When To Park And When To Move On

After a long day on the road, I like to find a place to park. Ideally a pre-trip inspection along with a pre plan for the trip will yield a stopping place for the night. In reality you won't be able to just park at a truck stop after your trip. Even late at night, you can expect to find little or no truck parking.
The fact is that when you plan to park somewhere for the night, you must first consider where you are going. In particular I am referring to regions of the U.S. If you are going to deliver to the North East, you will run into the most trouble when finding parking. The best plan is to arrive early in the evening. If you cannot arrive early, then the next best bet is to stay outside of the region and leave very early in the morning or even late at night to arrive at the customer at your appointment time or when they open. The best situation is when the customer has a place where you can spend the night before unloading.
The fact is that truck parking is dwindling down because of ignorant land owners and ignorant truck drivers. Heavy trucks damage parking lots and ignorant truck drivers damage vehicles and spread garbage in parking lots. It is no longer of benefit for land owners to allow truck parking in their shopping centers and malls. The days are over when shopping centers catered to truckers. If you cannot find truck parking in a truck stop, then you may park in a shopping center for a few hours, but you must leave before they open and never leave your truck unattended.