Question:
Has it really been six months since I started this??? WOW! Where has time gone?
Reading the posts, I have seen where several ROEHL drivers have moved on. Good Luck, y'all!!!
I'm still here and plugging away. Learning more and more every time I pick up and deliver a load, but in the long run, every experience is a good experience, even if it seems bad at the time.. Gotta keep the positive attitude, don't ya know?
Advice to anyone considering ROEHL? Good starter company and for some, it's the company of choice. But that can also be said in one respect or another about any company that will take "entry-level" drivers. I honestly can't say if I personally will stay with ROEHL in the future since I don't have enough experience (yet) We'll just have to see. Now, if I could just read what those little yellow tags say that keep showing up on my truck at the truck stops... Guess I need to use my glasses.....
Stories? You bet!!! Close calls? Every single day!! Screwy dispatches and "We really need this there three days ago!!!" loads? Of course!!!
What it's going to boil down to for the really newbie drivers, is how well are you able to handle stress? All kinds of stress!!! And all without getting mad at the time, but holding it untill later, because you have to. You have a 40 ton rig that will kill a lot of people if you let your emotions control you while you're driving.
You'll hear horror stories about some driver in a truck stop somewhere losing it over some imagined insult that under any other circumstance would have been blown off.
As in any micro society, truck drivers are total cross-section of the good, bad and the ugly that our society has to offer. The vast majority of the drivers I've met are the salt of the earth. Good and I mean REALLY good people. Then there's the rest of the story...
Make no mistake about it, "newbie" when you finally decide to drive a truck for a living and accept everything that goes with it, you are going to find that you are no longer "one of us" but "one of them." You don't fit into the "mainstream" anymore. You see too much of what goes on out on the highways as well as behind the economic "machine" of the country and when you try to tell people who haven't been out here what it's like, they don't believe you. Like service in the military, you're going to find that you really can't explain what this lifestyle is like to someone who hasn't been there.
The "old hands" on this board KNOW what is going to happen when you get out here and no amount of preparation is enough for the reality!!!! Lots of things are posted against driving or moving up to O/O too fast. Those posts are based on experience! Sorta like your parents seeming to know what you had done before you told them...
I honestly endorse ROEHL as a good, if not great "starter" company. BUT! After the magic "six-month" or "one-year" point, every driver is faced with the decision of staying or moving on. That is and has to be an individual choice. As long as you, as a driver, have done everything you can to "play by the rules" you should have no problems finding a company that would meet your personal needs.
First off, thanks to all the "old hands" whose posts I read while making a decision. I learned a lot from you and hope to learn more. To the "newbies" and I'm still one myself there is no such thing as a stupid question, if you don't know, ask someone!!
Be safe y'all!!! I ride for those who can't! POW/MIA - You are NOT forgotten!!
Lead, Follow or get out of my way!!!

Answer:
Thank-You, Unka_D, for allowing me to copy this post & start a new thread.
Very Well Written & Very Informative.

Answer:
I have to 'echo' Choclit Snda's sentiments! VERY well written, VERY informative!
You didn't 'sugar coat' a thing.
The first year of driving WILL be the best/worst year on the road.
Hang in there, it does get easier / better.

Answer:
Hoss is right, "Hang in there, it does get easier / better"
Do you know the difference between a professional driver and a newbie.
The professional driver has already made the mistakes.

Answer:
Yea what Hoss and dak1 said I agree 100% Good luck and keep up the good work.
Answer:
WOW , after being on the road and seeing the things that i see daily , you founds the words that i been looking for , just like you i want to thank the old salts for all the words of encoragement and being the parent to all us newbies hopefully others will read want you try to teach us and keep it in mind as they go through the transitoin from 4 wheels to 18 .
keep up the good work guys and gals

Answer:
And the "growth process" continues.... Or - "Finally-Six months solo!"
When I started this gig, I was over-saturated with information. All the good and the bad of driving was thrown out and examined. Bottom-line? I LIKE THIS!!!
Even if I was offered the chance to get back into the "corporate world" right now, I wouldn't do it. Why? Because now the learning curve is startinbg to flatten out... Not completely, you understand, but I now have survived long enough to be able to feel comfortable with the decisions I have to make on a daily basis.
When it all boils down, an OTR driver has a couple of primary objectives..
1. Be safe.
2. Be on time
If objective 2 conflicts with objective 1, objective 1 applies...
Complaints? Oh yeah!!! If I majored on them, I could think of a couple hundred reasons why not to do this... But since the complaints only are wasted time, why worry about them?
Positives? Only for each individual... YOU are going to have to find YOUR own reason for staying out over the road...
Reality? The pay stinks and the hours are terrible. You spend a lot of time trying to catch up on sleep debt when you're finally home. Family seperation is a big, big issue. Even though my partner and I have faced longer seperations over the years, the regularity of seperation here is somehow harder to cope with. Communication is the key. As Charley Pride sings, "Kiss an angel good-morning" even if it's only in a phone call at the start of her day....
Newbie, you are in for the hardest job that you're ever going to love and hate at the same time. How you handle it, is going to reflect directly on how well you succeed at making the transition.... You could come in with a chip on your shoulder and might survive without killing yourself or someone else or you could come in with an open mind and learn.
Granted, you've seen and read about the good trainers and the bad. Got a clue for you, it doesn't matter in the long run... There are certain basics to handling a truck and as long as you learn those, then you have a solid foundation to build on.
Not one of the drivers out there on the road was "hatched" as a fully qualified driver. I don't care how many years a person has been driving, if they are stupid, they are stupid.. Period.
What it'll boil down is what you want to do. When you decide, then be the very best at it you can be... The true mark of a professiional is doing the job right every single time even when no one else is watching....
When you do get with a company, found out how they want you to drive their equipment... And then do your level best to drive the equipment exactly that way. Keeping in mind that you are dealing with safety regualtions that will ruin your life if you get caught violating them.
This also affects your bottom line because you might suddenly find more money in your paycheak in the form of a bonus..... Sort of nice to see that...
Never, ever feel pressured to "run with the 'Big Boyze' " in any situation. In the first place, they ain't so big and in the second, they probably don't really care about anyone but themselves...... Drive your own truck, at a speed you can maintain control, and only so long as you feel alert......
Another thing, you're going to hear all the stories about "How I handled... (pick a topic)" and I'm sure be suitably impressed... Whoopee-Ding.....
We had a saying when I was in another life... "Those who can't, brag about it, those who can, do."
'Nough said.... If after all the negatives you've read and heard, you still want to get out here and drive, go for it!!! It has it's own rewards and beleive it or not, those are rewards only you need to know...
Go luck and be safe!!!!I ride for those who can't! POW/MIA - You are NOT forgotten!!
Lead, Follow or get out of my way!!!

Answer:
And remember there are pluses that you will never have with a 9-5 job. The sites of this great nation at sunrise, sunset....a thunderstorm brewing over the mountains in MT 0r an other wide open space. Freedom to take ur lunch where you want, when u want.
When it comes right down to it, what you have said is true and well put. I commend you for ur perserverence, pardon my spelling. Thank you for helping me remember some of the things I love about this job.
wHen i count all the things I love about it, they out weigh the bad. We as truck drivers are a community of our own, and yes as u stated the mainstream does not or is unwilling to understand this way of life.
There is some stress but it truely is what you make of it. Dispatches that have been goofed and need to be there last week, CSR that can not let u do your job with out constantly asking you if youll make it on time. My responce is simple and to the point, I ask them to look at my service record, and see that its a yes. No worries. If I say it will b there it will.
I can get long winded, and will not, keep up the good work, and learn every day.. good luck to ya, and all your adventures.