Question:
I have been driving for only 5 years, but there seems to be a topic that is in desperate need of attention. That is trip planning. For those of you who are just starting out I can not stress enough the importance of good trip planning. I have never understood why someone would wait until they are in the middle of a major city to start asking where a particular customer is. The time to figure out where you have to pick up/deliver is not when you have arrived in a major metro area. Call the customer ahead of time to get directions and also to find out if they have overnight parking. If you can park at the customer it is usually better. Also,when you get your trip, plan out where you will stay each night so that you are not hunting for parking after dark. These tips will reduce your stress level greatly. Take care

Answer:
Yes, I absolutely agree. If every driver planned their trip accordingly it would definitley cut down on the truck parking shortage. But sometimes its easier said than done. Sometimes things happen that can mess up your trip plan,such as being delayed loading or unloading or having a breakdown.Disclaimer:Pick too ugly to post at this time,LOL.

Answer:
I always do my planning while I am getting loaded...Before I leave the shipper I know the route I'm going to take I know where I'm going to stop and sleep get fuel shower or anything else that needs to be done.
Most companies have Qualcom or some other type of communications so you can check for directions..If they don't have them then check the Bills to see if they have one on it if not ask the shipper for it..
When you get directions make sure you ask them if that is the truck route to get in and if they have over night parking
Answer:

Part of good planning is having a back-up plan when/if things go wrong.
Answer:
Call the customer right after you get loaded. Don't wait for anything. Knowing where you going from the start makes it much easier. When you trip plan you should do it according to available hours and not miles. Your hours should be checked before you ever accept a load anyway. Nothing worse than loading and then finding out you can't make it legally. It's hard to explain once it's in your trailer.
As far as parking goes you can be screwed even with the best plan. Often you'll drop in the AM and then drive to get a load and be headed out late afternoon. You'll find yourself driving until 10-11-12 at night. parking is rough at those time. Plan your trip and figure in a few hours for road problems and see if you have time left. If so park it early and get an early morning start instead of driving late. On long runs you'll find most of your driving will be during daylight hours if you start early in the day. Unfortunatly alot of runs are over night or planned way to tight due to poor dispatching. Thats when experience will help. There are lots of parking places that are not well know to big companies because they are not regular fuel stops or Giant chain stops. Until you get the experience and learn those places doing as much daytime driving as possible so you can park early is smart.
Trip planning gets easy after a while. You'll know the roads you normally travel as well as you know your home town.

Answer:
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Using the available tools helps too!! I use "The Next Exit" constantly. This gives me lots of areas to park if I need to. Also, when I travel a state route, I note the locations of pull-outs and parking areas as much as possible.
Before I even accept a load, I spend about thirty minutes planning it out first. If there is any question of making it legally and safely, I contact dispatch immediately. I DO NOT take a load where they say "Roll with it and we'll try to get the schedule changed when customer service gets in."
Good luck! Be safe!!
ArtI ride for those who can't! POW/MIA - You are NOT forgotten!!
Lead, Follow or get out of my way!!!

Answer:
While I have used "The Next Exit", I much prefer "The National Truckstop Directory" from www.truckstops.com If you go for miles and miles and your route does not take you past a large or medium sized truckstop, you ain't using the best route.

Answer:
I would start the trip planning process as soon as I received a pre-plan. By doing this I knew where I was going, how I was getting there, and one of the most important things.....knowing if I had the hours to run the trip legally. If I couldn't do it legally, I'd refuse the load with an explanation as to why. This put the ball back in their court. They could take the load off me, repower it enroute, or change the appointment times.
Doh!
I hould have read Unka D's post before I posted. I just said the same thing he did.