Beginning Company Sponsored Training With Roehl

Their training program is intense, isn't it??? That's something that everyone seems to agree on for sure. But that will surely make it challenging.

Not only is it a matter of economics to get the drivers out on the road making money as soon as possible, but they're trying to see who is really dedicated to learning this stuff and becoming a great driver. They'll throw everything at you as quickly as they can and either you get it or you get knocked on your *ss by it.

Have you guys had many students get sent home or drop out of the program?

Tomorrow morning first thing is another pretrip, hookup, review of right turns, and then if our drug test results come in tomorrow afternoon we hit the streets.

On to the streets!!!

Day 3:

Rain all night which I guess was good. It kept the temperature up. Put on the rain gear and started pretrip promptly at 0645 hrs. Got it done and went down to our trailer. Got it hooked up and as Bob promised, we spent a couple hours reviewing right turns, left turns, and straight line backing. Actually he was stalling waiting for the drug test results to come back. He kept asking if we wanted to take a break, and of course not, lets roll and practice. I think we may be wearing him out a little bit.

By 1000 hrs. Bob got impatient waiting for the office. He took us out for a tour and walked us through many different aspects of being on the road with other people. Signs, markings, intersection anayalis and the like. We went back to the yard after about 30 minutes and he went to the office to check his email for our test results.

He came out and Tammy's results came back, but mine didn't. Guess who drove first!!!! We hit the road and he went through everything he had on his schedule and still no results on me. We went back and fueled the truck and as we were finishing my results came back. He was very happy. We switched and my turn to drive. He told me we were going the same route Tammy drove. I took off and for most of the initial trip he never said a word. I looked over at his hands to see if he was holding on and if his knuckles were white. Finally he spoke and asked if I remembered where to turn. I said yes sir. He went back to being quite. I had a little trouble timing my downshifts for the turns at first. I finally got a reaction outta him. We discussed it and off I went to try again. After several times I got better at it, but in the end I'm still slowing too soon. We switched again and ended up back at the yard around 1615 hrs.

Bob ran down tomorrow morning's routine and asked while we were parking if we wanted more practice at coupling/uncoupling. We said sure, without hestitation. He said ok. We finished up with un coupling our trailer and doing our post trip.

We graded the homework while on the road, and got the cdl pretrip sheet. Boy is it a lot shorter than the company's.

Another 5 chapters of homework tonight.

Brett, intense is putting it very mildly. This program moves along extremely fast and furious. The instructors are very committed to getting everyone through. They say they do have some students that pose more of a challenge than others. They will do what they can, but if someone just can't cut it then they will drop them. They told us they average about a 5 percent or so loss rate. Our class is small because the other 2 students didn't pass their permit tests before coming. In casual conversation it seems they tend to loose most students because they don't follow the rules. They have a total ban on the use or possession of alcohol while your here. Personally I don't see how someone could screw that up, but they say it happens at times. They even had one very good student behind the wheel that after passing his cdl exam went out and celebrated and guess what. Got arrested for drunk driving. I can't stress enough to anyone wanting to do this. FOLLOW THE RULES!!!!! None of these companies are going to excuse you being stupid or arrogant enough to not play by their rules. They have them in place for whatever their reasons are. But companies don't owe anyone anything at this stage, if you want it bad enough follow their rules and everything will be fine.

Ya know, one time I was talking to the guy giving drug tests for the physical and they included a breathalyzer test. It was like 8:00 in the morning. I asked him, "Does anyone ever fail a breathalyzer test they're taking as part of a job interview?" and he said, "Oh yeah. You'd be surprised at how many people fail it."

Geez.....going for a job interview, physical, and drug test for a trucking company and you're legally drunk. There are some unbelievable people out there....

Day 4:

0645 hrs at it again. Cold and icy this morning. Gives you incentive to get the pretrip done alright. My partner and I are doing 2 full pretrips a day. I do one completely, and she does the other. It's starting to flow now we've done it enough. I still find myself adding extra's to it though. Guess I'm making it harder than it has to be. Bob likes me being thourough, but he's stressing to stick to the script for the cdl pretrip. Got it done and hooked up, completed in cab and Bob showed up as we were finishing up. He was very pleased we were ready to roll.

My drug test still wasn't back so he had me practice a couple laps of right turns. Then he had me do a very long straight line back. Then he had a disgusted look on his face. I asked what I did wrong, and he said nothing. You got this and we're stuck. He had us switch and Tammy got to drive on the road for a bit. We returned to the yard and as we were pulling in he was chomping at the bit. I asked what else was on the agenda. He said the 90 degree back. I asked if we could just do that, and by the time we were done hopefully my test results would be in. He agreed so we went to the begineer blocks. He showed us one time, then turned us loose.

