Profile For Andy H. aka AZ Scooby

Hey everybody. I know its been a while but I've been driving my ars off. I finished training with my trainer on Oct. 30. Tested out on the Nov 1 and got my truck that day and got to go home for some much needed family time. I drove over 3300 miles in 10 days during training. That was 5 different loads. One load was a relay to Gallup, NM and the rest were loads back and forth between AZ and CA.

Started my solo career on Tues Nov 5 with a load of flagstone going to CA. Then had a 3 stop load of stainless steel pipe to Fresno. Picked up a load of cable from Okonite in Santa Maria to bring to our yard in Fontana. Then picked up a load of sheet steel in Vernon, CA to bring to WA where I'm currently sitting for a reset. Leaving tomorrow to pick up a load of lumber and got a great run to WI for another 2200 miles. I'll probably be picking up a relay from our Marshfield terminal to bring back to Phx and then home for 3-4 days. So for my very first 2 weeks out I figured close to 6500 miles. Not bad for a rookie.

I'm a Western regional driver but told my FM if they needed anybody to run to our terminals in the Midwest that I would be willing if it'll get me miles. Turns out it paid off. I've taken every bit of advice from this forum and have worked my butt off to prove my worth to my FM. Hopefully she'll keep throwing me these great runs.

I've had some hicups. Believe me. Gashed a tire on my very first load. Got a message from myFM that it was okay with a shipper to park at there business overnight. I got there and my load was on another trailer. I just had to swap trailers and secure and tarp the load. I secured it but ran out of hours. I called my FM to ask if I could bobtail down the street to get some foid because I was too tired to make my own at this point. Yes. So I go down the street get some food eat and eat it there. Come back and the shipper is closed down and gates locked with my trailer inside. Well crap. I'm not too worried because my FM says they'll be back at 8:00 am. No big deal so I go down the street and park for the night. I go back to the shipper in the morning and wait. No one shows up. This is Sat morning now by the way. I end up calling the number that's on the window sticker for some security company. They call everybody on the list and nobody answers. After about a half hour they finally get somebody on the phone. I ended up waiting another 2 hours for someone to come let me in so I could get my load and hit the road. So now I got the load and I'm headed to WA. I have a fuel stop in OR. Get to the Pilot and the pumps telling me to see cashier. He tells me I need my OR permit before he can let me pump. OR permit?? Okay?? Nobody told me about this. Go back to truck and tear apart my permit book looking for this thing. No Oregon anything in the book. Great!!!! Call weekend dispatch and get yelled at for not having the permit. Explained that I'm a new driver and no one told me. He proceeds to tell me how its my fault and if I got pulled over it would be my fine.....blah blah blah. He said he would fax one over in 10-15 minutes. Took him an hour and a half. My FM is awesome. The after hours bunch leaves much to be desired.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this week goes by without any more issues.

And Starcar if you read this, it looks like ill be heading right by you sometime tomorrow evening if you're still there. I'm gonna be heading east on I-84 on my way to WI. Red Roehl truck # 7535 with a load of lumber. Maybe ill see you out there.

We had a CR England guy in my Roehl orientation. So just be up front and honest with the recruiters. You might be surprised how many other offers you get.

Today was the last day of Phase one. Lots of hiring paperwork to fill out. Then right before lunch I learn that my trainer is nearby and I'll be the first one to head out. We were scheduled to be in the classroom until 3:30. My trainer showed up at 1:30. Was told to grab my stuff and go. Crappy part about that was we were gonna be able to borrow the shuttle van and go to Walmart for supplies after the end of class. So I missed out on that. Dang it!!!

The trainer seems like a pretty cool guy. Hes trained 14 drivers and only 1 failed. I don't plan on being number 2. So he drives the truck and empty trailer to the hotel so that I can grab my stuff and then we head to pick up our first load just down the street. Its a load of aluminum needing a full tarp. So I'm not even 2 hours in and I'm already learning how to tarp a load. Best part about it is the trainer (Dan) said he's had drivers out for 2-3 weeks that never get a tarped load so he never gets the chance to teach them how to do it. We get the load secured and tarped and he drives for about 2 hrs until his time runs out. Tomorrow I'll be driving first thing. We're relaying the trailer to Gallup, NM then picking up a load to CA. This will be my first mountain drive. Pretty much a 6% climb for about 12 miles. Wish me luck!!

