Soon To Be Starting CDL School With Roehl

If your going to put a freezer in a roehl truck it's going to be really expensive. There aren't any inverters in the trucks so everything has to run off 12v and while you can pay for an inverter it is really expensive and there isn't any way to mount a fridge or freezer. You can buy a 12v freezer but again it's really expensive.I have a plug in cooler and a lunchbox cooker and I do pretty well most of the time. I pack the cooler up at home with plenty of lunchmeat and pans of food for the lunchbox and it usually lasts me 2 to 3 weeks.

That's a little disappointing. Would you happen to have any idea what kind of "expensive" I would be looking at? Another question I have is if I were to pay for Roehl mechanics to install an inverter into the truck, and for some reason I am required to switch to a different truck, am I out the cost and have to pay for another one to be installed? Thanks.

I think that if you have an inverter installed you have to pay an extra charge when you switch trucks. You will keep the same inverter but they will charge you to install it on the new truck. They do make refrigerators and freezers that plug into 12v but they are somewhere in the 600 to 700 dollar range if I remember right. I couldn't afford that so I found the cheap way and it works pretty good.

If your going to put a freezer in a roehl truck it's going to be really expensive. There aren't any inverters in the trucks so everything has to run off 12v and while you can pay for an inverter it is really expensive and there isn't any way to mount a fridge or freezer. You can buy a 12v freezer but again it's really expensive.I have a plug in cooler and a lunchbox cooker and I do pretty well most of the time. I pack the cooler up at home with plenty of lunchmeat and pans of food for the lunchbox and it usually lasts me 2 to 3 weeks.

That's a little disappointing. Would you happen to have any idea what kind of "expensive" I would be looking at? Another question I have is if I were to pay for Roehl mechanics to install an inverter into the truck, and for some reason I am required to switch to a different truck, am I out the cost and have to pay for another one to be installed? Thanks.

Hey Thomas, It's good to know that I won't be the only one that has done any type of preparing besides just my permit. I notice you're from Georgia. Will you be flying up?

I'm going to drive up

I have to say I'm a little jealous. I'm just not willing to put that many more miles on my truck. Especially when I get around 7-8 miles to a gallon.

Well my car only has 20k miles on it and gets 30mpg. I'll have to fill up twice. It's just shy of 1k miles there. Plus they're gonna reimburse mileage. So I'm not too worried about it. I'll be leaving late Saturday night and stopping in Kentucky for a few hours shut eye in the car and driving the rest of the way sunday.

I think that you overthinking things at this point, though I do have more than 30 years of experience in this business too. For any new driver something missing from your list of stuff is a sleeping bag and perhaps a pillow or two, and what about a cb radio and an antenna? Perhaps a 12-volt plug-in electric cooler? Maybe a 9 or 13-inch tv with a DVD player? Something else missing from your list for a flatbed driver is a pair of decent coveralls, like the kind that Cabella's might sell. If you are going to be a second-seat driver you won't have to worry about a supply of bungees, rope, nails, a good claw hammer, other tools, a 12-volt floodlight, or a number of other similar items right away anyway.

Why not try to get on with a dry van or reefer outfit which will involve a lot less work than flatbed work does anyway? Marten is in Wisconsin and they hire rookies, as does Schneider, and a few others too.

Get back to me when you have 3-5 years of reefer experience as I know where you can get a $50-$60K job driving solo with full paid employee benefits if you are willing to work 5-on and 2-off every week, with two weeks of paid vacation your first year.

Trucker Mark, my last 10 years with Denney Transport.

"I think that if you have an inverter installed you have to pay an extra charge when you switch trucks. You will keep the same inverter but they will charge you to install it on the new truck. They do make refrigerators and freezers that plug into 12v but they are somewhere in the 600 to 700 dollar range if I remember right. I couldn't afford that so I found the cheap way and it works pretty good."

Thanks for the info. I suppose I will simply have to wait and see what kind of position I am in and what my needs are when the time comes.

"Well my car only has 20k miles on it and gets 30mpg. I'll have to fill up twice. It's just shy of 1k miles there. Plus they're gonna reimburse mileage. So I'm not too worried about it. I'll be leaving late Saturday night and stopping in Kentucky for a few hours shut eye in the car and driving the rest of the way sunday."

That's about the same distance I'll be driving. My wife is actually up in northern IL visiting some family (Has been for a few weeks now) so I plan to cut out this evening and drive through the night (Roehl sprung for a rental car) and stop in and visit with her for a few hours in the morning before I continue on to the hotel.

