How to Trip Plan - Teach Me?

thank you ............

 

i drive, i sleep. i deliver when i get there.

you have no idea what the weather is going to be like 200 miles away. or how many construction zones you'll encounter. or accidents. or rush hour traffic. or even how long it's going to take you to fuel. or if mother nature wants to have a conversation.

relax, take a drive, and ejoy the ride till you get tired. then park it.

 

Fair point but my company, via the gps on the qualcomm, gives us a suggested route that they want us to take so that is what I follow. There have been times where I would have preferred another route but I try to avoid getting too many out of route miles because that is something that we get tracked on.

 

Technology is helpful and does serve a purpose but I strongly suggest learning how to read your atlas first. There is a plethora of information contained inside of it that you can use to make your life much much simpler. Yes in time you will learn the freight lanes and start to remember things as you run the same routes but that will take time. Identifying your route first in the atlas will allow you to recognize when your GPS is sending you astray.

 

Good advice, if you are a 4-wheelie on a vacation.

 

You can't plan for every "what if" scenario, but you can't ignore them either.

I like to plan an extra hour for every major metropolitan area, unless I'm traveling through it at 3 AM. For fuel I plan an hour which includes a 30 minute break, but only if I have to fuel during my normal drive time (company planned fuel stop). Whenever possible I fuel in the morning and include it as part of my PTI. If I don't use all of this time it usually gets used in the unforeseen delays. So most of the time it works pretty well. Anything more than that and I inform dispatch what is going on and what my new ETA is.

If there is any extra time on the dispatch I run as many miles as I can as early as I can. If I get ahead of schedule I call the consignee and ask if I can deliver early. Sometimes I can even get unloaded the night before, but If I can't then I'm in a good position for getting there an hour before my appointment. If I'm really early, then I want to be in position to get layover pay.

I don't worry about weather in my trip plan for two reasons. I can't predict it and even the professionals are wrong half the time. The other reason is that my company does not force us to drive in adverse weather conditions. So if I deem that it is unsafe to drive I send a message that I will be stopping until weather improves.

Definitely get to know your atlas and get a truck stop guide. My company gives both of these to any driver who wants one. In addition to the paper atlas and TS guide, I have several free apps on my phone (don't use while driving) that have truck stops, scales, fuel, etc.

When you do get a GPS, (they are a fantastic tool but not a substitute for looking out the window) then you can make changes to your plan more easily. If I planned to get to a certain stopping point for my 10 hour break but a snow storm caused me to stop earlier, I just start looking for truck stops and rest areas on my route, so I can stop at the closest one.

 

Here is a couple of websites you can use.


http://dateandtime.info Put in zipcode or City and State and it will tell you what time it is in that area. Places like Indiana have CST and EST zones.


www.findfuelstops.com Register for a login. Put in beginning and ending city and it will pull up some of the major T/S across the way. Pull up one in a new window and it will give info for rest areas, Walmart, etc close to the station. Not all stations are for parking though, you can zoom in and tell what the place looks like, ie if it is just a fuel stop or whatever.

Google maps is great too, but it is not trucker friendly, it will not tell you if you are on a restricted road, or a low bridge or overpass ahead. You can zoom in and scroll down areas to check them out. Also use it to look over the shipper and receiver and see where the entrance road is located, etc. in most cases. You can also use it to plot where you can stop at for the night. Of course you won't be able to use this in class I would imagine.

Also do not upgrade to the new edition of google maps that they came out with, it does not have all the features that you can use. On the old map you can put stars on your favorite truckstops, or if you find that one hole in the wall place in the middle of nowhere, as long as it has a business card on it with the name of the business.

Keep a spreadsheet of your truckstop info and favorites listed by state. You don't have to use the internet all the time that way.


Also most companies do have you drive their route solution route, fuel where they want you to fuel. A lot of times it will be what I call cowtrails vs superslabs. A lot of companies do not like to pay for the tollroads so you go the county state roads instead. Being able to find the routes sometimes is a pain, some little obscure road.

 

I disagree about "not concerning yourself with weather because you can't do anything about it".

You can do a lot about it and today, you can dang well predict it if you just seek the information at the right sources. http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/winter_wx.shtml You can work hard to stay ahead of it, you can drive around it (on longer trips), you can allow it to pass and clear, or you can know it's going to cost you serious time.

 

Not all the states, but there are quite a few who have websites with road conditions and closures on it.


http://www.cotrip.org


I have found that facebook even has a lot of info for places like Northwest Indiana.

https://www.facebook.com/INDOTNorthwest

 

Wow, this very difficult here, Im simple. Point to point mileage dividied by 62 mph, then add in required stops ( I use 11 hours ). Check the weather ( to at least choose routing as much as possible ) put it in gear. If there is a delay because of weather I let dispatch know when I hit it that Im shutdown and tell them Ill let them know when I can roll again.

So Los Angeles Melassis World Product Los Angeles to Hunts Point Market in the Bronx. Mileage= 2800 miles @ 62 mph = 46 hours add in down time 54 hour, lapse time of 100 hours. So if its Monday noon leaving LA I will be pulling into HT Market about Friday 16:00 to 17:00. weather delays as stated early handle them when they happen. This is solo by the way, and legal.