Typical paperwork otr

My philosophy is trip plan using your paper maps, write down the entire route on paper, phone numbers, fuel stops etc and use your GPS. Just turn the volume down all the way because she will nag you to death to turn the wrong way down a one way street or get off at this exit when the directions you wrote down say 2 exits up. So it's there as a backup, but not dominating your driving.

 

Ditto, that.

 

Yeah, until you are familiar with everything, plan your route on your UP TO DATE/MOTOR CARRIER ATLAS. Compare these directions with your qualcomm routing that you get from your company(if provided). Then program your gps to match the route that you planned on your motor carrier atlas. Another thing I would do to help my wife is take an erasable marker and write your directions down either in the corner of the windshield or on your side window. It won't block your view because it is transparent. You can also put your fuel stops and mark stop times and such right on the window. This way you are not looking at a piece of paper or fumbling around for directions. Works good at night to because you are not staring into a white light while driving and reading. Which brings me to, replace one of your reading lamps above your head with a red or blue bulb. That way if you do need to turn it on while driving it does not dilate your pupils.

 

I for one can say I never useed a GPS. I had a nice laminated atlas and paper with a pen to write down stuff. I guess they are nice for time judgement and those types of things but I would never use it going into a large city like Chicago or NYC that has low bridges and stuff like that.