I paid very good attention to what he did. Didn't look to hard as long as you pay good attention. So I tried. I got it in the hole without a great deal of trouble twice. Then I sneazed and in that split second messed myself up. I got it in there with 2 small pull ups. Note to self. If you get distracted IMMEDIATELY STOP!!!!! I only rolled a foot or two, but that was more than enough to mess me up.

We broke for lunch and got back and completed our second pretrip. It folwed even better than the morning's did. Wow. Maybe because I had thawed out, not sure.

Bob arrived and was again pleased we had got done in a very timely fashion. He looked at me and started shaking his head. I asked what was wrong. He said "what am I going to do with you". I about had a heart attack right then and there. I calmly said "I don't know make me drive". He started laughing and said "ok you got your wish, lets go". I asked if he was sure my results were actually mine this time. He laughed and said, Yes I printed it out". We all got a good laugh and hit the road.

We stayed out most of the afternoon and it even started snowing. It wasn't sticking and the roads were good. But it was very strange to be driving that truck with snow coming down. Bob all of a sudden said " I need some coffee to stay awake with you guys", and directed me into the back driveway of a truck stop. He explained what he wanted me to do to park. At first I just looked at him like he was crazy. I took a deep breath, and responded "yes sir". I had all the faith in him and I did it just the way he asked, except one small bobo. It was a 2/12 position back and when I first pulled up I stopped instead of keep rolling. After him yelling don't stop rapidly in my ear I got the hint. I completed the rest of the maneavor without a hitch and that truck was perfectly straight right between 2 others already there. Then as we stopped and shutdown both the other trucks on each side pulled out. My first thought was, well fine time for them to leave. Would have been kinda nice if they would have left 15 minutes earlier.

We got back and finished up our post trip and unhooked for the night.

Today was non-stop and full of new challenges. I loved every second of it, and even though the new stuff was mind boggling at first, we both got much better with a little practice.

Bob told us that today is kinda make it or break it day. He said by now he usually knows for sure if a student will be successful or not and he has his private heart to heart talk. Then he stopped talking. We both looked at him and waited for his next comment. There was no further comment. Finally we both said "well" and he said "well what". He started smiling from ear to ear and said "oh you guys got no worries unless you do something really stupid". We both felt much better after that. Bob is a very dedicated trainer, but he is also quite a cutup at times.

Well ya'll time for homework again. Just 5 chapters like the past few nights. I'm even getting used to that.

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you! Sounds like a good program. Keep going strong, you're definitely going to like the outcome of it.

What were you deciding to do for Roehl? Flatbed, Reefer , Dry or Curtainside?

Yes Brian it's a lot coming at you all in a big hurry. I love a good challenge, and I got that for sure. Doing the High Road Training Program made all the difference for me. I would not have been able to do this cold. Also a lot of the things that were not really clicking just reading it is clicking pretty quick now that its hands on. I signed up for National dry van. You can always change divisions. I just figured coming into this dry van would work and as I gain experience I can always change if I want to. Marshfield is the headquarters with a lot of drivers in and out. I have had the chance to talk with several from other divisions and I'm thinking about asking about going national refer. I don't think flatbed is on my list of wanting to do at this point. I still got a couple weeks to make up my mind for sure.

Day 5:

I almost thought this morning, "Thank god it's Friday", then I remembered we have classroom tomorrow. Oh well.

Today started off with it snowing, foggy, visibility was about 100', and a light dusting of snow on the ground. Thank god for hot coffee during that pretrip. We got the truck ready and just as we were about done with the incab here come the instructors. They were pleased both trucks were ready to roll.

We sat in the nice warm truck (i'm really getting to love the bunk heater) and we took our week one written test, and graded the homework. As the fog lifted a little we went over to another set of blocks and practiced the alley dock backing. They have 3 different exercises setup for this. The beginner, 16' wide opening with huge cement blocks on both sides, a set of old trailers, spaced 15' apart, then the test slot. This is another set of huge concrete blocks and these are 14' wide. They didn't tell us, but I figured it out pretty quick. The instructors caught me pacing it off, and then asked what I was doing. I explained briefly and they just looked at me like I was crazy. They had not had anyone do it I guess. Bob, our in truck instructor finally copped out that I was correct later in the day.

I was a little miffed at myself on the first attempt. I knew I messed up and went over pararrell almost immediately. I had to do a small pull up. I got it in the slot and got out. Bob sensed I wasn't happy and asked me what was wrong. I told him I had to pull up a little to finish it off. He walked me to the front of the truck and said look down both sides. So I did. I asked what I was supposed to be looking at. He said "it's straight you did well". I told him it was my personal goal to get it in there with one shot. He told me that wasn't necessary and I told him for me it was. He just shook his head and grinned. The next couple of tries went much better and I got them in one shot. I was now happy with myself.

