When I get tired my hearing goes first, followed by my patience, followed by my backing..... I would agree that lack of a visual reference is the cause of "half-holing" a wide-open dock. Especially if the lines are missing.
One day in upper NY I was so tired I asked another driver to dock my trailer. Stay in trucking long enough your going to have bad days. Just accept them and move on.
The ancient Egyptians had construction paint? Really? How many truckers are carrying cans of spray paint in their trucks? Show of hands! (How well does construction paint show up on sand, during the several years that they spent laying the foundation for a pyramid?)
They used human blood but the point is they used the 3x4x5 method to determine 90 degree angles. They used the stars and the sun to determine true north. I reckon now I will have to go and make a video on how to create a 90 degree line out from the docks lol. Maybe get 12 views for my effort plus a thumbs down.
Human blood, you say... I'm intrigued... and how well does that hold up on desert sands in a sandstorm? Or do you just keep laying down more blood?
Something to realize about the trailers we pull? Trailers do get their wheels aligned, much the same way cars get their wheels aligned. The problem is that trailer wheels are aligned only for going forward. So unless you own that trailer? Every trailer at a mega fleet will be different when it comes to backing up. There is no set standard. So I am not surprised that the OP found even tho he had wide open space, that the trailer seemed to have a different mind of where it was going to go.