Let's Revive Errols' Backing Practice

Heres one that I'll be dealing with tomorrow since I volunteered to work extra. First time going here so I utilized google maps. I have a game plan of what I plan to do but I want to see how others (mainly newbies or those researching) would approach this. The pickup is Valley Meats located at 2302 1st St, Coal Valley, IL 61240.

I will be approaching from the left of the screen on highway 150/ W 23rd ave. Appointment is for 8am, they open at 6 so I'm not sure how the parking situation will end up. If you get stumped do street view and look for clues as to how best set up.

Was going to post a picture of how I would do it but figured I'd let others see it first.

Doesnt look like theirs enough room behind building to turn truck around so I’m gonna say... option1, Make right onto 1st st. Make left onto 24th then straight back on 24th until you can sight side dock around corner of building. Option 2, make right onto 1st St. go around building and make left onto 2nd, reverse out of 2nd St. into dock area. Option 3, pending there is enough room to swing is blind side dock from between building and parked trucks

Note. hard to judge how much space is actually available. I would park on 1st St and get out and walk the area upon arrival and then decide which approach would be best

Hey Rob, G-Town gave me homework like this prior to the ride along. I love these exercises, keep em coming

Thank you!!!

I'll let others chime in before I give away how I'm going to do it but I love your idea of parking and walking the area to get a better look. These are a couple things you notice by doing street view

in the satellite view 2nd looked pretty narrow. It appears it is more of an alleyway than a road. Here Is streetview of the dock area

if you do google street view you will see a major clue that tells you how to do it. We truly are spoiled with the technology we have now. Most of my deliveries are super easy docking, most of my challenges come from backhauls. I'll try to remember to post about the challenging ones as I encounter them. Biggest thing I typically face is knowing how to get into a store by knowing which was the dock faces. Fortunately if I get it wrong I'm delivering usually before 7am and the parking lots are pretty empty that I can get turned around.

Looks like many drivers have turned right on 24th then left on 2nd and backed in from there.

Looks like many drivers have turned right on 24th then left on 2nd and backed in from there.

Yuppers

My bad! I’ve never used the street view option before. I was just going off overhead view. I will use that in the future

After seeing the street view shot you provided, looks like there might be room to swing tight to building on your right and put nose up by that trailer and blind back from there

I'm not sure you'd have enough space to get lined up to make that back without tearing up grass or risk getting stuck if you turn onto 2nd. Those are peoples homes that you're pretty close to. It definitely appears others have done it that way though. Even empty these vehicles weigh alot and with the way this winter has gone there's no way I'd risk getting off the road. Snow is also forecast tonight in that area and temps will drop 30-40 degrees as the arctic blast moves in so it's very possible that everything will be icy. When going to a place you've never been before it's best to "drive" it through Google maps. There is a sign that tells a driver how to do it. It's not ideal but it's actually what I had in mind even before noticing it. Sometimes reading reviews of a place will give advice but this time the sign that valley meats put up is opposite of what the reviews on google say.

After seeing the street view shot you provided, looks like there might be room to swing tight to building on your right and put nose up by that trailer and blind back from there

That could possibly work if nobody is parked there. But this is the sign it appears is posted in 2 different places.

Thanks for the props, Rob! Yes, there's 23 of the original Backing Practice™. These are backing situations from every day life of an OTR driver, not some "docking in hell" thing (those do exist!).

Here is a link to my own spreadsheet that had links to all of them:

Backing Practice™ Table of Contents

Take a look!