Profile For Brandon Kitts

Our trucks at Roehl are clean idle certified. So often times our exhaust is cleaner than the air it pulls in. Lol

Thanks everyone, didn't realize companies switch it up so often. The reason I ask is because in my experience with the major truck stops (albeit non-trucking experience) Pilot/Flying J seem to be the nicest.

They are also some of the nastiest. It all depends on where the stop is located. In my opinion Loves and Petro are the cleanest. Most companies fuel where the best price is and what is on your route. At Roehl we have deals with Pilot/Flying J and TA/Petro and Loves in which we get a discount off the pump price. But we still look for the lowest pump price out of them. Regardless of where you fuel for the most part you pick where you park for the day. Ive fueled at at a Pilot and driven across the street to a Petro to park for the better food options.

I don't know about other companies, but at Roehl if they are paying for the room it is considered the same as their property so the same rules apply as if you were at a terminal. It isn't free time if the company is footing the bill. Good luck in the future and don't give up.

Direct tie down ( from trailer to cargo or trailer through point on cargo and vac to same side of trailer) gives you 50% of WLL on item used. Indirect (from oneside of trailer of through or around cargo and to the other side of trailer) gives 100%. Whatever the weakes point between chain ratchet and anchor determines your actual WLL per securement device. Aggregate is the sum of all securement devices and must equal at least 50% of cargo weight. It must also stop movement in all 5 directions.

If you fail the test your career is over before it even started.

I just switched from a 10 speed manual to a 12 speed auto shift. Once I quit trying to press the imaginary clutch pedal I have grown to love it.

My rookie year is going pretty well. I've been solo since January 20th. As flatbed and curtainside I've done 48200 miles as of yesterday. I'm on schedule to fulfill my 120,000 mile contract in 12 months or less. It would be even faster if I was a door swinger.

We were just told to pay attention to local news. I put some hose clamps on my glad hands to make it harder to disconnect if I were to get swarmed. Luckily as flatbed/curtainside I mainly pick up and deliver to industrial locations on the outskirts of cities and I'm usually parked before sundown when the crazy tends to start.

Welcome to Roehl Chris Z. I did my training at Gary as well. Who is your instructor? Just listen to what they tell you and you will be fine. Most importantly learn the pretrip. That is what gets most drivers. The give you a script to learn for the test. It is up to you to learn that with your truck mates after they teach it to you the first time.

When you apply to Roehl, they just slot you where they need someone? Can you apply to a specific Division?

A lot depends on where you live as to what fleet you can join at Roehl. The big thing they are hiring for now is flatbed and reefer.

The big thing is take your time. If you have a CB in your truck turn it off when backing at a truck stop. You will receive far more negative feedback than positive.

Watch where your tractor is going when backing. It is easy to swing your tractor into something because you are concentrating on your trailer.

Roehl has a training facility in Conley Georgia but will also send you to one of the other sites if needed. Once don with training we have a few drivers that live in the Las Vegas area. One of the is actually in our heavy haul fleet.

Stopped at a rest area near the Imperial Sand Dunes in Baja California. The hill behind my truck is on the US Mexico Border. The other side of the hill is Mexico.

I parked for the night at the TA in Las Vegas. It's kind of sad seeing all the casinos lit up but closed due to this pandemic.

I gave up the house I was renting when I went OTR. When I take hometime I either stay in my truck or in a hotel. I didnt see a point in paying for a place to spend 1 weekend a month. I went through company training with a homeless army vet that decided to become a driver for a place to live.

Freight has slowed down for all fleets at Roehl. Last week they had 150 drivers without a load. I've been fortunate as my FM has a load waiting on me before I deliver the current one. I'm on hometime until tomorrow morning and she sent me a load Friday evening. A lot of our customers that have been open up to now are closing for a few weeks. A big customer for those of us on curtainside is Masonite Doors in Marshfield and they went on strike.

The good thing about curtainside is that I can haul our designated loads and most flatbed loads.

Just keep your head up it will get better.

I'm not with Crete but, my truck has an apu that runs hvac. I have. Switch I turn on when parked and when truck batteries get low it starts up and runs until they are charged.

I believe most companies have apu or epu on their trucks.

I had that backwards. I have an epu not an apu. Lol

I'm not with Crete but, my truck has an apu that runs hvac. I have. Switch I turn on when parked and when truck batteries get low it starts up and runs until they are charged.

I believe most companies have apu or epu on their trucks.

I asked my trainer last night since we don’t have it on our truck how do you check the brake lights on a trailer alone? I was taught many years ago to depress trailer parking brake, pull down the trolley bar, and walk back to ensure brake lights are working.

His answer: a chuckle and he reaches behind the seat and pulls out a small oak tree branch with a Y on one end that he cut long enough to put the Y on a cross bar of the seat and the flat ends depressed the brake pedal.

That my friends is just one item of what 35 years of driving experience will teach me. I think it falls under the category of “a truck driver always has to think on his toes and overcome obstacles on his own!”

My International has a light test button. I turn it on during pretrip and it cycles all the outside lights continuously until turned off.

Our trucks dont have the trolley brake levers either.

With flatbed and curtainside you will eat through gloves. I've got a $95 pair that lasted about as long as a cheap pair. Between bungee cords and straps sliding through your hands as you check them the gloves will get eaten.