Profile For Razorkeen

Day Two(08 Mar 16): 0700 - Waiting in the class room for the instructors to show up. About 5 minutes later, in walked the instructors and informed us we would be working on our turns today. We split back up into our two groups of three and the other group headed out to the truck while mine headed to the simulator. I will be blunt. I absolutely hate that POS simulator. Everything, and I mean everything, feels off. Shifting doesn't feel right, depth perception goes completely out the window, and it will tell you you're hitting a curb even when on the screen you're not. After spending around 30 minutes each on the simulator practicing left and right turns with the trailer, we headed out into the yard to the truck while the other group came inside. For the next 45 minutes everything seemed to go very well. Of course I managed to basically forget everything I had learned about shifting the previous day and managed to bump myself into reverse instead of second as well as mistakenly bumping myself into 9th gear instead of 7th. But after a few minutes everything came back and I began to actually work on my turns. According to my instructor, we all did better than expected. We initially began with just left turns before lunch. Afterward, both groups got into our respective trucks and and began with right turns. Again, my group did well. My instructor felt we were doing well enough that tomorrow we will be hitting the town. In the mean time, after our second break we went out for a "commentary drive" where our instructor drove around town talking us through everything he was doing and looking for. When we returned, we jumped ahead of schedule and the three of us started working on our backing. We did several straight line backs between cones and concrete divider walls with about 3 feet of space on each side of the trailer (don't quote me on the spacing.) After we did much better than expected (again, my trainers words, not mine. I'd never make the claim. Personally I'm still waiting to run myself over while driving.) we moved on to offset backing both left and right. While we were basically walked through this step by step, it was still great practice. Especially getting to practice feathering the clutch. After this it was time to head back to the hotel and grab some chow. All in all, it was nothing short of an amazing day. We are currently a little over a day ahead of schedule. Tomorrow we have, unfortunately, more simulator time planned for backing practices, then we will be taking the trucks onto the roads for some real practice. Time to get some shut eye for what is sure to be an interesting day tomorrow.

As a side note, anyone who comes to Roehls WI location, bring waterproof boots. Currently, both training yards are dirt. And when I say dirt, I mean three inches of mud with small streams running through everywhere. If you ever wanted to know what it was like driving an 18-wheeler in a dirt derby, you'll get to learn.

- Razor

Razor, Thanks for your posts please keep them coming. This is a great forum. Where are attending Roehl training? What division are you getting on with?

I chose to go with the flatbed division which required me to attend their Marshfield, WI location. It's the only compound they offer the flatbed training at.

As a last thought today, I have to say that I firmly believe Roehl has an amazing program. While I wasn't expecting to start driving my first day, I have to say it was the best thing that could have happened. I have always thrived when tossed in head first and told to swim or drown. While this was not anywhere near as rushed, we were encouraged every step of the way that there was no point in over thinking the driving, and to relax and let our instincts take over. I happen to be one of those individuals who learns better by doing. I personally do not believe I could have found a better program to be a part of, and I fully look forward to driving for the company that embraces this teaching style and is giving me this chance.

I'll leave it at that and stop the KoolAid overdose.

- Razor

Razor:

I am reading & following your posts w/great interest. I have applied at Roehl & my recruiter is waiting to hear back from my drug tests. My trucking school start date will be finalized then. You weren't kidding about the month turn around. Been 3 weeks for me so far.

My recruiter had told me about the provided food & correct class hours. But rental car reimbursement? What? That never came up. I was gonna drive my car from ATL to WI. I was told about the gas reimbursement only. Greyhound was never an option cause I'm too old to sleep w/one eye open. The bus scene from Planes, Trains & Automobiles always comes to mind.

Please continue your posts so I will have a good idea of what I'm in for. Thanks for the great info.

Karen,

It certainly seemed to take a huge amount of time but with all said and done, after I took care of my test and physical, things moved pretty fast. I noticed in your other topic that you had gotten Roehl to let you train in GA so congrats on the acceptance. Just prepare yourself for things to get rolling extremely quickly once you start. I'm assuming you will be stay at home, but I would still ask about the meal voucher. We have one recruit who drives from home to training each day, and he still receives the meal voucher for the restaurant each night. Best of luck and keep us updated!

