When Written Directions & GPS Unit BOTH Fail?

Check every stop on Google maps, satellite view. Make sure you know how to get in. Run directions on Google maps. Look at the route from the highway. Compare to GPS. Make sure GPS is taking you to the right address. In the case of the exit, go to the next one where you can get off and back on in the other direction. Use all tools you have available.

Yes, sir. I also need to compare them with my written notes. Trip planning is starting rank much higher on my priority list than what my trainer has shown me.

We newbs are in for some edjumication in the coming months, aren't we Jeremy?

Brother, that's an understatement!

See, I want to learn everything - just dont want to learn any of it the hard way. If only I could figure out the formula for that...

This for sure. As Clint Eastwood said in Heartbreak Ridge: "You improvise, overcome, and adapt." That is what you're 1st year in truckin is about. 😁

I wish I felt that confident right now. Your examples got me here. And you're one of the few experienced drivers I've met in real life who isn't arrogant or complacent about the job. So, I'm hoping to have your attitude after I pass the one-year mark.

(Is it arrogant to just proclaim that I'll see the one-year mark? I hope not, because that's nothing but stubborn determination making that claim.)

Just keep up the great attitude you have now and you will still have it when you get to the end of your 1st year. 😁

Honestly, certain things are a newbies right of passage. you must experience certain things yourself to learn from them, which is an article im writing but didnt finish yet. no matter how much lecturing you got from a trainer or how much we warn you here, certain mistakes must be made on your own.

dont hit anything and always be early. i usually plan an hour for "getting lost time" lol

Honestly, certain things are a newbies right of passage. you must experience certain things yourself to learn from them...

Spoken like a true trainer! Hopefully there are not too many of these lessons. I am quite content to learn from others mistakes.

Looking forward to the article!

Rainy

When I was stationed in Germany, I would get "lost" all the darn time. The highways are not like in the US, where you can get of one direction and flip around. I was there with my 3 kids, and we almost always had issues, well I did. So about half way thru the 3 year tour, I changed it from "getting lost" to "getting misguided". To this day 10 years later, I say the same thing, I am not lost, just a little misguided.

Chris, that must have been a Euro thing... I'm rarely ever lost. I dont always know where "here" is, but I usually know just where I'm at. 😁

Though, admittedly some times that does require a clinical diagnosis!

Okay, okay... I've been staring out a truck window looking at a Pilot parking lot for a few hours. My next load doesn't pick-up until 3am and it's only about 18 miles away. And bad humor is a common side-effect of such boring activity!

Maybe I should I get out and take a walk... 🙄

First mistake is ever trusting a GPS once you're off us highways and interstates , if I ever listened to it in places like Baltimore or Newark I would be in for one hell of a show.

Always try to find a trucker atlast to help you and use Google maps to get a general idea of the area your going to.

One ways are generally used in a grid setup , could have porbably turned left or right and found a connecting road but ultimately it's your call.

As for the weight limits ? No signs warning you or posted truck routes than I just hammer on