Roehl Transport -- my story

Hi folks!

as promised, i'm starting a thread to record my experiences with Roehl.

note i will not use names of anyone other than myself, dates will not be specific either.

i will pre-position several posts for later filling, so ill be able to keep quite a bit of the "story" on the first page or two

i'm starting this now b/c i find myself stuck at home waiting for a trainer for phase 2, for yet another weekend :/ so i have time to look over my journal and type it in here.

please note that i will try to use somewhat proper grammar and such, but i generally do not capitalise, nor do i ususally bother with apostrophes...if you cant understand what im saying, im sorry.

well here we go.


ORIENTATION--Appleton,WI

BUS RIDE

the bus ride from new hampshire was long. not just long...dang L O N G! over 33 hours, sure it cost me nothing, but when they ask if you want to bus (free)or for them to get you a rental (they re-imburse gas/lodgings & you will pick up any students along the way) think long and hard about what you want to do

Day 1

got the drug tests (DOT and hair) taken care of as well as the physical testin Roehl requires. nothing all that had, id say the most strenuous was the 10 squats (heart-rate wise, which they monitor). these killed the whole morning. unfortunately, the only female in our class of 8 washed out. she could not do the 30# duffel bag lift the way they want it done. that kinda put a shadow on the day for the rest of us.

the rest of the day was spent with our instructors checking our CDLs, SS cards, Passports(if ya had one), getting pics for our future ID badges, recieving visitor badges for use this week. then we spent about 3 hours on map reading/ trip planning. im sure glad NETTTS (my CDL school) spent 2 full weeks on this stuff!

things to note--NO drinking allowed in any Roehl property, including rooms/cars rented by Roehl. no biggie for me, we decided as a class that we would not push it by drinking at the hotel bar even though we were pretty sure that would be no issue. Roehl expects max effort and for us to "be on top of our game" during this 8 day interview.

homework is done and i am beat! bedtime for jimbo

Day 2

TRIP PLANNING!!! if you havent learned this yet you will get a crash course. the instructors (we have 3 now, started with 2) are patient but expect 120% effort and steady improvement.

ON THE ROAD BABY!!

yep, spent some time driving today. i only got about 2 hours but it felt good. it is AWESOME shifting a truck that hasnt been hammered by generations of students. it seems we will stay grouped as we are now, so itll be me and one other student in this truck with the lead instructor. NICE! its an '06 frieghtliner cascadia with over 700k, in great shape with a nice tight shifter!

homework done and crashin soon

PS i woke feeling like ##### with a nasty sinus headache that would not quit. first 2 advil didnt touch it, but the 3 i took at luch saved the day. i thought i would have to forgo driving and i would have had i not improved. was hoping it was a pollen issue and not a flu-bug.(it was pollen)

Day 3

woke feeling human again! yay!

spent most of the day driving, i logged 3 hours. he took us all over the place on county roads around this area. we passed through several towns with many tight areas. it was challenging stuff for sure!

i seem to have an issue with judging turns (esp right) icollected 3 or 4 curbs today :/ in my defense, this is my first time towing 53'. overall, a great day of driving/learning.

instructor gave us our first review at the end of the day. he says im doing OK, only marked me behind schedule on turns. overall a positive, upbeat review for all in the class.

no homework tonight, i shal celebrate by going to bed at 7:15pm

Day 4

halfway home!

today i learned that i get a little bit flustered and lose the ability to shift when the instructor throws a few curves at me. this did not impress me (or him!), hopefully i can recover and continue improving. on a good note, my right turns were much better as were the lefts. (though the lefts werent all that much off anyways)

second review is tomorrow.

side note:

from the hilarity that was happening at dinner this evening it appears that one of the instructors is somewhat of a comedian.

im surprised me and one of the other students never got booted from the place as we were joking it up like champs...

re: the dangers of mexican food in our industry

"and now some information concerning the #1 cause of unscheduled stops......mexican food"

and several corny "corn" jokes that i wont type out here, but they are funny as heck to this "hill" folk

was a great time with the fellow students and no worries...

we yucked it up "The Roehl Way"

Day 5

Driver Evaluation Day

we all got formally evaluated today--sadly, we lost another student to this process. the instructors obviously WANT everyone to suceed, Roehl spent a lot getting us to this point. the whole class is sad now, but we must move on.

fortunately, i kept my nerves somewhat under control and passed this hurdle with a "you did pretty well". even though i botched up one intersection rather badly :/

trip planning has entered a whole new dimension, we had our first taste of verifying routing. serious PITA, really. dont forget a magnifying glass to help in map reading and a calculator for estimating miles/hours.

we all met in the hotel lobby after dinner and group worked most of the homework. the homework must be completed or ya dont advance to phase 2.

till tomorrow---jim

Day 6

the day started with breakfast at the hotel being invaded by the instructors. we then went to the terminal, quickly asked some Qs about the homework and pre-tripped our trucks.

destination for all was the center of the Roehl universe---Marshfield,WI lol

this terminal is where they teach the CDL course, and the practice lot is HUGE and awesome! by awesome i mean it is monsterous with a ton of concrete obstacles set up for backing maneuvers and mock "docks"

we spent 2 or 3 hours playing in the "sandbox" which included a lunch break at a local family restaurant.

my roomie and i seem to have finally impressed our instructor with our backing "skilz", we even did quite well "in the box" which is a very tight close quarters area with a couple mock docks.

fun day today, the instructors seemed more relaxed as were we students.

homework=DONE!

Day 7

finished up classwork, checked homework today. quallcom,hazmat,and legalising the load. long day, we only drove about 45 min each,

we are DONE though!

hiring ("paperwork") day is tomorrow!

Day 8

Hiring Day!

6 of 8 completed orientation, we are now officially employees of Roehl.

heres to all of us completing phase 2, tomorrow we call to see if we have trainers assigned. hopefully we all get moving within a few days



Epilogue:

ok so there seems to be a bit of a trainer shortage and labor day threw an extra wrench in the works, currently im home starting my second week of waiting. not too worried or upset yet, but ill start worrying if im not on the road by tuesday-ish :/

all-in-all, this company treats you well, wants you to succeed, puts ya up in a nice place (bring a swimsuit! pool and hot tub)& feeds you well.
other than the long wait im experiencing to get to phase 2, no complaints at all.

im glad i chose Roehl and will recommend them as a good starting place, nothing makes me feel warm & fuzzy more than knowing they want us to be safe above ALL other considerations.

ill continue keeping a journal through phase 2, may be some time before i can post again

jim

 

holding place

 

holding place #2

 

holding place #3

 

holding place #4

 

holding place #5

 

holding place #6

 

finally after 16 days, im meeting my trainer at lunchtime to begin phase 2.

looking forward to getting through this and being assigned my own truck