As a last thought today, I have to say that I firmly believe Roehl has an amazing program. While I wasn't expecting to start driving my first day, I have to say it was the best thing that could have happened. I have always thrived when tossed in head first and told to swim or drown. While this was not anywhere near as rushed, we were encouraged every step of the way that there was no point in over thinking the driving, and to relax and let our instincts take over. I happen to be one of those individuals who learns better by doing. I personally do not believe I could have found a better program to be a part of, and I fully look forward to driving for the company that embraces this teaching style and is giving me this chance.

I'll leave it at that and stop the KoolAid overdose.

- Razor

Day One(7 MAR 16): 0500 - My alarm definitely didn't make a friend after the long two days before when it went off at 0500. After a few minutes of groggy cursing, I managed to stumble into the shower and wake myself up. After some lounging around my roommate and I headed down to the lobby at around 0600 to get some breakfast. One problem, breakfast didn't open until closer to 0630. After shoving some food down my gullet, we headed outside to meet the shuttle that arrived at roughly 0640 to take us the several miles to the training facility. We arrived at roughly 0700 and all piled out and into the classroom where we had several books and the hiring paperwork waiting for us. Our class has 6 students. 5 of us are going flatbed, and one is going dry van. We began filling out the paperwork until we had reached a certain point. After this, at around 0800, we had to move into another area of the building and provide our DL/SSC/Passport (If you had one) and take a picture for our Roehl employee ID. We also had to fill out a federal form certifying we had the right to work in the US. After this, we all moved to another room for our physical abilities test. I will attempt to include each part of it, but it went by so fast I may omit something on accident. First, BP was taken to determine if you would go home before even starting the test. I believe I was told that you must be under 180/110 or you would be DQed. They are expecting a fair amount of nerves so don't sweat it. I normally run around 125/80 but I had a 161/89 this time. She chalked it up to nerves and the fact that I had a thick shirt on. I cannot stand tests that can send me home when I'm not directly in control of how I do. Next came a series of exercises you must do. Your heart rate is then measured after each. My maximum heart rate was 176 to continue the program. I will be the first to tell you that I have gotten out of shape with a string of jobs that required long hours on my rear. I don't plan to make that same mistake with my trucking career. Anyway, the highest I ever got was 135, so the majority of people will have no issues with the tests. Your maximum HR is determined by your age and weight. From here on I will use the letters HRT to signify when your heart rate is checked.

The first test was a simple squat down and read a sheet of paper attached to the wall, return to standing, then back down for 20 seconds before standing back up. One knee and hand was allowed on the ground if needed, however you could not grab anything for assistance going up or down. HRT.

Second, we had to simulate climbing into the back of a truck while maintaining three points of contact. Not much to expand on. HRT.

Third, it was time for 10 squats. Simple enough, at least one hand has to touch the ground. No knees allowed. HRT.

Fourth, we had to squat and pick up a basket that was 25lbs and had to carry it 25 feet down and 25 feet back before squatting down and placing it back on the floor. Next the weight was bumped up to 70lbs, same drill. HRT.

Fifth, we moved to a table to a crate that was 20 lbs and were required to lift it from waist to shoulder height 3 times. Weight was bumped to 40lbs and repeated. HRT.

Sixth, we moved to a push/pull bar. First we were required to pull on the bar three times, each time had to be over 120lbs of force. Next we had to push on the bar with a minimum of 100lbs of force each time. HRT.

Seventh, we moved to a lat station and had to do three standing lat pull-downs of 80lbs. HRT.

Eighth, we moved to a small rolled up tarp. We were required to squat down and pick the tarp up. after getting it to chest level, we had to curl the tarp waist to chest two times before placing it back on the ground.

Ninth, we were required to walk across a balance beam that was approx. 10 feet long, pivot around and walk back. You were allowed one retry before failing this portion.

Tenth, the final test was to climb a ladder approx 25 feet, touch the ceiling, and climb back down. End of test.

All of this took until roughly 1000 for everyone to finish. Once returning to the classroom we finished all of our paperwork, had a small break, then began several power-points. At 1130 was Lunch. Once we began again at 1230, we began to log our day so far on a paper log to learn the system. After one more power-point, at roughly 1300 we split into two groups of 3. One group went out to the truck, and my group went to the simulator. We began to practice our shifting as soon as we sat down. We took turns doing this until roughly 1445. At this point we had a 15 minute break and the groups switched. I'll tell you now, I never expected to be tossed into a truck at day one with around 30 minutes of simulator time. Surprisingly we all did, in my opinion, very well for the level of practice we had had. And talk about a rush. At least for myself. I do believe I am hooked. We stayed in the truck taking turns until around 1640 when we headed back into the class room for a few last minute questions before heading back to the hotel. Day one is done, and it was incredible.