I'll do my best to keep these posts coming asap. Take care and be safe out there.

Today we learned how to secure 2 trailer loads. One trailer had 2 different types and stacks of metal pipe. The second one had a suicide coil, shotgun coils and a couple of concrete blocks. We learned blocking, bracing, strapping and chaining. I learned a lot today. I'm really liking this flatbed thing so far. I can't wait for phase 2 when we get out on the road.

Sounds like things are going very well. I am very interested in your experiences. I am in the midst of trying to get in with Roehl on the east coast. I don't have my CDL so will be going through their 3 week in WI. I did get the opportunity to meet their local training supervisor and learned a lot from him on their expectations. Sounds like your living up to those very well. Keep it up. The guys I spoke to here been with the company 10-14 years and love their jobs.

So far they have lived up to my expectations. They have a drivers lounge here so we've been able to talk to some drivers. They all seem pretty happy. I'm sure I made a good choice.

AZ Scooby...you sound like you are a perfect fit for the company you chose !!! Now you know why we say..if it all looks good, and it fits you, then go for it. I'm glad you are finding the schooling challenging and educational..thats as it should be. Keep us updated...and go show em how its done !!!

Roehl was my first choice for a number of reasons, so I'm really happy that I was chosen by them. So far I'm very happy with everything that I've learned. The instructors have been great and take the time to explain everything in detail before turning us loose to try it on our own. Anyways I will keep posting on my experiences as I go along.

It's nice to hear all these details. I am considering Roehl as they have advertised a VA program that allows you to draw VA benefits during your first 2 years. That will be a lot of extra pay. If you hear of anyone in your class in that category, please post what you learn. I am to contact a recruiter tomorrow and so I will already have some questions pre-loaded.

The only vet in our class was the one that had to leave because of his friend dieing. So no info for you. Sorry.

Started with Roehl on Monday. 6 people total in the orientation. Thats all the classroom has room for which is kinda nice. Paperwork then pee and hair follicle testing followed by Roehls physical exam.

Tuesday we already had 1 guy quit. Said trucking wasnt for him. I think he was one of those people that think you just get in a truck and drive with no other responsibilities whatsoever. More drive time for me because he was in my truck. Morning was logbooks and map reading / route planning. Given homework to do throughout the week.

Wednesday was PowerPoint presentations on the Roehl Way then driving and 90 degree backing in the afternoon.

Thursday we were out driving while the other group did backing and then we switched in the afternoon. We weren't supposed to get tested on backing until Friday but everybody was nailing it so we tested out before the end of the day. Lost another guy but it was because of a death of a friend.

Friday we did our pretrip and driving test in the morning. That afternoon they tried something new. They made a box about 80ft x 70ft with an opening at the bottom left to pull into and another opening exactly 90 degrees from the pull in opening. We had to pull in the bottom and park it in the other hole without hitting any of the box. After we park we then pull out and back the trailer out of the original opening. Wow!! Cool thing is we're all getting it. We've been doing this over and over and over.

Saturday was load securement training and more backing.

Tomorrow we'll be securing metal coil and pipe.

Monday is our actual hire day and the beginning of Phase 2 So more paperwork. We get to find out who our driver trainer is and when we go otr for training, which could be as early as Tuesday.

I'm looking forward to getting out there and taking this training to a new level.

Congrats!! I've completed my CDL school and am just waiting to take my detail here in NH and as soon as I get license in hand I'm off to Roehls Appleton, WI terminal for orientation. Please keep us posted as I will do the same, I think two training experiences for same company at nearly the same time will help others who haven't decided who to go with whether or not ROEHL would be their cup of tea or not.

Wow. Lot of Roehlies showing up on here lately. What division are you going with? Rumor has it Roehl has started dropping reefers off at the Phx terminal. Looks like they're increasing their presence in the West.

That's great!

You caught a nice break getting to do orientation in AZ instead of Gary Indiana

Woody

No doubt. I was told they only do orientation in Phx a few times a year. I got lucky for sure.