GL: Help

[Sean Welsh]

ELReib at comcast.net wrote:
> ...  In the truck we HAD to pay to park every night or stop at truck stops that were noisy, dirty and had fumes because the big rigs do not shut down engines to take a 4 hour nap.
Elaine, I don't disagree with most of your analysis, but I do dispute 
the above statement.

My wife and I (and two cats, one dog, and several fish) have lived 
full-time in our bus for three and a half years now, and we seldom pay 
to park.  We know at least one person who *never* pays to park.

When we do pay, it is our choice.  Sometimes, we make this choice 
because we want to visit a particular place, and the most convenient (or 
sometimes sole) option is a paid park -- this is analogous to choosing a 
marina stay to visit a certain port.  Other times, we make this choice 
because the weather is either very cold or very hot, and we look at how 
much it will cost us (in diesel and maintenance) to run either the 
Webasto or the generator, and decide that $15 or $20 for all the 
electric power we can use is a better deal.

And while we have stayed, on occasion, in truck stops (where the noise, 
quite frankly, seldom bothers us), that too is rare for us.  So your 
blanket statement that the choice is only between truck stops and paid 
parks is just not correct.  FWIW.

[Sorry, everyone, for the non-Loop content, but I thought it was germane 
to the OP's question.]

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com