Finding the best exits to address - Experenced drivers

Firstly, Thanks to everyone of you for taking the time to respond, and give input. It's great hearing from other more experienced drivers.
I've only driven in Indiana, and Illinois with my 38' truck (The one displayed my gallery. hehe). Mountain driving is going to be real interesting.

Maybe be a stupid question, but I keep seeing the term surface streets. I tried goggling it with no luck. What does that mean other then a street with concrete I'm assuming?

Thanks for the direct link to CA-DOT!
It's interesting you mention T signs. I read that in my CDL study book, but didn't really understand how they work by the way the book explained them. Is this rule only for when you exit off a highway into a rest area or are they also used for entering back onto the highway? What are L. E. O.'s? And when you say CSA score, I'm assuming you mean the new TSA point system for drivers, or does that pertain to the points against your employer? This is a big concern to me, I just got my hazmat, tankers and all the others. Driving in CA worries me because I don't want to rune my record which is perfect at this time.

Another concern. I know it's kind of silly but, with regard to route restrictions, hazmat laws, and T (Terminal Transfer) laws, What do drivers do to go to the bathroom. This really worry's me out there. In Chicago, there's a million places to go. Like In CA, I can see getting stuck in the Montanans or in rush hour, and then getting a terrible stomach cramp. What do you experienced drivers do if your in an 18 wheeler carrying hazmat. I mean, not kidding around. Serous question here.

Great tips, Thanks CY
I'm not so worried about the highways as much as I'm concerned with the city or suburb streets when you get off highways in very populated and busy locations.
Down Town San Diego look like a pain in the tale for truck drivers. Chicago was no easier I guess, but at least the earth is flat and you can relax when you're cruising down the street.
By the way, what about the parking lots on freeways? Whats the issue there? I've been gearing up on all the recommended maps.

Hi here DTB, nice to talk to someone from back home. Enjoy the beef, and restaurants, cause 80% of the food in southern CA sucks... Just my opinion.. haha. Cows are grass fed here, no corn like back home. Though they're just starting to now. Anyway, My company got bought out at the same time my parents house sold where I was staying. My sister moved to Temecula about 8 years ago, now my parents wanted to move because of the crazy taxes in Illinois. So I said the heck with it, if I'm going to be looking for jobs I best just go where my family is. It's a beautiful place to live, but driving I'm not sure what I'm in for. Being that the state is broke, some people say there's a shortage of police on the road. That makes me sad.. haha.

Well I have a truck drives GPS The RandMc 512 I spent about $300 on with life time of map updates. It's worked great in Illinois, but like others have said, there is no way you can trust them all the time. It sometimes makes stupid routing decisions. Line in one situation, there would be a road I could turn on to get to one of my stops in 2 mins, but the GPS would send me 5 or more blocks out of the ways for what ever reason. With regard to using a GPS for exclusively: I've noticed that I've become worse at directions using it. I think maps are still essential because you get a visual representation of the layouts in your mind. So I keep my GPS in emergency's and for the fact that it helps me see the roads ahead as an aid to driving. But now I want to drive Hazmat and I'm thinking it's going to be less useful with all the designated route restrictions. Hmm, that reminds me, Ive never even looked to see if the unit has a feature for that.


Thanks again to all of you! your recommendations and tips are priceless! Very Helpful
And if I may add, I have the deepest respect for all you drivers. Not just because I'm also a driver, but because I've dealt with much of the same BS of it: It's not just sitting on your tail like everyone thinks. It's all the fun things we have to deal with, laws, stiff suspension on our spines, and origins, the traffic conditions, people cutting you off, unfriendly people on some docs, not feeling good while having to stay alert, on ways streets. ..ect. You earn your money. God bless.

 

haha, yes parking lots. I know what you mean now. I wasn't thinking about the figure of speech. Like bumber-to-bumper. sorry.
Thanks for defining the term Surface Streets. Very helpful term to know indeed.

Surface streets seems to be where drivers can get in trouble with local laws.
If only all our stops where right off the highway. :smt003

 

Thanks CC, Thanks for that link.
I'll have to Google some of this. I don't even know what Caltrans means. I know it's pathetic. As far as planning routs, I drove local delivering printing paper for the last 7 years so I've never had to do this. In Chicago, there's a million escape routes if traffic gets nuts. I just have to establish a system. I guess it's also difficult to do this without knowing where I'll be working yet or the routing process the employer uses for their drivers. I'm just trying to be a sponge at this stage.

@DustyRoad
Where did everyone go dusty? It's like they all just ditched this thread.. haha.
Seriously though. That's some great advice and I would love to hear others suggestions.
By the way, I'm not driving for anyone at the moment, but I drove a 38 foot my last job. 26K gross load.

It's really not a laughing matter when you're stuck in traffic or there's no exits, and you have to go. My stomach is not always that stable depending on what I eat. This was actually my primary worry with regard to driving commercially when I moved from Illinois to CA.

So, when you said "you pull off the interstate run across the intersection to the get-on ramp" I'm guessing this is so you're facing the highway and any traffic approaching comes from behind so they can't see you? Makes perfect sense. Good idea!

And any other ideas also welcome.

 

Thanks again everyone.

Reguarding GPS, you know I just realized something, maybe a possible reason why my GPS might not have always routed me the best way.
In the settings I had set the weight and height of the truck. But if you hit the arrows down, there are also settings for width and type of truck. I'm almost positive I set it to straight truck when I was driving one, but it's possible that a software update might have set things back to the default (53 foot). That might explain why I was sometimes sent a few blocks out of the way. I will say one thing, I will not drive without a GPS. They do help you on long trips from missing an exit. Sometimes you're thinking about something and you can miss an exit, the GPS at least will remind you when you're coming up on one. There is also a Hazmat button in this one that lets you choose, Explosives, Gases, ..ect. I'm assuming it should know about most of the restricted routes. But I'll check.


I forgot to ask. For you more experienced truckers, when you're looking for an address in a busy location, and sometimes it's difficult to find the address on the buildings: Do you know any tricks to prevent having to loop around? This was always difficult for me down town Chicago because you can't stop, and there are a lot of one ways streets so you end up going blocks out of the way just to loop around in hopes that you'll find where they hid the address the second, third, forth time around...lol.