How Do You Guys Plan Your Stop For The Night?

I’m trying to get better on my trip planning. Thanks to truckerspath it is making it very easy to pick what truck stop I want to go to. However sometimes I question how much time I left on the clock for my 11. Lately I’ve been trying to find a place to stop at around the 2-1.5 hour mark. I’m just afraid if I stretch it out too much I may find myself in a situation where I run out of hours and have nowhere to go. I am just curious of your strategy when it comes to this. I don’t want to be quitin early if it’s not the norm. I want to be the best darn trucker I can be.

I have several methods I use. Like you, about the 2 hour remaining mark I see what's ahead and stop when I get to either a stop with spots left be it truckstop, rest area or weight station. Sometimes it depends on what time my delivery/pickup time is. I generally try to stop as close to 10-11 drive as possible on longer runs. Sometimes you have no choice to leave a few hours for the next day and stop because there's no place to park any closer to where you are going. I dont ever preplan my parking at the beginning of my trip like some do mostly because a lot can change in 8-14 hours. I've only paid for parking a couple times, never parked on the highway or on/off ramps. Something generally opens up even in full lots since people are coming and going at all times. Sometimes in certain areas I will park earlier (so long as my delivery time allows) in areas I know will be hard to find a spot after a certain time, some areas i know well enough to know there will be spots open at midnight. Also Saturday and Sunday generally have more available parking due to those on weekend hometime.

I start early, then I park early.

Keep doing it the way your doing it. There’s nothing wrong with shutting down with time left your first whole year.

I try to start early to stop early like PackRat. but this last week my delivery times were all over the board and prevented that. I write down the truck stop that I'm shooting for as well as the 3-4 before and 1-2 after. as I'm closing in on it, I can double check truckerpath and my HOS time remaining to decide on my final stop. I also bought a cheap pocket truck stop guide and make notes next to ones I like and don't like for future reference.

I hit the road 3-4 in the morning this way I always have my pick of spots and a no wait on the showers.

Before I start driving for the day, l plan like Wild-Bill, for a target stop, and some before, and some after. I reevaluate on my 30 and make adjustments if need be. I to like to start early, about 4am, but lately, it’s been about 6 am because I have been on icy backroads and I need daylight to watch for ice. Sometimes, I have to park with three hours on my clock because the next stop area is three or more hours away.

I generally decide on where I'm going to park during my 30 minute break, and even sometimes I'll pay for a spot ahead of time depending on the area, and how late I'm going to be showing up. But since Crete allows us to use PC unlike Schneider did, I dont stress over parking as much since I can always PC to the next place if need be.

There are a lot of times I roll into a place with anywhere between 10 minutes to 45 minutes left on my drive time.

I rely heavily on my Truck Stop Guide. Add notes as needed, too. Things like how good the parking is, restaurants, ones to avoid, scales with parking, etc.

I always have several plans on where I am going to park. Usually plans "A through E", because things can (and will) change every single day.

I start early so I can stop early like others. Sometimes I may have to sleep at the steel mill lot but it happens. Usually when I have about 3 or 4 hours left on my day I pull into the nearest rest area and pull up trucker path. From there I look at my options. If I'm not in a need of a shower I prefer to sleep in rest areas since i keep food in the truck with me. I just picked up a microwave since I'm currently on home time and that will increase my gourmet options. Lol