Quote:
Originally Posted by m.hony
We pick up the "Official State Road Maps" from the welcome centers every year so they are as updated as they can be.
We do use GPS navigation from time to time, but it seems to get me lost and frustrated more than it helps, so I have a Rand McNally Road Atlas on board and a compass.
I also print out turn by turn directions before I go and memorize as much of the trip as possible.
I refresh my memory at every rest stop, fuel stop, meal stop.
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Think of the GPS as being the real time information manager. It's how I use it for work. My goal is generally to stay on the biggest road for the longest period, even to the extent of driving farther (as time means more than sheer miles). Planning is still in using the large format commercial road atlas (use overview page to see if non-Interstate roads show up) and use straight edge there, and on state page to consider routes on either side.
Then it's a matter of plugging in a fuel stop along the way and a destination. A few waypoints to keep the GPS honest (Garmin 760). It does have a tendency to "save" me time/miles on inferior routes without the waypoints.
For ETA and distance remaining, it's damned handy. All so much that I'd replace it that day were it to fail.
I can change routes pretty easily as well, having already looked the main maps over previously. As well, the traffic alerts are good. Suggested alternatives nearly always work given I've an empty trailer (too top heavy in some instances). I holler on the CB and there's usually a local with route knowledge to confirm or warn of problems on the alternative.
I run up on wrecks weekly. Same for giant construction headaches. The USDOT has a link page to the various states for construction woes, but there is usually little warning of wrecks (such as a few days ago on IH71 where a semi lost it in the rain ahead of us. And onlookers the other direction caused your normally crappy pickup-and-cardboard-box-trailer to fishtail and flip shutting them down as well).
WAZE is just barely okay, but TRUCKERS PATH is good, especially if an RVer likes the easy ingress/egress associated with truck stops (I prefer Flying J when in the pickup).
The sheer amount of traffic on Interstates beggars belief. Who the hell are all these people 100-miles from a metro area in the middle of the day? Or at 2300. It makes no sense.
The GPS is thus handy when I've simply had it for the day. I enter a new destination at that point and let it carry me there. Same for very bad weather. Or, knowing the road is closed ahead (CB). I can tell it to pull up all truck stops and choose. Or use my truck parking guide as well.
I enter every destination. Business and personal. When back home I use it to run errands. I certainly know where to go. But, by using Mapquest best order routing, I can enter that routing for most effective fuel burn. Best warm up, and with no left turns, make a less stressful day in a one ton around Dallas-Fort Worth trying to get all errands done.
I use the IPhone Map also to check routing alternatives, but it is oriented for cars. The Truck GPS can be set for all sorts of limitations to which the combined rig is subject. When in crossing the Appalachians, north or south, I am glad for its consistency in keeping me off those "scenic" routes.
And, as my pickup/travel trailer at 63' is considerably longer than my work rig, much of that also applies.
It would never occur to me to travel without atlases. Or state issued maps. But the GPS has made the interim between departure and arrival much easier. Plenty of times I've kept an eye on it when delivering a load (2-3 hours) and have had to change that days destination. With the TT, the same applies for weather, traffic, etc, against the 3-350/mile day rule.
Damned handy once you have one.