trip plans

they teach you that in school. but don't ask me if i remember. LOL.

trip planning is time consuming. your day hardly goes according to plan anyways. anything that CAN, WILL screw up your plan. so why bother.

how do you plan your meal stops? cuz i stop when i get hungry. which more then likely won't be according to plan. what about bathroom breaks. never know when mother nature wants to socialize.

sometimes i wanna stop. sometimes i'm not ready to stop. so why make a plan.

making a plan can make as much sense as racing the 14 hour clock. it also kind of takes the fun out of doing your job. we got enough rules making us robot slaves as it is.

 

I use google maps for planning for the hubby, and www.findfuelstops.com to see fuel stops, rest areas etc along the route. The north eastern states are harder to find truckstops with parking, luckily he is not in that area as much.

And it is according to the time of the day or night as to when you are going to get to stop for the 10 off. The later in the evening you drive the harder it is to find a place to park anywhere including rest areas usually. There has been times he has skinned in with a couple of minutes left only, or had to give up an hour because there was not place further out. Driving the late evening and getting off sometime in the morning is more conducive to parking sometimes, but you can't rely on this.

You will have to take into consideration how fast your truck can go (his is governed at around 58, goes less going uphill with a heavy load, and sometimes can go 62 going downhill). We have figured it is better to add about 2hrs to google time for every 200 miles to keep it safe.

Then there are the cities you will be going thru or around that are like bumper to bumper traffic. Sometimes it is better to stop somewhere and wait an hour to get you out of the rush hour traffic instead of having to wait to get around the loops like in Atlanta, Indianapolis, etc.

Then there is weather that can throw a big kink in all well laid plans. Driving at night might mean fog. We had been lucky on at least one or 2 occasions after getting started out a little later then we planned because of the fog, on both occasions there were major accidents caused ahead of us.

And Murphy's Law is always in force.

 

It is essential to plan your trip: Parking & Fueling are the two main reasons, but timing the trip through Balitmore/Washington/Atlanta (insert large city here) is important also. Sometimes it is better to stop early on day 1 to set you up for early stops for day 2/3 etc to get good parking. Sometimes you can't do that and you might set yourself up to run till midnight and find parking when the night drivers leave.

We all see those poor drivers coming into the lot looking for a space, parking on the end (not a space) or parking in other non spaces because they ran out of hours. We all live through that BS and hate it. That is the main reason you trip plan. Finding the right place to park is essential to lower the risk of some dumb butt hitting you at the T/S.

Planning also reduces distractions in the cab while you are at speed. Yea, you might have to stop to pee, and it was not planned. Crap happens.. But if you are planning stops with consideration to your stamina limits, you will not only be dancing in the seat less, but you will reduce stress as well.

 

My trip plan consists of checking googlemaps and comparing with my road atlas to make sure I'm running the optimum route. Most times I already know the route and fuel stops without even thinking about it but I've run the same lanes for 13 years running regional so it's like old hat. Now if I were to take a load left of Miss river, or somewhere crazy like that, I might have to look a little closer. Based off what I see from google maps I can tell exactly what my ETA is and add an extra half hour into my ETA's for restroom breaks, an additional hour if I need to stop for a splash of fuel and/or lunch. Probably 99% of my loads pick and deliv the same day. My ETA's are spot on when I tell someone. For anything that might be on the truck overnight, or more than 600 miles, add 10 hours in.

 

Route, miles, fuel cost and stops. I like to stop, shower or eat and fuel at the same place so not having to stop half a dozen times for my needs.

I am planning a run back to Texas right now as I get unloaded on a live delivery, cutting 300 miles off my route by using those yellow lanes back from Washington state, flatter running and the route I know has better fuel stops.