CDL in hand... Now What ? Decision time, that's what...

"What was the deal with that 'paperwork' delay?" one might ask...

So here is what happened...

After getting the company sponsored DOT physical, the company's safety department declared they needed more. Specifically, since I had a medical situation that led to surgery in 1999, they needed my primary physician to 'release' me to work... even though this was ancient 12-year old history. So I had to schedule another doctor appointment, get him to write a letter and fill out another form, and then fax all that to the company safety department. So obviously all that took a few days to execute.

Finally after waiting through what seemed an interminably long week, everything is now green light and full speed ahead.

Yay. And onward...

Perpetual.

 

Picking up a rental car tomorrow morning at BWI airport and then driving the roughly 12 hours to orientation in Gary, IN. The company gave me the option to fly or drive at their expense. I much prefer to drive, and they took care of reserving the rental car for me and asked that I keep all fuel and toll receipts for reimbursement. If I choose to stay somewhere along the route tomorrow night, the company will pay up to $35 for a motel.

Deadline for arrival at http://innofhammond.com/ is 19:00 on Sunday, at which point all those who rented cars will caravan behind a shuttle vehicle to the airport. After turning in the cars, we all ride back to the motel in the van.

Then we are instructed to be in the hotel lobby at 07:10 on Monday for a ride to orientation, which begins at 07:30.

I am packed and ready

Perpetual.

 

Made it to the Inn of Hammond... the company selected motel for the duration of orientation Phase 1, which is scheduled for 8 days. I had considered staying somewhere along the way but never really got tired, so decided to power on through. I set the cruise control exactly on the speed limit the entire way. Total drive time was about 12.5 hours from home including the time to get the rental car at the airport. Guess that's the last time for a while that I'll do that many driving hours in one stretch...

Glad the company is covering the tolls - between the Ft McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore, and the turnpikes in PA, OH & IN, we're talking a total of $39.50 in tolls - and that's for a 2-axle car. The OH turnpike ($16.50 for a car to do the whole thing) ticket showed something on the order of $80 for the highest class of vehicle.

Roehl supposedly gives drivers the option of carrying company PrePass/EZPass for $1/week. Definitely worth it not to have to carry all that cash (and then submit reimbursement requests) or wait in the cash lanes at the toll booth. Took a good 10 minutes to make it through the west side IN tool booth.

Started seeing quite a few Roehl trucks on the OH turnpike, and their numbers in the eastbound lanes increased as I headed west. I'd say from the PA/OH border to here, a rough count was 35 Roehl vehicles, including 2 curtainsides, 5 flatbeds, and 1 bobtail.

The motel is nothing special - but it seems clean enough. There appear to be quite a few shopping (including Cabela's just across the highway) and eating alternatives within a reasonably short drive so I'll do a little exploring tomorrow before having to give up the rental car tomorrow evening.


Anyway, glad to be here and able to relax before the intensity of orientation kicks in.

Be safe

Perpetual.

 

Thanks sammycat

The orientation / training is a total of 21 days. Phase 1 is 8 days here in Gary - classroom, yard skills, and local driving. Then Phase 2 is 13 days OTR with a trainer. There are CDL-style practical and written (open book) exams after each phase, and after passing phase 2 we each get our own truck and solo a load toward home where we take 4 days off.

Starting with the solo run and for the following 4-6 weeks we are assigned a special 'coaching' fleet manager as a resource to help us through the stress of being out there on our own. Then once the comfort level is achieved we move into the regular fleet.

I'll try to post daily throughout the orientation if possible, unless I just have too much to do or am too tired.

Perpetual.

 

Thank you very much !

 

Sounds like part of a government multiple choice exam. Guess I am supposed to supply the choices? Ok I'll give it a shot.

a) because he always blindly listens to what the Garmin says, no matter how ridiculous.
b) because he wanted to visit a relative's grave near Pittsburgh, PA, and it was also supposed to snow in that area.
c) because the route across the OH turnpike was 1.5 hours shorter and he did not receive a mandatory routing from a dispatcher
d) because even if the company wasn't reimbursing him he still would have gone the same way since he had never driven the OH turnpike before and already has taken I-70 on numerous occasions.
e) both (c) and (d).

The passing grade for this one-question exam is 100%. Good luck.

 

Everyone was up early and in the motel breakfast area around 06:00. The people that started their orientation last week left at about 06:30 for their final day of Phase 1. The driver/trainer for our class arrived around 07:30 and asked everyone to take a seat at the tables in the breakfast area. He passed out some forms for us to sign, which were related to the imminent pre-work drug screen and physical capabilities test. Everyone got papers except..... me.

Hmmm... an inauspicious beginning. We all hopped in the van and of the 10 trainees, all got dropped at the CompCare medical facility except me - I got to go to the terminal and wait while the training staff contacted recruiting and eventually got me squared away with papers. Then they took me over to CompCare. Several of my classmates had already completed both the agility test and drug screen by the time I added my name to the bottom of the sign-in sheet. There were dozens of people there besides our class and from other companies, including one man who, having been brought in by a supervisor, appeared to be quite inebriated. He was stumbling around the waiting room and mumbling while trying to zip up his jacket. At 10 in the morning...

The physical test was fairly straightforward and not difficult. The rules were basically to complete each of the 10 or so skills (picking up weighted crates and carrying them, pulling and pushing against a scaled bar, climbing up on a mock-trailer, walking the balance beam, climbing a ladder, etc.) without having the heart rate go about a certain level based on age. My limit was around 145 beats/ minute. The highest it got the entire time was 108.

The other part was 'donating' some liquid and some hair for the drug screen. When I was finished I looked around for my classmates but there were none to be found. I talked to the receptionist who tried to call the company, to no avail. After a few more minutes of waiting, a driver returned to take me back to the terminal.

I entered the classroom (in a portable building next to the main terminal building), and saw that everyone had been given class study materials, including a thick 3-ring binder and several books (HazMat, FMCSR, ERG, Cargo Securement), a road atlas, and a truck stop guide.

I was late getting into the queue of turning in expense receipts for reimbursement, and lending credentials (CDL, passport, TWIC) for photocopy, but by the time that was all done we were ready for lunch and things got in sync. They gave us a menu from which to select our meal of choice and it was delivered at noon.

It was around this time that I learned that one of our classmates did not pass the physical screen since his blood pressure was too high. So he got sent home to schedule a visit to his primary care physician. And then there were 9...

After lunch we launched into the actual orientation classroom session. We saw a few PPT slides and were reminded that this is an 8-day extended interview; we are not officially hired until completion of phase 1. We covered some ground rules and filled out some more paperwork. We were told that we will be working about 14 hours per day, including homework. This is partly because there is a lot to do in a short period. Also to get us used to that 14-hour on-duty DOT limitation. After the introductory activity, another instructor came in to lead us through a road atlas and trip planning module. This was similar to what we had done in CDL school, except some company specific parameters were introduced. These include (for planning purposes) a 45 mph average speed and a maximum driving time of 10 hours per day.

We finished up in the classroom around 17:00 and then hopped in the van for a short ride to pick up carry out dinner (subs/burgers place), covered by the company up to a certain amount.

And now back at the motel for some homework reading assignments and optionally start on some trip planning exercises.

Even with the slight glitches in the process (communication breakdown between recruiting department and local terminal training staff), it was fairly well orchestrated.

OK I better get reading. Until next time...

Perpetual.