Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

The voice always cracks me up when I listen to the fuel routing and fuel stops messages.

"F-u-el rooting fer ooo-rder 678xxx"

"Non-network, north gal 116, remaining 45 fill north"

unloader

 

Have to agree with you there. I tried the built in nav on the qc. Piece of junk. When i was running otr, I always used my old reliable Rand McNally 510 GPS along with my atlas til I get close to the 99 then I use the Mac 27 local directions along with satellite imagery in google maps to find the best way into the dock or guard shack as the GPS will take you to the address of their mailbox. The guard shack may be around the corner and down the street from where the GPS says you have arrived. No GPS can ever replace common sense derived from looking at a map.

 

I love how desperate she is to find abbreviations. Call becomes California ell ell; and becomes a North Dakota; anything that starts with n,e,s, or w turns into a direction, then spelling some, then it finds a point at which it can pronounce syllables again. One of my favorites was before the upgrade load numbers were six million six hundred ninety-two thousand three hundred fifty two. It got real interesting with 10 digit BOL numbers.

 

Well maybe my bad luck is waning. A friend gave me a trick to getting an mt at crswvc, so I have me an mt and I'm sitting at the 01 over night. The sad thing is there's a 578 trl here that's mt. I could've bobtailed and gotten a better trl, but I guess we're not SUPPOSED to do that, especially when the load is marked live.

 

I like when the GPS says the exits goin in two directions. "In two miles take exit 17 uh B." and there are some towns I can't think of right now that remind me she's special! Lol

 

I will say this. Ive gotten into trouble (nothing illegal just really tight, and small roads) twice because I didnt follow the GPS. I saw what it was saying and in my head I went "surely that cant be right" and forged ahead using my "common sense." Boy was I sure mistaken in my faith haha.

That said I understand where your coming from. Generally speaking we only get into trouble by following the GPS turn for turn... I guess I'm a navigation anamoly haha. Funniest thing about the 510 is that even with u-turns off sometimes "#####in betty" just gives up and prompts me to just swing'er around like a prius.

And some of the local directions are a bit interesting. Like today's. "Head south down highway 202, pass two lights turn left, second stop sign turn left..." what it doesnt say is that the second stop sign is a long-###-way down "two lights turn left" street.

Finally im always scoping google maps to see exactly what kind of dock and space I'll be working with.

unloader

 

My gps once told me to flip a u on the homestead expressway in Lincoln Nebraska. It's a limited access hwy. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. I actually have it set not to talk to me anymore. I got sick of "in two miles, do nothing whatsoever." Now it just keeps track of where I am and shows my routing as a list, which is all I really want.

I have my iPad mounted where the qc is supposed to be (qc is mounted on the dash now, so if you see a red freightliner going down the road with a qc on the dash that's probably me). I use copilot truck, and what I love about it is I can go through the route and if its not going the way I want to go I can tell it exactly the route I want to go. The 10" display really helps in that function.

Unloader, you'll eventually get an idea just looking at the map what routes were made for you and which ones weren't. Once that comes in you'll do a better job than GPS figuring out what the right route is. Of course sometimes it doesn't matter. When you're picking or dropping in a major city all bets are off. It's not which roads are made for you because none of them are, it's which ones are closest to traversable. Its not can I stay on the pavement in my lane, its can I cause no damage lol.

 

Lol, yeah I've gotten myself into trouble a couple times by following me too. Wasn't long after I started driving that I started verifying GPS directions and Mac 27 locals with what I could see on google maps.
still not foolproof. In Miami once and could not understand why GPS wanted me to take a long circuitous route to the 01 when I could see a much better way that would save both time and miles. I went my way. Turns out it was a truck restricted route by the signage along the way. I was only on it for a mile and a half and then off it again. Oh well, didn't get caught, no harm, no foul.

gotta love it that even with u turns off, she will just politely say "if possible make a u turn". Sometimes, just for the entertainment value, I wish she would speak up and say hey stupid, you missed your turn there.

 

You said it right here!!

 

A way to get an MT?? Do tell!!