Comments By penn99

South of Moab, UT

Hurtado BBQ

The Conley yard, and maintenance facilities are pretty cramped on too little a section of real estate. My favorite terminal always was the facility in Gary, IN.

My trainer thinks there is a chance we may be headed there to Gary.... will find out more tomorrow morning. Four or five of my classmates were there yesterday with their trainers... I don't know how they managed that... maybe the stars and the moon aligned properly. They all had dinner together... pretty cool... with I could have been there.... but, back to the real world... lol.

2021-08-08

Another quick update.

I thought about starting another thread.... calling it Phase 2.... nahhhh..... will stay with this one.

Phase 2 essentially started back when I did my two days with the local driver out of Roehl's Phoenix Terminal. I started with my official driver/trainer exactly one week ago from today.

I continue to feel blessed... my current trainer has been excellent... he is several years younger than me... but he has been an excellent instructor and we have many likes and dislikes in common. I honestly feel that it could not have been a better matching. My understanding.... he feels very happy to have me as a student also. We get along extremely well... and we work together, extremely well!!

We are flatbedders... I don't need to get into any specifics... most of our loads have been light so far... some small... some not so small... but, 'relatively' light. I have done plenty of strapping... some tarping... and plenty of driving. Have not had the chance at using chains... or carrying a heavy load yet... but, that will come. We started in Phoenix... swung over to LA... down to Yuma... back to Phoenix... up to Salt Lake City... down through the Utah hills/mountains east of Spanish Fork (beautiful down that way)... and then down through Albuquerque into the Dallas area.

My trainers 70 hour clock ended a bit earlier than mine... thus... I drove the full 609 miles yesterday into the Roehl Terminal in the Dallas area. He timed us, almost perfectly.... maybe to close.... lol. As we parked in the terminal last evening.... I had 12 minutes left on my 70 hour clock.... lol!

The Roehl Terminal in Dallas is a bit smaller than the one in Phoenix. We knew it did not have a washer/dryer... but.... but we did not know that the courtesy car provided for drivers, would not be available to us as the there are no employees here on the weekend to provide us with the key... this is unlike other Roehl Terminals..... grrrrr!! Parking here last evening... somewhat of a disaster. The yard is packed with trailers, tractors... and tractor-trailer combinations. Ugh... what a pain. Today... it has cleared up a bit... waiting to see what tonight looks like.

Our saving grace.... today we Uber'd to Hurtado's BBQ about 4 miles away.... awesome BBQ. Other than that... chillin' in the truck and relaxing.

I have had an awesome week. I continue to be happy with my choice to go with Roehl... I am extremely happy with all my trainers.,,, and I am very happy doing what I am doing. I suspect this lifestyle works for me... at least for now.

We are waking early tomorrow to drop our load.... and await a new load.... and then on to a new destination. Damn... this is fun!!

All is good!!

Davy.... I have been a silent observer of your diary. Always a pleasure to read all that you share... thank you for making the effort to do this.

I had hoped to do the same as you with my diary... but... didn't quite make it.... lol.

By the way... I lived in Aurora for about 10 years.... many moons ago. Man, I miss Colorado.... love that state!!

Carry on, good sir!! Hope all is well with you.

That's great to read you won't be flying cross country to find the trainer.

That is true... however... I was looking forward to seeing the Roehl terminal in Conley. But... I will make it there eventually. My roommate from Phase 1 is flying down to Conley (Atlanta) tomorrow. He is going reefer... and meets his trainer on Tuesday.

Hello guys.

I am a driver for Roehl Transport. I went through their GYCDL program back in December of 2019. I've done about everything with them from reefer, dry van, flatbed, stepdeck, and curtainside. I've been a lease operator with them since October 2020 and I would say overall it's a decent company.

. . .

Just some advice I thought I'd share with you as it's something that's very important but not gone over with in training. I struggled my first couple months solo and wanted to quit so bad. But then I got the hand of how dispatching works and it's not so bad now. Once you get issued a truck, you will able to join "The Original Roehl Driver's Club" on Facebook if you'd like and introduce yourself. Lots of good people there including quite a few million milers here at Roehl.

Great info, Christopher. Thank you for sharing.

July 28 -- Starting Phase 3.

