Comments By Nate_K

My cdl school taught me how to pass a cdl test. They didn't teach me anything about driving truck.

I have been on the road with my trainer for 9 days and have put on over 3,500 miles. Been to 7 States and have experienced things school just can't teach you. Snow, ice, rain, construction zones, hills, mountains, getting lost in Atlanta. All this has opened my eyes a lot.

I have had to do multiple blind side backs in heavy traffic docks, dealing with adjusting weights to be legal. Having to skip fuel stops because it would put me over weight. All things I never learned in cdl school.

I am not in love with having $3100 held over my head but my eyes have been opened and can see the additional "training" I have received.

Day 8 with trainer.

Had about 10 hours left to drive to our destination but only 12 left on my 70. So I drove the majority today and with 2 hours left on my 70 the trainer took over.

We got about 20 minutes from destination and found a place to crash.

Talked to my FM to finish my training brief with her. We will deliver tomorrow at 8am and then wait for a route home.

So don't go to orientation.

You have other options.

I was reluctant to sign the contract also but decided Roehl was the best fit for me of all the companies I talked too. So 75,000 miles seems fair since another company will want to see at least a year of driving anyways.

I go solo Monday and very happy with my choice.

Day 7 with trainer.

Got up this morning knowing out pick up wasn't til 12:30 but convinced my trainer to go early.

Arrived at the facility and a line of 6 trucks sat in front of us and I thought I might of made a mistake coming early.

Told my trainer I was gonna head in and see what the procedure is since he never been here before.

Guy at counter took my ID and said go ahead to door 3. Got loaded 2 hours early and we're out of there in no time.

Drove as long as I could tonight since we deliver Thursday at 8am and need to make good time on this one.

I ended up talking to my fleet manager last night and she set it up for me to test out on Monday. Then Tuesday I will head out solo. Technically I am supposed to start my on days on Wednesday but offered to head out right away after testing out.

Day 6 with trainer.

Well woke up late and didn't rush for anything. Didn't have to deliver until 1300 so no reason too.

Arrived at consignee at 1130 and was allowed to dock around 1200.

Got our preplan for a route back to Wisconsin with a Friday delivery. Trainer is taking his off days on Saturday so looks like this will be my last week with trainer.

We got a pick up tomorrow for 1200 in Atlanta so we parked early and will spend the night here in the ATL about 30 minutes from our pick up.

Glad to see we are headed north so I can get my own truck but not looking forward to the cold temps.

So woke up this morning to ice everywhere. Wasn't sure if we would end up just staying at the truck stop all day or trying our luck.

Trainer asked what I wanted to do and I chose to drive. Gotta learn to drive in unfavorable weather too.

Well roads ended up being fine and we arrived to the truck stop without any issues. We are an hour from the drop with a 1300 delivery time.

So here we sit enjoying some football and Popeyes chicken.

Still no preplan for the next load but figure we will have it tomorrow morning sometime.

I drove the hills of Tennessee today so glad I got to experience that and learned how to navigate them without having to brake at all. Since this is a route I will likely run often I am glad it went well.

So how do they do the drug testing? Hair or urinalysis? Im clean but not for a year like another company wanted

They do hair and urine

Yeah I lucked out being the only one in orientation also.

Glad your enjoying Roehl. I am on day 5 with my trainer and it is going good.

Day 4 with trainer.

Woke up to snow in Appleton. I was really impressed with the showers at the terminal. Very clean and nice.

I drove 10 hours and over 500 miles from Appleton, WI to Sonora, KY today. Trainer did not drive. We don't have to be to Atlanta until Monday afternoon but we should make it just in time for the Packer game if weather holds up.

Rained all day today and temp is supposed to keep dropping so trainer said we might not leave the truck stop tomorrow if it don't look good.

Been curious what they are gonna give us after this drop. I know that Friday is the earliest I can be done with my trainer so hoping they keep us south so I can avoid the crappy cold temps back in Wisconsin.

Day 3 with trainer.

Got to sleep in today and it was needed.

Hit the road about 7:30 and made it to out drop off about 2 hours early. Rained all day.

Got a pretrip to Atlanta so we will escape the cold snow filled Wisconsin forecast.

One thing I have noticed is that we don't seem to have enough hours to make our stops on time. Not sure if they are just giving us crazy short windows or if time is just being mismanaged. Trainer has had to drive yesterday and today because I run out of time. Now he isn't running 8-10 hours, seems to be 3-4 just to get us within range but it is still kinda puzzling to me.