Truck Stops

I know there are several books out there that have truck stops listed. I have picked up a couple here and there. I know Brett is working on an app for truck stops. I know some of the bigger truck stop companies have their own apps for the smart phones.

I have picked up "The Next Exit" which is a good book for what it is intended. For the vacation traveler mostly. Way too much information for trucking. I have also picked up "Truck stops across America". It just lists the stops. No rating. No in depth information such as restaurants, showers, fuel isles, etc. Just a name, address, highway and exit number was just about all it gave.

There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of truck stop across the country. Some big company. Some "Mom and Pop" joints.

Most of the Mom and Pop joints that I have run across (I am sure not all are the same) are not the most desirable places to be. The food might be good or not. But just looking at the place, you want to have a guard dog with you when you get out of your truck. Or the place is so dirty, you hope your shots are up to date so you won't catch anything.

And not to just put the light on the Mom and Pop joints. I have visited some of the chains truck stops that were just as bad.

Are there any books out there that list AND rate the truck stops? From a truckers or travelers point of view.

Keep it safe out there. Joe S

Nothing on the market that will give you both. And trucker reviews are subjective at best. One driver might give it a 10 on the food and another would give that same truck stop a 1 on the food and 10 on parking and so on and so forth.

Thanks guyjax. Never thought of it that way.

How about just a good truck stop guide.

Do you use one? If you do, which one do you prefer?

I use the truck stop guide that is built into my Rand McNally GPS. It list every truck stop weather big or small and list the stuff they have there like gas,diesel,restaurants or c-store and showers and much more. It also list it by the route you have programmed into it so you get the ones a long your entire route.

Joe I use MyDAT trucker service app. It has all truck stops, scales, walmarts, fuel prices and loads. Never leave home without it. You get it free at your app store!

My friend Guyjax is correct. The Rand McNally is king when it comes to finding truck stops. It also finds CAT scales along your route or near your truck. Perfect if you're picking up a load in an unfamiliar area and you need to find a scale. MyDat is good too but it's risky to pull out your phone to find a truck stop. Using your phone while driving is a monstrous ticket.

It's a good idea to keep a truck stop booklet just in case though. I have the Pocket Truck Stop Guide. It's small and compact so it takes no room. It says all truck stops and locations along with the parking lot size.

I use the Pocket Truck Stop Guide.

However, some truck stops listed as "medium" are actually SMALL.

Dave

I appreciate this advice. What I would love is an app or book that also lists rest areas, roadside parks and turnouts on smaller highways as well as interstates that trucks can legally park at, but maybe that is asking the impossible. It would seem to me that if one had access to that information, it would come in very handy for trip planning, and for times that you are crowding the end of your driving HOS and need to find a place sooner than later to park if you can't make it to the next truck stop.

I use the truck stop guide that is built into my Rand McNally GPS. It list every truck stop weather big or small and list the stuff they have there like gas,diesel,restaurants or c-store and showers and much more. It also list it by the route you have programmed into it so you get the ones a long your entire route.

Guy, does that Rand McNally GPS allow you to permanently "pin" a position on the map as you drive on your current route? For example, as you pass by smaller roadside parks, rest areas and turnouts at your current location on routes like US and State highways, just hit a button applying a pin that you could later add info to? Not having ever used a GPS in a vehicle, maybe I am dreaming here. I know this can be done on Google Earth and Maps, but obviously not while driving.

Hmm. Come to think of it, I am going to use Google Earth to mark all the good parking spots that are not truck stops using the Placemarks function. You can add a lot of information to each one, and change the icon to match whatever criteria. For example, one could make a mental note as they drive by a good location to legally park on a state highway. At the end of the drive time, grab the laptop and go into Google Earth and find it on the highway, and mark it with a placemark pin. If it were a roadside park or rest area that a truck could park legally, I would change the placemark icon from a yellow pin to a red "P". Then I could add into the text box any pertinent info about the place. Then in the future, I could look at that route if I am going to be on it and have the info to help plan the trip and no I have a stop available to me. Surely there must be drivers using this tool to mark spots for future planning. Whenever you don't want them to show on Google Earth, I believe you can turn that layer off.

Daniel I also have a pocket guide. I plan my trip and stops in advance of my day that way I dont hsve to use my phone while driving. At this point my routes are pretty set and I rarely have to use it.