- Razor

Here we go.

Pre-hire: If you're looking at Roehl, I suggest you start the process at least a good month before you wish to leave. It took me exactly one month to proceed through their process. Initially it took roughly a week to receive the initial phone call from them to set up the phone interview. The phone interview was pretty standard. After agreeing to the commitment, I was sent a link with a number to call to set up my DOT physical. I called the clinic, and was informed the next appointment I could get into was two weeks away. A little disappointed, I went ahead and got it lined up. After informing my recruiter, it became a hurry up and wait situation. I used the time to study for my CDL permit and tried to get my affairs squared away before I left. Finally the day before my appointment, I was called by the clinic and was informed that the only doctor able to administer the physical in their office had decided to take a vacation day on the day of my appointment. I had to drive an hour away to their clinic in another town instead. While initially more than a little P.Oed that they had waited until the day before, I turned it into a good thing by driving another 15 minutes after the appointment and took a visit to Cabelas. For those fellow fathers of young ones like myself (or mothers,) a truly proud father moment is walking into Cabelas with your one year old in your arms and having him give a rather loud squeal and begin clapping his hands pretty much trumps most of them in my book. Once the physical was finished, I obtained my CDL permit and started getting my bags packed. I would be leaving for Roehl in two more weeks.

Day Zero(5 MAR 16): 20:00 - I had my bags packed and loaded into my rental car. I cut out of the house at exactly 2000. I won't bore you with the standard driving, but I made good time. I had plans to meet up with my wife and son who were in northern IL visiting some family. I pulled up where she was staying at 0740 of 6 MAR 16. After breakfast and spending some time with her and the little one, I hopped back into the car at around 1300 and took off north. I pulled into Marshfield, WI at roughly 1720 and found the motel. I got to my room and unpacked my bag before going out to grab an early dinner. I had to meet the shuttle in the lobby at 1900 to return my rental, and I had every intention of racking out early after that. Alas, 1900 came and I was informed the airport I would be returning the car to was around 40 minutes away. After all was said and done, I got back to the hotel at around 2100. Early enough maybe, but considering I had been running since 0800 on Saturday, I disagree. All in all, it was a very long trip but had a few upsides. I did get to spend several hours with my family. Also, I lucked out and managed to get what I would refer to as a pretty good guy as a roommate.

Evening all. I figured that since after arriving to the Roehl compound for my first day, I have found that some of us recruits have been given drastically different information from our recruiters, I would start a thread to clarify as much as I can while going through the program. I will also be giving a day to day log on what we did, my thoughts on it, and my personal opinions on the training. I know for a fact that at least two of my fellow recruits will see this so please feel free to chime in with anything you'd like to add regarding the program, or call out my BS if I managed to slip some in.

First, before I start the day to day log, there seemed to be several key points that differed from what my recruiter explained to me. I know one other individual in the program had the same recruiter and was given the same information. The trainers have been made aware of this and have stated they would look into it. Normally I wouldn't throw someone under the bus for minor misinformation, but this was some pretty drastic stuff that could turn some from Roehl just because of the information given. Firstly, I was originally informed that I would be required to provide my own transportation to the compound. This is completely false. Roehl got me a rental car on their dime and they are also reimbursing me for my gas. There is currently some confusion as to the exact details on the reimbursement, but it is there. Several others also received a bus ticket instead of a rental, or drove their own vehicle and will be reimbursed on gas as well. Secondly, myself and another recruit were told we would be required to fund our meals for our time here in training. Now while this wasn't a huge deciding factor in my school choice as I had found that this is the case at the majority of company sponsored programs, it did cause myself and another a good amount of stress and anxiety that was completely unnecessary. While staying at the Woodfield Inn located at Roehls Marshfield, WI location you are served breakfast in the attached restaurant. While I wouldn't consider this exactly a spread, they do have some options. For lunch, you select what you would like from a menu that is passed around each day. The menu includes a variety of salads, wraps, and sandwiches. This is provided at no cost to you. Lastly, you are given a $10 meal voucher each day to use on dinner in the restaurant that is attached to the hotel. The final bit of false information I can think of is that we would be running from 0700-1900 every day for 6 1/2 days a week. In reality, it is 0700-1700 5 1/2 days a week. Not a large difference, but it is what it is.

