Roehl Training August 2014

It's Friday! Not that it really means much, have class tomorrow heh. I am finding every day is getting better and better. A mock cdl test today, basics. Left turn, right turn, side of road stop, thruway entrance, exit. I only failed once lol. Forgot my danged hi/lo switch when i had to come to a rather quick stop at a stop light. From sixth to stop, Just gotta remember every time i go into third to check my switch. Impeding traffic is an automatic fail. After lunch, backing, backing and more backing... The ninety is still kind of rough. Judging how long to hold the turn... Getting my tractor back in front of my trailer... Hope for more practice tomorrow. I can still do it using my two free pullups, but how awesome would it be to do it in one shot ha I'm still flabbergasted, only two weeks ago, i was... Well, scared to death of that truck. Now in the am, I'm hooking up and at the end of the day backing between two trailers that at one point looked like i couldn't fit a go cart between! Just feeling great about my choice to move forward with this. Be safe gang!

Busy yapping on the other forum lol Don't want to neglect my diary.

I do enjoy Saturday's. I get my own truck and just do backing exercises and or an instructor will take us driving. Pre cdl road test exercise today, and lots of practice. Coupling, pretrip inspection, Uncouple. I'll be testing Thursday... Can't say I'm not nervous. But practice makes perfect. I know in no time I'll be labeled as a rookie driver here. Yay! Really Will try to keep up a lil with my road training also. Have a great weekend gang!

Great job Andy. When did Roehl move the CDL school to Appleton??? It was always in Marshfield.

i live in Iron Mountain and in 2 weeks a cowoeker from mcdonalds and i are going to Marshfield.Time to leave mcdonalds and make some money

That's great Kevin! Too bad I'll miss you there ha. Are you and your friend planning on team driving, or solo? And definitely Marshfield? That's what they told me ttoo, but with the me contract at Fox Valley, that's where they are sending new starts... Three new guys yesterday for that fact...

Speaking of which, Monday... Began with a full pretrip after coupling our trailer. The instructor treated it as a CDL test pretrip. Easy enough. Not a ton of practice on it, but really, if you just look, you see what you need to. In cab, well, had to think a little ha. Almost forgot safety equipment. Fire extinguisher is out of sight. Rest of the day was practice road test, advice? Pay attention to signs lol. What height did that last bridge say? And do not forget your traffic checks. 6 all together While you turn. Lots to take in, allowed a ton of points, but hey, we want to be as perfect as we can right? Missed a couple mirror checks her and there during turns. Did a couple button hook turns, explained what to look for to know when you have to use one. a corner that had too freaking much traffic, to see how it's handled. Very short thruway run. Not bad at all. Downshifting is tremendously better ha. Confidence is up there finally. Testing Thursday. Man. Time flew by quick. I'm sure just more practice today. Nervously confident that I'll be fine. Thanx for reading this gang! Till tomorrow!

Two days to go... It's routine now, Morning, a long ride. Today was 150 miles, after we do backing practice. Apparently, we won't have class on trip planning and other material. I suppose i will find out when i meet my road trainer what's going on there. On a good note, definitely got my offset parking down, shifting and downshifting, corners... Just that danged 90 degree... Lucky i get 12 points to screw up lol 2 points for breaching a line, 1point per pull up beyond the two freebies... As long as i pass i don't care how many points i get ha... Definitely keeping my fingers crossed....

Well, today was the big day. At school by seven am, testing at 9:30 So... A little road trip, practice my backing. Everything went beautiful. Didn't miss a gear, corners were amazing lol Nailed my 90 without a pull up lol Why couldn't they test me then haha Well, pull the truck into a safety bay, And wait. Go over my Pretrip while i do. Here comes My tester. Nice guy, smiles, asks if I'm ready to go... Lol, sure... I pulled a "b" inspection, which means i only have to do from the back of the tractor to the end of the trailer. Throws me off a lil Not going in order from the front ha. But did well, only missed two items. Allowed 12 missed. How can that be if they're isn't much more than that you have to show for cdl testing? Went to backing next. No problem of course with straight line, offset, 1 pull up just to be sure i was straight. Than the dreaded 90! My nemesis lol I figured out what i was doing wrong yesterday, at least for me, i need to setup a little father away, getting my rear in front of the hole with room to spare to get my tractor lined up. Easy. 2 pull ups, but those were freebies. One goal to just make sure my bumper was in the box. Nicely done. Next.. The pressure is on lol

He directs me to pull out and go left to head out of the school grounds. If you can imagine how many curves are on the way out... Ha. And any curb rub will auto fail. Hit a curb before your even on the road? It's happened. No worries lol. Through a round about, right turn, what height was that overpass you just drove under... 13' 10" He just writes on his paper. Crap... Did i miss read that? Left turn, a mile or so, right turn. Pull over to the side of the road, continue, left turn. Hop on 41 south, remember traffic checks!! Every intersection! Change lanes on the thruway, change back. Whew... Exit at college ave. Right turn, seriously tight turn! Watch the curb, traffic checks! Ha. He just writes and check marks. Damn... Did i really rub that curb? Back to the round about, back to the school. Feeling crappy because I'm sure i failed. He looks at me, says, you missed a couple traffic checks, your shifting is average for three weeks training, Few other pointers. Dang... "But you passed, you did very well" Did i hear him right? Lol I must have looked like a deer in the headlights lol he chuckled. What a great feeling! One more step towards becoming a truck driver. I am officially licensed! WOOHOO!

A note for others coming here for training. Make Sure You Have An Original Birth Certificate! The other Roehl guy with me only had a copy. They will not issue a license without an original. He's going to have to train level two with his permit and cine back to Wisconsin after he gets his original to get his license... Then back to Ohio to transfer it there... Other than that, i go to Roehl tomorrow morning for orientation. I'll fill you in as it comes up. Man... I feel great!!