Comments By Nate_K

So last night while sleeping I hear a banging on my door. Now I am at a customer and not a truck stop so I automatically assume it's another driver.

I get up and it is security telling me I have to go to another location to sleep.

I explain to him that my hours are expired but he wants no part in it and says I must relocate.

So I stay below 4th gear and creep the mile up the road to where he wants me to go but my pc starts going nuts for a violation.

In the remarks I put the comment "Forced to move" but I realize it doesn't matter.

My question is what is my punishment gonna be? How much is the fine and such?

I am on the Roehl 7/4, 7/3 plan. I am gonna get home a day late this time but never happened before.

You will be happy with Roehl.

Been out on my own for a few weeks and so far I am very happy. Getting good miles, got a great truck, getting good loads, and my fleet manager is very receptive.

I ask to be routed away from the snow and they do it. I ask them to contact a customer and see if we can get in early and they do it.

99% of Roehl drivers I have spoken with love it here. Even the few who were leaving said they would come back in a second if the new job didn't work out.

The only gripe I have is they wouldn't take out a cabinet for me. Yup, pretty minor.

Roehl tells you the route to take and where to get fuel. Now I have veered off their route a few times and have never heard a word from them about it. Roehl also will run you most direct route. I seem to get a good variety of freeway and highway routes.

As far as hometime Roehl has some good options. I run the 7/4, 7/3 which I like. I can plan things months in advance because I know when I will be home. They also offer a 14/7 that I will switch to in the future. The downside to these options is you share the truck.

As far as equipment goes Roehl has great equipment. I think 2014's are being phased out because I only see 2015-16's and all our trailers (reefer is what I pull) are in great condition. We actually just bought a bunch of new ones and heard more will be purchased soon.

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.

Hang in there Tyler!

It's hard on Mom, Dad, children, and even pets sometimes.

Being in military the family is used to me being gone. But our two little dogs have never been apart from me. Now the one who is more attached to me sits by the door every night waiting for me to walk in.

Hate to say it but it's harder being away from the dogs than the family.

Got pulled into a weigh station today in Illinois and he waved me through so that 100 pounds must be ok. Since the majority of my runs are through Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana I think I am ok.

Thanks everyone.

I head in on Tuesday and will talk to the shop about it then.

I have been green lighted through weight stations so far so figured they must allow a tolerance.

Physics obviously wasn't my strong suit since I figured the more weight i put on my drive tires would mean less on my steer and trailer tires.

I will check the tires in morning. I am willing to bet they are similar to yours since I get the green light from FM every time I let her know weight is over.

5th wheel is not adjustable but plan to talk to maintaince when I get back to yard about it.

Both with full tanks.