Preparing For A Trucking Career With Roehl

Sorry for the lack of clarity. Yes, you are correct. They are NOT required. The only thing you NEED is your CLP. Like I said, all the rest are helpful at some point but not needed to do the GYCDL program.

I got a ton of help from this site, so, It's good to share the little bit of experience i have so far.

Hey Cowboy. I'm currently at Roehls Gary Terminal going into week 3of the GYCDL. If you have any questions [email address removed by admin]. I would be happy to answer any questions for you.

Brandon, we appreciate your willingness to help. Please keep the conversations here in our forum so everyone can learn from them. The idea is for us to share information publicly with each other. That's what makes a forum so helpful.

Sun, Dec 8, 2019

Watching Fox News and reading a bunch of Training Diaries, and going through the High Road Training. All of it really is helpful. I wish I could change the title of this diary to Preparing for a Career with Jim Palmer (Wilson Logistics). After more research and reading more diaries, I've come to the conclusion that Jim Palmer is the company I should go with (Just for my personal preferences). It's a little early still to contact the recruiter, but I'm wondering if they will let me do my CDL training in Springfield, MO (since it's 90 miles south of me and in my home state) or if they'll make me go to Missola, MT. I'll do whatever they ask, but it would be nice if my wife could just drop me off in Springfield rather than having to ride a bus to Montana, but we'll see.

In the meantime, lots of studying to do and waiting to get through Christmas so I can start saving money from my wife's and my paychecks. We're trying to move up my projected start time to April instead of June. Our plan is, since we're an empty-nest couple of 50yrs old, for my wife to join me on the road once I've completed my training and my SAFE solo probationary period. Honestly, we won't care about home-time like a lot of truckers have to. We want to run OTR and will be just fine with getting home just once per month. Our kids are grown and our grandkids live too far away for us to see them very often. We're an adventurous couple who like seeing, doing, and learning new things. We've lived a challenging life juggling finances and raising a family...we know all about how plans must be written in pencil and then give God the eraser, cuz it will change at the snap of a finger.

Being a combat veteran (first Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm), I learned long ago that much of what we deal with here are First-World problems and that surviving combat and getting home safely to your loved ones makes everything else gravy. My wife and I could write books about how to adapt, improvise and overcome (with a good, positive attitude). We've been doing it all our lives. We look forward to the next chapter of our lives and have been dreaming of this adventure for a few years now. It'll be work, no doubt, but my daddy (rest his soul), who was a truck driver, always told me to not try to love what you do but to find something love and do that. So here I am, getting ready to learn how to do what I've loved and dreamed about for a long time.

Sorry for the ramblings. I hope it'll get more interesting when I'm actually in the game and "doing" it. Keep the left door shut and wheels between the lines. :)

Tue, Dec 10, 2019

Since I have a vacation day this coming Friday, I've decided to go ahead and contact the recruiters at Wilson Logistics (Jim Palmer/Wil-Trans). I'd prefer to drive reefer for Jim Palmer west of Ohio, but would rather take my training in Springfield, MO. I've decided since both JP and Wil-Trans are really two different divisions of the same company, I'd be content to drive for either one. I'd definitely take my training in Springfield if I go with Wil-Trans. The training and pay are virtually the same. The trucks are the same except for the name on the side of the door, and they both haul Prime reefer freight. The only difference is one covers the west and the other the Midwest and East Coast. Either is fine with me.

We'll see what the recruiter has to say on Friday. In the meantime, I'm progressing through the High Road Training on here, following the training diaries of others on here, working my present job as a Receiving Manager, getting ready for Christmas, and slowly accumulating the supplies I'll need for CDL training and trucking (storage clipboard, log book, flashlight, notebook, calculator, duffel bag, travel shaving kit, laminated Commercial Carrier's Atlas, etc). My plan, written in pencil, is to start CDL school in late March, early April (need that time to save some money to cover transition and be ready to take CLP tests when I arrive at school).

Hope everyone is happy and safe today.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

CLP:

Commercial Learner's Permit

Before getting their CDL, commercial drivers will receive their commercial learner's permit (CLP) upon passing the written portion of the CDL exam. They will not have to retake the written exam to get their CDL.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Cowboy

My son drives reefer for Wil-Trans and enjoy's it. He started school this past February. I am from Missoula, so I was planning on attending JP when I retired from the military, but everything was put on hold. I have 10 months left until then. The recruiter I spoke with, was very nice, and informative. What I liked, was there small class sizes, 5 (ish). I don't think you could go wrong with any mega carrier though.

Good Luck Chris

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Hey Army,

Thanks for your service! I wished I had stayed in the Air Force until retirement, but oh well. I have three companies I'm pretty keen on: JP/Wil-Trans, Roehl, and Millis Transfer. I just hope JP/Wil-Trans will accept that I was a self-employed farmer from 2014-17 before having my current job. I couldn't make enough money hay-farming to make a go of it so I went back to work where I am now. They say they need 3 yrs verifiable employment. We'll see. Best of luck to you and your son.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Check with Millis and Roehl to be sure you're in their hiring areas. They claim lower 48, but furthest west I went with either was Texas and Minnesota. Things may be different now, though.

Check with Millis and Roehl to be sure you're in their hiring areas. They claim lower 48, but furthest west I went with either was Texas and Minnesota. Things may be different now, though.

Thanks for the info PackRat. I will keep that in mind. As of right now, my first choice is Wilson Logistics (Jim Palmer or Wil-Trans). I like their training itinerary, their trucks, their size and their pay.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Well, my current employer has just forced me to move up my plans. We had our end of year financial meeting yesterday. As of Jan 1st every hourly employee, which includes me, will get a .50 cent/hour raise (WooHoo). Then they turned around and said that as of Jan 1st through the end of March, nobody will be allowed to work more than 32 hours per week, and you can't use vacation time to make up the difference. Well, that computes to a $330/month CUT in my take home pay for the first quarter of 2020. My family can't live on that, even with my wife's income included. My wife and I discussed it at length last night. Her opinion is to quit talking about it and just do it.

I'm applying with Wilson Logistics this Friday and pray that I can get accepted into their training program in January. Fingers crossed.