Roehl Training For New Driver With CDL

Thanks Nate. Great posts. Rhoel and Schneider are the top two companies I am considering.

A summary of my time on the road with a trainer.

My biggest fear when I started down the road of becoming a truck driver was the time spent with a trainer. I have spent a lot of time on the road travelling and I have seen many of the stereotypical truckers at truck stops across the Country. The idea of sharing a small space with a big stinky truck driver who ****es in an empty soda bottle while I am asleep in my bunk really bothered me. It bothered me so much that the amount of time with a trainer was a major factor in the company I chose.

So after I finished orientation I got a call from my FM telling me who my trainer was and when/where to meet them. When I got home I immediately looked them up on Facebook. I was so happy to see they were not 800 pounds.

The first morning I sat in the drivers lounge waiting for them to arrive. He showed up on the phone with his FM trying to track down a empty trailer so no words were exchanged. We walked out to the truck and I breathed a sigh of relief when his truck didn't stink and was pretty clean.

With all this I felt pretty good going into training on day 1.

I already gave a pretty good recap of how my days went so I am not gonna go through day by day again, instead I will go into more of the behind the scenes life with a trainer.

I had read many posts about trainees bringing way to much stuff with them on the road. So I knew I didn't want to be one of those guys. I purchased 2 bags for the road. Bag 1 was a medium duffel bag that held all my clothes, extra gloves, and my power cords and headphones. Bag 2 was a backpack that held all my shower and personal hygene items. I had 1 sleeping bag and 1 small travel pillow. I brought 1 jacket and 1 insulated flannel shirt. I wore work boots but had a pair of tennis shoes in my duffel bag (that I never wore). My trainer provided me with 1 cabinet to store my stuff but I ended up putting all my food in the cabinet and left my bags on the end of the bed. I am 6'2" and could lay flat with the bags barely in the way.

My trainer said he don't eat in the truck when training so we stopped at truck stops for meals. I ended up eating most of my meals with him (felt guilty eating my food while he is sitting inside) and I did not bring enough money. My trainer loves the buffets and while I tried to avoid them the menu items are not really much cheaper. On a side note: If you are not used to eating out like that already I highly suggest bringing some pepto or something similar. Very thankful I did. On a few occasions my stomach was in knots from the food and I found myself eating pepto chewables like candy and drinking a ton of sprite to combat the pain.

My trainer loved to talk politics and he was able to find a political discussion in anything he saw. Personally I hate politics and enjoy listening to music and keeping the chit chat to a minimum. I found it easiest to just say "yup" or "nope" in agreeance to whatever he was saying to get it out of the air asap. Now in no way am I saying that I was miserable because he always wanted to talk politics, in all my trainer was a very nice guy and I was getting along with him very well. For the most part I don't partake in much small talk and can enjoy hours of silence so being in the truck and having someone wanna talk a lot was an adjustment.

I did almost all the driving. The trainer drove from the time he picked me up to our first pick up (about 30 minutes from terminal) and then I took over and drove all the miles except when I was out of hours. They wanted me to drive at least 300 miles a day and I usually had over 500. Now my trainer did say that I drove more than any other trainee he has had in the past. On a few occasions he asked if I wanted him to drive through Chicago and I would laugh and ask why? Apparently most students are afraid of Chicago and had him drive through it.

The biggest gripe I have of my trainer is that he would always tell me what lane to be in. Usually way before the sign was there. I know that sounds pretty minor but that was my biggest gripe. So I guess that shows how good my trainer really was.

For some reason when I went out with my trainer I started having some problems downshifting. I never had a problem down shifting in school or during orientation so no idea what caused it. I blame it on the truck. All my training was done on an International and my trainer had a Freightliner. But it only took a little Chicago rushhour traffic to give me all the shifting practice I needed.

On a side note: You have no idea how bad people drive but after a week in a semi you will have an eye opening experience. Also realize that a lot of people driving truck can not keep their truck inside the lines to save their life. So when being passed or passing pay extra attention to the other truck. I couldn't count how many times a truck passing me would cut into my lane forcing me on the shoulder.

When you are out with your trainer be vocal with them. If you feel your struggling with something or feel you need a little more practice on something tell them. Or if you are unsure why something is done a certain way question it.

Your trainer is your last stop before going solo. Take the time to do everything yourself. Do the check ins, do the fueling, do the macros, do the driving. I couldn't believe all the stories my trainer told me about previous students who wouldn't do check ins or macros.

Well this morning I tested out for going solo.

Testing out consisted of a road test, a truck stop pull through, and backing between 2 trailers at a 45° angle.

They didn't have any trucks ready for me today so hopefully they will have one ready on Wednesday which is my scheduled launch day.

This will be my last entry for awhile. I am now on what is called phase 3 of training which is basically running solo but having a FM who is supposed to hold my hand I guess.

I will post again when I am done with phase 3 or sooner if I have something worth reporting that could be beneficial.

Great information, thank you! As an occasional over-packer, I'll be happy to learn the error of my ways from your experiences.

Now I pray that a trainer will allow refrigerator space, because pepto bismol won't really do it. After getting my gall bladder yanked, and years of confusion & suffering, I mostly live on: brown rice, carrots & hummus, kefir & rolled oats, blackberries, and string cheese. Some tuna with chia seeds in lettuce leaves never goes amiss either. Anything else and it's a game of pain-roulette with unhappy endings.