This may seem trivial to some, while to others they are large problems to misinform people on. Personally, aside from the stress from making sure I had funding while my family would also be taken care of while I was gone, the largest issue I found was that once I arrived and we all had different information, some of those that were informed correctly that meals would be provided had a small moment of "now what" when they discovered some of us were told meals were not provided, any they didn't bring much in the way of funds with them. Food for thought.

Since I am already halfway over my maximum allowed characters, I will begin a new post to outline my experience so far on a training standpoint since I've finished my rant regarding the recruiters information.

- Razor

"I think that if you have an inverter installed you have to pay an extra charge when you switch trucks. You will keep the same inverter but they will charge you to install it on the new truck. They do make refrigerators and freezers that plug into 12v but they are somewhere in the 600 to 700 dollar range if I remember right. I couldn't afford that so I found the cheap way and it works pretty good."

Thanks for the info. I suppose I will simply have to wait and see what kind of position I am in and what my needs are when the time comes.

"Well my car only has 20k miles on it and gets 30mpg. I'll have to fill up twice. It's just shy of 1k miles there. Plus they're gonna reimburse mileage. So I'm not too worried about it. I'll be leaving late Saturday night and stopping in Kentucky for a few hours shut eye in the car and driving the rest of the way sunday."

That's about the same distance I'll be driving. My wife is actually up in northern IL visiting some family (Has been for a few weeks now) so I plan to cut out this evening and drive through the night (Roehl sprung for a rental car) and stop in and visit with her for a few hours in the morning before I continue on to the hotel.

I think that you overthinking things at this point, though I do have more than 30 years of experience in this business too. For any new driver something missing from your list of stuff is a sleeping bag and perhaps a pillow or two, and what about a cb radio and an antenna? Perhaps a 12-volt plug-in electric cooler? Maybe a 9 or 13-inch tv with a DVD player? Something else missing from your list for a flatbed driver is a pair of decent coveralls, like the kind that Cabella's might sell. If you are going to be a second-seat driver you won't have to worry about a supply of bungees, rope, nails, a good claw hammer, other tools, a 12-volt floodlight, or a number of other similar items right away anyway.

Why not try to get on with a dry van or reefer outfit which will involve a lot less work than flatbed work does anyway? Marten is in Wisconsin and they hire rookies, as does Schneider, and a few others too.

Get back to me when you have 3-5 years of reefer experience as I know where you can get a $50-$60K job driving solo with full paid employee benefits if you are willing to work 5-on and 2-off every week, with two weeks of paid vacation your first year.

Trucker Mark, my last 10 years with Denney Transport.

Personally I do not believe it is possible at this point to overthink this change in my life. I would rather second guess myself now than while out on the road. I actually have a different packing list for when I start driving. This list was just for the schooling part. I only brought up the inverter as a side thought. With that said, I do not plan to bring a sleeping bag with me during the two weeks with my driver trainer because Roehl does not run their trucks as a team operation during the training.

I personally have little interest in dry van and reefer. I choose the flatbed division specifically for the extra physical work involved. As for the company being is Wisconsin, that had no merit to which company I chose. I currently live in Arkansas, and Wisconsin is just the school they chose to send me to. I do appreciate the information though.

If your going to put a freezer in a roehl truck it's going to be really expensive. There aren't any inverters in the trucks so everything has to run off 12v and while you can pay for an inverter it is really expensive and there isn't any way to mount a fridge or freezer. You can buy a 12v freezer but again it's really expensive.I have a plug in cooler and a lunchbox cooker and I do pretty well most of the time. I pack the cooler up at home with plenty of lunchmeat and pans of food for the lunchbox and it usually lasts me 2 to 3 weeks.

That's a little disappointing. Would you happen to have any idea what kind of "expensive" I would be looking at? Another question I have is if I were to pay for Roehl mechanics to install an inverter into the truck, and for some reason I am required to switch to a different truck, am I out the cost and have to pay for another one to be installed? Thanks.

Hey Thomas, It's good to know that I won't be the only one that has done any type of preparing besides just my permit. I notice you're from Georgia. Will you be flying up?

I'm going to drive up

I have to say I'm a little jealous. I'm just not willing to put that many more miles on my truck. Especially when I get around 7-8 miles to a gallon.