After the fog lifted we hit the road. Bob directed me out and about and the first couple intersections I thought were a bit rough. Early down shifting, grinding a little and so forth. After about the third turn I settled into a rhythum and things went well. Down every city street trucks were allowed in Marshfield I think, including a pair of round abouts. I have never liked those, and I espically don't like them in a truck, but I didn't hit anything so all in all good.

The fog lifted a bit more. Bob managed to find about 4-5 totally blind country road intersections, then some nice steep hills. Oh boy was that an adventure. Upshift, downshift. I got plenty of practice at that today.

We switched drivers and Tammy did much of the same and we returned to the yard. Parked it for lunch, and then back to pretrip and the road in the afternoon. I even have Bob ready mid afternoon to hit the truckstop for a cup of coffee. I had broke my sunglass's on Monday and had not found a pair I liked and my ears have been so cold I couldn't feel them. This truckstop had a very nice selection of sunglass's and beanie hats. My day was complete.

We did more country and in town driving and returned to the yard for one last shot at the backing in the 14' opening. I didn't get my turn. I was disappointed, but I was so cold I was ready to call it a day.

The tests were graded and I only got a 91% and Tammy got a 96%. Ummm guess I need to study a little more.

Well I got my homework done for tomorrow, and we get trip planning and Road Atlas in the morning. Bob scored us a advance copy and told us if we cared to do a little pre studying tonight these might be page numbers to go over. Hint, Hint....

We are actually about 1 full day ahead of schedule according to the instructors and doing well enough Bob is very confident we will do extremely well next week on the cdl exams.

I have done the pretrip so many times now I am dreaming about doing it. I figure that can't hurt. I want it to flow nice next week for our special guests (examiners)......

That's all for tonight. After the last 5 days I am physically and mentally drained and need to just kick back.....

Awesome updates PJ. Looks like things are moving right along.

Woody

Day 6 (end of week 1)

0630 hrs. arrived for classroom stuff at the terminal. We were locked out and it was cold. Since we were scheduled for the classroom I did not take my gloves and beanie. Big mistake. After about 20 minutes turning into a human popscicle the door opend and we went to the classroom. Who ever thought a instructor would be late. It turns out he was there and making coffee and lost track of time till he saw us out the window.

We all got our coffee and he went right to work on the motor carrier atlas. He covered all the important parts how to read it, calculate mileage, and find if we have any restrictions. Then we did a couple of exercises finding stuff.

He moved on to trip planning. Boy was that an eye opener. He also went over the pitfalls of using GPS. He showed us some pictures of drivers relying on GPS who also no longer work there. Pretty bad stuff happens when you end up somewhere you shouldn't.

We did a trip planning exercise from start to finish. Boy did we have a wide range of answers. We went over it and we all found out pretty quickly where we went wrong. At least I got all the calculations right for the route I selected. That was good at least. Covered just a touch of HOS , then off to the wonderful world of Hazmat.

We thought we were done, then he handed out a test. Oops a test!!!! All on Hazmat. I knew where I was weak on this from the high road program so I took advantage of the instructor and had him cover those areas really good. He was good and was able to explain it so that I got it. Made me feel better. We took the test and then we graded them. I was amazed. I scored 100%. I have never aced a test in my entire life. I was feeling pretty good about that. My partner missed 2, 1 because she rushed through reading the question.

I can't stress this point enough!!!!! When taking a test, no matter what slow yourself down and read each question very carefully.

Then we got a handout. Important stuff to keep as our own???? Nope more homework. 3 trip planning scenarios from start to finish. Plus we got the last 5 chapters of our book due on Monday morning as well. Going to be busy tonight and tomorrow.

I just hope being away from it a couple days that I forget what I already learned. That would not be good.

Oh and a side note. RDTC (Roehl's driving school I came too) no longer exists. They are now the Wisconsin CDL School. They are certified by a lot of folks, including the Wisconsin Dept. of Education.

Till Monday.....Everyone please enjoy your weekend and be safe....

Their training program is intense, isn't it??? That's something that everyone seems to agree on for sure. But that will surely make it challenging.

Not only is it a matter of economics to get the drivers out on the road making money as soon as possible, but they're trying to see who is really dedicated to learning this stuff and becoming a great driver. They'll throw everything at you as quickly as they can and either you get it or you get knocked on your *ss by it.

Have you guys had many students get sent home or drop out of the program?

Tomorrow morning first thing is another pretrip, hookup, review of right turns, and then if our drug test results come in tomorrow afternoon we hit the streets.

On to the streets!!!

I am in their Phase 1 orientation same time as PJ is going thru school and we lost 2 guys to sleep apnea Issues.