What to do with your trailer? - Montana Owners Club

Longwell · 07-15-2006, 04:04 PM

Here's the dumb question for the day (week, month, year?)
While we were talking about our future fulltime lifestyle, we imagined driving along and wanting to stop in small towns at unique stores, unique restaurants, or unique anythings, or just for lunch. (ON EDIT - while just passing through, not staying there)
The question that came to mind was, "What do we do with the trailer while we're downtown in a small town?" I drove semi's for a while, but I don't want to try and parallel park a Montana on Main Street in Smallburg (no WalMarts, etc. in Smallburg)

So, what do you folks do? (This is not a trick question - we just aren't sure where or whether to leave it!)
Thanks.
Larry

Charlie · 07-15-2006, 04:18 PM

We find a location that is common to all that we want to see in that area and park it in a campground and stay several days. If you are full-timing you will have plenty of time to do this as you should not be in any hurry to be anywhere most of the time.

I think what you are talking about is when just passing through a town. I removed the trailer from the TV only once for such an instance and I left it in a Church parking lot for about 30 minutes with the permission of the Pastor.

Montana_1240 · 07-15-2006, 05:12 PM

We’ve avoided stopping in some places where there were no close-in spaces to pull in.

In other places, I’d have to scout around for a likely spot, and pull in. It might mean having to buy lunch at some restaurant that has space, just to ease my conscience. In other places, we’ve taken side roads until we find a place to park.

I do know that not all parking lots for the various chain restaurants are RV friendly. And you can’t rely upon being able to simply drive around all buildings, no matter that you did so at the same franchise a few days previous!

Some of the bad situations are why I’ve tended to not stop in some places either I, or my Mrs. Would have loved to.

Steve

CountryGuy · 07-16-2006, 03:16 AM

Stopping can get "tense". In small towns, we would likely look for a restaurant, eat and then mosey around. Or, find a side street, and park there, how bout an abondoned gas station (seem to be a lot of those). Steve is right, ya gotta really pick your spot! We have driven through quite a few small towns and not found a place to pull over that was "comfy" for us. So, we have gone down the road, found a rest area and had lunch that way. Each day is an adventure.

FulltimeFollies · 07-16-2006, 04:23 AM

Being a fulltimer, we seldom have this problem, but it has come up, especially when visiting relatives and you dont want to stay long. If in a small town, the first place I go is the police dept or fire dept. Never have we been turned down for parking in their lots for several hours. If that is not an option, we head or look for the largest church on the outsie of town. If we can find a church member, we have never been turned down. If that fails, we would try a campground an ask for a vacant spot without hookups, (most have em) and pay 5-10 bucks to leave it. If that fails, we head on down the road. I got way too much to lose to some idiot that wants a joy ride or a theif.

And it is a good question!!

mfoss · 07-16-2006, 04:40 PM

I'm from one of those tiny towns, about 650 population. Here you could simply park on any block (residential) as long as you weren't blocking someone's driveway. This would be perfectly okay for a few hours in this area You'd probably only have a block or two to walk for eating or some shopping. Buy maybe you were talking about a little larger place!

mobilrvn · 07-16-2006, 04:45 PM

We just park along the street, but make sure that we can't get parked in, so we are on a corner someplace, preferably with the truck at the end a not the 5W unless I safely backup. If I am concerned about clearance, I turn on the flashers. With two dogs and hot weather we don't do it very often. We take our lunch, have a break, walk the dogs and are back on the road.

stiles watson · 07-16-2006, 06:05 PM

I treat it like I would a semi and park wherever there was room to get off the road and get out when leaving.

padredw · 07-17-2006, 04:02 AM

Hope I'm not just stating the obvious, but the original question was not about parking the truck and trailer, but leaving the trailer and using the truck. Am I correct about this or not???

Anyway, my experience in that regard has been exactly as Charley's: we have left the RV in a large church parking lot (during the week, of course) with the permission of the pastor. The full story??? Well, I had been pastor of that church for several years not long ago. Still, I think that would be possible in most places---for anyone.

As to the other comments about parking, our experience has been as the others have stated. In smaller towns we can usually park on a side street. We have done so recently in Muenster, Texas while eating at a restaurant. No way we could park in the restaurant parking lot.

