Vacation: “1 : a respite or a time of respite from something : INTERMISSION 2 : a a scheduled period during which activity (as of a court or school) is suspended b : a period of exemption from work granted to an employee 3 : a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation
4 : an act or an instance of vacating.” (Miriam Webster)
Though I tend to think of vacating the truck at home as a vacation, when at home I ordinarily spend 8 to 9 hours a day looking for a load and doing truck related paperwork. In other words, if the wheels aren’t turning, I’m on “vacation”. There is no revenue in trucking if the wheels aren’t turning. Nothing wears me out more than the static details of owning this business (details like truck repair and maintenance, searching for a load, and paperwork). However, I thoroughly enjoy being at home. So I’ll probably always view being at home as a vacation even if I’m working.
We decided to get back into trucking back in February of 2002. Other than the downtime for brain surgery last year, we haven’t taken a vacation from the business of trucking since 04/2002; and the brain surgery was no vacation! So one of these days, I’m going to park the truck for a month or so, at a time when I could be operating it, and vacate the business. One of these days…
Well, I fell out of the sleeper at about 0500, fueled the truck, took a shower, and ate breakfast. Now I’m sitting behind the wheel waiting on a call from the agent regarding the LTL we spoke about late yesterday, and refreshing the load boards on the computer in the hope of finding work to keep the wheels turning between now and the weekend, and of finding a load out of Texas next week.
Hope everyone reading this has a satisfying day!