It's Friday before Christmas. 

I got sent out on a short run today - run an empty trailer to the repair facility in Amarillo and bobtail back.  It's about a thousand miles.  So a day and a half for some decent pay and not too much trouble since I didn't have to load the truck, just take it up there, drop it in the yard and leave.  I'm 140 miles back towards home at this point, where I had to stop due to running out of hours.  

And not wanting to drive anymore, anyway. 

The bad news - for me anyway - came a few hours ago.  I'm scheduled to go on a run on Monday and won't be back until Thursday. Well Thursday at the earliest anyway.  That means I'll be somewhere in Ohio for Christmas, far from home, far from anyone I know and probably not going to like it very much.  But, I made the deal and I'm going to honor it: Take Thanksgiving off and I'll work Christmas.  I figure I'll have to drive around 400 miles on Christmas Day to finish out the trip to get up there and then I have to wait until the next morning to get unloaded.  

I was hoping I could just be home Christmas Day and really not care if I were out before or after it.  I wanted to cook my traditional Standing Rib Roast, of which I have 3 of them in the freezer.  I've heard they still have them on sale, so I'm going to buy a 4th one as well.  

I will end up treating myself to a hotel room if I have enough time to do so.  I intend on pushing myself on Monday to get as far as I can get until I am forced to stop.  And hope that I can get done driving on Christmas Day by mid afternoon.  

Ahh yes, good ole' Super 8.  Defiance, Ohio.  My delivery is in Stryker, Ohio, right up the road from Defiance, but Stryker has literally nothing.  Well there is one hotel but there is no place to park a semi.  I looked once, lol.  There's a Buffalo Wild Wings right up the street from the Super 8, I can get wings in vinegar based hot sauce and stay on my keto diet.  I don't see any good reason to break the diet for a Christmas on the road.  If I were home, different story. Wait, I guess I'd better check and see if it's open on Christmas. There are several other, better places than Super 8 right there, but I remember Super 8 had a huge truck parking lot and I don't remember the rest of them having that.

But I'll wait til I"m up there to see if it's even worth getting a hotel.  Just depends on what time I arrive. To be honest with you, any company that wants you out on the road and a thousand miles from home should probably think about paying for a hotel stay on them for the holiday. They give extra pay for working holidays but it's Christmas, not just any  holiday.  It's the single most important holiday of the year for me.  It always has been. As distant as our family is now, it didn't used to be that way.  Well my oldest brother has always been distant, but we used to have fun at Christmas.

My mom told me the other day her wish was that family would some day get along with each other and we could have time spent together with joy and peace in our hearts.  I didn't say this to her as I didn't want to do anything to kill the moment, but that's likely never going to happen.  My brothers didn't bother to show up to dad's funeral. They don't give a s*** about family. They care about their version of family, I guess, but the brothers and mom? Nahhh. My middle brother especially. What a total jackass he is.  

It's just another day, right? Maybe for other people, not for me.  It's a time to celebrate Christ's birth and be with family and friends. The folks I live with now are my family .  I guess what's really going to be hard about this is that I haven't spent a Christmas away from home in as far back as I can remember.  Every single year, I've been home.  I've cooked a Christmas roast and we've had good times.  

Well whatever. I'll deal with it.  I'm hoping to make it up there for a bit of time to spend with whoever at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Oh yes, their website says they are open on Christmas day, the actual hours, who knows. Why this place? Cause' it's what's there. VERY limited options in that particular area.  It's a small town, some hotels and a few chains have capitalized on it's location right next to a major highway for that region.  

I already let everyone know I'm not going to be home on Christmas.  Might as well get that over with and I did. 

Okay, this wasn't totally unexpected. In fact, I had the feeling it was going to happen, I just was hoping for a different outcome. These plants are open 365 days per year, the stuff we deliver is a vital part of their operations, if they don't have this chemical, they aren't operating.  Somebody has to do it. I know lots of people that work on Christmas, just in my mind it's untouchable.  But it isn't with this company.  The CEO of the company sent out a statement saying he's thankful for all of us who work on holidays.  Blah blah blah.  If you really felt that, then you would give better rewards for having to sacrifice the time  $170 is peanuts, I would gladly give it to someone else to have the off time at home.  You would give everyone a paid hotel, period.  You would do more than lip service.  But that's what millionaire rich people who don't connect with the common man or woman do. They pitch their accolades while they are planning on being in their mansions whenever they please to be in them. 

Don't take that wrong  tho. I am not envious of the rich. They have their own sets of unique problems and I want nothing to do with that.  Lots of temptations to use that money in illicit ways, apparently alot of it in the sexual department. 

Hmm. Switched the map to satellite view.  Hampton Inn is right there, the map view seemed to show it further off. I may consider staying there.  But this is trucking, I have no idea whether I will even make it up there. Especially in a truck that by industry standards has mega miles on it.  

Anyway, I'm going to bed. I will leave as soon as my 10 hours are up and get home as fast as possible. I'll spend whatever time I can at home with my extended family and of course my doggies 

: )