Safe Haven
I don't know what a safe haven is. FMCSA does not tell me what it is. I reached out to my safety director and he gave me our company definition. Basically a place that you can park safely and legally. What about indoor plumbing? If you are going to be someplace for 10 hours the need may arise. It is not in the company 
definition. The last company I was leased on with had a different definition. Their definition had indoor plumbing included.
In my confusion I reached out to Scott Grenerth. Scott is a respected friend and all around smart guy. He is also the new federal regulatory affairs big shot dude at OOIDA. He said that he was not sure. He made the effort to look it up, and the only things that he could find had to do with weather and traffic related delays. My situation was different. My 14 was going to run out at a customer that did not allow overnight parking.
It was not the customer's fault. I received a phone call while in dock near Milwaukee. I had started my clock at 8:30. My dispatcher called me and asked if I could make it up to Beaver Dam, WI and down to Mt. Vernon, IL for a 22:00 appointment. Yes, I could make it. There was a problem. My 14 would run out at 22:30 and I did not know if the customer allowed overnight parking. We communicated with the safety department. The first option was to arrive early. I arrived at 20:00 and was put into dock. They finished unloading me at 22:30, I was informed of the no overnight policy.
I made note of it and tried to find a parking place in Mt. Vernon. All 3 truck stops were full. The local Wal Mart had a no trucks sign. I respected it. Many Wal Marts 
provide truck parking, and I appreciate that. I always leave their parking lot a little cleaner than I found it. We all should. There was no rest area either. Plans A,B, C and D had all failed. Plan E was to get to the next available safe haven. I checked my phone ap. It was about 15 miles away. I did not falsify my log in any way. They had parking available. I took an uninterrupted 10 hour break there.
After that I did some more research on how to handle the problem. I checked the FMCSA website for guidance and received none. There were articles written under safe have. There was one written by fellow pros Bob and Linda. It
pertained to explosives. Good article that did not help me. One said that it was up to the officer's discretion, oh that's just great!
It would be nice if the FMCSA would give guidance on this. Here, I will help. The FMCSA should allow us to proceed to the nearest safe haven under these circumstances. The driver should be allowed to reach the nearest safe haven. The safe haven shall include at minimum, a safe and legal parking spot for at least 10 hours. It should also include indoor plumbing.