jugs of diesel in the back and add it at rest stops.

You are a brave man!

[trophyhusband]

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

Most of the truck stops that I have been at have diesel pumps on the auto side as well. The diesel pumps are usually on the outer most island and are usually fairly easy to access even with a rig. They almost always have card readers on them. Just a thought.
Bingo

i've either had horrible luck finding this arraingement or i'm blind (likely the latter, i've been known to stare into the fridge for several minutes looking for something only to have my wife walk of and pluck the wanted item off the shelf right in front of my eyes.)


i also have a knack for choosing highway exits where either the gas station is miles away or the exit spits me out onto another highway making it difficult to return to the highway.

[trophyhusband]

quote:Originally posted by steves

Most of the Flying "J" truck Stops have card swipes at the RV pumps which offer both diesel and gas. Just follow the signs to RV pumps.

See the following for locations
http://www.flyingj.com/flyingjPortal...ortal_page_98:

thanks for the link, this info will definately come in handy

[trophyhusband]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

You don't list your rig combination but a pricey option if your rig afford the extra weight is that you can add an auxiliary fuel tank, with a transfer pump to increase your range.


Your adventure will definitely be a memorable one. You alone, without Mom along and 3 kids.... wow, we wish you the best in experiences, weather and fun! But isn't this the expectation of a "trophy husband"?

my rig is an f-250 pulling a 345dbq. the dry weight is 11,200. i haven't looked into it, so i'm not sure if it will afford the extra weight of an aux tank. i've also though about getting a larger main tank, but being a short bed, i would only gain about 10 more gallons for $1000.

i'm fortunate that my kids and my pets travel extremely well. when we were stationed in idaho, i would take the kids plus the dogs (we had two goldens and a standard poodle) to my parents' house in washington all the time. it usually took 9-10 hours. i only did that with the fifth wheel once though, and i knew what gas stations i could use.

yes, this is the expectation of the trophy husband. my wife tells me all the time how glad she is that i stay home and wrangle the kids because there's no way she could do it.

[trophyhusband]

quote:Originally posted by bob n pam

Love's truck stops almost always have the diesel pumps on the outside and are accessible with a rig in tow. You can swipe your credit card at the pump. We carry print outs of the Flying J, Love's, and Pilot locations with us.

You can also extend your range by carrying two or three 5 gal. jugs of diesel in the back and add it at rest stops.

You are a brave man!

great ideas here! i was already going to carry a printout of the rv parks along our route with phone numbers and exit numbers, so i should add to that the fuel stop info too. this is going to take a lot more advanced planning that i usually do. great idea with the extra jugs of diesel. very simple and inexpensive way to increase range. even four jugs would only add 140 pounds but add 180 miles to my range, nearly doubling it. my range is actually further tha 200 miles, but i consider it 200 miles to leave myself a little extra just in case.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

On line web sites for Flying J and Loves and other large chains frequently have maps of the states with their outlets. You can plan your trip that way, from FlyingJ to FlyingJ to Loves etc.

Also might want to look at a truck stop when you are solo (no little ones to distract you for a few minutes) at their books and maps. There are trucker books, for truck stops, etc. There is Exit Authority and several other publications that tell you which exit has what, downside to the books, is for the most part, they only cover the I ways, I7, I95, I40, etc .

[exav8tr]

You should look into the Trasfer Flow tanks. I had a Chevy 2500 short bed and went from 26 to 45 gals of fuel. It did cost alot but well worth it to psss up the Expensive stations on the road. Look at www.transferflow.com Hope this helps and best of luck....

[trophyhusband]

quote:Originally posted by exav8tr

You should look into the Trasfer Flow tanks. I had a Chevy 2500 short bed and went from 26 to 45 gals of fuel. It did cost alot but well worth it to psss up the Expensive stations on the road. Look at www.transferflow.com Hope this helps and best of luck....

thankf for that link. i thought i had looked at that websight before for aftermarket fuel tanks, but i have only found a 42 or 43 gallon aftermarket tank for $1000. now there's a 47 gallon for under $800. much more enticing.

quick question about the transfer tank, when not using it, is it easy to remove so you can use your full bed, or does it stay in all the time?

[steves]

The transfer flow tanks are generally permanent installations. If you do a search for after market aux fuel tanks you can find ones that can be removed but they require a a manual transfer of the fuel either with a manual or electric pump added to the tank.

[drphelps]

Fly Grandma or Grandpa down to FL to ride back with you.

[Tom S.]

I can only recite what a flight attendant said on one of the few times I was forced to fly Spirit airlines:

After going through the seat belt spiel, she started into the 'If we experience a drop in air pressure' routine. When she got to the part where they always say: "For those of you traveling with small children" instead of saying "put your mask on before assisting them", she said "what were you thinking?"

We all got a laugh out it.

[cbgaloot]

Hand cuffs, leg irons, duct tape.

It always worked for me.