Trip Planning

Most companies will not allow you to drive out of route any. Some don't want you on tollroads and will route you on other roads, like hwy 30 going through IN inorder to avoid paying the tolls, somedays you get a lot of sightseeing done.

Make sure you check front of atlas for restricted routes or low bridges, etc. GPS works great as a tool if you can get a truck gps, not one for a car; we used a car garmin when husband first started driving in 2008, but we followed the company route solution, any other directions that came from the p/u or rcvr as to what exit, other road info. I would make sure the roads on garmin were big roads, etc. The atlas also shows you the colors that are ok to drive as a route, or a little gray line you don't need to be on unless it is where it is being delivered at.

The GPS is good to tell what time you will be approximately there, but that does not take into account fuel stops or other hang-ups; there have been times that as much as 6 hrs had to be added to the time going from about Grand Island, NE, to Salt Lake City, UT because of the weight being pulled. It also will have preprogrammed t/s in the system that you can use as via point and that helps keep up with eta to that point too.

The atlas that has the laminated pages can be written on with a wipable marker also where you can go through and mark your route, get some of the large 3" paperclips available at Walmart now, and Pilots, to clip the pages where you can turn them to the states you are going through. If you leave some types of markers on long enough they may stain the page; if you go through NJ & NY you might want to let it stain the route like forever.

Do you have a computer? Google maps is a good thing too as a tool, also gives est travel time which is not truck time either, have to add to it going through mountains, ect. You can go through and figure out about how many miles you plan to go for the day and then locate a truckstop, rest area, etc for your 10hr break or 34 off. Most bigger cities you can just type in Pilot Travel Center, or whatever t/s and the city and state and it will pull up the address if there is one there.

I use a website findfuelstops.com where you can plug in where you start from, and going to and a via point if you wish and it wll find fuelstops along the way. All of these may not have parking though like the Wilco's in the northeastern areas though so it is better to call if in doubt. If you click on a t/s it will pull it up and also other things in the area like rest areas, etc. You can zoom in on the area also and see what it looks like too.

We too did it the hard way when husband first started and it was a pain, doing it by hand. It seemed like all the roads they sent were not even close to the main roads included in the atlas. I would try and go through and add miles between place to place to get an average at least, the ETA was set off this. We bought the Garmin I think when they were just getting popular, I reckon they had trucker models then, but we didn't know that, so I used the car one. Some hairy driving days on cowtrail routes that curved like snakes some days in the dark.

 

First off, I'm going to say, GPS is not king. I'm youngish, I grew up with technology, too, but what do you do when you have to take the browns to the Super Bowl ASAP and have no GPS reception? I can think of quite a few places out west where that's the case. Buy yourself a $5 pocket size fuel stop guide, they're organized by interstate and exit, and list the services available and amount of parking. As to reading a map and planning a route, the best method is to start off on the US map, and take a straight edge of some kind point to point,find the roads that most closely follow this straight line, and use it as a starting point. Then you can go state to state to get a detailed look, also, check the information in front of the atlas for your desired route for low bridges, truck restrictions, etc.

that being said, I use my GPS quite a bit, but normally I go my own way and use it as a guideline. I usually end up dropping off time and mileage over the initial GPS route. Bottom line, aswas already said, GPS. Is a tool. Do not rely solely upon it, because even if it is a truck GPS, it will eventually put you somewhere you don't want to be. Reading a map isn't difficult, and is definitely a required skill even in today's connected age.

 

im gonna disagree with navigatorwife. all companies ive worked for allow for some reasonable out of route miles. in my experience, if the load SAYS 1000 miles, they dont care until you hit 1100+...10% over the paid miles. of course, if the load SAYS 1000 miles and the shortest reasonable routing is 1150 (not even close to impossible...if you are being paid by hhg miles you will end up driving at least 8-12% of your miles unpaid) then you dont have anything to play with...of course at that point you call and tell them nicely that the mileage is wrong and theres no way you can do it in less than 1150-1200. they may even change the paid miles, but dont hold your breath.
ive gone up to 40-50 miles out of route on longer runs, and have NEVER been spoken to about running out of route miles. most times its to go to the casino thats on the way, lol. but many times it could be to go to that truck stop i know about, or the walmart....etc.

loads you do NOT go out of route on are jit loads and high value loads. with jit, you dont have time for sightseeing anyhow. with high value loads, you dont want to leave the truck for more than 30 minutes or so to eat ,shower, or use facilities.
friend had a codriver. they were delivering pharmaceuticals. 1.5mil+ valued load. friend woke to find them at codrivers house...250 miles in wrong direction. codriver fired on the spot.

and about the nj/ny comment...we are already stained enough. dont need any more help. lol.

 

Didn't mean that as a bad comment on NY & NJ, just that if it was already in place on map I wouldn't have to go through and remark it again; husband didn't run that way but maybe a couple of runs every 2 or 3 months so it was easier to keep up with for me. I just hated it because there were so many no truck roads there.

I can't guarantee that out of route experience won't get you a call, we were a little bit lower than we should have been around the Montgomery, AL area and his dispatcher called in the am about why he was on such and such road. They were cracking down that year I guess.

Their high dollar loads were no stopping for 4 hrs or 250 miles out minimum, you filled up before picking up the load, guess some of the weekend staff didn't have nothing better to do than to play around and call you, he didn't get to the 1st set of red lights the one time out of Huntsville and they were calling wanting to know if everything was ok and why had he stopped.

 

Learn to use an atlas...there will come a day when technology won't be available....

 

I drove trucks Germany in the Army as a teenager in the early 80's. The day before my first solo run my squad leader asked if I spoke German, when I said no, he handed me an atlas and said "better learn how to read this then" LOL

GPS is a powerful tool, you still should always verify your routes with a Truck Atlas. I use a Rand McNally GPS and Atlas so they are usually in synch.

 

and the truck will not run then either. (EMP?)

 

When I was OTR my company provided routing. About 98% of the time my Rand GPS came up with the same route. But I still checked it with the Rand atlas for logic. After just a few weeks out I was able to see some changes that were beneficial.

Routing around:
known construction
known dense traffic like rush hours in major cities
taking a slightly longer route to stay on major highways and avoid smaller towns and roadways.

Use all the tools you have. While I most often agreed with the GPS, its main purpose is to notify the driver where the roads are. Not what roads to take!

I hit one stretch in Texas marked "Road construction next 110 miles"! The road I needed to turn onto.. they had removed the street sign. I would have never known where it was without a GPS unless I noted and clocked the specific miles from the last major interchange! That would be some very detailed trip planning!!!!

Mikeeee

 

I agree that learning to use an atlas is a good thing in case technology isn't available. You never know when the GPS, laptop or whatever will break and books (atlases) seem pretty indestructable. Also, the atlas keeps the rules (length and weigh retrictions, etc) listed by state in the front.

However, my primary planning tool is my laptop with Streets and Trips. I downloaded their master POI file (free) which includes truckstops, weigh stations and rest areas. The mapping will show 98% of city streets (you never know when *insert random city name* will cut a new road). The bad thing about it as a gps is that it won't tell you which side of the street an address is on.

Since I carry a mobile web connection, I also look up locations on Google Earth so I have an idea of what I'll be getting into. Since I drive reefers, I get into some nasty docks. On the rare occassion the S/T can't find the address, Google can. Create a push pin and import it into S/T.

If worst comes to worst, I call the address and get directions.

A tool is only as good as brain that uses it... never trust the tool to do the job for you.

 

Learn to read a map!!