Thanks!

Yeah, there's some wonderful people here.

 

just remember to take your time, be extra carefull and run safe,

 

Glad to hear things are getting better.

Keep on truckin'......

 

The best advice I can give you is to establish a relationship with your FM. Make sure you're communicating with him while you're on the road, and whenever you're in Dodge, go up to dispatch and say "hello." Changing that perception of you from a bunch of QUALCOMM jibberish and a truck number to a face, name and personality will go a long way for you.

 

Your previous thread had been closed and no one answered your question about the fuel stops. Usually if you are a company driver, you are sent the fuel stop they want you to go to. Sometimes this fuel stop, because of pricing will be out of the route they sent you on route solution. You still go to the fuel stop the best way to get there and then continue on. Sometimes this might send you a different direction in the long run, esp if it is a long way to the fuel stop.

If you are running real low on fuel for some reason, mountains, wind, heavy load sucking it up, then send another Macro in for fuel; don't run out, don't go through areas that have few truckstops thinking you can make it. In the winter keep your tanks as full as you can, esp go through the mountains out west, in case you end up snowed in somewhere.

Prime website also has their fuel stops on a map, in case you haven't run into this yet.
Husband also uses www.findfuelstops.com, has a lot of options for station entry, but mainly it to gives a map from point A to B with stations on it. You then can kinda pick out one where you might need to spend the night. Not all stations though are parking stations, just fuel islands, esp most of the Wilco Hess. The individual station page, if you pull it up in a new window, will also list places close to that area, if any, of things like rest areas, weigh scales, Walmart. Always call Walmart though and make sure you can park there; also zoom in and check it out first on the map and make sure it is one you can get in and out of easy, some of these are in the really hard parking lots with the trees and islands put in.

People complain about having to pay for parking at the TA's, but there have been quite a few times it has come in handy for us. As you probably know a lot of stations are filled up by 6pm, this gives you the option of driving your hours out later without having to worry about not having a place at the inn when you get there. You can call ahead and pay for the reservation at their 800#, 800-847-7275. You can even have your wife or significant other take care of this for you; need your truck make, #, your name and credit card number. Costs usually $15.00, but once in awhile find one for $13.00. Jessup, MD is one you have to pay to stay as far as regular parking, get out free if you eat or shop in the station, but it loads up and the reserved parking helps there too. This does come out of your pocket, I believe you should be able to hit up FM for paying the parking fee for Jessup, or the few others that have parking fees, but;;;; not sure; reserved is on your nickel otherwise though. It just keeps the aggravation down sometimes.