Roehl Training August 2014

What a first day... A twelve hour drive from buffalo to Appleton WI, (i turned it into a fifteen hour ride lol) Stopped in Detroit and Milwaukee, to arrive at a hotel that claimed to have no reservation for me! Dismayed to say the least, i called my recruiter at Roehl, within five minutes i had a call back with an apology and a reservation set up in a very nice hotel. You do not share a room, good thing because it's a single king size bed lol. Might get a lil uncomfortable if i did ha Fox Valley technical school is five minutes away, Roehl has a contract with them to train drivers. I met my recruiter there, super guy, i call him my hero lol for all the issues he had resolved this far Class started at seven am, within an hour i was in a truck with one other student and an instructor, learning how to double shift and downshift. A very patient man, ha, all in all about two hours of drive time. I think the hardest part is learning to release the clutch without jerking...and getting the rpm's proper for down shifting. Missed a gear or two, But, By the end of the day it wasn't so bad. Left at three thirty for one more urine test. Tomorrow is a long day, seven am to seven pm. It's a fast paced class, by Wednesday we will be working on backing, by the end of the week driving in the residential areas close by. For a first day, it's rather exciting to be behind the wheel of a tractor realizing that what you thought you knew was really nothing compared to what Your going to know. The school is excellent, the instructors are awesome, Roehl's recruiters are on the ball. More tomorrow after class!

Revisit After reading the Prime post, Fyi material. Meals are not included in the training program, amazing amount of places around here to eat or shop. I brought cooking materials with me, electric griddle, rice maker, pots, etc. And some food stuffs. Wal Mart, and other grocery stores are close by, easy to save money by cooking myself. An absolute favorite, Golden Corral is right next door, Panda express across the street (5$ gets a ton of food) No lack of resources, so not a lot of money will get you through.

Holy hell, my upper thigh is sore as heck this morning lmao All that clutch work really showed how out of shape i am haha

Day two begins... Shown the finer points of backing into a trailer, first time in the course with a trailer attached. Nerves are shot lol I tend to overthink things. Miss gears, screw up my downshifting while on a decline... Hard not to let the frustration get into my head... Anyone else find this to be the case? I understand that patience is key, accepting my errors , but ,in the , moment, it's rather difficult... Sigh... Nuff whining. Lunch is over and he actually wants to take us out into traffic. Holy hell... Can i really do this??

Well, after lunch Paul, my instructor, drove is to an industrial park. Took us around and then our turn. Learning about taking turns, giving yourself room, using your space. Left and right. Note: CDL. Testing, automatic fail if you catch a curb while turning. Scary stuff lol Once we got back to the school, a demonstration of moving tandems , and fifth wheels. Talked about weight and scaling. Tomorrow, is all street driving and thruway driving. To hear Paul tell me I'll be going fifty five miles per hour tomorrow, well, my kahunas sucked right up to my neck lolol But, the best way to learn is to do right? Shifting was better after lunch, able to relax a little more. It's amazing that only two days ago i had never stepped foot in a truck, and I'm already pulling a 53 foot trailer down busy streets... Crazy!

Tougher day today, we took a cruise about thirty miles into the country. Partner drove there, i Drove back. Still having a few issues with downshifting. Turns in a city environment are... Interesting. Anticipating lights, miss a gear... Sigh.. I suppose after two days, i shouldn't be too upset. Learning curve. Gotta stay positive. Back at the school, we did straight line backing. It is a crazy thing doing it for the first time... Trying to visualize how the trailer will move... Went over the inspection process. Really not so bad. I uncoupled at the end of the day and parked the tractor and day three is over.

I just got my CDL yesterday through a private school in Texas. I didn't know that Roehl had a program to get you your CDL. Anyway, I coordinated an orientation date in Dallas to get hired on. The recruiter mentioned some close quarters driving during the 8 day orientation. At the CDL school here we drove around town in some tight quarters as well as some very narrow roads and construction zones. Basically, the trainer put us through the wringer AND the grinder to get us ready for test day. It's my understanding that Roehl has a top notch trainer system in place to get you ready for solo driving.

I It's my understanding that Roehl has a top notch trainer system in place to get you ready for solo driving.

So far, it's a simple trucking school for me, i understand that i will be with a trainer for thirteen days after i obtain my cdl from the school.. Perhaps that's the same type of training i can look forward to... However, yes, I've heard that Roehl is definitely one for making sure you are prepared fully and then some. Best of luck to you!

Well, day four.... Started out with another drive to a different truck stop, basic city driving to work toward my 110 miles driven for the program. After lunch we worked on straight line backing and offset parking. I gotta say lol, i screwed it up pretty badly lol... But, in screwing up, i learned a ton. It's fast paced and i do wish i had more opportunity to practice. Bit it is what it is. Tomorrow we are going too drive in the morning, and 90 degree backing in the afternoon. Fun wow lol

Great job Andy. When did Roehl move the CDL school to Appleton??? It was always in Marshfield.