Thanks, Christopher P. That's very helpful. Yesterday, I finished Phase 2 and passed the Driver Safety Exam (DSE). The DSE was no joke. I was under the impression that the driving test was simply a formality, but in my experience, the exam included several potential fail points, including a king pin hookup that looked OK, but was not completely closed, even though it looked closed. Some of the turns were tricky. My DSE test did allow for the use of a GPS navigation device, which I otherwise would rely upon heavily, so I was not comfortable relying solely upon street signs. I came into the test thinking that backing into a parking space would be the most difficult part of the test, but I managed to do that with only one pullup. The driving and pre-trip inspection were actually more difficult than the backing because they were designed to test drivers with unusual conditions.

The 19 days of driving in Phase 2 was an intensive learning experience, not only as to the fundamentals of driving and parking a truck and trailer, but also the details of entering and receiving information in the digital tracking system. Interacting with people at shipping and receiving was a little intimidating, at times, because some people are simply rude, or angry, or tired, or otherwise not eager to interact with drivers.

But I got through it, and now I am waiting on my truck so that I can begin Phase 3.

Also great info, David. And also... thank you for sharing.

I am now starting Phase 2 with Roehl... I am excited to get going tomorrow... but was not fully aware of what you described regarding DSE. Good stuff to know!!

2021-07-31

And... another quick update....

Friday (yesterday).... for the 3 individuals from my original class who retested yesterday.... 2 of the 3 passed their retest. The 3rd individual unfortunately did not pass... and that person is going back to their home state to obtain the CDL.

Final tally for my training group: 12 people started Roehl Phase 1 training.... 12 people completed Roehl's Phase 1 training... and 11 people obtained their CDL via Roehl's Phase 1 training.

One item I don't think that I have mentioned previously.... all CDL exams are performed at the Roehl terminal/yard... as Roehl now has state (WI) certified people who are able to perform the exams.

As for me... onto Phase 2:

Roehl has a terminal in Phoenix.... and... I was given the opportunity to work a few days until such time as I can connect with my new driver/trainer for Phase 2. As such... I worked this past Thursday and Friday running local loads with one of Roehl's local drivers. He was excellent... super nice guy... and just an all around good guy to be working with for only a few days. Much the same as with my Phase 1 training group, I seemed to have connected well with him and I truly appreciate the short two days that I had working with him.

And.... as is with everyday life.... things change!! I am no longer going to GA. I will now meetup with a new and different driver/trainer on Sunday (tomorrow) at 11am.

I talked with this new driver/trainer last evening for about 20 minutes. He is coming into Phoenix today from Vegas and we will officially connect up tomorrow. From my initial chat... he sounds like a great guy.... I am excited and look forward to working/training with him for the next 3 weeks.

To close things out for today...... a few extra thoughts....

I truly feeling blessed... I have had nothing but terrific experiences thus far.... and looking back, I have now cemented in my mind that I have made the right decision to go with Roehl for my training... for my new career... and for my future!! Additionally.... I am extremely thankful that Roehl chose me... and allowed me to take this journey with them.

Every trainee.... trainer... employee... etc.... that I have met on this journey.... has proudly talked about... and exemplified Roehl's company culture and safety culture. And for me.... I see it... I feel it... and everyday, I have and will continue to live it.

Thus far, I am extremely satisfied.... I am happy... Roehl is good... life is good!!

All is truly good.

And... as some in todays world would say.... YMMV..... or, Your Mileage May Vary..... LOL.

Penn99,

Woohooo~~~!!!!! Onward and upward, good sir! (Picture looks great, also!)

I'm enjoying following along; and look forward to your 'trainer' updates. Enjoy the home time now~lol!

Congrats, & howdy to the Missus ~!

~ Anne ~

Hi back at you Anne.... Always nice to hear kind words from you. Hope all is good with you and your family.

Just wanted to see this picture in a forum post.... to see how well it looks... or how well it 'doesn't' look... lol.

Time/location: early morning.... Hwy 54.... crossing the top most portion of Texas.

LOL.... did not hit 'GO' to add the photo on the previous submission... sorry about that.

Just wanted to see this picture in a forum post.... to see how well it looks... or how well it 'doesn't' look... lol.

Time/location: early morning.... Hwy 54.... crossing the top most portion of Texas.