On that subject, that is the reason we so often stop in Cracker Barrell restaurants. They almost always have designated parking for RVs. Only problem there, we have found that sometimes autos take up those parking spaces. Hard to believe, but we have found that a couple of times.

Twice, I've gotten myself into a real bind. Once in Monroeville, AL we pulled into a large parking lot, but when we got in there were no places to park and no way to turn around. Barely got out by backing and by guidance from Shirley. Same thing happened in Georgia when we turned into a bank parking lot just to turn around (missed my highway). Looked good until I got in.... same story about getting out. Inches -- I mean inches -- to back and clear.

The obvious thing is we have to really look ahead and make some judgements before we can see the entire situation. Unless we are in an urgent need we just pass up any questionable stops.

Our few really close calls have usually had to do with missing a turn and needing desperately to turn around. Happened last in Taos, NM when we missed our turn into the RV park off a busy highway. Another really close call when we tried to turn around.

Parrothead · 07-17-2006, 05:08 AM

David's experiences are why I really like the GPS. We made a wrong turn in a town in Utah on our recent trip. Seems Utah renumbered a lot of the exits in Northern Utah recently and the map systems (I have the 2006 version) have not caught up. Any way by using the GPS map I could see how we could go "around the block" and get back on the Interstate. Without the GPS we would have been in a real mess because the roads were narrow and no place to turn around.
Happy trails....................

Gpa_Dick · 07-18-2006, 05:45 PM

What type of GPS maping system are you using? Is it a portable model or fix mount? I think a GPS would be nice especially when pulling something so large in unfamiliar territory.

Thanks Parrothead.

Parrothead · 07-18-2006, 06:02 PM

We have the DeLorme Street Atlas and Earthmate GPS LT-20 hooked up to the laptop. I have the same stand in our truck that Richfaa posted pictures of (the web site came from me - I just didn't take pictures). The whole set up works very well and we have a daily account of our travels.
Happy trails........................

snfexpress · 07-19-2006, 07:20 PM

We sometimes unhook and take a side trip but we always put our king pin lock on (I still worry). Emergency services parking lots are almost always helpul (I;m retired LEO).

Most of the time, we try to pick an RV park close to the sights we want to see.

We're not fulltimers, but are traveling about 2 weeks out of every month.

AZCampinfool · 08-06-2006, 04:59 PM

I second Parrotheads advice using the GPS. We have a Lowrance Iway 500c and it is great. We used it extensively on our last trip to Yellowstone. It not only helped us get back on the road when we missed turns, it helped us find gas, Walmarts, restaurants etc. I used it in California (LA) to navigate around a major traffic jam due to construction. I just zoomed in on the map and ended up taking my own detour through a neighborhood. It probably saved me 45 minutes drive time avoiding the construction. I felt like I was a local and knew where I was going. After using it a bit, even the DW likes it now (she didn't like the price!!)

Me, "outnumbered" by three red heads...my dear wife
& 2 DD's, plus Sam & Taylor the yellow camping labs.
2001 GMC Sierra 2500HD Crew Cab 4X4
8.1L big block/Allison
06 Mountaineer 319BHD w/Trailair Pin Box

sreigle · 08-07-2006, 12:29 PM

Longwell, we like to do the same as you. We just look for a good sized parking lot nearby where we won't be in the way and do a little walking. We don't drop the trailer although we did that once, with permission, in Capitol Reef National Park when we did a drive through of the park and trailers are not allowed on all the roads.

We also use a GPS. In my case it's Streets and Trips and a laptop. I have a board covered with velcro strapped to the console lid. The laptop has velcro on every available part of the bottom where it's not in the way. We don't go anywhere unfamiliar without the laptop. I even put it in the backseat when we're just out exploring, just in case. A couple of times we ended up in some very remote areas and it was helpful in figuring out the correct turns to get home.

See another Montana or Mountaineer on the road? Flash lights twice, it might be one of us!
Steve Reigle (pronounced Regal)
Fulltiming since 3/21/03
'03 3295RK
'05 Ford F250 SD Lariat CC SB 6.0L PSD/TS FX4 4x4

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