At this point in the tour, you’re probably ready for a break. (Go ahead, we’ll wait here.)
For breaks on actual trip, PC*MILER gives you the ability to search for and add as stops on a route: truck stops, highway exits and junctions, CAT weigh scales, state weigh stations, border crossings, and world-record balls of twine (kidding, but it's in Cawker City, Kan., if you want to go).
In the steps below, we’ll explore two ways to search for truck stops and add a truck stop to the stop list for Route 1.
Method A
1. Right click the Route 1 window title bar and choose Dock. Depending on where you positioned the window when it was floated, it will either return to its original position or appear in its own tab.
2. To search for a known truck stop within a state, in the route window City field you could enter the first letter or first few letters of the name preceded by the “@” symbol. For example, to bring up a pick list of truck stops beginning with “T” in Iowa let’s enter “@t, ia” to get the search results below:
3. Click Cancel to close the search results list.
Method B
Another way to search is by location, either within a specified radius around a location or along the whole length of the current route. In the steps below, we’ll search along the route.
1. First click the plus ( + ) sign in the left column above Urbandale on the stop list. (Alternatively, you can right click and choose Insert Stop Above, or press <F7>.)
2. From the stop type drop-down list, select Places. New search fields will be added below.
3. Click the Categories drop-down and uncheck Show All Categories.
4. Check Truck Stop.
5. For the Search type, select along the route then click Search. A list of truck stops between Sioux City and Urbandale will be shown in the Routes window, with icons for truck stops in the Map window.
6. Highlight a truck stop on the list and click OK to insert it.
7. Double-click the new stop in the route window to zoom to this truck stop on the map. To see a detailed view, select the Map tab > Map Style > Satellite (requires an Internet connection).
The Satellite map style can be helpful and is interesting to look at, but takes longer to redraw than other styles so we’ll go back to the Default map style. Select the Map tab > Map Style > Default.
Ready to move on to Guided Tour Day 2?