GPS routing through Ponca, AR

I did this in high school with my uncle.

 

The question is - do you go 161 miles straight down on 65s, 43s and 21s, or go 235 miles on 44 w to 49s ( old 71) to 40e.

When a road looks like a snake or a ribbon on a map, esp in AR, it is curvy to say the least and hilly, and narrow with very little berm on the sides and a long drop off over the sides. Then don't forget to add in fog during the early morning hours.

Even using a road atlas, it is better to stick to the bigger yellow roads vs smaller yellow or white roads as much as possible.

USX, and I am sure most other companies, esp for company drivers, send the route, they want you to be on over the qualcomm, and you know it is the shortest, worst route anyone can find. It would look like this, 65, 412, 392, 43,16, 21 and 64. Heaven forbid if you had a hard time figuring where that very small, minor route was hidden. Their GPS on the truck, like other GPS systems, do have glitches also with the addresses being in the wrong area, one I know of was in the Lee Summit, MO area. We knew not to follow that after the Garmin we were using back then put the place in a different area.

Companies need to think about what roads they are sending their drivers down and give a little more leeway, just like lease drivers have in the decision as to which road they go on, it would be a lot safer for everyone in the longrun.

 

Or maybe call ahead to the shipper/receiver? Especially if unfamiliar with destination.

 

In some cases you can call shippers/receivers and they have the directions preprogrammed in to their answering service, but in a lot of cases you cannot get ahold of a live person at all, which makes it hard to call them to get a good set of directions.bb

 

these companies prefer you end up on these roads and get a ticket or have an accident, then you wont be able to find a better driving job, the companies dont pay the ticket so why would they care, and if the driver damages somthin its still cheaper than paying a driver a decent wage. its about the bottom line not about quality drivers and quality service, but i dont have to tell anyone on here that.

 

Towards the end of the clip I saw. The driver had a Garmin truck gps which showed him a correct truck routing. Then he fired up his phone google maps, sees a hundred mile short cut.
So he ignores the good info the truck gps gave him and takes the google route.
If you're going to ignore the trucker gps, why bother paying for the extra info?

 

The USX GPS in the truck is pretty horrible. I have it on mute and tend to ignore it.

 

You forgot about 65 out of Springfield then dropping down on 7 in Harrison AR. To Russellville then 40 west. It isn't for the faint of heart but is the way I go

 

In this example it is only 10 miles farther to take 65 to Harrison, 412W, to 21 south and is a better route. You could also go 65 to Harrison To 7 south, to 40 which is a little farther than using hwy 21 but not that bad. Both of these are easier than what you're currently doing. Using both 7 and 21 aren't bad; they each have a small stretch where it tightens up but you just go slow until it opens up again. I have used both in the past. I live in NW Arkansas.

 

I will also say that GPS is no good for navigating pig trails in Arkansas and Missouri. When I was new I asked Tyson drivers or local guys what the best way to go was as they are in those places a lot.