I think that you overthinking things at this point, though I do have more than 30 years of experience in this business too. For any new driver something missing from your list of stuff is a sleeping bag and perhaps a pillow or two, and what about a cb radio and an antenna? Perhaps a 12-volt plug-in electric cooler? Maybe a 9 or 13-inch tv with a DVD player? Something else missing from your list for a flatbed driver is a pair of decent coveralls, like the kind that Cabella's might sell. If you are going to be a second-seat driver you won't have to worry about a supply of bungees, rope, nails, a good claw hammer, other tools, a 12-volt floodlight, or a number of other similar items right away anyway.

Why not try to get on with a dry van or reefer outfit which will involve a lot less work than flatbed work does anyway? Marten is in Wisconsin and they hire rookies, as does Schneider, and a few others too.

Get back to me when you have 3-5 years of reefer experience as I know where you can get a $50-$60K job driving solo with full paid employee benefits if you are willing to work 5-on and 2-off every week, with two weeks of paid vacation your first year.

Trucker Mark, my last 10 years with Denney Transport.

Personally I do not believe it is possible at this point to overthink this change in my life. I would rather second guess myself now than while out on the road. I actually have a different packing list for when I start driving. This list was just for the schooling part. I only brought up the inverter as a side thought. With that said, I do not plan to bring a sleeping bag with me during the two weeks with my driver trainer because Roehl does not run their trucks as a team operation during the training.

I personally have little interest in dry van and reefer. I choose the flatbed division specifically for the extra physical work involved. As for the company being is Wisconsin, that had no merit to which company I chose. I currently live in Arkansas, and Wisconsin is just the school they chose to send me to. I do appreciate the information though.

"I think that if you have an inverter installed you have to pay an extra charge when you switch trucks. You will keep the same inverter but they will charge you to install it on the new truck. They do make refrigerators and freezers that plug into 12v but they are somewhere in the 600 to 700 dollar range if I remember right. I couldn't afford that so I found the cheap way and it works pretty good."

Thanks for the info. I suppose I will simply have to wait and see what kind of position I am in and what my needs are when the time comes.

"Well my car only has 20k miles on it and gets 30mpg. I'll have to fill up twice. It's just shy of 1k miles there. Plus they're gonna reimburse mileage. So I'm not too worried about it. I'll be leaving late Saturday night and stopping in Kentucky for a few hours shut eye in the car and driving the rest of the way sunday."

That's about the same distance I'll be driving. My wife is actually up in northern IL visiting some family (Has been for a few weeks now) so I plan to cut out this evening and drive through the night (Roehl sprung for a rental car) and stop in and visit with her for a few hours in the morning before I continue on to the hotel.

I think that you overthinking things at this point, though I do have more than 30 years of experience in this business too. For any new driver something missing from your list of stuff is a sleeping bag and perhaps a pillow or two, and what about a cb radio and an antenna? Perhaps a 12-volt plug-in electric cooler? Maybe a 9 or 13-inch tv with a DVD player? Something else missing from your list for a flatbed driver is a pair of decent coveralls, like the kind that Cabella's might sell. If you are going to be a second-seat driver you won't have to worry about a supply of bungees, rope, nails, a good claw hammer, other tools, a 12-volt floodlight, or a number of other similar items right away anyway.

Why not try to get on with a dry van or reefer outfit which will involve a lot less work than flatbed work does anyway? Marten is in Wisconsin and they hire rookies, as does Schneider, and a few others too.

Get back to me when you have 3-5 years of reefer experience as I know where you can get a $50-$60K job driving solo with full paid employee benefits if you are willing to work 5-on and 2-off every week, with two weeks of paid vacation your first year.

Trucker Mark, my last 10 years with Denney Transport.

Personally I do not believe it is possible at this point to overthink this change in my life. I would rather second guess myself now than while out on the road. I actually have a different packing list for when I start driving. This list was just for the schooling part. I only brought up the inverter as a side thought. With that said, I do not plan to bring a sleeping bag with me during the two weeks with my driver trainer because Roehl does not run their trucks as a team operation during the training.

I personally have little interest in dry van and reefer. I choose the flatbed division specifically for the extra physical work involved. As for the company being is Wisconsin, that had no merit to which company I chose. I currently live in Arkansas, and Wisconsin is just the school they chose to send me to. I do appreciate the information though.

I would still being the sleeping bag and more clothes because even tho Riehl doesn't team for training your still going to be living in the truck with your trainer. The trainers all have double bunk sleepers and your trainer will tell you which bunk to use. I actually went and bought a sheet set instead of a sleeping bag to save space.