Anyway, looking forward to your next update.

In your situation I would suggest getting your trainers phone number and talking to him in advance.

I know in the truck I was in a fridge would not fit. But strapping a cooler to the catwalk would of worked great.

Week 1 solo update:

So I decided to make a post after my first week solo since I experienced some things that might help others.

Wednesday I got my truck at 1500. It was a 2016 International with 98,000 miles. It does have a front facing camera but not a driver facing. It is also the auto shift 10 speed. Not a fan of this 99% of the time, but sitting in Chicago traffic it comes in handy.

The truck is a single bunk and had plenty of cabinets. I actually asked maintaince to remove one of them so I could put my iceless cooler in that location but was told they can't. Not a huge deal.

Because I got my truck so late in the day I couldn't get a load out that night so I drove home to sleep in my own bed that night. I am on the 7/4, 7/3 schedule. So we launch on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Thursday morning around 9am I get a preplan to run a preloaded trailer that was already at the terminal to a consignee that was 9 miles away. Roads were real icy so I was kinda happy to have a short run to start so I could get a feel for the auto. Well here is where things go wrong.

While with my trainer his truck pc would stay on all the time. So I would pull up directions and leave them on the screen so I could follow the route. When I got in my truck I automatically assumed it would be the same. NOPE, the directions turn off when moving. Ended up missing my turn and having to do a 20 mile detour in crap weather to get turned around.

Still made it on time and got unloaded.

Next run was to get loaded 11 miles away and deliver outside Chicago the next day.

Here is where I am still having issues.

I can't help but push myself to get as many miles a day as possible. I usually run my clock down to nothing. This gets me to my appointments super early. Now every place I have been takes me early. Usually I am back out on the road off to another location way before my appointment time arrives.

So fast forward a few days. I am scheduled to deliver a load in Indianapolis, IN at 1430. I arrive 30 miles north of Indy the night before around 1730 and have enough time to get to the location yet tonight to unload. Well I decide to call them and see how early I can show up. The guy answers the phone and says "anytime after midnight". So I park and go on break. I get up around 0200 and arrive to consignee at 0330. The guy at window turns me away. I explain that I called and was told anytime after midnight but he wouldn't hear it. He then tells me "come back after 9" so I head back to the truck stop 30 miles away. I probably could have found a closer truck stop but being the hour it was I didn't wanna spend all morning trying to find parking.

Before heading back at 0900 I decide to call. Well took an hour to get someone to answer and the guy tells me I can't check in over the phone. I explain that I already drove the 30 miles there once today and didn't wanna waste anymore of my time and he tells me "not before 1200". So at 1100 I head back. I arrive and he tells me to park out of the way and they would call me when ready. Wait, you had parking on site? Why didn't he tell me that this morning? This was a sad lesson for me because by the time I got unloaded, headed the 45 minutes away to get my next load (thankfully drop and hook) I had 45 minutes left to find a place to park before I ran out of hours. Ended up getting parked with 14 minutes to spare.

I also left a lock on a trailer on my 3rd run. That is a $48 mistake. Not happy since basically that run was now free.

Another thing that I learned during this week.

While I really liked my trainer I realized he did not do me any favors by telling me when to stop when sliding tandoms, or ground guiding on backing. The first time I had to adjust tandoms it was a nightmare because while I knew how to slide them I had no idea how many holes I should be adjusting them. So my first time at a scale I ended up reweighing 8 times before I was happy with the load.

Luckily for me backing has always been my strong suite and besides one back (the drop and hook with an expiring clock) where I was under huge pressure I have not had any issues backing at all.

My suggestion is when you go out with your trainer make them let you do everything without help. Make them let you send all the macros. Make them let you get out and check hole placement on tandoms, make them let you make your own corrections when backing. However you plan to monitor your route make sure they let you do it from the start. My trainer used a Rand McNally GPS but knew the routes from running them so much so he would usually just tell me "turn here" and when I got out on my own I had to come up with my own system since the screen turns off when driving.

For me I like using post it notes with each turn on them. The copilot system helps but is not always accurate.

Adjusting to the truck turning on and off while I sleep is a challenge as well.

Nate wrote:

While I really liked my trainer I realized he did not do me any favors by telling me when to stop when sliding tandoms, or ground guiding on backing. The first time I had to adjust tandems it was a nightmare because while I knew how to slide them I had no idea how many holes I should be adjusting them. So my first time at a scale I ended up reweighing 8 times before I was happy with the load.

When moving your tandems, go to the trailer rear and determine how many holes you need to move. "Walk it off" from where the pin is on the slide rail to where you want it to be, and remember how many steps (even half steps) you took, either forward or rearward. Pull and set the pin-lock and walk back to the front of your truck and mark off those same steps from the front edge of your cab step, again either forward to move the tandems back to the rear or back from the step for moving the tandems forward. Once you have planted your foot on the last step, mark the front of your shoe (spot) with a coin or an object that will not blow around from wind and that you can clearly see from the cab. Hop in the cab and either move the truck forward or back until the coin (object) is even with the front step. Release the pin lock and move the truck forward of backward to re-lock the tandems. This method of walking off and marking distance is foolproof, works every time.

Also effective for figuring out how close you are to an object when backing the trailer and you want to get as close as possible (within inches) without striking the object. Very effective in the dark when depth perception is compromised.