When digging a trench, not only do I leave mine in gear, but I intentionally do NOT put the FEL down because I need to move constantly. I stay seated facing the backhoe, and reach behind me and push on the pedal with my hand to move forward another 3 feet. Dig 3 feet, raise stabilizers, move 3 feet, lower stabilizers, repeat. I don't climb down, move the tractor, then climb back up. The guys who put the FEL down must be just digging out a stump, because that is way too much trouble to keep raising and lowering the FEL while digging a trench.