Budget eating on the road is what I do.

I spent the $30 for a lunchbox stove and eat lots of canned soup, hot dogs, brats, and of course pb& j. I also bought a Coleman Iceless cooler and it lets me keep drinks and food nice and cool.

The only time I eat at a truck stop is if I am craving Popeyes chicken or biscuits and gravy. I take $40 cash with me for road expenses and always come home with change.

I'm planning to put some type of freezer in my truck when I get it. I'm a big fan of making huge meals while home and freezing single portions of it to thaw and eat later. So a freezer will be a must have for me. I can scrounge by with my little hot plate until I can get my hands on a small microwave. That's good to know about the $40 budget being more than enough for your time out.

Hey Razor. I'm also new to the forum. Have also been following along for a few weeks. I will be starting the cdl school with roehl for flatbed in marshfield, WI on the 7th.

Hey Thomas, It's good to know that I won't be the only one that has done any type of preparing besides just my permit. I notice you're from Georgia. Will you be flying up?

Roehl has multiple home time options for you. 7/7, 14/7, and others. Tell your wife like I'm telling mine. It's 1 year, and the first 6 months will be the worst. After the 1st year, you have options for local and dedicated routes. You can do it. Be strong and make it happen. For you with a wife and young child, you would probably want the 7/3 7/4 routes. But do what works for you.

I actually decided on doing their national route of 10-14/3 just for earnings sake. The wife will be returning to school this fall so being able to provide a somewhat comfortable living for us myself will be important. The current plan is indeed to get the 120k miles I will owe Roehl and then move into something local or dedicated unless we find OTR works well for us.

Welcome aboard Razorkeen!

Congratulations on getting on with Roehl - they have got a great program going, and they will get you off to a good start. Your list of things to pack sounds good to me, but if you 'd like to research it a little here's a link to some more information on things to pack.

As far as advice for your wife, you guys are just going to have to make sure you are on the same page. Your concerns are valid - I often times think this job is rougher on the one left at home than it is on the one out here on the road. Hopefully she will see you making a decent income and will understand the sacrifices that you will both be making for the future welfare of your family. My advice would be to make sure and see that she has more than ample money coming to her for her and your son's needs. If anyone needs to be surviving on Ramen noodles let it be you. I've been married for 34 years, and I can tell you that if she is benefiting from your sacrifices she will appreciate what you are doing all the more and support your efforts. If she is barely getting by and she is constantly hearing about you eating out all the time and having such a great time on the road she will soon resent what you are doing and expect you to come home and do something else. It is a tough lifestyle for young parents - make sure you are taking care of them well - they need that to understand fully how the sacrifices are going to be worth it. The other thing is that you are going to have to fully trust her with everything. She is going to be the one managing the home budget and paying the bills. Let her do it how she sees fit - if she is wasting money then talk to her calmly and help her see how she can do better, but you are going to have to let her do this her way or it is going to cause problems. Hopefully you've married a good responsible gal who can be trusted fully, because that is what will make all this work properly. Also, you need to realize that your income at the beginning is going to be a little unsteady until you get established, so hopefully have a little set aside for that difficult learning curve that you will be in at the start of your career. You are going to be missing that little guy on your lap in your photo, so work hard and apply yourself so that you can make some good money and get home a little bit for a brief visit now and then.

Thanks for the welcome. I will definitely check out the link and do some looking. The possibility of a respectable income is something I have been pressing pretty hard on her so I'm sure it will help tremendously when she begins to see that possibility happening. We had already discussed that my budget will be extremely limited for the first few months I'm out simply to give us time to adjust to the expenses of the lifestyle and to see what we could reasonably expect my wages to be. I pretty much survived on Ramen and PB&J sandwiches my first year of college so luckily it will be nothing new. I like to think I managed to find a responsible woman with her head on straight so we're good in that department. I honestly think one of the bigger hurtles that we will have is making myself relinquish the reigns of the family. I've always had an alpha mentality and personality. I can generally suppress it when needed, so hopefully this will be once of those times. It will take some getting used to I'm sure. Luckily our expenses are pretty minimal at the moment so even being able to bring home around $4-500 a week would see that we could scrounge by without dipping into our savings until I get my feet under me and learn the ropes. I definitely will be missing the little guy. I just keep telling myself that doing this will better his life as a whole. Only time will tell.

Thanks again fellas.