Roehl - My Adventure Begins 5/16/11

Hahaha, thanks Hawkeye. Hope to see you out there!

 

Well, my original intent was to give a running commentary on how the process went on during RDTC and beyond. I had a couple setbacks that prevented me from doing that, but now that it's over and I'm back home for a couple days, I will try to report on what we did each day.

Day 1:

Today we signed a lot of forms, and were then taken over for our drug screen. Instead of just the traditional urine test that they always used to give, we had to do the hair folicle test. I wasn't worried about it because I don't use drugs. No problems with the drug screen for me. Not only that, but I actually had the surprise of being the guy in our class with the fullest head of hair. That's something I haven't heard for over 20 years! To be honest, it wasn't because my hair is still so thick (it isn't), but it was just because I was the only one of the four of us who didn't have really, really short hair. Still, it sounded good to hear the nurse tell me I had the best head of hair, even if it was just for her purposes.

The enjoyment didn't last long after we got back to Roehl though. After the drug screen it was time for the one thing I had been worrying about for weeks - the dreaded "Pre-Work Screen".

Ultimately, I ended up passing, but just barely. Using my age in their formula, I was allowed to have my heart rate get up as high as 156.
When it comes to the pre-trip screen, I can say that none of the exercises they made me do were very hard on their own. What made it tough was that as exercise after exercise went on, my legs started to feel all the more rubbery as time went on. As Hindsy said in his thread, you end up doing a LOT of squats by the time the pre-work screen is over.

My heart rate actually got as high as 150, but that was fortunately good enough. I have no doubt that proper breathing - including deeply inhaling AND exhaling went a long way toward keeping me in it.

After the pre-work screen, we listened to a talk by the director of the RDTC school.

We also met the two guys who would be our actual instructors during our time at RDTC. We had Butch and Dale as instructors, and both of them ended up being great assets to our class over the next three weeks.

At the end of the day, we were sent back "home" to the hotel, where we had to do a lot of reading for the upcoming week.

That sums up Day 1.

 

Day 2:

Today began with a few hours of classroom teaching and review of three more chapters we need to read in the book tonight. There is a lot of reading, but since it's a subject we are all interested in, the pages move along quickly.

I highly recommend to new students that they keep up with the reading as much as possible, because the material is based on what you will be doing in the days to come.

On the morning of Day 2 we also received a presentation on "The Roehl Way". It discussed the company's feelings on the importance of safety. After hearing this, I was even more convinced that safety is not just an empty buzzword at Roehl. It is something they live. These things were good to hear for a newbie such as myself, and it made me feel good about my decision to become a driver for Roehl.

For the rest of the day, we got to go out on the range and spend some time with the trucks. We were broken down into teams of two. I was with a younger guy whose father was a long time driver for Roehl. After spending three weeks in the truck with him, I believe that he will be a very good driver in his own right.

Since there were only two students to a truck, we would be provided with plenty of driving time. We started things off by learning how to do a complete pre-trip inspection on the truck. This is something that we will be doing every day for the rest of RDTC, and in fact, for the rest of our driving career.

After our inspection of the truck, we got in the driver's seat and Butch taught us to shift gears and make left hand turns. It was exciting to finally get behind the wheel of these big beasts and move them around!

It was an enjoyable, yet tiring day. One thing I noticed is that the days seemed to get less and less tiring as the three weeks wore on. Week one was tough from a physical standpoint. Week Two seemed to go by a lot faster, and Week Three positively flew by. If you start questioning your decision to get into truck driving when you first get down there, my advice is: HANG IN THERE! It will get easier as you go along, and at RDCT you are in a great place to succeed.

 

Day 3:

Today we started out in the classroom at 7:00 AM. We went over some of the chapters from the book, and were given two important single page handouts:

- Emergency Roadside Stop Procedures

- Mountain Grade Driving

The info on both of these pages is very simple, but it's important to memorize. This is information that could one day save your life, and if that's not enough, it WILL come up when it's time to take your CDL test.

After today's classroom instruction, we went back out on the range. Did the pre-trip inspection, and did more shifting and turning. This time Butch had us making right hand turns. They are a little more dicey because you are turning in the direction of your blind side, and are completely dependent on your mirrors to see what's going on.

After spending time out on the range, we did our post trip inspections and called it a day at about 5:30 PM.

 

Day 4:

Today was pretty similar to yesterday. We started out in the classroom at 7:00 AM for an hour, and then spent the rest of the day out in the trucks. By now we were starting to feel a little more comfortable shifting and turning on the range.

 

Day 5:

Today started with more classroom study. We reviewed a couple more chapters from the book, and also had a quiz on how to read the Atlas. Nothing too difficult.

We got to the trucks at 8:00 AM, did our pre-trip inspection, and then did some backing. Butch showed us how to do a 45 degree back up. This is a move we will be using a lot in our driving careers. Backing came fairly easily for me. I'm guessing it's because I have had a few boats over the years, and had to learn how to back trailers with the boats on them.

Another thing we learned was coupling and uncoupling the trailers. Nothing too difficult, but it IS an important thing to do correctly.

We also got out on the roads for the first time today. We didn't go far, but at least got some experience driving with traffic around us. It was good experience. The nice thing is that they are moving us along at a pretty good pace. We aren't being pushed to do more than we are capable of, yet we are still doing enough to improve each day.

 

Day 6:

This was a Saturday, and we didn't have a normal training day. We had the option of going in and practicing our pre-trip inspections for half the day, but I decided to stay at the hotel. This first week has been pretty hard on my legs. I've had some blood clots in my legs in the past, and as a result, my left calf and ankle tend to swell up if I'm on my feet for too long. By today my ankle had swollen up to about the size of a grapefruit, so I decided I better get off of it for a couple days. I didn't want to risk getting another blood clot.

On a positive note, I was able to do some studying in the book, and I also spent some time going over the handout they gave us for the pre-trip inspections.

 

Day 7 - (Monday):

Two hours of classroom today. We had a quiz on the Atlas, and also received a copy of Roehl's "Drivers Reference Guide". The reference guide has a lot of good information in it - everything from Roehl's safety philosophy to info on pay and benefits.

As for driving, we went out in the country and drove around today. Butch was good at telling us in advance where to turn, and then letting us watch for the street signs for when our turn is coming up. He also did a good job at explaining all the little details we need to be thinking about while we are doing the basics of turning and shifting.

 

Day 8 - Day 11 (Tuesday - Friday):

The remainder of the second week was all fairly similar. We normally had about an hour or an hour and a half of classroom, and the rest of the day was spent in the trucks, working on our driving and backing skills. Each day we went on more challenging routes. It ws a good week of practice, and this time in the truck was invaluable in learning how to drive and feel more comfortable in different situations out on the road.

The one thing I probably had the most problems with was shifting. Since I'm a big guy, I didn't have much leg room in the truck, and I think this contributed to some of my problems. (At least that's the excuse I'm going with for now, hahaha).