Attention all GPS and Map Quest users !

I'm going to Sunflower MS and punched the address into both google maps and my Garmin. I see both want me on Natchez Trace for about 4.3 miles. I knew that sounded familiar, in a bad way. Can I take it empty at 28K? Or do I need to find another route? Is it the whole road or just parts of it you can't travel? Will signs on US-78 tell me another route to take for trucks?

#### I'm really going to have to pull out my atlas aren't I??? Oh wait, I can call Wayne or Crow lol

 

Not sure what GPS units ya'll are running but my Garmin 255 is spot on in even remote locations.
As for running the "Trace",if your so preoccupied that you cant read the signs going in your entitled to pay the fines. The signs are very clearly seen.

Years back before they cut the truck traffic due to the 53's we could run thru with out any problems.
Great little drive thru some nice country.

As far as I know you can still run bobtail thru there,just no combinations.(anyone confirm?)

 

Natchez Trace is restricted, but there is a road called the trace between land between the lakes in KY that is not. I have not seen another truck on it. Mostly motorcycles. It is certainly off the beaten path....

 

Heh, yea, you would think that, but I had to call once and the girl that gave me directions just wasn't in the mindset that I would be rolling in a vehicle that big and heavy. I almost got a ticket from that one, had to back out. There was a cop sitting there waiting on me to make the mistake of going too far up through there too, lol.

If I had checked it against my atlas though, I would have known. That was the last time I made that mistake.

 

I just drove up US78 and it clearly states no commercial vehicles on the signs for the natchez trace pkwy. Your drivers should be paying attention to signs a little bit better.

 

I use Streets & Trips and it has never routed me down the Natchez Trace yet, although if it did I know better than to get on it.

I never call the shippers or the receivers. I have an aircard so I use the Windows live feature in Streets & Trips to find them via aerial photographs before I ever go to them. Therefore, I know exactly where they are located before I get there. Try doing that with a Motor Carrier Road Atlas.

Plus when I go to them, I do a GPS trail when entering and exiting. Then in the evenings when I shut down, I add their locations to my Streets & Trips template (really Truck Stops Plus add-on template since that is what I use.) Therefore, when I need to go back to them, the next time I just click them and add them to the route.

Streets & Trips never tells me to make a U-turn, but I always check my routes before taking off. You can experiment and play around with the route settings in Streets & Trips and get it to take the major routes that trucks should use. You can also drag and drop your routes and use avoid-area rectangles to force routes. It’s very flexible and easy to use.

I also have the Truck Stops Plus add-on template, so I can just add truck stops or rest areas to my routes to force routes as well. The Truck Stops Plus template has all the truck stops, state scales, super walmarts, rest areas, turnpike travel plazas, picnic areas, etc. You can find and route to truck stops and super walmarts in about 1/50th the time it takes you to do it with a truck stop directory. I’ll never use a truck stop directory ever again. Plus you can check your routes for restricted routes and low clearances with it.

In any event, I don’t miss the good old days when I used a Motor Carrier Road Atlas, a pen and paper, and when I didn’t have final directions having to call the shippers and consignees, where the directions I was given about half the time were wrong or down roads I couldn’t pass on. Come to think of it the qualcom directions were not any better. I also don’t miss having to buy street level maps to go to cities like Philadelphia and New York City either.