Do you check traffic conditions before you head out?

Send it. Like others have said sometimes it's impossible to avoid the traffic. Example: you have a delivery to make in North jersey during rush hour starting from somewhere in PA. Sure you can look at the maps all you want but you're still hitting traffic no matter which way you try and slice it.

Just give yourself enough time to make it on time and anything else is outta your control

1 GPS on my dash is clutter enough. I'll keep Google maps on my phone running in the background

 

Bill Kirchen is a friend of mine, and is a seriously great guy.

 

I’m a big fan.
Tell him a total stranger on the internet says thanks! His songs have brought me a lot of listening enjoyment.


I wasn’t able to attend when he played a bar near me .
But I’ve been to see similar country rockabilly artists like Steve Earle and Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart , Malpass Brothers , when they played near me.

I’m likely the only guy on here that will admit to regularly watching Molly Bs polka party on TV.

my wife’s grandparents escaped Germany and opened a polka hall in Kansas City.



Kirchens songs are in heavy rotation on my iTunes playlist.
Hot rod Lincoln , Pittsburgh Stealers, streets of Baltimore, truck stop at the end of the world, roll truck roll, Detroit diesel, etc


Never heard of him till I ran across a YouTube video of him playing hit rod Lincoln with all the sound effects and names of the people he was passing on the highway.
My son was bored when we were driving from Georgia to take him to college in NJ and we were listening to that and he spent several hours researching the mentioned names and guitar rifs , and put together a playlist of all the famous songs Kirchen mentions getting passed by.
(I will see if I can find the info)

then I saw a CD of his at Cracker Barrel and bought it ,
Then when they invented iTunes I loaded up a lot of his songs .

he seems like a super nice guy .
And quite the talented musician.

and hopefully he’s in that sweet spot where a musician can earn a comfortable living from their talent but not have to deal with all the hassle of being a superstar, forced to have round the clock security and can’t live normal life due to stalkers etc.

 

I always check with google maps at least. Countless hours saved

 

Yes, especially in the winter. I’ll occasionally wait for sun up and let the morning crash test the roads.

 

I just discovered the Hammer app too. Haven't tried it yet but it looks interesting. And it's apparently made by Truckers Report.

 

Rookies should, over time you know the spots. I use g maps with traffic view on occasionally, plus I throw my cb radio out the window.

 

Try it. But you really have to look at the route, and use your head too. I also run Google Maps in the background as a supplement, because it will send you on some janky ### routes for no reason. One time it wanted to route me off the interstate, and then back on. I had to add a pin in the route to force it to stay on the interstate, and it knocked like six hours off the drive. Thought maybe it was avoiding a section of tolls, but it was just Hammer being Hammer. That was in New York, or Pennsylvania, can't remember. Route yourself from Dalhart, TX to San Antonio for the heck of it. Route should take you down 83 through Menard, and dump you on I-10 in Junction. Hammer wanted me to drive all over Texas. Like two extra hours, and I have my settings on "fastest route".

Another thing it does is not only tell you to turn the wrong direction, but it will even show the wrong direction in the top left corner. So I needed to turn right, but it said turn left, and the indicator showed left, but the map went to the right. I does that about 1 out of every 10 turns. Not terrible, until you're in the middle of a city, and it's telling you to merge the wrong direction right in the middle of Spaghetti Junction. Google really helps keep Hammer in line, and Hammer does a pretty darn good job at figuring out truck routes.

One more thing is I have my settings at 13' 6" high. It routed me under an 11' 4" bridge. No problem, because I could fit. But it could have been a problem. And since it had never done that before, I'd gotten lazy checking my route against the RM Atlas.

But definitely download it and give it a shot. They offer a fuel card as well. Gives killer discounts at mega stops. I haven't used it, because I don't have the patience to sit in line at the island. They will also call you and tell you the options for loading the card. Credit check, pre-load, or "we can use your settlements to pay for your fuel, and even pay you quickly for a fee!!" So the phone call is actually to push factoring, but whatever. It's an EFS FleetOne card.

Oh, another thing!!! It will actually warn you about weigh stations....about a half mile after you pass them...

One more tip...turn off HOV lanes in the settings, lol. Should be off by default, but it isn't.

So that's all the "bad". The "good" is it pretty much works great most of the time. I'll continue using it.

 

Right on. My GPS does a lot of the same from time to time. Many low bridges don't register, and for some reason it thinks there's a 10 ton weight limit on i55 thru Pontiac, IL, so it always routes me over to i57 adding like 35 miles to my route unless I put a waypoint under the IL116/i55 overpass so it can't route me any other way. It does something similar on US220 in PA due to an imaginary length restriction in the middle of nowhere. I guess they all have their quirks.

 

My garmin will do that for no apparent reason. That ####er has a mind of its own. It loves the jersey turnpike. Even when the pike isn't the fastest way it still wants you to go spend the $$$.

I find Google maps gets you closer to your final resting spot. Say in a new area with a bunch of new warehouses the GPS will get me in the vicinity but Google maps will usually take me to the exact spot.

And to think a lot of people just follow it blindly. If only they knew how much hassle they would save Lol