I BLEW IT...and ended my career!!!

Ah, most long haul uses ssb. Truck stop Hero's with false info should be keel hauled.

 

GPS is a nice tool to have but sure no replacement for planning, I also like Google maps and using the satellite images zoomed up to look a place over,that is often a great help.
Old timers might scoff at the high tech stuff but it has it's place along with the old fashioned way of trip planning.
If you can call ahead and get directions and you're lucky enough to get them from someone with a clue that helps but always try if you can.
If you can scope it out on Google do so but the bottom line is if you get somewhere and you're not sure stop and figure it out before you get yourself into trouble.
I've stopped on the road in center turn lanes or on the shoulder or pulled into a parking area with the flashers on and got out and walked many a time to go into a place or walk the place over so I'm sure what I'm doing before I go any further.

 

Ok To you RAND MCNALLY ATLAS Only folks. Get out of here with that nonsense. That Atlas can't tell you these little streets in a town. That map can't tell you the street you are coming to when its dense fog. Or the sign has been knocked down or never put up. That atlas doesn't tell you every little weight zoned street in a city or town. Yes you can't rely on just one thing. You can use common sense, but I have found my self in bad situations more often when I thought I knew better then the GPS. So sometimes that thing comes in handy. I also don't think you need a warning label on everything. I guess the makers expect you to use common sense as well.

Also some of these places you call and you can never get nobody on the phone. Or you get some Chinese or non English speaking person who you can't understand. I delivered and some times deliver to grocery stores. You call them and ask how does a truck get to the back door. They don't even know what a back door is or how they got to work that morning.

For instance I planned my route last night. Did the google maps things checked out the street view, but forgot which side of the street the place was on. Then I thought I may have passed it, and in a rush to get out of people's way. I just turned on this street which was not a thru street and luckily I was able to turn it around in the little circle thing. Got back to the street, and passed up the entrance because from google maps it looked like there was a second entrance which it wasn't. Then had to use an empty parking lot next to the place to do my turn around, and once I was going down this narrow entrance. I was still feeling like I made a mistake. But nope I finally got it. So Patience on my part, and calling the shipper might have helped, but I still think I would of passed it up, because that turn just seemed to small for a truck to make. So yeah I lost major super trucker points last night, but the K Wopper 680 is still so fresh and so clean. Even those trying to make it into the super trucker hall of fame have bad days.

It is sad to hear about this lady, and yes there are trucking firms who might hire you, but you probably don't want to work for them. Time to get ready to hit the road and knock out the last part of this Salt lake City run. We Beeeeek quiet.

 

here is how the driver messed his fairing up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ8WKscGo8I

 

I had a different experience with a cop.

I had missed my turn and was using GPS to reroute me.
As I came up to a turn I hesitated because it was to a narrow road. As I was pondering my situation and waiting for all traffic to clear a motor-cop pulled in front of my truck and stopped.
He came up to talk.
He told me that I was not on the Swift route, and I explained that I missed the turn and was trying to route around. It was during rush hour so he didn't think it safe to hold all lanes of traffic so that I could do a U-turn in the intersection, something that other drivers had tried and ended up with damaged equipment and property.
He told me that the road I intended to turn on was both very narrow and weight restricted (yet my RM510 didn't seem to know that).
I told him I thought I could make the turn safely, and asked about the actual route.
He said it would be difficult with a 53', but if I took it slow and careful I might make it OK - and he thought it was better than trying to make a U-turn.

So, I made the turn and proceeded to my destination.
It was tight in a few places, so much so that I had to stop for traffic a couple times on the other lane because I needed both.
But the cop let me go on the road without a problem.

 

i managed to drive for 22 years without and GPS and ran all over and canada.....they may be helpful in some areas, but i managed just fine...hubby has driven 30 years....they are NOT A nec tool......IMO they cause more trouble than they are worth, too may ppl without common sense use them are rely on them entirely too much

 

To the OP, take it easy, don't worry and plan your trips. The biggest issue you have right now isn't getting another job, but learning how to get into the routine of finding the place before you start your journey.

For those who use google maps, they are great but read the date on the bottom of the map - some of them are not updated often and I can tell you from recent experience that there are sometimes changes to roads that you won't expect on Google maps. Even the sat views can be outdated, my home's view still shows my old dodge 3500 pickup and the camper on it - I got rid of that four years ago.

For me I deal with different places every day, my phone is my freind. The owner of the company I am working for these next two weeks prints out every location of every stop for me - I tell him not to but he does it anyways. about 80% of the time they are right but that 20% are really wrong, like yesterday went to a new customer, the map says off get off the freeway, right at the end of the ramp onto the main road going into town and then a right at the first street but guess what? No exit at that road. and on top of that, the street I need doesn't make it to that main road into town, it ends 100 feet from it. So I called and glad I did, it saved me 45 minutes of driving. By the way, my GPS also shows the exit and the street going to the road.

 

Most of us have drove without a GPS and we got lost just as much then as we do now. Heck it was harder back then to try to call customers from pay phones since we didn't have cell phones. I remember a lot of times parking my truck on the side and walking and planning the route I was going to take. One instance was a NYC delivery and I still don't remember how I found the place walking, but I did. Then I didn't know how they were going to unload me because there was no dock, but they unloaded me from the street. Didn't have no google maps to show me how tight it was. I had to do it on foot I just heard how tight the streets were and luckily there was a place to park my truck and I mapped it out on foot. I still do that sometimes. My gps is more for warning me when I do make that wrong turn or pass up an entrance there is no low bridge in front of me. It also helps with ETA's. I been at my company for almost 4years I been to most of the places, but I still like seeing how far I have till pay dirt, and seeing how far off, or right on the gps is on the eta. Heck I have 2 gps going The Navigo the company has and the PC Miler 3 heads are better then one. Well guess I won't use the sleeper birth provision need 4 hours and only have 3hr 25 mins to go before I have to take my 2 hr break so. Guess I'll get a full 10 here and keep truckin. I do need to learn how to calculate the split break. These elogs have made me so lazy.

 

people that don't like gps got one 10 years ago and gave up
or don't have enough common sense to be smarter then the machine
google earth is my best friend looking at shippers facilities
the BOL always is the office
sometimes truck entrance isn't even the same street

 

Ya don't you remember all the guys who would go in the truck stop to look at the city maps trying to find places. Man I had about 10 to 20 maps, and even with good eye sight it sure was hard finding stuff. If you were going to a small town you just hoped the convenience store person knew the street or the business. Talk about texting and driving. Try looking at one of those city maps and driving. I don't miss those days one bit. Except the hair that use to grow on the top of my head.