I hate Peoplenet, where are you parked and recipes thread

Hey Mr. flyingmusician, having been thinking about telling you this for a very loooong time... do you remember that time you had to find detours due to construction, going thru a lot of traffic and in a hurry... as usual... and you said you were punching letters in to the GPS, trying to find your way around while watching for the crazy traffic...? How stressful that was, huh? You were able to make your appt on time, without going over your hrs and all that...
Now... just imagine how big truck truck drivers used to do in the past, when there was NO GPS...
My first company trainer was a long time veteran driver with over 30 yrs experience.... he used to tell me that a driver should always know where east-west-north-south is at any time... and a driver should be able to find his/her way whenever he/she got lost... I remember us trying to find a customer in a small town.... dispatcher didn't have the address and customer would not answer the phone... My trainer drove around that little town looking for hints to get to customer... any sign that would give him an idea of where the customer would be.... And he found it!! That's a REAL PROFESSIONAL TRUCK DRIVER... right there!!!
Me... I'm far from being like that... My sense of orientation is not good... I don't know what I would do without GPS... probably would be doing something else...

 

While I'm doing paperwork this fine day, I'm seeing this trip to Roachester becoming regular. Anyone willing to share any top secret parking spots close to the Wegman's compound west of the airport? It'd be nice to know of a good spot close by to settle a minute or three before hitting the thruway and leaving EZpass footprints all over LOL.

 

That's funny... I had a former patient when I worked in the pharmacy say I looked like a younger version of Meatloaf.

...not really the most attractive guy, but he certainly could've been worse off than he was!

Yep. That'll do it to you every #### time...

Heh..those old drivers are nothing like us newer drivers. One can try to become that, but you'd be hard pressed with all the regulations now.

I can deal without gps, but I'd likely be a solar powered driver. At least until I could figure out how to read the directions I wrote down at night...

Parked myself at Bridges. Exit 70 off i85 in Alabama. Cleaned up and organized the truck some. It's not perfect, but it's got two weeks of clutter and disorder that needed to be taken care of.

Scanned in all my bills that have been delivered this far. ...used to scan them at the first possible chance I got. Should get back to doing that. 25 sets of bills isn't fun to scan in. I still used the transflo app. Would prefer that over trying to scan them in at a peelot or something.

Halfway back to distribution. Tomorrow they've got me running up to Chattanooga and Cleveland, tn. 4am at the first drop. I'll have a little time to spare on my 10, so I think I can do an 11.

 

I stopped in Benson to take a shower (a wait of course) and I've been testing how far back from the cashier I need to stand before people quit asking me if I'm in line.

 

Reloading on S St Paul...
fixin to head east.......maybe....lmao
and Red...where ya headin from Rochester? I don't run the thruway....but depending on which direction your headed....i might no one or two

 

yeah that was a tough one. I bring many operational philosophies from the airplane to the truck. one of the very first you learn is that no matter what happens, and especially when something unexpected happens, fly the airplane first.....figure out what you're going to do 2nd. there are many documented instances where pilots flew perfectly good airplanes into the ground because they were fixated on a warning light or buzzer or instrument reading.

I have very good situational awareness. I can tell you usually within 10-15 degrees on the compass which direction I'm headed at any given time and I adjust that with every turn. I almost always know where I am in relation to the customer. I also always have a plan B or 'escape route' anytime I go in somewhere new just in case I miss the turn to final or otherwise can't get to the customer the preferred way. only needed to use that plan B 3 times but boy did I need it. worst was in Tulsa but that's a whole other story.

in those situations where most will get nervous or panicky, I get more calm, methodical, analytical and focused. I knew where I was in relation to the customer. I knew which way I needed to go to get turned around. just had to find it. in heavy construction, 1700 charlotte traffic, off route and in town, follow rule #1 lol slow down, drive the truck first, and figure it out

the problem came when plan B was also closed for construction and I had to figure out a plan C on the fly in traffic which was also closed. at that point I did the only thing left to do. stop and figure it out and not push a bad position. I had room to pull over and did and asked the construction crew that had the road closed what my options were. in the end I only lost about 30 minutes and still made my pickups.

on a related note, I could do without the gps. when mine died last year it was a good month or so before I got another one. it, like google earth and street view are really nice tools to have, but not absolutely necessary. when all else fails, call the customer although in my experience they are notoriously and consistently unreliable at getting me to their facility. I much rather prefer the customers with automated directions. it's always my last resort. I'd much rather figure it out myself.

if you want to read what happened the last time I got directions from a customer go here lol

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ture-good-company.220575/page-36#post-4459334

approach to the customer is mid page, the situation I found myself in by listening to the customer's directions is bottom of the page. my one and only encounter with a low bridge trying to get to a particularly difficult customer in new Orleans. and the customer sent me right to it.

brusnwick for fuel and 30 then on to columbia

 

Isn't there a small truck stop on 490 on the west side?

 

Driver asked on the radio if the Arizona scales were open.
I said "There could be fire and brimstone falling from the sky, the dead could be rising from the grave, God could be on his way for final judgement and that scale would be open."

Another driver said "Just like New Mexico and Virginia!"

 

The only thing I saw on Trucker Path app was the thruway service plazas (don't need any EZpass scans) and two tiny alleged truck stops on the east side. I'm arriving around 2300, so not exactly ideal for a stop&rob with 4-5 truck spaces. Kinda looking for an alley or abandoned retail area somewhere close where i could stage a while, both coming and going.

Interesting read. I had a rookie NOLA adventure on my first big truck trip. Now, I get some sick satisfaction solving those hard to get to routing puzzles. That one involved following a bad turn offered by the gps, even though I had already committed a good route to my Mark V memory cells, or so I thought. I think I missed the Causeway exit off Jeff Hwy and it went downhill from there. Fortunately there was no low clearance crisis. It did however involve not sliding the tandems all the way up, a Michigan left in an attempt to find 10, then some construction barriers on leg 2 to 3 of said left. It's all kinda fuzzy now LOL. I scolled around the map and really couldn't tell you exactly where the scene of the crime was.

So, not 2nd guessing or the like, but on that location I would have tried 610 west to 10 east, ramped off exit 232 and followed around to Howard and on in. Looks like the overpass at Jeff Davis is good, especially on the left. If not, then right on Jeff Davis then left on Euphrosine and in. Then maybe Earhart to Washington to Carrollton to catch the 10?

And that dick that gave you the directions? Wow. That wasn't a mistake. Like you, I'm allergic to jail and a helping of act right would be deserved. That was just too dirty to walk away without some payback.

 

Yep for a first time ever trip into NOLA it was a trying morning lol

After what I dealt with going in, I took the path of least resistance coming out. It was worth the extra 12 miles.

As for the jerk behind the counter.....if there really is a hell there's a special place already reserved for him.