If you are that nervous stop at the truck stops. The lanes are usually wider and the in and outs easier. The newer the station the easier the access as they have opened up the lanes even more. Always remember to not wait until you NEED fuel. Get fuel when you need a leg stretch. That way if you jump off the interstate and do not find a station you are comfortable entering you can turn around and head down the road to another exit.

 

This topic is a pet peeve. I just finished a 15,000 mile trip across the US, into Canada and down the West coast. With a Lariat F-250, 6.2, standard bed, start planning for gas stations around 200 miles, especially in the far West.
Gas stations were one of the most stressful experiences on our trip. My total rig is approximately 52 feet and MANY truck stops do not have enough room to exit. Maybe half dozen times my tiny wife stood in the highway stopping traffic while I backed into the highway. I was so frustrated that I wrote a letter to Pilot/Flying J. They personally called me from the corporate office apologizing and said they had no idea that customers had this problem and would look into it. Amazing frustrating issue.

I found Love's to generally have more space than Pilot/Flying J. Flying J's seem better than Pilot. I just like Pilot/Flying J better and try to stop if they're accessible.

 

The Flying J RV lanes at most truck stops are bad. The only one that was good was in Grand Junction, CO. Now I just go to the semi-truck lanes.

 

My trailer isn't huge, it's about 32' over all but with the odd axle spacing and the 157 f150s crap turning radius it's a slug when backing up. I intentionally make sure i take the pump closest to the exit and heading out to give me the best chance. A majority of our trips are near the edge of a tank, but if we are going any further fuel stops are preplanned and scounted when i scout the route to make sure google isn't taking me down tiny side streets or making a bunch of michigan lefts that aren't so fun with a trailer.

 

If you can't see the fuel station from the interstate I probably would not bother with it.

I have a RV GPS with truck stop POI's that I use.

 

Unfortunately the semi-truck lanes don't help us 6.2 guys much. Rarely have I seen gas in the semi lanes (So far I've only seen them on the turnpike through Ohio). As far as the Pilot/Flying J lanes. I haven't seen a bad RV lane yet. I've seen Pilot/Flying J's without RV lanes that were completely terrible for guys with rigs, but for the ones that have RV lanes that I have seen (and used) the lanes were fine our rig. The only downside was they weren't covered in case you need to fill up in a pouring rain.

 

Ah, didn't think about gas engines. There's an upgrade for that.

The RV lane at the Pilot/Flying J in Rock Springs, WY is poorly thought out. One rig fueling up and one rig behind is about all there is room for before anyone else in line is blocking the only entrance (to the car islands and the store) and sticking out into the street. I have yet to see a covered RV lane, but my scope is limited to CO, WY and UT so far.

 

Most Flying J/Pilot, Loves, and other truck stops have been outfitted for RV specific islands that other than 3 that I can think of are pretty easy to make the turns in and out of. The few that aren't I typically just pull around to the truck islands but I have a diesel.

 

Unfortunately, not a viable upgrade when your son has an allergic reaction in every diesel you take out for a test drive, but is fine with gas engines. I'd love a diesel, but not at the risk of his health. Maybe one day after he grows up and doesn't come camping with us anymore, but that's still like 10+ years down the line.

Ah, most of the ones I've seen have at least 2 lanes, and can queue up at least 3 rigs per lane. The one I use the most often has 4 separate lanes. The 'blocking the only entrance' was the one time I tried one that didn't have an RV lane, and I had to back out from the gas island to get back on the street, because there was nowhere to turn a trailer around there. They had curbs poured to separate the gas from the big-rig lanes.... which made it useless for anybody towing a trailer, or even just had a lousy turning radius.

 

The two Pilot/Flying J stops that I'm thinking of (Cheyenne and Rock Springs) both force you between the store and the regular car islands to exit to the road. That means you have to fight both pedestrian and car traffic. If the car islands are backed up you could be there a while. The RV lanes at the Grand Junction location are very well laid out. I think they retrofitted the RV lanes into most of the truck stops and didn't really think it out.

 

Yes Rock Springs is real bad along with Cheyenne, add to that Twin Falls and Biggs Oregon, add to that some people will park at the pump and do their grocery shopping.

 

I had something similar happen. The driver waited for his wife to come back from the McDonald's across the street.

The Chevron across the street from the Flying J/Pilot in Rock Springs is easier to get into and out of, and they were about the same price as Flying J/Pilot with my RV discount card.

 

There's the Maverick just down from there that's good to go into also. I was working out at Pinedale several years ago.

 

If you’re going through Kansas, the Kansas Turnpike has services around every 30 miles. All of the pumps are straight pull through and by law, gas on there has to be within a few cents of what others in the area are charging.

 

I'm about to begin towing a Travel Trailer, 30' total length with a 2019 F250 CC 6.7L (160" WB) some time in the next few months. I have little experience with such serious towing, only having done so once with a 25' total length TT behind a 2006 4Runner.

Thank you guys for this treasure trove of information. I was a bit concerned about getting caught in "situations" and you've shared your experiences here to serve as do's and dont's.
Being used to driving short wheel-based vehicles such as 4Runners and Jeep Wrangler, even parking the new (seemingly) behemoth pickup in a shopping center is a challenge.

Being a Diesel, am I correct in understanding that at highway truck stops, I could refuel at the same lanes that the big boys (semis) do? That should leave plenty of room for a pickup with a Travel Trailer to maneuver, one would think.

Maybe time to refuel at one of the local truck stop Semi-lanes without a Travel Trailer attached and see if there's anything different about it. It's always the details that bite you. Better to be bitten while you're still halfway maneuverable.