You have to go somewhere else first.
As you might well imagine, in a 65-70-ft long rig, there are simply some things you cannot do and places you cannot go. That's the number one drawback in driving one of these things, and I believe the single largest source of stress we encounter. It's pretty hard to come to grips with simply missing a driveway into a truck stop or a customer's receiving yard, and having to actually drive three or four miles or more through unfamiliar areas just to get back to where you needed to be. Better yet, have some Einstein locate a Seven-Up bottling facility right next to a residential area so that if you miss the turn you actually have to drive down a street with overhanging branches and signs telling you that children are playing and trucks are not allowed, and the stress sets in pretty quickly.
Portland almost did me in one day last summer. An exit off of I-5 split at the top of the ramp and I guessed wrong. So instead of going left into what was a pretty typical industrial area, I went right across the river and into downtown Portland. The turnaround at the far end of the bridge was closed for construction and my adventure began. Finally, about eight miles later I woke Beth up so she could help me back across a traffic lane in a strip mall so I could begin to retrace my steps. Then, when we finally did get to the railroad drop yard the dude at the guard shack was pretty rude to me. Little did he know how much I would have enjoyed feeding him a knuckle sandwich.
We have a Rand McNally trucker's road map, complete with laminated pages and spiral binding. We also have two GPS systems on board - one built into the truck (known as Rude Bob*) and one that we bought ourselves (Tin Lizzy*). We also usually get final local directions sent to us over SATCOM (satellite communications - fancy schmancy), and still sometimes we find ourselves backing several hundred yards off of a bridge that's closed, in the dark, that had somehow seemed to be a good idea only a few minutes before. Once in a while we just kind of average all four sources of directions together and hope for the best.
You'd also be amazed at just how many drivers of small vehicles do not understand the limitations, and the brute force, of big trucks. Most of the time other drivers' indifference to what big trucks can and cannot do is harmless - other times it can get a little scary. You really do have to change your attitude when you drive one of these things. Use patience, use your turn signals, and back off a bit - it becomes habit; either that or it becomes road rage, and in a truck this size you simply cannot let yourself go there.
I do have to admit that a lot of the time people in other vehicles are pretty decent about things. If you are in heavy traffic and you put your turn signal on, a spot or a lane magically opens up (I think this is referred to as self preservation on the part of the little cars). And, if you're moving slower than people around you would like, they are more often than not pretty understanding. Still, there is the butt head that has to get in front of you, and then slow down just enough to be irritating, or the jerk that hangs on your back bumper, in the blind spot (you know he's there but you can't see him) until there is just enough room to pass. It's tempting to think about how momentarily satisfying it would be to flatten one of the jerks, but the end result would be incredibly devastating.
(* Rude Bob and Tin Lizzy deserve their own explanation at some later time - stay tuned - film at 11)
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