RDTC starting school January 28th

As you move into this next level remember that this is his truck. He is still responsible for the safety of his truck, load and you. His is allowing you into his home and his routine. It's only for one week although it can be a long week if you and your trainer don't mesh. (I had a trainer for one week that was a week from hell.) Keep you gear up in your bunk. A duffle bag works better than formed luggage. Duffle bag can be stuff at the end of your bunk. If you can take a bit of extra money and toward the end of your training you might want to offer to buy a meal for your trainer. Take something small (book, Kindle, game on your smart phone) to keep you busy when you are sitting waiting or in the evenings. Not all trainer have TVs in their trucks.

 

Only bring as much stuff as you are willing to sleep with. There is not a lot of room for two guys and their stuff. I had one guy try to bring a big tool box with him. Lucky for him and his tools his car was at Marshfield. I assume Roehl has switched to e-logs by now. It used to drive me nuts to watch a guy try to fill out a log book on his knee. So bring a clip board if they are still doing paper logs. It used to also drive me crazy when a guy would sit in the jump seat and do nothing for hours while I drove. Look at the map, play with the QC, read the DRG, ask questions, knit the trainer a sweater, do something productive. Training time is short, too short, so get as much out of it as you can. Do all the backing, including the hard ones. Bring a good attitude into the truck and you will probably get a good one back from the trainer. If you bring a bad attitude into the truck the trainer will probably enjoy messing with you. I know I did.

 

Yeah what he said. There's not a lot of extra room. The only thing I want out of new drivers is some conversation. Nothing worse than only getting yes no responses with no follow up conversation, I try to break the ice, but you gotta break some from the other side too. lol

 

I write the directions along with fuel stops down on a pad. Once you are rolling you cannot acces text on Qualcomm. Well in trainer trucks and teams I think you can. But writing them down allows you access to them and cross reference with other navigation tools you may use as well. I'm a bit anal in that when I start getting close to an exit, I will check the exit number every couple miles to make sure it's the right one.

 

Blue, OSU, and Techno,

Gentlemen ........................ it was an absolute priviledge to meet you all in Marshfield and share the Roehl Driver Training experience. Don't get snow and minus thirty degree wind chills in Tennessee very often, ............. never.

Blue ............. you, without a doubt win the "BEST HAT" award.

I did end up driving all night, Friday, and got home at 5:45 am, Saturday. It was crazy after the day we had but I wanted to get home and prepare for what's coming next.

 

I maybe should have mentioned that the directions the folks in Marshfield gave me to the Inn of Hammond came from Google Maps, and that the reason there was no distance given on the final drive down Indianapolis Blvd was that the hotel essentially butts up against the southern edge of I-80, so it just said "destination will be on your left." What was missing of course (since Google Maps just knows the address of the hotel, not necessarily the access road that leads to the entrance) was that you have to turn left, cross the highway, go through a little driveway and then around another building (Kaplan College) to reach the hotel. And of course that the Inn of Hammond sign had some of its interior lights not working.

The 2nd day of securement class went fine today, except that someone apparently decided to filch the sack containing my dinner when it was delivered to the hotel along with the other students' sacks with each of our names on them. Heading back home in the morning to await info on when I'm meeting up with my trainer. One thing I will say about flatbedding from the securement exercises we did outside today: Chaining, strapping and tarping these loads is definitely going to give me the workout I was looking for. It was pretty cool.

 

Regardless, my previous still applies. The directions given for majority of route from city to city will have mileage between turns, exits etc... Final directions you get for going to shipper or consigned. Most were given by drivers and most times do not have distances. Different people use different methods. Sometimes you get turn right, others say go south, others say turn right at brick building. You get the idea.

 

Or make no sense at all and you'll have to call and get directions yourself