Start With Roehl On Monday

Hey everybody. I know its been a while but I've been driving my ars off. I finished training with my trainer on Oct. 30. Tested out on the Nov 1 and got my truck that day and got to go home for some much needed family time. I drove over 3300 miles in 10 days during training. That was 5 different loads. One load was a relay to Gallup, NM and the rest were loads back and forth between AZ and CA.

Started my solo career on Tues Nov 5 with a load of flagstone going to CA. Then had a 3 stop load of stainless steel pipe to Fresno. Picked up a load of cable from Okonite in Santa Maria to bring to our yard in Fontana. Then picked up a load of sheet steel in Vernon, CA to bring to WA where I'm currently sitting for a reset. Leaving tomorrow to pick up a load of lumber and got a great run to WI for another 2200 miles. I'll probably be picking up a relay from our Marshfield terminal to bring back to Phx and then home for 3-4 days. So for my very first 2 weeks out I figured close to 6500 miles. Not bad for a rookie.

I'm a Western regional driver but told my FM if they needed anybody to run to our terminals in the Midwest that I would be willing if it'll get me miles. Turns out it paid off. I've taken every bit of advice from this forum and have worked my butt off to prove my worth to my FM. Hopefully she'll keep throwing me these great runs.

I've had some hicups. Believe me. Gashed a tire on my very first load. Got a message from myFM that it was okay with a shipper to park at there business overnight. I got there and my load was on another trailer. I just had to swap trailers and secure and tarp the load. I secured it but ran out of hours. I called my FM to ask if I could bobtail down the street to get some foid because I was too tired to make my own at this point. Yes. So I go down the street get some food eat and eat it there. Come back and the shipper is closed down and gates locked with my trailer inside. Well crap. I'm not too worried because my FM says they'll be back at 8:00 am. No big deal so I go down the street and park for the night. I go back to the shipper in the morning and wait. No one shows up. This is Sat morning now by the way. I end up calling the number that's on the window sticker for some security company. They call everybody on the list and nobody answers. After about a half hour they finally get somebody on the phone. I ended up waiting another 2 hours for someone to come let me in so I could get my load and hit the road. So now I got the load and I'm headed to WA. I have a fuel stop in OR. Get to the Pilot and the pumps telling me to see cashier. He tells me I need my OR permit before he can let me pump. OR permit?? Okay?? Nobody told me about this. Go back to truck and tear apart my permit book looking for this thing. No Oregon anything in the book. Great!!!! Call weekend dispatch and get yelled at for not having the permit. Explained that I'm a new driver and no one told me. He proceeds to tell me how its my fault and if I got pulled over it would be my fine.....blah blah blah. He said he would fax one over in 10-15 minutes. Took him an hour and a half. My FM is awesome. The after hours bunch leaves much to be desired.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this week goes by without any more issues.

And Starcar if you read this, it looks like ill be heading right by you sometime tomorrow evening if you're still there. I'm gonna be heading east on I-84 on my way to WI. Red Roehl truck # 7535 with a load of lumber. Maybe ill see you out there.

I pm'd Andy.....I'll have a brand new "washie" for him...He'll need it, bein' a Skateboarder...nobody shows off their work better !!!!!

I answered your pm....twice ....I think....Thats what I get for trying to watch Sleepy Hollow. ..just pushin' buttons and not lookin'

Hey that's a great update - thanks for that! Sounds like things are rolling along in a typical fashion for your first solo months on the road - bumpy & unpredictable & confusing!

It really is just a matter of survival out there in the beginning. There's just no way you could teach a new driver everything before they go solo. A lot of it - like that Oregon permit thing - you just learn as you go. It's certainly stressful at times, but as long as you don't hit anything it all works out fine in the end.

Now that's an awesome update, Scooby! I love all the detail. Reading this makes me so anxious to get started. Thanks again, Scooby, and keep the updates coming. What could be routine and redundant to some (not saying that it is...) is really alive and refreshing to us wannabees. I mean, this is stuff that is fresh off the presses and so relevant to us. I am also enjoying Daniel's diary and Old School's. It's like getting it "real time". So I just want to than k all of you guys for taking the time to update us on the forum.

Hey Scooby sounds like your doing great. You get to Marshfield let me know. Tammy, David and I are all 3 here. If time and schedules permit would be nice to meet you in person. Be safe

Hey Scooby sounds like your doing great. You get to Marshfield let me know. Tammy, David and I are all 3 here. If time and schedules permit would be nice to meet you in person. Be safe

Well I am deep into Phase 2 of ROEHL Training here in Gary, Indiana and I get to spend 2 days driving local loads in and out of Chicago to polish skills for testing out and getting assigned a truck, its been tough no doubt, with the emphasis on how much responsibility we as truck drivers we have. Roehl promotes the "driven to protect others" mantra and my instructor has beat it into my skull to the point I sometimes felt I was trying too hard to be "protective" and not being "productive" Anyways, as an aside and a nugget for thought, I have come to discover Roehl is becomming way more involved with Intermodal and I'm not sure just how I feel about it being that putting trailers on a train takes trucks off the road. I'm not complaining just wondering about those dominos.....

I have come to discover Roehl is becomming way more involved with Intermodal and I'm not sure just how I feel about it being that putting trailers on a train takes trucks off the road. I'm not complaining just wondering about those dominos.....

Hey, don't be concerned about it in the least. The rails do not have nearly the capacity or service times necessary to put a major hurting on trucking companies. And don't forget, trucks still have to transport containers between the rail yards and the customers which actually creates a lot of local and regional jobs that get drivers home more often. So that's not a bad thing.

I totally understand your concern but don't sweat it a bit. The rails play a role in transportation just like ships, planes, and trucks. It's all one big system and none of the other entities has the economics and infrastructure to really hurt trucking in any meaningful way. If anything, trucking has most of the advantages over the others.

Okay...I'm dyeing to hear how its going now...been 7 months. Roehl still treating you good!?

Any updates Scooby? Would love to hear more. I have a lot of questions and will be starting soon.